The Vintage Mencken [Paperback]

H.L. Mencken (Author), Alistair Cooke (Compiler)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0679728953 | ISBN-13: 978-0679728955 | Publication Date: March 17, 1990

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

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679728953
• ISBN-13: 978-0679728955
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will laugh, April 8, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Gambier, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vintage Mencken (Paperback)

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."

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mencken was a great newspaper journalist and writer, April 16, 2002

By 

Daniel J Bush (Battle Ground, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vintage Mencken (Paperback)

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.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sorely missed!, July 16, 1998

By 

Sam Boland (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vintage Mencken (Paperback)

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.'