Mencken

The American Iconoclast

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Journalism, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century, Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Mencken by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Marion Elizabeth Rodgers ISBN: 9780199839278
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 1, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
ISBN: 9780199839278
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 1, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

A towering figure on the American cultural landscape, H.L. Mencken stands out as one of our most influential stylists and fearless iconoclasts--the twentieth century's greatest newspaper journalist, a famous wit, and a constant figure of controversy. Marion Elizabeth Rodgers has written the definitive biography of Mencken, the finest book ever published about this giant of American letters. Rodgers illuminates both the public and the private man, covering the many love affairs, his happy marriage at the age of 50 to Sara Haardt, and his complicated but stimulating friendship with the famed theater critic George Jean Nathan. Rodgers vividly recreates Mencken's era: the glittering tapestry of turn-of-the-century America, the roaring twenties, depressed thirties, and the home front during World War II. But the heart of the book is Mencken. When few dared to shatter complacencies, Mencken fought for civil liberties and free speech, playing a prominent role in the Scope's Monkey Trial, battling against press censorship, and exposing pious frauds and empty uplift. The champion of our tongue in The American Language, Mencken also played a pivotal role in defining American letters through The Smart Set and The American Mercury, magazines that introduced such writers as James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. Drawing on research in more than sixty archives including private collections in the United States and in Germany, previously unseen, on exclusive interviews with Mencken's friends, and on his love letters and FBI files, here is the full portrait of one of America's most colorful and influential men. "This biography, the best ever on the sage of Baltimore, is exhaustive but never exhausting, and offers readers more than moderate intelligence and an awfully good time." --Martin Nolan, Boston Globe

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A towering figure on the American cultural landscape, H.L. Mencken stands out as one of our most influential stylists and fearless iconoclasts--the twentieth century's greatest newspaper journalist, a famous wit, and a constant figure of controversy. Marion Elizabeth Rodgers has written the definitive biography of Mencken, the finest book ever published about this giant of American letters. Rodgers illuminates both the public and the private man, covering the many love affairs, his happy marriage at the age of 50 to Sara Haardt, and his complicated but stimulating friendship with the famed theater critic George Jean Nathan. Rodgers vividly recreates Mencken's era: the glittering tapestry of turn-of-the-century America, the roaring twenties, depressed thirties, and the home front during World War II. But the heart of the book is Mencken. When few dared to shatter complacencies, Mencken fought for civil liberties and free speech, playing a prominent role in the Scope's Monkey Trial, battling against press censorship, and exposing pious frauds and empty uplift. The champion of our tongue in The American Language, Mencken also played a pivotal role in defining American letters through The Smart Set and The American Mercury, magazines that introduced such writers as James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. Drawing on research in more than sixty archives including private collections in the United States and in Germany, previously unseen, on exclusive interviews with Mencken's friends, and on his love letters and FBI files, here is the full portrait of one of America's most colorful and influential men. "This biography, the best ever on the sage of Baltimore, is exhaustive but never exhausting, and offers readers more than moderate intelligence and an awfully good time." --Martin Nolan, Boston Globe

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Hitler's Army : Soldiers Nazis and War in the Third Reich by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Southern Families at War by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Innovative Skills to Increase Cohesion and Communication in Couples by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Rational and Irrational Beliefs by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Plato's Ethics by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Disability and Equity at Work by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book The Owner's Manual to the Voice by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Strategies of Peace by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book The Major Film Theories by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Humans in Nature by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Keith Jarrett's The Koln Concert by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Freedom Riders by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Cracking the Particle Code of the Universe by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Cover of the book Medjugorje and the Supernatural by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy