Starting out with a rewrite of The Battle Hymn of the Republic for the Spanish-American War and continuing through screeds on slavery, immigration, lynchings and religion his pen was surely warmed up. Scathing, funny, righteous and ashamed, all at once in the inimitable style of Mark Twain. The perfect counterpoint to the modern, Disneyfied Twain of Tom Sawyer and the Connecticut Yankee that is most folks conception of the founder of American literature. Read it and toast! ( )

It’s been several years since I’ve read anything by Twain, and I’d forgotten what a captivating writer he is. Once you start reading, it’s difficult to not be sucked in to what he is saying. Twain was no wallflower. He had opinions, and he wasn’t afraid to let you know them. Most of his commentary here is centered on U.S. actions in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war, and on religion and the human condition. The most amazing thing to me about this was that you could take what he says about war and put it in the New York Times two years ago and it would be completely relevant. It really illustrates the adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same". ( )