3/14/22

A broad collection of essays on topics including literary, historical, cultural, and miscellaneous issues. Mencken's wit and literary style make most topics interesting and more often than not intellectually invigorating. ( )

It is always a pleasure to read an original, honest, fearless, and penetrating thinker who writes well. ( )

I stopped reading this before I got through the second chapter. Just can't do the animal abuse thing.

This collection is meant to be some of Mencken's best work, and is a collection of opinion pieces relevant to the times and published for editorial entertainment. His is a writing style that endures, even if some of the subject matter does not. He has a delicate way of using strong words and writes like a journalist with a novelist's eye to the world. I enjoyed his slice-of-life word paintings more than his political and social rants. He has a fairly dim view of his peers and a lot of criticism of other writers, and I'm sure he intended to write with vehemence but the polite language he uses makes it seem like being flogged with pretty ribbons. ( )