• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

  • By: Mark Twain
  • Narrated by: William Dufris
  • Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (987 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court  By  cover art

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

By: Mark Twain
Narrated by: William Dufris
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.62

Buy for $17.62

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a 19th-century American - a Connecticut Yankee - by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to sixth-century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur's Court. Although of average intelligence, he finds himself with knowledge beyond any of those in the sixth century, and he uses it to become the king's right-hand man and to challenge Merlin as the court magician. Astounded at the way of life in Camelot, Hank does the only thing he can think of to do: change them. In his attempt to civilize medieval Camelot, he experiences many challenges and misadventures.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

What listeners say about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    444
  • 4 Stars
    289
  • 3 Stars
    173
  • 2 Stars
    42
  • 1 Stars
    39
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    487
  • 4 Stars
    228
  • 3 Stars
    96
  • 2 Stars
    31
  • 1 Stars
    29
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    405
  • 4 Stars
    247
  • 3 Stars
    150
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    26

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Classic Yarn

When you pick up a Twain you know you'll get a good yarn. This is no exception. This is another book I read in my youth. I remember it more fondly that it appears to me now. I guess this goes to prove that tastes change and, in that sense, they mature.
It's still a good yarn. Not as funny as I remember it to be and more tragic, too. The satire is classic Twain. The wit sharp and, at times, quite brutal. The attack on the Dixie South slavery and serfdom is caustic, for example. The attack on the monarchy (more visceral than mocking) and hereditary privilege is relentless and, I felt, overdone. Perhaps that is because I don't need to be convinced. Another example is Hank Morgan's (aka Twain's) disdain of the Catholic Church. Ironically, Twain's criticism is almost religious. Similarly, his zeal for universeral sufferage is fanatical.
Through it all, there is no mistaking Twain's message. It might be written through the conceit of a Yankee who is struck on the head in the 1890s and wakes up in the 7th Century, but the opinions are still controversial in the 21st Century.
Stangely, I found the message less palatable in 2012 than I did in the 1980s, although I agee with most of Twain's views. Generally, I found it a bit forced for my modern sensibility.
From a performance point of view, William Dufris delivers his customary skilled performance. I particularly liked his Twain and his Sandy. However, there are not enough characters to allow him to shine.
Overall, I'm not sure I should have re-read this book. My memory of it was better, but that's no reflection on the production values or the performance. As a first time read, I think it would have scored better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Twain vs. Everything Un-American

Mark Twain's rapier wit vs. the ills of the un-American world both past and present in the guise of Medieval England. Representing the case for all things un-American is King Arthur himself as characterized in Sir Thomas Malory's La Morte d'Arthur. It's no spoiler to say that Arthur's Camelot is well and truly skewered at every conceivable turn.

One of the things great literature does is hold a mirror, both to the times in which it is written and to the times in which it is read. I went through this in the midst of the government shutdown of 2013, and it's fair to say that Twain points out pretty well exactly where the flaws in our own system have been exacerbated. I found myself laughing quite a bit, but there were more than a handful of uneasy chuckles as I realized how many of his words struck home in this day and age. You see, in 1889 when this was written, Britain was in the midst of its Victorian Age, and all that Imperialist expansionism implies. The US had barely left behind the Civil War a generation back, and the wounds were still fresh. Today, the US is feeling the economic and social repercussions of its own Imperial expansionism (even when we don't acknowledge it ourselves for what it is), so the double meaning through the mirror of modern times is rather apt and sobering. Social classes, slavery, unnecessarily complex language... it's all here, and so much more, fired at with both barrels in terms that only Twain could deliver. Chapter breaks only serve to allow him to reload.

William Dufris is an astounding narrator, coming across as though Twain himself were narrating this, mocking virtually every character encountered along the path. It's a performance you have to hear to believe.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this novel

I loved this novel so much. It contained humor and I thought it was AWESOME. And don't think I'm this old lady reviewing, I'm 13 years old and I liked it. It wasn't boring. Totally recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This book has aged remarkably well

I've been listening to a lot of classics on audible lately, and while I appreciate their literary value, I find most of them difficult to slog through. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, however, didn't feel like an aged classic. It felt downright modern.

Dufris narration undoubtedly helped with the modern feel of the book; it was smooth and natural.

Oddly this production reminded me of "Off to be the Wizard" or a Scalzi book. Except funnier at times, because Mark Twain is a a genius with language. His wit is, if not timeless, than still well before its Use-By date.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

worst narrator

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This is the worst narrator I have listened to, actually painful in his exaggerations. I wish I had checked the other possible narrators for the book before purchasing this one, I really wanted to hear the story, but it was so truly awful I couldn't do it. Hate to buy it all over again with a different narrator. Ugh!

How could the performance have been better?

Just read the story, with dignity. Stop with all the silly exaggerated breathing and yawning and gravelly, bored voice. The interpretive garbage actually damaged the story line, made it hard to follow. Grrrrr.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

There is no accounting for human beings

"There is no accounting for human beings."
- Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I expected Twain to be good, but this was much better than I expected. I was hoping for a good time-travel rollick in King Arthur's court, but I also got a bit of Marxist criticism of both the Catholic Church AND the monarchy. And, AND, it was super quotable (as you would expect from Mark Twain).

So, come for the anachronistic story, but stay for Twain's critique of monarchy, nobility, slavery, and religion. Twain was at the vanguard for both writing almost a SCIFI novel as well as writing a SOCIAL novel. This is one dude who never rested on his Connecticut laurels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not the best of Twain

But "not the best of Twain" is still better than most.

I'd read this many years ago, and picked up the Audio as a daily deal. Dufris is a very accomplished narrator and does a fine job here.

This is primarily a satirical novel, in which Twain lauds the nobility of the ignoble, while excoriating the ignominy of the nobility. His observations on slavery are deeply compelling. One must note that this book was written with the Civil War very much in living memory, and one can only imagine the controversy such writing would evoke. There are also longish passages on economic issues which would have been extremely topical in 1890, but much less so today.

Some will feel that a satirical piece of this length is just one long harangue. Perhaps it is, but Twain's wit and essential gentility keep it from becoming dark.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mark Twain comes alive!

If you could sum up A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in three words, what would they be?

Hillarious, interesting, classic

What about William Dufris’s performance did you like?

The narrator gave an excellence performance. The different voices he used made it seem like a theatrical presentations. I've tried to read this book in the past and couldn't get into it but this version was mesmerizing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Since I listen to books to help fall asleep at night, no. But insomnia aside, yes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very entertaining

First twain book on audible. it was funny, insightful, and generally an entertaining story. Great narrator and a great author. Feels like it could have been written today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining, but a bit slow in places

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If they liked Sci Fi, this is the earliest example of popular alternate history work that I am aware of and its fairly good writing.

What other book might you compare A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to and why?

Parts of the book are very 'Mark Twain' kind of amusing yarn spinning, and other parts read more like modern sci-fi.

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Excellent reader. I'll probably look for other books he's read and consider buying them no matter what they are.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not particularly.

Any additional comments?

I'm sure I'll keep this is my rotation of books and read it at least a few more times. There were a few slow parts, and some parts that were just too rooted in the time it was written for me to really follow completely, but overall I liked it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful