The War Prayer

About this book

Written by Mark Twain during the Philippine-American War in the 1st decade of the 20th 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 & addresses the gathering. He tells the patriotic crowd that their prayers for victory are double-edged-by praying for victory they're 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Originally rejected for publication in 1905 as "not quite suited to a woman's magazine," this antiwar parable remained unpublished until 1923, when Twain's literary executor collected it in the volume Europe & Elsewhere. Handsomely illustrated by the artist and war correspondent Philip Groth, The War Prayerremains a relevant classic by an American icon.