Mr American [Paperback]

George MacDonald Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1993

No one knew who Mark Franklin was when he disembarked at Liverpool in 1909 with a copy of Shakespeare's works, an old Mexican charro saddle, and two Remingtons in his battered luggage. He was just another American, tall and softly-spoken. Even General Flashman never guessed the whole truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Known for his "Flashman" series, Fraser here offers protagonist Mark J. Franklin, a wealthy cowboy who expatriates to England in the early 20th century. Once firmly ensconced on British soil, he experiences a series of pleasant adventures with a bevy of unusual characters.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for 'Black Ajax': 'Mr Fraser is a great historical novelist and in Black Ajax he is at the very top of his form. Damme if he ain't.' Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail 'This is not a flashy novel, wearing its learning noisily. It's rigorous, intelligent, meticulously horrifying. Wonderfully well done.' Nicci Gerrard, Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002712350
• ISBN-13: 978-0002712354
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,342,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow Waters Run Deep, March 23, 2000

By 

Michael Weber "fairportfan" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mr. American (Paperback)

Some years before the beginning of World War One, Mr Franklin arrives in England, carrying two Remington revolvers and a bank draft worth a fortune.

Fraser uses this auspicious beginning to give us a view of Edwardian society from top to bottom, its highs and lows, its glories and its hypocrisies.

Mr Franklin has come to England to seek out the village from which his ancestors had emigrated in the 17th Century and to settle there; if ha has any expectations at all, it is that he will live a quiet life in a small, sleepy village. Of course, this is not what happens -- and thereby hang four stars worth of reading enjoyment.

From his accidental but most enjoyable encounter with London showgirl Pip, to his accidental but portentous encounter with a distinguished gentleman in the country who, despite his incognito, has a rather royal manner, through his brushes with Fraser's charming rotter, the elderly but still randy Harry Flashman (the young Churchill runs a bit shy of Sir Harry) and a hair-raising reminder of his past in America, Mr Franklin takes it all in stride, with a slightly bewildered interest...

It takes love to disturb him sufficiently that he will take decisive action.

An action that will be silhouetted against the backdrop of the beginning of World War One and its time.

This is not the rollicking romp that the Flashman books are, nor is it the cheerful, sometimes touching military fiction of "The General Danced at Dawn" and Fraser's other "Dand McNeill" stories... But it is a picture of a fascinating time and place that seems so recent in some ways and so long ago in others, a picture that helps to open and illuminate that time and place for the modern reader as, slowly but surely, it slips from living memory into "recent history", about which, if, as has been said, "the past is a different country", one can say that recent history is a foreign contry that lies just outside our own borders.

And, as when one visits such deceptively familiar but ultimately foreign places, one is advised to engage the services of a reliable native guide and translator to get the maximum enjoyment out of your visit. Accept Mr Fraser's offer to act in that capacity, and travel back to that time...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Comfortable Read, August 18, 2000

By 

Bruce Burns (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mr. American (Paperback)

George MacDonald Fraser is one of my favorite authors. It used to be (before Amazon) that I would have to find his books in Canada or England, if I happened to be there. Now, of course, he's quite popular in this country. I love his Flashman series, and they have accompanied me on many a vacation.

Mr. American contains his usual historical accuracy, though it's not intended to be as funny as the Flashman series. Harry Flashman shows up though, but in this book he is used to decry the folly of war, in most of its forms, certainly that of WWI.

The title character is an American who becomes an observer of the decadence of post Victorian England, as well as one welcomed into it, as long as he is useful to those snobs whose society he is invited to enter. Whether he is to be amusing to King Edward, or to use his money to restore his wife's family fortunes, he is brought into the swim, only to find that it is a shallow pool indeed.

But along the way he comes into contact with delightful and trustworthy characters, none of whom are of the upper class, and it is these characters who make the snobs, by comparison, seem so feckless. Pip is as wonderful as Samson is loyal and unperturbable. It is these characters, and Prior and Thornhill, whom we are able to compare and contrast with Percy, the Claytons and those who surround the King. Pip, like most people who are positive and seemingly without a care, is in fact very ethical, supportive of her family, and without guile. The others, in their own ways, represent bedrock values and character, quite a contrast to the carefree, unethical, and undignified society people.

I highly recommend this book, for its sheer pleasure of reading it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentler Than Flashman, But No Less Fun, February 13, 2001

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mr. American (Paperback)

Fraser takes a break from the hilarious, over-the-top adventures of the Flashman series with this more sedate and gentle window into Edwardian England (although it should be noted that a very aged Flashman does make several cameo appearances from time to time to deliver straight talk and pinch the serving wenches). The title character is Mark Franklin, a former cowboy and outlaw (he rode with Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid as part of The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang), who struck it rich mining silver and is trying to become respectable. He's moved to England in 1909, searching for his ancestral village in an attempt to find himself a place to call home. While he has various adventures, both amorous and perilous, the book is mostly an excuse for Fraser to take the reader on an extended tour of the Edwardian years which bridged the end of Victorian era sensibilities with the rise of the horrors of modern life exemplified by WWI. With his vast riches Franklin quickly makes an entree to the upper classes, and unsurprisingly, what he finds "society" to be mostly selfish, shallow, blind to reality, and indifferent to morality, This is in sharp contrast to other characters from middle and lower classes, who embody more solid values and character, and are competent, productive members of society. Woven into the plot are such items as the "Irish problem," the suffragette movement, and the buildup to WWI. As usual, Fraser keeps things interesting with vivid characters and rapid pacing. Thankfully (and pointedly), the book ends as Britain mobilizes with appalling naivete for the war that would destroy a generation.