The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken Book

"Here the general average of intelligence, of knowledge, of competence, of integrity, of self-respect, of honor is so low that any man who knows his trade, does not fear ghosts, as read fifty good books, and practices the common decencies stands out as brilliantly as a wart on a bald head, and is thrown willy-nilly into a meager and exclusive aristocracy. And here, more than anywhere else that I know of or have heard of, the daily panorama of human existence, of private and communal folly- the unending procession of governmental extortions and chicaneries, of commercial brigandages and throat-slittings, of theological buffooneries, of aesthetic ribaldries, of legal swindles and harlotries, of miscellaneous rogueries, villainies, imbecilities, grotesqueries, and extravagances-is so inordinately gross and preposterous, so perfectly brought up to the highest conceivable amperage, so steadily enriched with an almost fabulous daring and originality, that only the man who was born with a petrified diaphragm can fail to laugh himself to sleep every night, and to awake every morning with all the eager, unflagging expectation of a Sunday-school superintendent touring the Paris peep-shows" (p. 184)

HL Mencken (1880-1956) is perhaps Americas most famous literary journalist and most famous for his ability to satirize American society (as he called them, the 'booboisie') and criticize those lofty puritans of old. He is also famous for writing about the American vernacular and using it in a idiosyncratic way to emphasize its originality.

Mencken was born in Baltimore to parents of German ancestry. His father - August Mencken - had his own cigar factory. "(August) was a high-tariff Republican who ran a militantly nounion shop and viewed the eight-hour day as "a project of foreign nihilists to undermine and wreck the American Republic"" (p. 25). August was a self-made man who managed to bestow his values onto his son (although HL to run the cigar factory). Event though Mencken went on to become a world famous journalist, he continued to live in the same house his whole life.

Mencken was a voracious reader at an early age and his most formative reading experience turned out to be Mark Twain. This showed how one can satirize society and to discover the power of the vernacular to do so. The rest of his life was really the story of a workaholic whose primary calling seemed to be to weed out hypocrisy and to try to right all the wrongs of society. I was drawn to him because I had read many of his quotes and has read he was a libertarian. This turned out not to be the whole truth as he was an Germanophile who had a romantic view of Wilhelmine Germany while being strongly against England.

The biography is well written but I found myself mostly interested in the early days of Mencken as it reminded me of myself. I was curious to find out how come he stayed true to his values all his life despite the major changes which occurred in America. One possible explanation is a certain lack of curiosity and a strong belief in oneself.

The biography is interesting for those who want to see the America of yesterday whose remnants are still with us today.