Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was an American journalist, editor, critic, and philologist. Though he was not a distinguished stylist, the extraordinary vigor of his expression was memorable. The first American to be widely read as a critic was H. L. Me...

During a career that encompassed several roles and lasted for nearly fifty years, Henry Louis Mencken was above all else a libertarian. He saw freedom of speech as the most valuable attribute of any society, and he insisted, throughout some long and bloo...

During his lifetime H. L. Mencken was called the Great Iconoclast and the Sage of Baltimore, appellations he gained because of his journalistic writing in newspapers and magazines. However, his contributions to American letters were more extensive than t...