For anyone who doubts the relevance of Mark Twain's writings to
recent events, here are some book descriptions created for the Mark
Twain for President site (http://www.twain2004.com/):

The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain's major work on U.S. involvement in the Middle East
traces the activities of a group of American tourists as they travel
through the Holy Land and Europe, visiting the important landmarks
and looting antiquities. Includes Twain's discussion of the personal
value of Middle East antiquities, poignantly expressed in his
description of a visit to Adam's tomb, and a complete account of his
diplomatic mission to Damascus.

The War Prayer
Written during America's first protracted war in Asia, Mark Twain's
popular antiwar story was released in illustrated form to undercut
Richard Nixon's presidential campaign during the war in Vietnam. It is
gaining wide circulation again as the Bush administration's invasion of
Iraq is becoming a primary issue of the 2004 presidential campaign.

Following the Equator
Since making his round-the-world tour through the British empire in
1895-1896, Mark Twain has been one of the world's leading experts
on British imperialism. His insights into British colonial activities in
Fiji,
Australia, New Zealand, India, and Southern Africa place recent
British involvement in the conquest of Iraq into its proper context.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain's analysis of the Americanization of England that set the
stage for recent U.S.-U.K. cooperation in the invasion of Iraq.
Includes his devastating description of American use of weapons of
mass destruction to impose American ideas and institutions upon
monarchical Britain.


Jim Zwick