>>>http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/01/04/new.huck.finn.ew/index.html
>>
>>Seems that some idiots don't understand that "nigger" was a common word at that time.
>
>Or why it was used in the book - it served a very clear purpose in telling the story. It is a reflection of the deep south twenty years before the civil war and how one boy learns to make moral choices and rise about the common views of the day -- Jim is the moral center of the story and portrayed as more of a human being than the other characters.

An excellent synopsis!

Not in the same class, it's popular fiction, but have you read any Lee Child? Jack Reacher strikes me as your kind of guy.