H&l mencken biography of martin
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One of the most popular television game shows of my youth was a program called To Tell the Truth, whose celebrity panel matched wits with teams of three contestants, all of whom signed affidavits claiming to be the same person but two of whom were in fact impostors. (On one occasion, each contestant claimed to be the real-life victim of mistaken identity portrayed in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man.) At the end of each round, Bud Collyer, once the mellifluous voice of radio’s Superman, intoned, “Will the real Mr. X please stand up?” and, after a bit of preliminary jockeying for position, the real Mr. X would do just that.
I thought of that half-remembered tableau as I read Marion Elizabeth Rodgers’s Mencken: The American Iconoclast, whose dust jacket bears a second subtitle, “The Life and Times of the Bad Boy of Baltimore.” Rodgers is the third of a trio of biographers who have published full-length studies of H. L. Mencken in the past decade, the other two being Fred Hobson (Mencken: A Life) and myself (The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken). We were all at work in the Mencken Room of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library for a brief moment in the early Nineties, though it has been years since I saw either of my erstwhile colleagues other than on C-SPAN. For that matter, it had been a couple of years since I last gave any thought to Mencken himself. I’d spent a decade working on The Skeptic, setting down my conclusions about his life and work in the clearest and most artful way I knew how, and that, I assumed, was that. Once the book was published and the post-publication touring and speechmaking complete, I put its subject aside, surprised that I no longer had any interest in reading his writings and wondering if this loss of interest would prove to be permanent. Was Mencken the sort of writer whom one could “solve” like an equation? Or was there more to him than that?
Thus it was with some surprise that I found myself
When H. L. Mencken died in 1956, he left behind well-ordered diaries, letters, and personal papers that biographer Fred Hobson has collected in the definitive portrait of a complex and colorful life. In Mencken: A Life, Hobson quotes liberally from Mencken's writings on every subject, from Americans ("the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goose-steppers ever gathered under one flag") to the English ("England gave us Puritanism, Germany gave us Pilsner"), from his thoughts on Jews (both "the most unpleasant race ever heard of" and "the chief dreamers of the human race, and beyond all comparison its greatest poets") to Puritanism ("that haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy"). Along with Mencken's well-known literary slashings at the "boobsoisie" -- with his trademark political "incorrectitude" -- Hobson's access to thousands of pages of personal manuscripts allows a broad and thoughtful look at the demons and affections of the personal life of the Sage of Baltimore. The result is a picture that would satisfy even its subject's critical eye.
"A beautifully crafted, thoroughly entertaining and intellectually unsentimental book that even Mencken might find met his standards." -- Jack W. Germond, The Baltimore Sun
"Mencken is a comprehensive yet bracingly readable effort that will delight readers as a cold glass of pilsner would have refreshed its subject on a summer's day." -- Martin F. Nolan, The Boston Globe
H.L. Mencken: A Comprehensive Overview
In this article, you will be introduced to H.L. Mencken, an influential American journalist, critic, and essayist. We will explore his early life, career, political views, and his insights about democracy. Gaining an understanding of Mencken's legacy will allow you to better appreciate his impact on political thought and journalism.
H.L. Mencken Biography: Early Life and Career
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 12, 1880, Henry Louis Mencken grew up in a middle-class English-German family. He showed an early interest in journalism and went on to become a prolific writer with an exceptional career.
A few key points about Mencken's early life and career include:
- Mencken began his career at the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899, where he worked as a reporter and later the city editor.
- He then moved to the Baltimore Sun in 1906 and eventually became a columnist and an editor.
- From 1914 to 1923, Mencken co-edited the cultural and literary magazine, The Smart Set, with George Jean Nathan.
- He also founded the influential magazine The American Mercury in 1924, which featured works from prominent authors such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis.
Mencken's writing style was known for its satirical wit and piercing insights into American society, politics, and culture. He was particularly interested in the English language, which he explored in-depth in his book, The American Language.
H.L. Mencken Political Views: A Critical Analysis
The political views of H.L. Mencken can be described as libertarian and anti-establishment, with a strong emphasis on individual freedom and limited government intervention. Mencken was highly critical of politicians, political parties, and any form of ideological dogmatism or blind loyalty.
Here are some of Mencken's key political stances and beliefs:
| Individualism: | Mencken was a staunch advocate of individual freedom and opposed any for . |