H. L. Mencken
Birth name	Henry Louis Mencken
Born	September 12, 1880
Birth place	Baltimore, Maryland
Died	January 29, 1956
in	Baltimore, Maryland
Circumstances
Occupation	Journalist, satirist
Family	August Mencken Father
Spouse	Sara Haardt
Ethnicity	German American
Religious belief(s)	Atheism
Notable credit(s)	The Baltimore Sun

Henry Louis "H. Events 1213 - Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester, defeats Peter II of Aragon at the Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Antipope Christopher. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human August Mencken Senior (1854 – 1899 was the father of writer H German Americans ( German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of Ethnic German ancestry Atheism The Baltimore Sun (officially just The Sun) is Maryland ’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides comprehensive coverage L. " Mencken (September 12, 1880, Baltimore – January 29, 1956, Baltimore, Maryland), was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Events 1213 - Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester, defeats Peter II of Aragon at the Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Antipope Christopher. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends An essay is usually a short piece of writing It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human Social criticism analyzes Social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specific measures radical Reform or even Revolutionary The American way of life is an expression that refers to the " Life style " of people living in the United States of America. The development of the culture of the United States of America — music, cinema, dance, architecture, literature, poetry Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century. A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. Stylistics is the study of varieties of Language whose properties position that language in context. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on

Mencken is perhaps best remembered today for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he named the "Monkey" trial. The American Language, first published in 1919 is H L Mencken 's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. The " Scopes Trial " ( Scopes v State 152 Tenn 424 278 S

Life

Mencken was the son of August Mencken, a cigar factory owner of German extraction. August Mencken Senior (1854 – 1899 was the father of writer H A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented Tobacco which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth German Americans ( German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of Ethnic German ancestry When Henry was three, his family moved into a new home at 1524 Hollins Street^[1], in the Union Square neighborhood of Baltimore. Union Square is a Neighborhood located in the south-western part of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Apart from five years of married life, Mencken was to live in that house for the rest of his life.

Mencken's parents insisted that his high school education favor the practical over the intellectual, and very early on he took a night class in how to write copy for newspapers and business. This was to be all of Mencken's formal education in journalism, or indeed in any other subject, as he never attended college.

Mencken became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899, then moved to The Baltimore Sun in 1906. The Baltimore Morning Herald was a daily Newspaper published in Baltimore in the beginning of the Twentieth century The Baltimore Sun (officially just The Sun) is Maryland ’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides comprehensive coverage He continued to contribute to the Sun full time or occasionally until 1948, when he ceased to write.

In only a few years time, Mencken began writing the editorials and opinion pieces that made his name. On the side, he wrote short stories, a novel, and even poetry – which he later reviled. The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story In 1908, he became a literary critic for the magazine The Smart Set, and in 1924, he and George Jean Nathan founded and edited The American Mercury, published by Alfred A. Knopf. For the nonprofit The Smart Set see The Smart Set (TSS The Smart Set was a Literary magazine founded in America in March George Jean Nathan ( February 14 1882 &ndash April 8 1958) was an American Drama Critic and editor The American Mercury is a defunct Magazine founded in 1924 as the brainchild of H Alfred A Knopf Inc is a New York publishing house founded by Alfred A It soon acquired a national circulation and became highly influential on college campuses across America. In 1933, Mencken resigned as editor.

In 1930, Mencken married Sara Haardt, a professor of English at Goucher College in Baltimore, and an author, who was 18 years his junior. Haardt had led efforts in Alabama to ratify the 19th Amendment^[2]. The Nineteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits each of the states and the federal government from The two had met in 1923 after Mencken delivered a lecture at Goucher; a seven-year courtship ensued^[3]. The marriage made national headlines, and many were surprised that Mencken, who once called marriage "the end of hope" and who was well known for mocking relations between the sexes, had gone to the altar. "The Holy Spirit informed and inspired me," Mencken said. "Like all other infidels, I am superstitious and always follow hunches: this one seemed to be a superb one. " ^[4] Even more startling, he was marrying an Alabama native despite his having written scathing essays about the American South. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive

Haardt was in poor health from tuberculosis^[5] throughout their marriage, and died in 1935 of meningitis, leaving Mencken grief-stricken. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Meningitis is Inflammation of the protective membranes covering the Brain and Spinal cord, known collectively as the Meninges. He had always supported her writing, and after her death had a collection of her short stories published under the title Southern Album.

