The Viennese satirist Karl Kraus (1874–1936) is a unique figure in modern European literature: moralist, pacifist, aphorist, editor, he was a Cassandra to whom everyone listened, whom few heeded. In the 80 years since his death, Kraus’s warnings have not lost their urgency. The objects of his derision – journalists, war-peddlers, cultural tourists, sentimentalists and capitulators – are exposed to the brilliant light of his irony. Kraus’s satire can be transposed into our world with alarming ease. This selection from the full range of Kraus’s work includes prose pieces from his satirical newspaper Die Fackel (The Torch), poems, aphorisms, and a vivid condensation of The Last Days of Mankind, his epic anti-war drama, generally considered his masterpiece. ‘Let my style capture all the sounds of my time,’ wrote Kraus, urging future generations ‘to hold it to their ears like a seashell in which there is the music of an ocean of mud.’