by H.L. Mencken (pictured) I OFTEN WONDER how much sound and nourishing food is fed to the animals in the zoological gardens of America every week, and try to figure out what the public gets in return for the cost thereof. The annual bill must surely run into millions; one is constantly hearing how much beef a lion downs at Continue Reading →
by Frank Miele (pictured) H.L. MENCKEN, a famous writer of the first half of the 20th century, is often credited with having said: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” So far as I can tell, he never actually said that, which may just give more credit to the validity of the dictum itself. However, he Continue Reading →
Honeyed and abrasive: the irrepressible journalism of the ‘Sage of Baltimore’ and American Mercury founder by Michael Dirda H.L. MENCKEN (1880—1956) is often smilingly referred to as the Sage of Baltimore (especially in Baltimore), but during the first third of the twentieth century he was the most outspoken, irrepressibly contrarian literary and political journalist in the United States. As the Continue Reading →
Robert Ingersoll (pictured) was a lantern of reason in a nation of fools by H.L. Mencken WHAT the country lacks is obviously an Ingersoll. It is, indeed, a wonder that the chautauquas have never spewed one forth. Certainly there must be many a jitney Demosthenes on those lonely circuits who tires mightily of the standard balderdash, and longs with a Continue Reading →
by Ann Hendon ACCORDING TO Reading Local, there’s a new literary reading series in Baltimore that honors the spirit of H.L. Mencken and The American Mercury. They say: The second installment of the New Mercury Reading Series was held at Jordan Faye Contemporary Gallery, featuring Charles Cohen, Steve Luxenberg, and Melissa Hale. Their mission statement is a re-envisioning of H. Continue Reading →