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Mark Twain. To the Person Sitting in Darkness and Concerning
the Rev. Mr. Ament. N.p.: Privately published, 1926.
NYPL, General Research Division
The popular writer Mark Twain was a voice of bitter dissent to the patriotic
expansionist mood in 1898–1902. In this essay, originally published in
February 1901, Twain lashes out at the double standards and deceit of European-style
imperialism, which claimed to bring civilization to non-Western peoples "sitting
in darkness" (in a paraphrase of a Rudyard Kipling poem). He condemns what
he considers to be the United States playing the European-imperialist game in
the Philippines.
Introduction | Chronology | Part I: Antecedents, 1895-1898 | Part II: Public Appeals, 1898 | Part III: Popular Participation, 1898-1899 | Part IV: Public Memories | Part V: Historical Perspectives | Audiovisual Components | Exhibition Checklist | Acknowledgments | Suggested Reading /About the Library Shop | Related Exhibits/Spanish American War Websites of Interest | Exhibition home page | NYPL Exhibitions
EPO, 1998