Author(s): H.L. Mencken
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 656
Binding: Paperback
Normally I don't like a cynic. But H.L. Mencken is what you might call an enlightened cynic. If it's true that a cynic is a disillusioned idealist, you can see (with crystal clarity) what those ideals are when you discover Mencken's notion of music, literature and the ideal artist. As for politics, Mencken believes in severely limited government, although he doesn't expect it to happen any time soon--if ever. He offers no prescription for getting there. But he does offer amazingly keen insight into the idiocy underlying New Deal politics of the 1930s--that is to say, today's very same politics. Not just with politics, but with so many other things, Mencken's comments and sarcasm ring true regardless of the era in which you live. He doesn't think much of America, but it's not because he loves the alternative. It's just that he seems to believe that America didn't live up to the ideal of man. Well, he's right--it hasn't. This book is sharp, smart entertainment. If there's nothing you can immediately do to change the world around you, then live as you want to live, create your idealized future today, in your own mind and life. And read Mencken for some uplifting entertainment.