Mark Twain: Early American Subversive? In a series of stories Written in 1901, Mark Twain envisioned the creation of a "Orwellen society" where books and libraries were banned, confiscated and destroyed. History was to be rewritten glorifying the conquest of foreign lands. Twain's views were shaped by expansion of the American empire during the Philippine-American War, and the suppression of dissent by the US Goverment. For more than ten years he opposed the war and American imperialism. As the president of the Anti-Imperialist League, he was an outspoken critic. From 1900 until shortly before his de