Much about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is ageless, yet its author was completely immersed in the age in which he wrote. Refiguring ""Huckleberry Finn"" looks at the various influences of contemporary American culture and history on the formation of Mark Twains masterwork. Carl Wieck helps us to see how Twain explored themes of justice, rights, knowledge, and truth; engaged with the ideas of Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson; and expressed concern over the public discourse on race and equality. Also, in discussions that range from number play in the novel to the symbolic potential of the Mississippi's awesome, one-way flow, Wieck looks closely at Twain's storytelling craft.