The War Prayer by Mark Twain Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The War Prayer
Book Review: Deserves to be read again and again
Summary: 5 Stars
Within every prayer for victory also lies a prayer for the enemy's defeat. That doesn't just mean redrawing some national boundary on a map. It also means the horror of broken bodies on the battlefield, the devastation of families and nations, and a toll in suffering that can not be calculated.
When some Sunday sermon invokes a prayer for victory, Twain walks a mysterious stranger into the church. He explains the duality, then invokes the other half the the prayer: poverty, death, and loss affecting all the millions in the defeated nation, as only Twain at his bitter best can describe it.
This short story deserves a book to itself, and Groth's stark drawings only accent its message. Once read, it can not be forgotten.
-- wiredweird
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
My father-in-law is correct - this slim volume deserves to be read by everyone. I'll talk it over with my son when it's age-appropriate.Book Review: Good, quick read
Summary: 5 Stars
It doesn't take long to read -- maybe 20-30 minutes. Be sure the read the excerpt from Twain's biography in the first pages. It really puts it in perspective.Book Review: If only, Lord, if only...
Summary: 5 Stars
I have probably purchased over fifty copies of this book over the years; I can't seem to keep one for very long. I share it with people I care about, people who are open to other's perspectives, and people who tend to express opinions that they haven't really thought about.Every time I read it (and I have usually read every copy I purchased more than once), it moves me. More than any other work I have ever enjoyed, this book has dazzled me with the brilliance, the astute erudition, the passion and the restraint of its author, Mark Twain.
As a retired Marine, as a parent, and as one who holds a degree in English, I heartily recommend a thoughtful reading of this work. Then I encourage you to do as I have done: share it.
Book Review: Important and timeless
Summary: 5 Stars
Mark Twain is generally presented as a literary and often comic figure, but he was also a public figure and had serious political views. I wouldn't call The War Prayer "anti war", by the way. I'm pretty sure Mark Twain was ok with the use of force; what he's writing against is the self-righteous, pityless, thoughtless patriotic fervor with which so many people support their own side, with never a thought for the suffering endured by everyone on both sides.
As others have said, a book to read and then give to someone who hasn't read it.