Set in a town on the Mississippi during the pre-Civil War era, Pudd'nhead Wilson tackles the seminal American issue of slavery in a tragicomedy of switched identities. What happens when a child born free and a child born a slave change places? The result is a biting social commentary with enduring relevance, and a good old-fashioned murder mystery. It also introduces one of Twain's favorite characters: Pudd'nhead Wilson, an intellectual with a penchant for amateur sleuthing. F.R. Leavis proclaimed this novel "the masterly work of a great writer."

With an Introduction by Louis Budd