The Great Depression and the New Deal, which Mencken did not support, were factors in Mencken's dropping out of fashion, as were his lack of support for the United States' participation in WWII, and his personal detestation of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including There was little demand for his services as a book reviewer, satirist, and political commentator, so between Haardt's death and the 1948 stroke which left him aware and fully conscious but unable to read or write, Mencken's main intellectual activity, other than writing occasional pieces for the Baltimore papers, was his research on the American language and writing his memoirs. A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain These took the form of humorous, anecdotal, and nostalgic essays, first published in the New Yorker, then collected in the books Happy Days, Newspaper Days, and Heathen Days.

After his stroke, Mencken enjoyed listening to classical music and talking with friends, but he sometimes referred to himself in the past tense as if already dead. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music Preoccupied as he was with how he would be perceived after his death, he organized his papers, letters, newspaper clippings and columns, even grade school report cards, despite being unable to read. These materials were made available to scholars in stages, in 1971, 1981, and 1991, and include hundreds of thousands of letters sent and received - the only omissions were strictly personal letters received from women.

Mencken is interred in Baltimore's Loudon Park Cemetery. The 420 acre (13 km² Loudon Park Cemetery was incorporated in 1853 on the site of "Loudon" the estate of James Carey, a Baltimore merchant city councilman His epitaph reads:

"If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner, and wink your eye at some homely girl. "

After his death, this was also inscribed on a plaque in the lobby of The Baltimore Sun. Mencken had suggested this epitaph for himself in something he had written for The Smart Set many decades earlier.

The "man of ideas"

In his capacity as editor and "man of ideas," Mencken became close friends with the leading literary figures of his time, including Theodore Dreiser who introduced him to Charles Fort and the Fortean Society, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ben Hecht, Sinclair Lewis, James Branch Cabell, and Alfred Knopf, as well as a mentor to several young reporters, including Alistair Cooke. Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( August 27 1871 &ndash December 28 1945) was an American novelist and journalist Charles Hoy Fort ( 6 August, 1874 &ndash 3 May, 1932) was a Dutch-American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena The Fortean Society was started in the United States in 1931 by Tiffany Thayer in order to promote the ideas of American writer Charles Fort. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24 1896 – December 21 1940 was an American writer of Novels and Short stories, whose works are evocative of the Ben Hecht (pronounced hekt) ( February 28, 1894 &ndash April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter director producer playwright Sinclair Lewis ( February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American Novelist, Short-story writer and James Branch Cabell ( April 14, 1879 - May 5, 1958) was an American Author of Fantasy fiction and Belles Alfred A Knopf ( September 12, 1892 &ndash August 11, 1984) was a leading American Publisher of the 20th century founder Alistair Cooke should not be confused with Alastair Cook, English cricketer He also championed artists whose works he considered worthy. For example, he asserted that books such as Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street (1929), “by” Eddie Cantor (ghost written by David Freedman) did more to pull America out of the Great Depression than all government measures combined. Eddie Cantor ( January 31, 1892 - October 10, 1964) was an American Comedian, Singer, Actor, David Freedman ( April 26 1898 &ndash December 8 1936) was a Romanian born American Playwright and Biographer He also mentored John Fante. John Fante ( April 8, 1909 &ndash May 8, 1983) was an American novelist short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent Ayn Rand addressed Mencken as "the greatest representative of a philosophy" to which she wanted to dedicate her life in a July 1934 letter, and listed him as her favorite columnist in later years.

