Budd, Louis J., ed. New Essays on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

This collection of essays on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn discusses a range of topics, including the relationship between romanticism and realism, poststructural theory, and humor.

Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn. The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1998.

In this volume, Chadwick-Joshua argues against the idea that Huckleberry Finn should not be taught in classrooms because of its portrayal of Jim. The author defends the importance of the novel and argues that it is an indispensable document of American history.

De Koster, Katie, ed. Readings on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998.

This collection of essays on the novel includes chapters on a range of topics such as a famous 1885 review of the novel, the issues of race and racism, the idea of America as a whole, and the ending of the novel.

Doyno, Victor A. Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain’s Creative Process. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.

Doyno’s book presents new material from a revised manuscript of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It also introduces new archival information regarding Mark Twain’s unpublished family journals and his thoughts on international copyright laws.

Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. Was Huck Black ?: Mark Twain and African-American Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Fishkin argues in this volume that African American vernacular dialect greatly influenced Mark Twain’s linguistic choices. Fishkin supports this argument by drawing on a combination of attentive close reading and key biographical information.

Hoffman, Andrew Jay. Twain’s Heroes, Twain’s Worlds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.

In his book, Hoffman provides new and uncommon interpretations of the central protagonists in three of Mark Twain’s novels: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Pudd'nhead Wilson.

Pizer, Donald, ed. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism: Howells to London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

This edited volume provides an in-depth overview of the literary genres of realism and naturalism in late-nineteenth century fiction. The text includes individual essays by literary scholars who analyze classic novels such as The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man by James Weldon Johnson, and, of course, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Powers, Ron. Mark Twain: A Life. New York: Free Press, 2005.

This is the definitive and authoritative biography of the life and times of Samuel Clemens, more popularly known as Mark Twain.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.

Twain wrote this novel before Huckleberry Finn. Although the events of Tom Sawyer precede those of Huckleberry Finn, the former is not exactly a prequel. For one thing, the two novels have different protagonists. For another thing, whereas Tom Sawyer is a novel about boyhood, Huckleberry Finn is a novel about the complexities of entering the adult world.

———. Life on the Mississippi. New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.

This memoir by Mark Twain chronicles his life as a steamboat pilot along the Mississippi River, both before and after the outbreak of the Civil War.

Wieck, Carl F. Refiguring Huckleberry Finn. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2000.

In this book, Wieck attempts to convey the influence that certain famous figures in Mark Twain’s life such as Frederick Douglass, William Dean Howells, Ulysses S. Grant, and John Hay had on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. According to Wieck, such figures had a profound impact on Twain’s views about justice, truth, rights, and knowledge.