The War Prayer
I asked a friend and mentor of mine who blogs as Grumblebear if I could run a recent post of his on Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.” He graciously consented, and because of his familiarity with the piece, I’m hoping he will stop by Urbanagora and respond to your comments. Thanks again, Grumblebear!
~By Grumblebear
Mark Twain has always been my favorite philosopher, and his short story “The War Prayer“, my favorite.
During the Vietnam War, I quoted it extensively and even did readings of it at anti-war gatherings. It is one of the most powerful statements against war and jingoism ever written, and it is as relevant today as it ever has been.
Now, thanks to the Internet, Twain’s magnificent work (relatively unknown before) is enjoying a much wider popularity than ever before, with a number of sites and pages dedicated to it. The newest of these, thewarprayer.com, put together by our friend Markos Kounalakis at the Washington Monthly is quite amazing:
(h/t Mike Finnigan at C&L)
Here’s Kevin Drum’s intro to the film from WM:
In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the
subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called “The War Prayer.” His family begged him not to publish it, his friends
advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too
inflammatory for the times. Twain agreed, but instructed that it be published
after his death, saying famously:None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.
“The War Prayer” was eventually published after World War I, when its
message was more in tune with the times. Washington Monthly’s publisher, Markos
Kounalakis, who was affected by Twain’s words when he covered the war in
Yugoslavia in the early 90s, made “The War Prayer” into a short video for
release last Memorial Day, and today we’re reprising it. It features stunning
illustrations by Akis Dimitrakopoulos and is narrated by Peter Coyote, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, and Erik Bauersfeld.