Mencken frankly admired Friedrich Nietzsche -- he was the first writer in English to provide a scholarly analysis of Nietzsche's writings and philosophy -- and Joseph Conrad. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924 was a Polish-born English novelist His humor and satire owe much to Ambrose Bierce and Mark Twain. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24 1842 &ndash 1914? was an American Editorialist Journalist, short-story writer and Satirist. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist He did much to defend Theodore Dreiser, despite freely admitting his faults, including stating forthrightly that Dreiser often wrote badly and was a gullible man. Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( August 27 1871 &ndash December 28 1945) was an American novelist and journalist Mencken also expressed his appreciation for William Graham Sumner in a 1941 collection of Sumner's essays, and regretted never having known Sumner personally. William Graham Sumner ( October 30, 1840 – April 12, 1910) was an American academic and professor at Yale College

Mencken is fictionalized in the play Inherit the Wind as the cynical sarcastic atheist E. Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which opened on Broadway in January 1955 a 1960 K. Hornbeck (right), seen here as played by Gene Kelly in the film version. Eugene Curran “Gene” Kelly ( August 23, &ndash February 2,) was an American Dancer, Actor, Singer, director Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which opened on Broadway in January 1955 a 1960 To his right is Henry Drummond, based on Clarence Darrow and portrayed by Spencer Tracy. Clarence Seward Darrow ( April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American Lawyer and leading member of the American Spencer Tracy ( April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award -winning Actor of stage and

For Mencken, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the finest work of American literature. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (often shortened to Huck Finn) is a novel written by American Humorist Mark Twain. American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. Much of that book relates how gullible and ignorant country "boobs" (as Mencken referred to them) are swindled by confidence men like the (deliberately) pathetic "Duke" and "Dauphin" roustabouts with whom Huck and Jim travel down the Mississippi River. A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, scam, scheme Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (often shortened to Huck Finn) is a novel written by American Humorist Mark Twain. The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to These scam-artists swindle by posing as enlightened speakers on temperance (to obtain the funds to get roaring drunk), as pious "saved" men seeking funds for far off evangelistic missions (to pirates on the high seas, no less), and as learned doctors of phrenology (who can barely spell). See also Prohibition, Teetotalism The Temperance Movement attempted to reduce the amount of Alcohol consumed within a community or society in Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν phrēn, "mind" and λόγος Logos, "knowledge" is a defunct field of study once Mencken read the novel as a story of America's hilarious dark side, a place where democracy, as defined by Mencken, is ". . . the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. "

Mencken was at the top of his game in the 1920s, when a backlash against WWI-era superpatriotism and government expansion (exemplified in the Palmer Raids) led many of the American literati to move to Europe, or to protest; Mencken was arguably the most pugnacious of the latter. Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s principally in North America, that emphasizes the period's social artistic and cultural dynamism American exceptionalism (cf " Exceptionalism " refers to the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other Developed nations The Palmer Raids were a series of controversial raids by the U The ' Lost Generation' is a phrase made popular by American author Ernest Hemingway in his first published novel The Sun Also Rises. The "anti-American" label is an epithet today (and to a lesser degree in Mencken's time); the term is not used here to defame Mencken. Anti-Americanism, often anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility to the people culture or policies of the United States. He would have delighted in being called "anti-American"; his contrarian spirit and admiration of continental European culture (Germany especially) led him to mount unapologetically scathing attacks on nearly all aspects of American culture. Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the Continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.

As a nationally syndicated columnist and book author, he notably attacked ignorance, intolerance, "frauds", fundamentalist Christianity and the "Booboisie," his word for the ignorant middle classes. Fundamentalist Christianity, also known as Christian Fundamentalism or Fundamentalist Evangelicalism, is a movement that arose mainly within British and In 1926, he deliberately had himself arrested for selling an issue of The American Mercury that was banned in Boston under the Comstock laws. " Banned in Boston " was a phrase employed from the late 19th century through Prohibition to describe a literary work Motion picture, or play prohibited The Comstock Act, (ch 258 enacted March 3, 1873) is a United States federal law which made it illegal to send any "obscene lewd and/or lascivious" ^[6] Mencken heaped scorn not only on the public officials he disliked, but also on the contemporary state of American democracy itself: in 1931, the Arkansas legislature passed a motion to pray for Mencken's soul after he had called the state the "apex of moronia". Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States.

