Mark Twain -anti-war short 1904

One of the greatest anti-war pieces was written by Mark Twain in 1904. How little things have changed in the patriotic wars of America. I first read this in 1969 when we were in the middle of a little vacation in South-east Asia.

from wiki
The War Prayer" wasn't published until six years after Twain's death, in unusual circumstances. World War I had broken out more than two years previously, and in that time had produced unprecedented casualties on both sides, yet with the U.S. still officially neutral, and President Wilson running for re-election on the slogan He Kept Us Out of War. Twain's story appeared in Harper's Monthly, November 1916. Had the attempt been made to publish it five months later, in April 1917, it might ironically have been seen as too unpatriotic for print.


Audio below and note on audio:
Mark Twain wrote The War Prayer in 1904. Since then, every gerneration facing war has found it as fresh and timely as when it was written. This radio drama version was produced and directed by W.D. Sherman Olson and stars Abbie Williams and folk singer/song writer Billy Krause.

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