The War Prayer

[1] It was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death in April 1910, largely due to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be considered sacrilegious.

[4] Many sites on the internet claim that "The War Prayer" was first published in Harper's Magazine in November 1916,[5] but this was the concluding chapter of a different Twain story, "The Mysterious Stranger.

[8][9] In 1996, Melvin Belli recited the oratory to David Woodard's brass fanfare setting of "The War Prayer" at Old First Church in San Francisco.

Written by Marco Sanchez and directed by Michael Goorjian, the adaptation starred Jeremy Sisto as "The Stranger" and Tim Sullivan as "The Preacher".

[12] That same year, the journalist and Washington Monthly president Markos Kounalakis directed and produced an animated short film based on Twain's piece, also entitled The War Prayer.