Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire

Mark Twain was the most prominent opponent of the Philippine-American War. In its annual report for 1910, the year he died, the Anti-Imperialist League noted that he "employed in the cause of Anti-Imperialism and in behalf of the Filipino those wonderful weapons of satire which were so absolutely at his command, and the members of the League were able to appreciate what is not yet justly understood: that, more than a brilliant humorist, he was a …

…a potent political impact. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** United States: The Great Debate, 1890-1920 (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1970), 243-44; Igor Dementyev, USA: Imperialists and Anti-Imperialists (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1979), 221-25; and Foner, Anti-Imperialist Reader 2:xxxi. 30. W. A. Croffut to SLC, Feb. 5, 1901, MTP. Part of this passage was quoted in Foner, Social Critic, 275. On his manipulation of this reaction, see Louis J. Budd, Our Mark Twain: The Making of His Public Personality (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), 165-91.