New Edition Of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" & "Tom Sawyer" Removes Mark Twain's "Offensive" Words
Should we be editing era period books?

What might the long term results be? Our history as a society rests with our authors and storytellers. It would seem to me, if we edit out the history we are not comfortable with, we may be doomed to repeat it. Do we want to go the way of sanitizing our social history?

JMO

Maddad

Throughout the book — 219 times in all — the word "@!$%#" is replaced by "slave," a substitution that was made by NewSouth Books, a publisher based in Alabama, which plans to release the edition in February.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A new edition of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" plans to replace the N-word with "slave" in an effort not to offend readers.

Title: Tom Sawyer
Artist: Rush
Album: Moving Pictures
Year: 1981
Genre: Progressive rock

This column is going to be my best effort at exposing Viners to the kind of music I think is worth your time (duh). A lot of it will be music that I am personally infatuated with, but that's okay, right??? I'll do my best to have a different artist every day, and the plan is to cover as much of the music scene, past and present, as possible.

Today's song is a song by Canadian prog rockers Rush. Over the years, Rush has built up a massive fan base, every fan diehard, and every song a masterpiece. If you've ever made a point of listening to them, you know exactly what I'm talking about. All the band members are virtuosos of their respective instruments and more. Drummer/lyricist Neil Peart is regarded by many to be the greatest drummer of all time, and for good reason. When Rush was touring in the 80s, Peart literally had to be lowered into his drumset for lack of being able to walk into it without messing up the layout of the kit.

I digress. Tom Sawyer gets today's pick because it is a great song about the enduring free spirit of the human condition, and, as Geddy Lee, bassist for the band, puts it, the "modern-day warrior." There's also a crazy-awesome synth/guitar solo in the breakdown that gets me pumped every time I hear it. It's one of those things that you have to hear to truly experience. I wish I could post a sound bite of the song, but, besides the technical incapacity to do so, it's probably very illegal. Look up the song if you have time today, and check again tomorrow for more music worth listening to.