Mencken not infrequently took positions in his essays more for shock value than for deep-seated conviction, such as his essay arguing that the Anglo-Saxon "race" was demonstrably the most cowardly in human history, which he wrote at a time when much of his readership considered Anglo-Saxons as standing at the apex of world civilization. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets

Mencken is perhaps best remembered today for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States and his satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he is credited for naming the "Monkey" trial. The American Language, first published in 1919 is H L Mencken 's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. The " Scopes Trial " ( Scopes v State 152 Tenn 424 278 S

Elitism

Instead of arguing that one race or group was superior to another, Mencken believed that every community — whether the community of train porters, blacks, newspapermen, or artists — produced a few people of clear superiority. He considered groupings on a par with hierarchies, which led to a kind of natural elitism and natural aristocracy. Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations "Superior" individuals, in Mencken's view, were those wrongly oppressed and disdained by their own communities, but nevertheless distinguished by their will and personal achievement — not by race or birth. Of course, based on his heritage, achievement, and work ethic, Mencken considered himself a member of this group.

In 1989, as per his instructions, Alfred A. Knopf published Mencken's "secret diary" as The Diary of H. For other uses of the term 'diary' see Diary (disambiguation. L. Mencken. According to an item in the South Bay (California) Daily Breeze [1] on December 5, 1989, titled "Mencken's Secret Diary Shows Racist Leanings," Mencken's views shocked even the "sympathetic scholar who edited it," Charles A. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) Fecher of Baltimore. There was a club in Baltimore called the Maryland Club which had one Jewish member, and that member died. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Mencken said "There is no other Jew in Baltimore who seems suitable," according to the article. And the diary quoted him as saying of blacks, in 1943, ". . . it is impossible to talk anything resembling discretion or judgment to a colored woman. . . " But violence against blacks outraged Mencken. For example, he had this to say about a Maryland lynching:

"Not a single bigwig came forward in the emergency, though the whole town knew what was afoot. Any one of a score of such bigwigs might have halted the crime, if only by threatening to denounce its perpetrators, but none spoke. So Williams was duly hanged, burned and mutilated. "

Another allegation leveled against him was that he was frequently obsessed with the importance of social status or class. In Sociology or Anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in Society (one's Social position) Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. For example, Mencken broke off a relationship of many years with his lover, Marion Bloom, when they were arranging to be married. Marion Bloom was H L Mencken 's lover for much of the early twentieth century - eventually becoming close enough that they seriously considered marriage Critics saw this as being due to Bloom being insufficiently wealthy, upper-class, and sophisticated for him. Mencken, however, claimed he ended the relationship because she converted to Christian Science, which he disdained. Christian Science is believed by its supporters to be a system of spiritually scientific truths which are summed up in the two commandments having one God one Mind one Life Truth

Democracy

Rather than dismissing democracy as a popular fallacy or treating it with open contempt, Mencken's response to it was a publicized sense of amusement. An argumentum ad populum ( Latin: "appeal to the people" in Logic, is a fallacious argument that concludes a Proposition to be true

His feelings on this subject (like his casual feelings on many other such subjects) are sprinkled throughout his writings over the years, very occasionally taking center-stage with the full force of Mencken's prose:

"[D]emocracy gives [the beatification of mediocrity] a certain appearance of objective and demonstrable truth. The mob man, functioning as citizen, gets a feeling that he is really important to the world - that he is genuinely running things. Out of his maudlin herding after rogues and mountebanks there comes to him a sense of vast and mysterious power—which is what makes archbishops, police sergeants, the grand goblins of the Ku Klux and other such magnificoes happy. And out of it there comes, too, a conviction that he is somehow wise, that his views are taken seriously by his betters - which is what makes United States Senators, fortune tellers and Young Intellectuals happy. Finally, there comes out of it a glowing consciousness of a high duty triumphantly done which is what makes hangmen and husbands happy. "

