Mencken (1880-1956) was among the wittiest American individualists of the 20th century. He achieved an incredible output, contributing chapters to 20 books, producing about 30 books on his own, turning out thousands of newspaper columns and writing perhaps 100,000 letters--an estimated 10 million words altogether. He wrote about literature, politics, food, health, sports, music and many other subjects. He spoke out again and again for individual liberty. He lost his newspaper job after denouncing President Woodrow Wilson for maneuvering America into World War I. Two decades later enough people protested his critiques of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, both for expanding government power and maneuvering America into World War II, that he had to resign another newspaper job.

Mencken's most enduring achievement is The American Language, the first volume of which appeared in 1919. It went through four editions, and he added Supplement I in 1945 and Supplement II in 1948--three hefty volumes. He gathered a huge number of fascinating illustrations showing how the American language evolved spontaneously as it absorbed words and phrases from the languages of immigrants, terms from various occupations and myriad other sources.

Mencken's most endearing volumes are his first three volumes of autobiography, Happy Days (1940), Heathen Days (1941) and Newspaper Days (1943). They tell the story of this independent-minded, Baltimore lad who was determined to pursue his own happiness and usually found it. He loved many things, including his wife, beer, Beethoven and Gilbert & Sullivan.

Of course, Mencken was known for his tart-tongued criticism of lowlifes, including prohibitionists and politicians. There was an uproar when his Diary was published in 1989 because of disparaging remarks about Jews, until it was pointed out that Mencken made disparaging remarks about all kinds of people.

Mencken edited a fine collection of his out of print writings as A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949), and it made the New York Times bestseller list alongside Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. New York Daily News arts columnist Terry Teachout discovered that Mencken had selected and done much of the editing for A Second Mencken Chrestomathy, but he didn't finish the work because he suffered a stroke. Teachout finished the job, and the book was published in 1995. There are more articles relating to individualism and liberty than in the first volume.

Perhaps Mencken's most popular book is A New Dictionary of Quotations: On Historical Principles from Ancient & Modern Sources (1942). His entries are gathered by topic and organized chronologically. For libertarians, many of his most delight entries appear under the headings of education, freedom, genius, government, insurrection, intolerance, Jefferson, liberty, revolution, peace, reason, rights, self-reliance, slavery, socialist, tariff, taxes, toleration,tyranny and war.

Among Mencken's other books in print are The Vintage Mencken (1956) and My Life as Author and Editor (1993). These, like practically all of his books, reflect the spirit of this unforgettable individualist.

(Reprinted with permission from Laissez Faire Books)

Quotable

"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are."

Books & Tapes

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