Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany is an earnest satire by Mark Twain. It was first written for the North American Review, then given as a campaign speech by Twain, then published in New York by the Economist Press in 1901. It arose from Twain's involvement in a campaign for the mayoralty of New York City. Twain's squib was widely credited with helping to defeat Croker. Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer. ...