This sentiment^[7] is, of course, fairly consistent with Mencken's distaste for common notions and the philosophical outlook he unabashedly set down throughout his life as a writer (drawing on Friedrich Nietzsche and Herbert Spencer, among others). Herbert Spencer ( April 27, 1820 – December 8, 1903) was an English Philosopher; prominent classical liberal

Mencken wrote as follows about the difficulties of good men reaching national office when such campaigns must necessarily be conducted remotely:

"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. " (Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920)

Much of Mencken's enthusiasm for Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany was based upon that nation's inward autocracy, despite its being nominally a parliamentary democracy.

Comments on Jews and Elitism

Mencken occasionally made arguably anti-semitic statements and certainly believed in significant genetic distinctness between races. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility In his introduction to Nietzsche's The Antichrist:

"On the Continent, the day is saved by the fact that the plutocracy tends to become more and more Jewish. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist The Anti-Christ (Der Antichrist (also could be translated as The Anti-Christian is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1895 Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy or power provided by wealth Here the intellectual cynicism of the Jew almost counterbalances his social unpleasantness. If he is destined to lead the plutocracy of the world out of Little Bethel he will fail, of course, to turn it into an aristocracy--i. e. , a caste of gentlemen--, but he will at least make it clever, and hence worthy of consideration. The case against the Jews is long and damning; it would justify ten thousand times as many pogroms as now go on in the world. But whenever you find a Davidsbündlerschaft making practise against the Philistines, there you will find a Jew laying on. The Philistines ( Hebrew פלשתים plishtim) (see "other uses" below were a people who inhabited the southern coast of Canaan, Maybe it was this fact that caused Nietzsche to speak up for the children of Israel quite as often as he spoke against them. He was not blind to their faults, but when he set them beside Christians he could not deny their general superiority. Perhaps in America and England, as on the Continent, the increasing Jewishness of the plutocracy, while cutting it off from all chance of ever developing into an aristocracy, will yet lift it to such a dignity that it will at least deserve a certain grudging respect. Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations "^[8]

Although Mencken idealized German culture and Nietzsche and may have inherited racial and antisemitic attitudes common in late 19th-century Germany, he came to view Hitler as a buffoon, and once compared Hitler to a common Ku Klux Klan member (but only in complaining about the American left's tendency to decry Hitler's murderousness while ignoring what he felt was the much worse record of Stalin and the Bolsheviks),^[9] Mencken made no public statements ridiculing Nazism and, according to his diary, was opposed to U. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Ku Klux Klan ( KKK) is the name of several past and present secret domestic terrorist organizations in the United States, generally in the southern states that are Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction S. involvement in World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

In Treatise on the Gods (1930), Mencken wrote:

The Jews could be put down very plausibly as the most unpleasant race ever heard of. As commonly encountered, they lack many of the qualities that mark the civilized man: courage, dignity, incorruptibility, ease, confidence. They have vanity without pride, voluptuousness without taste, and learning without wisdom. Their fortitude, such as it is, is wasted upon puerile objects, and their charity is mainly a form of display. ^[10]

On the other hand, it may be more correct to view his remarks on Jews as simply symptomatic of his generally critical, elitist posture--especially keeping in mind his actual public positions on matters of desperate importance to Jews generally. The progressive writer Gore Vidal defended Mencken thusly:

In a cheery way, [Mencken] dislikes most minorities and if he ever had a good word to say about the majority of his countrymen, I have yet to come across it. Gore Vidal (born October 3 1925 ˌgɔər vɪˈdɑːl or /vɪˈdæl/ is an American Novelist, Screenwriter, Playwright, Recently, when his letters were published, it was discovered that He Did Not Like the Jews, and that he had said unpleasant things about them not only as individuals but In General, plainly the sign of a Hitler-Holocaust enthusiast. So shocked was everyone that even the New York Review of Books' unofficial de-anti-Semitiser, Garry Wills (he salvaged Dickens, barely), has yet to come to his aid with An Explanation. But in Mencken's private correspondence, he also snarls at black Americans, Orientals, Britons, women, and WASPs, particularly the clay-eating Appalachians, whom he regarded as subhuman. But private irritability is of no consequence when compared to what really matters, public action.

