Huckleberry Finn runs away from the abuse of his alcoholic father. He immediately befriends a runaway slave named Jim, who is escaping the abuse of his owners. The two set out on a journey that involves theft, murder, and revenge. Along the way, Huckleberry Finn encounters Tom Sawyer, and the two hatch a plan to save Jim from a lifetime of slavery. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often named among the great American novels. Mark Twain Highlights the immoral act of slavery by placing both Huckleberry and Jim in similar circumstances. Helping an escaped slave is in direct conflict with Huckleberry's upbringing in Missouri, but he makes a moral choice based on his valuation of friendship and human worth. This edition includes 174 illustrations by E. W. Kemble.

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway once declared. First published in 1885, the book has delighted millions of readers, while simultaneously riling contemporary sensibilities, and is still banned in many schools and libraries. Now, Michael Patrick Hearn, author of the best-selling The Annotated Wizard of Oz, thoroughly reexamines the 116-year heritage of that archetypal American boy, Huck Finn, and follows his adventures along every bend of the mighty Mississippi River. Hearn's copious annotations draw on primary sources including the original manuscript, Twain's revisions and letters, and period accounts. Reproducing the original E. W. Kemble illustrations from the first edition, as well as countless archival photographs and drawings, some of them previously unpublished, The Annotated Huckleberry Finn is a book no family's library can do without; it may well prove to be the classic edition of the great American novel.