I am a fan of H.L. Mencken, for I am fond of the use of the mean mouth. Very few people deploy it better than HLM. This is a list of the table of contents:
About H.L. Mencken / by Robert McHugh -- 1. American credulity: A neglected anniversary (The bathtub hoax) -- Melancholy reflections -- Hymn to the truth -- The believing mind -- 2. Land of the free: The Bill of Rights -- The Comstockian imbecility -- The anatomy of wowserism -- Padlocks -- The battle of ideas -- The birth control hullabaloo -- Equality before the law -- 3. The arts: Essay on constructive criticism -- Hints for novelists -- Yet more hints for novelists -- Poe's start in life -- The case of Dreiser -- H.L. Mencken on Mark Twain -- Robert Louis Stevenson -- Beethoven, obit. March 26, 1827 -- The music of the American Negro -- On realism -- View of literary gents -- The avalanche of books -- 4. Religion, ethics, and science: Fundamentalism: divine and secular -- The Rev. clergy -- Cousin Jocko -- Jacquerie -- Man as mammal -- Havelock Ellis -- On eugenics -- Human monogamy -- Another long-awaited book -- Holy Writ -- 5. Politics, government, jurisprudence: The United States Senate -- The national conventions -- Notes on government -- Blackmail made easy -- A long-felt want -- Vive le roi! -- 6. Education, philology: The pedagogue's Utopia -- On going to college -- The language we speak -- Babel -- The emperor of dictionaries -- 7. Miscellany: The American scene -- On connubial bliss -- Dreams of peace -- On human progress -- The South rebels again -- The sad case of Tennessee -- The movies -- The telephone nuisance -- Victualry as a fine art -- On controversy. While not all of these are gems, nonetheless it was Mencken who opined: "To have read and remembered fifty good books places one in a small and harrassed aristocracy in America." In the current age of Trump. one has evidence of this sour comment. ( )