Far from being an anti-Semite, Mencken was one of the first journalists to denounce the persecution of the Jews in Germany at a time when the New York Times, say, was notoriously reticent. On November 27, 1938, Mencken writes (Baltimore Sun), "It is to be hoped that the poor Jews now being robbed and mauled in Germany will not take too seriously the plans of various politicians to rescue them. " He then reviews the various schemes to "rescue" the Jews from the Nazis, who had not yet announced their own final solution. ^[11]

As Hitler menaced Europe, Mencken attacked President Roosevelt for refusing to admit Jewish refugees into the United States:

There is only one way to help the fugitives, and that is to find places for them in a country in which they can really live. Why shouldn't the United States take in a couple hundred thousand of them, or even all of them?

Mencken married a Jewish woman (Sara Haardt) and nearly married another (Marion Bloom). Marion Bloom was H L Mencken 's lover for much of the early twentieth century - eventually becoming close enough that they seriously considered marriage He also numbered Jews amongst his friends and confidants - including Louis Untermeyer, Philip Goodman, Alfred Knopf and George Jean Nathan. Louis Untermeyer ( October 1 1885 - December 18 1977) was an American Author, Poet, anthologist and editor Alfred A Knopf ( September 12, 1892 &ndash August 11, 1984) was a leading American Publisher of the 20th century founder George Jean Nathan ( February 14 1882 &ndash April 8 1958) was an American Drama Critic and editor He prided himself on being passably conversant in Yiddish, and was knowledgeable as to most Jewish folkways and lore. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High

Memorials

H. L. Mencken House

Mencken's home at 1524 Hollins Street, where he lived for 67 years before his death in 1956, in Baltimore's Union Square neighborhood was bequeathed to the University of Maryland, Baltimore on the death of Mencken's younger brother August in 1967. Union Square is a Neighborhood located in the south-western part of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. University of Maryland Baltimore, (also known as UMB) was founded in 1807 Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The City of Baltimore acquired the property in 1983 and the "H. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) L. Mencken House" became part of the City Life Museums. The house has been closed to general admission since 1997, but is opened for special events and group visits by arrangement. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar

The H. L. Mencken Room & Collection

Shortly after World War II, Mencken expressed his intention of bequeathing his books and papers to Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library. The Enoch Pratt Free Library, located in Baltimore Maryland, USA is one of the oldest free Public libraries in the United States. At the time of his death in 1956, the Library was in possession of most of the present large collection. As a result, Mencken's papers as well as much of his library, which includes many books inscribed by major authors, are held in the Central branch of the Pratt Library on Cathedral Street in Baltimore. The H. L. Mencken Room and Collection, on the third floor, housing this collection, was dedicated on April 17, 1956. Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The collection contains Mencken's typescripts, his newspaper and magazine contributions, his published books, family documents and memorabilia, clipping books, a large collection of presentation volumes, a file of correspondence with prominent Marylanders, and the extensive material he collected while preparing The American Language. The American Language, first published in 1919 is H L Mencken 's book about the English language as spoken in the United States.

Other collections of Menckenia are at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University. Dartmouth College ( is a private, Coeducational University located in Hanover, New Hampshire, U Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. The Sara Haardt Mencken collection is at Goucher College. Some of Mencken's vast literary correspondence is held at the New York Public Library. The New York Public Library ( NYPL) is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of America's most significant Research libraries.

