The Vintage Mencken: The Finest and Fiercest Essays of the Great Literary Iconoclast

by Alistair Cooke and H.L. Mencken

Book Overview

The anthology that spans an entire lifetime of writing by America's greatest curmudgeon, with a "flick of mischief on nearly every page."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679728953
• ISBN13: 9780679728955
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Mencken At His Best and Worst.

_The Vintage Mencken_ compiled by Mencken's protégé Alistair Cooke is a collection of various essays of the great Baltimore iconoclast H. L. Mencken. H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) was a journalist and writer who was born and lived in Baltimore for most of his life. Mencken is perhaps best known as one of the founders of _The American Mercury_. Mencken's commentary on American life and politics in the early Twentieth Century is often bitter, sarcastic, cynical, and abrasive, but the intent is almost always humorous. Mencken is also well-known for being brazenly politically incorrect and has been criticized extensively for his alleged "racism" and "anti-Semitism" by the usual suspects. However, like all Mencken's opinions, his views remain highly idiosyncratic and difficult to define, and Mencken frequently rails against "Ku Kluxry", though whether he is being intentionally ironic is difficult to determine. However, while Mencken's challenge to the political correctness of his day is to be applauded, in certain respects he can become infuriating. Among other things, Mencken takes on Prohibition, religion, "puritanism", racial equality, the plutocracy, American militarism and World Wars I and II, Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt, feminism, Anglo-Saxon superiority, the South and rural people, populism, "quackery" in medicine, fundamentalism, and anti-Darwinism. Philosophically, Mencken appears to have been influenced by the caustic style of both Mark Twain and Nietzsche. Mencken's political views have been described as libertarian (and he even at times uses the very word "libertarian" to describe the general gist of his viewpoint); however, they differ in certain respects from modern libertarianism. Mencken also retains an elitist attitude, frequently looking down at rural people and the middle classes (what he ironically calls "the American booboisie"). Mencken also is believed to have been an ardent Social Darwinist and was a defender of Darwinism against religion. He also had very idiosyncratic views on race and frequently made deprecating remarks about blacks and Jews (though privately he had many friends of both races), which has led some to claim that he was a racialist. However, his views on race are complicated (as he also attacks Anglo-Saxons and certain points about segregation towards the end of his life) and thus may be seen as despising all races. In terms of religion, Mencken is frequently considered a "free thinker" and possibly an agnostic or atheist and he frequently refers to himself as a "heathen" and "infidel". However, like all things concerning Mencken it is difficult to discern exactly where he stands on any issue, partly because he is frequently contradictory and takes contrary positions merely to be contrary and partly because his intent is frequently humor and thus one can never be certain how serious he is. This book begins with essays by Mencken featuring comments on his early life in Baltimore. Mencken descr

A Great Joy

When Paul Johnson called Mencken the "Shakespeare of American Journalism" he wasn't exagerrating. "Star-Spangled Men," for example, is one of the most brilliant and hilarious commentaries to ever be written, and it should be mandatory reading for college students. In fact, this book should be a staple of American Studies curriculae. Just as it would be interesting and very helpful if we could have Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln around to advise us today, so would we be greatly entertained and enlightened (at the very least in the sense of having our spirits lifted) if Mencken were here to ply his craft from his charming little townhouse in Baltimore.

Mencken was a great newspaper journalist and writer

Please read this book for a refreshing view from a highly intelligent author from the early 20th century...Mencken was *not* a confirmed racist - this tag was applied to him when some of his personal diaries were published and his writings were compared against the current day "PC" language test. If you were to strike up a conversation with any person 90 years ago I would think their speech would shock modern sensibilities on the race issue. In Menckin's case, I encourage you to read about his actions in the race issue - the fact that as an editor he published African-American authors when no other mainstream publications would do so. That he opposed segregation and had many friends he actively and publicly supported that were of a diverse nature religiously and racially. If you want a good weekend read with bookends from the beginning and the end of the twentieth century, pick up "The Vintage Mencken" and "Eat the Rich" or "Parliament of Whores" from P.J. O'Rourke, the current HL Mencken scholar at the Cato Institute. You will have a refreshing libertarian infusion which will help you withstand the current New Left and Religious Right babble that is so pervasive in the media these days.

Sorely missed!

How I wish Mencken were alive today, taking aim at all of the manifestations of American bufoonery: political correctness, television evangelists, daytime talk shows and Bill Clinton; his work would never be finished. This volume wonderfully demonstrates why he was the most influential journalist, editor, book reviewer and writer of his day. If you don't read all these essays, be sure not to miss 'The Anglo-Saxon', 'The Hills of Zion' and 'In Memoriam: W.J.B.'

You will laugh

The Vintage Mencken, edited by Alistair Cooke, will have readers reaching for their dictionaries and laughing uproariously at the same time. Mencken, in savage and truculent language, denounces politicians, YMCA's,educational systems, American authors, police officers, and other manifestations of quackery. An excellent introduction to the work of the man called "The Sage from Baltimore."