360 Staff Pick: H. L. Mencken’s Prejudices

This is the handsomest set of the essays that made H. L. Mencken famous.

Mencken was indignant about a lot of things, and he did not hold fire. Many of his reference points are forgotten, but it’s still bracing to read Mencken’s vitriolic attacks on what people of his time (and ours) hold sacred. We have plenty of outraged conservatives and a few indignant lefties, but nobody alive today can use ‘democratic’ as a pejorative. If Mencken came back to life today, we’d crucify him.