H. L. Mencken was the most provocative and influential journalist and
cultural critic in twentieth-century America. In this volume and a
companion, The Library of America presents all six series of
Prejudices (1919-1927), the iconoclastic collections that helped blast
American literature out of its complacency and into a new age of
frankness and maturity. The fantastic linguistic inventiveness,
full-bodied humor, and unwaveringly fierce courage of his journalism
made him a liberating force for his contemporaries.
The final three series show Mencken at his lacerating best, taking on
targets from religious fundamentalism to the dismal state of higher
education. Included are such famous essays as "The Hills of Zion," his
report on the local atmosphere surrounding the Scopes trial in 1925; "In
Memoriam: W.J.B.," his relentless postmortem on William Jennings Bryan;
"The Fringes of Lovely Letters," a hilarious delineation of the lower
and outer reaches of the literary world; "Comstockery," a devastating
account of the anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock ("A good woman,
to him, was simply one who was efficiently policed"); and "On Living in
Baltimore," a celebration of his beloved native city.
Mencken was a man of strong enthusiasms and even stronger antipathies,
expressed in a prose style that marshaled all the resources of the
American language in a rich blend of comic invention and sarcastic fury.
To read Prejudices is to embark on an exploration of many curious
byways of American culture in a moment of tumultuous and often combative
transition. Mencken never shied from combat, and the courage with which
he confronted the entrenched truisms and hypocrisies of his time made
him a uniquely liberating force in American letter.
LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization
founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by
publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most
significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than
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