A second Mencken chrestomathy

Before there was any such thing as political correctness, H.L. Mencken was flouting it. He was also cheerfully deriding the precursors of family values and lambasting the guardians of public virtue. This historic new collection is further evidence that Mencken was our most astute, stylish, and biliously funny commentator on the eternal American quackeries. A Second Mencken Chrestomathy (a word meaning "a collection of choice passages from an author or authors") was compiled by the sage of Baltimore before he suffered the stroke that ended his career and has only now been retrieved from his private papers by the columnist and Mencken biographer Terry Teachout. Its 238 selections'many of which have never before been published in book form'encompass subjects from Americana ("The Commonwealth of Morons") to men and women ("Sex on the Stage") and from criminology ("More and Better Psychopaths") to the pursuit of happiness ("Alcohol"). The result is Mencken at his most engaging, maddening, heretical, and hilarious.

The Commonwealth of Morons -- The Pushful American -- The Metaphysic of Rotary -- The Yokel -- Varieties of Envy -- The Immigration Problem -- Utopia in Little -- Bring On the Clowns -- The Politician Under Democracy -- The Joboisie -- The Men Who Rule Us -- Liberty and Democracy -- Leaves from a Note-book -- The True Immortal -- The Same Old Gang -- Reflections on Government -- The End of an Era -- The Suicide of Democracy -- The Last Ditch -- Liberalism -- The War Against War -- Summary Judgment -- The Next Round -- The Art of Selling War -- Onward, Christian Soldiers! -- War Without Art -- Memorials of Dishonor -- The Nature of Liberty -- The Beloved Turnkey -- Cops and Their Art -- Jack Ketch as Eugenist -- The Humanitarian Fallacy -- One Size Fits All -- More and Better Psychopaths -- The Arbuckle Case -- Stewards of Nonsense -- Over the Side -- The Judge -- The Genesis of a Deity -- Christian Origins -- The Root of Religion -- The Mask -- The Eternal Mob.