Works

• George Bernard Shaw: His Plays (1905)
• The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1907)
• The Artist: A Drama Without Words (1912)
• A Book of Burlesques (1916)
• A Little Book in C Major (1916)
• The Creed of a Novelist (1916)
• Pistols for Two (1917)
• A Book of Prefaces (1917)
• In Defense of Women (1917)
• Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918)
• The American Language (1919)
• Prejudices (1919–27)
  • First Series (1919)
  • Second Series (1920)
  • Third Series (1922)
  • Fourth Series (1924)
  • Fifth Series (1926)
  • Sixth Series (1927)
  • Selected Prejudices (1927)
• The Hills of Zion (1925)
• Notes on Democracy (1926)
• Libido for the Ugly (1927)
• Menckeneana: A Schimpflexikon (ed) (1928)
• On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe (1920-1936)
• Treatise on the Gods (1930)
• Making a President (1932)
• Treatise on Right and Wrong (1934)
• Happy Days, 1880–1892 (1940)
• Newspaper Days, 1899–1906 (1941)
• Heathen Days, 1890–1936 (1943)
• 1948. George Bernard Shaw His Plays (1905 is H L Mencken 's interpretation of G The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche is a book by H L Mencken, the first edition in 1907 about the Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This article is not about The Book of Prefaces by Alasdair Gray A Book of Prefaces is H In Defense of Women is H L Mencken 's 1918 book on women and the relationship between the sexes The American Language, first published in 1919 is H L Mencken 's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. The Libido for the Ugly is H L Mencken 's 1927 essay making use of Juvenalian satire, that criticises the Architecture of the Pittsburgh Menckeneanea A Schimpflexikon is a collection of articles and quotations denouncing H Happy Days 1880-1892 (1940 is the first of an Autobiographical Trilogy by H A Mencken Chrestomathy.
• 1965. The American Scene (Huntington Cairns, ed).
• 1991. The Impossible H. L. Mencken: A Selection Of His Best Newspaper Stories (Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, ed).
• 1994. A Second Chrestomathy.
• 2007. A Religious Orgy in Tennessee A Reporter's Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Miscellany

• When a stripteaser asked him to coin a "more dignified" term for her profession, Mencken (who loved night life) proposed 'ecdysiast,' meaning 'one who sheds. A striptease or Exotic dance is a form of erotic entertainment usually a Dance, in which the performer known as a "stripper" gradually undresses ' ^[12].
• In the autobiography Black Boy by Richard Wright, Richard reads Prejudices by Mencken. An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" Black Boy ( 1945) is an Autobiography by Richard Wright. Depicting Wright's life in great detail the book tells the story of his troubled youth Richard Wright may refer to Richard Wright (musician (1943–2008 also known as Rick Wright founding member of Pink Floyd Richard B The word prejudice refers to prejudgment making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event

See also

• Bathtub hoax

References

Notes

Biographies

• Hobson, Fred (1994) Mencken: A Life. Random House. ISBN 0-8018-5238-2. Also published in paper back by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Rodgers, Marion Elizabeth (2005) Mencken: The American Iconoclast. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507238-3
• Scruggs, Charles (1984) The Sage in Harlem.
• Terry Teachout. (2002) The Skeptic : A Life of H. L. Mencken. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-050528-1

External links

• Works by H. L. Mencken at Project Gutenberg
• Mencken's columns on the Scopes Trial - positiveatheism. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works org.
• The Mencken Society
• Friends of the H. L. Mencken House
• The H. L. Mencken Page
• Union Square Online
• Swaim, Don (1996) "Bierce Duels with the Sage of Baltimore." From the Ambrose Bierce site. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24 1842 &ndash 1914? was an American Editorialist Journalist, short-story writer and Satirist.
• 1989 interview with Charles Fecher about H.L. Mencken by Don Swaim at Wired for Books. Don Swaim (born 1936 is an American journalist and broadcaster. Wired for Books is an online educational project of the WOUB Center for Public Media at Ohio University in Athens Ohio.
• Find-A-Grave profile for H. L. Mencken
• The Papers of the Wilton C. Dinges Collection (H.L. Mencken Collection) at Gettysburg College