Written by Mark Twain during the Philippine-American War in the first decade of the twentieth century,The War Prayertells of a patriotic church service held to send the town's young men off to war. During the service, a stranger enters and addresses the gathering. He tells the patriotic crowd that their prayers for victory are double-edged-by praying for victory they are also praying for the destruction of the enemy... for the destruction of human life.
Originally rejected for publication in 1905 as not quite suited to a woman's magazine, this antiwar parable remained unpublished until 1923, when Twain's literary executor collected it in the volumeEurope and Elsewhere. Handsomely illustrated by the artist and war correspondent Philip Groth,The War Prayerremains a relevant classic by an American icon.
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