A Primeval Uplifter

LUCY STONE: Pioneer of Woman’s Rights, by Alice Stone Blackwell; Boston: Little, Brown & Company; reviewed by H.L. Mencken IF THIS biography is a shade partial the fact is surely not surprising, for Miss Blackwell is not only Lucy Stone’s daughter but also a firm believer in all of the reforms that she advocated, excluding, I believe, Prohibition. Indeed, it Continue Reading →

Mencken’s Translation of The Antichrist

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on “democracy,” “equality,” Judaism, and Christianity: translated by H.L. Mencken THIS BOOK BELONGS to the most rare of men. Perhaps not one of them is yet alive. It is possible that they may be among those who understand my “Zarathustra”: how could I confound myself with those who are now sprouting ears? – First the day Continue Reading →

Head of the Whole Business

Red Conspirator: J. Peters and the American Communist Underground by Thomas Sakmyster; University of Illinois Press, March 2011 $50.00, 312 pages, including 6 black & white photographs reviewed by David Chambers FROM AUGUST 3, 1948, until today, America has had to wait to learn more about the head of Soviet espionage in Washington during the 1930s. On that day, Whittaker Continue Reading →

Henry Hazlitt’s Books: More Relevant Than Ever

by Gideon Dene THE WORKS of American Mercury contributor and editor Henry Hazlitt (he was H.L. Mencken’s chosen successor) are brilliant gems of economic insight which, if they were only more well known, could change the downward spiral of the West’s economic fortunes. Did you know, for example, that inflation is not a rise in prices? Did you know that Continue Reading →