Newswise — March 9, 2011 — Stephen Railton, an English professor in the University of Virginia's College of Arts & Sciences, has just published a new edition of Mark Twain's 1885 novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Railton asked the publisher, Broadview Press, if he could focus the supporting material – introduction, essays, others writings by Twain – on "the specific issue that has been so inseparable from the novel in its public life for the last 25 or 30 years – the issue about whether it's racist or not."

"My edition's goal is ... to put 21st-century readers in a position to explore how much the novel can teach us about both the best and the most benighted aspects of our cultural legacy," said Railton, who created the website, "Mark Twain and His Times," [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html] about 15 years ago.