The bard of Baltimore at his most acerbic. They say of Mencken that no one who wrote better wrote more, and no one who wrote more wrote better.

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Product Description

Here is Mencken at his hyperbolic best--from his thundering blows against politics, through his piercing deflations of pious reputations, to his tireless fusillades against the American plutocracy. He tallies the dubious merits of farmers, professors, economists, congressmen, and preachers. He calculates the displeasures of living in California--and the advantages of living in America: 'Here the general average of intelligence, of knowledge, of competence, of integrity, of self-respect, of honor is so low that any man who knows his trade, does not fear ghosts, has read fifty good books, and practices the common decencies stands out as brilliantly as a wart on a bald head.'

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1227109 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Amazon.com Review
In the 1920s, when he was at the peak of his form, H. L. Mencken would periodically collect his magazine work and publish his favorite pieces in a series of books entitled Prejudices. This collection represents the best of those books. The essays were selected and introduced by novelist James T. Farrell. Prejudices: A Selection first appeared nearly 40 years ago and is now being published by Johns Hopkins University Press, which is thankfully bringing much of Mencken's work back into print. Included are such gems as Mencken's attack on the South in "The Sahara of the Bozart"; his amazingly prescient appreciation of Ring Lardner; and more than two dozen other essays which show convincingly why Mencken was one of the most popular, most feared, and among fools, the most hated writers of his day.

Review

"It just blew my... mind. Mencken's skill at skewering the idiots of his day and age was my introduction to the kinetic power of artfully crafted language." -- James Howard Kunstler, The Week

About the Author

Born in Baltimore in 1880, H. L. Mencken remained a lifelong resident and became one of the city's most famous sons. Ever home to controversy, his column for the Baltimore Sun earned him a national reputation. He died in his rowhouse on Union Square in 1956.

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Customer Reviews

If it weren't for Mencken, I'd go nuts
Mencken helps to keeps me sane. When I can no longer stomach euphemisms, political correctness or the praise of mediocrity, along comes Harry to slay the idleheaded icons of modern American society. He accomplishes the task as effortlessly today as he did in the 1920s. It shows he was either ahead of his time, or things never really change. While those not familiar with Mencken might be unacquainted with some of those harpooned by him, a little research and reading will clear up the unfamiliarity. As for Mencken's style, vocabulary and content, one word describes them: priceless. Prejudices and Mencken's Chrestomathy should be required reading in every school across the nation. This book, like most of his writings, is not for the weak, for those easily offended or those who measure all things with the modern yardstick of self-righteous indignation. These people will be screaming half way into the first page. Keep your generals, kings and the like. If there were one person from the past I could sit with over a schooner of beer it would be the Sage of Baltimore.

A Classic!
I have recently finished "Prejudices," by H.L. Mencken. I knew little of the author, save that which I had gleaned by reading one of his other books ("A Discourse on the Gods," I think it was.) But, after coming away from the Satanic wag's essays, I am inclined to accord him a place in the pantheon right next to Nietzsche, Mark Twain and Socrates. An evil, little man! Acerbic, brilliant, roaringly funny! History buffs will appreciate the insight these essays will give on the values and mores of the Early 20th Century and the light his intelligence throws upon the world around him--and around us today. Because, as it turns out, the greatest accomplishment of this witty court jester, this slayer of phonies and defender of common sense is his talent for uncovering atemporal, universal principles which are as true today as they were a hundred years ago . . . or a thousand! A brilliant work from a glowing mind, the secret thrill in reading it is seeing how little everything has changed and what a short distance we've really come since the Age of Troglodytes.

Best Of Mencken
These are some of Mencken's best essays collated together by an HLM aficionado and scholar, James Farrell. The muckraker/libertarian/critic/journalist/satirist is in top form as he rips into everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to chiropractors, and every institution from the American Legion to democracy in general and American democracy in particular.

Mencken's rich, inimitable stylistic flourishes complement his acerbic, lacerating wit. He criticizes criticism--and criticism of criticism. He takes on the South in the classic "The Sahara of the Bozart"--not ad hominem, but cultural criticism of a bastardized postbellum region, with fair regard for the genteel culture and society of its past. A cynic through and through, Mencken nevertheless displays his ability to appreciate the bright rays peaking through massive gray clouds--Whitman, Conrad, and Twain, among others.

The book is well edited and gives us a wonderful picture of a scribe at the height of his powers--in style and substance.