The War Prayer, a parable, was written by Mark Twain during the Philippine-American War in the first decade of the twentieth-century. It relays the story of a patriotic church service held to send young men of the town off to war. During the service an “aged stranger” enters the church and addresses the gathering. He speaks to the patriotic crowd pointing out their prayers for victory have a double-edge, by praying for victory they are also praying for “unmentioned results,”the destruction of the enemy, the destruction of human life. A famous anti-war work, The War Prayer was originally rejected for publication by Harper’s Bazaar in March 1905 as “not quite suited to a woman’s magazine.” This single-volume edition of The War Prayer is handsomely illustrated by artist and war correspondent Philip Groth.