Heathen Days: Mencken's Autobiography: 1890-1936 (Volume 3)

H. L. Mencken's Autobiography #3

by H.L. Mencken

With a style that combined biting sarcasm with the "language of the free lunch counter," Henry Louis Mencken shook politics and politicians for nearly half a century. Now, fifty years after Mencken’s death, the Johns Hopkins University Press announces The Buncombe Collection , newly packaged editions of nine Mencken Happy Days , Heathen Days , Newspaper Day s, Prejudices , Treatise on the Gods , On Politics , Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work , Minority Report , and A Second Mencken Chrestomathy . With a style that combined biting sarcasm with the "language of the free lunch counter," Henry Louis Mencken shook politics and politicians for nearly half a century. Now, fifty years after Mencken’s death, the Johns Hopkins University Press announces The Buncombe Collection , newly packaged editions of nine Mencken Happy Days , Heathen Days , Newspaper Day s, Prejudices , Treatise on the Gods , On Politics , Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work , Minority Report , and A Second Mencken Chrestomathy . In the third volume of his autobiography, H. L. Mencken covers a range of subjects, from Hoggie Unglebower, the best dog trainer in Christendom, to his visit to the Holy Land, where he looked for the ruins of Gomorrah.

Genres: Biography, Journalism, Nonfiction, Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Henry Louis "H.L." Mencken became one of the most influential and prolific journalists in America in the 1920s and '30s, writing about all the shams and con artists in the world. He attacked chiropractors and the Ku Klux Klan, politicians and other journalists. Most of all, he attacked Puritan morality. He called Puritanism, "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

At the height of his career, he edited and wrote for The American Mercury magazine and the Baltimore Sun newspaper, wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column for the Chicago Tribune, and published two or three books every year. His masterpiece was one of the few books he wrote about something he loved, a book called The American Language (1919), a history and collection of American vernacular speech. It included a translation of the Declaration of Independence into American English that began, "When things get so balled up that the people of a country got to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are not trying to put nothing over on nobody."

When asked what he would like for an epitaph, Mencken wrote, "If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."

(from American Public Media)

Reviews

[Robert Maier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second best of Mencken's three-part autobiography. More a collection of essays than an narrative, it is a fascinating insight into his wry view of the world. Mencken is impatient, mocking, and arrogant, but brilliant. He has his faults, but doesn't shy away from them. His honesty is as shocking today as it was in the ancient days of the first quarter of the 20th century. It's amazing how neglected he is today, but his language is far from modern, and though beautiful and clever, it is not very palatable to the world of Twitter and Pinterest. You need a dictionary by your side when you read Mencken, so I think he is destined only to sink further into obscurity; to be discovered only by literati who doggedly seek out golden nuggets from history, and not the hottest 100 shades of grey. For example, I just bought a 1924 copy of Mencken's "Prejudices 2" at a quite large used book store. The proprietor had never heard of him, and quickly knocked the price in half because "he was an unknown author."

[Matt McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

H. L. Menken, along with Samuel Clemmons and Frederick Douglas, are credited with developing the American prose style which emerged in the very late 19th Century and the very early 20th. Menken’s was sharp, clear and blunt. He wrote so that most people could understand 95% of what he said and be left wondering about the balance. He used the vernacular to assault, pummel, dethrone and embarrass everyone he considered a fool which meant he was always after the politician, the religious, those who failed to reside in a city, those who lived south of Maryland regardless of the size of their polis and just about everyone else. Reading Menken is a pleasure but getting to know him is uncomfortable.
There are a number of Menken biography’s and the last I read was Terry Teachout’s, The Skeptic. This book is presented as part of an autobiographical series. In fact, in much more a chronological grouping of essays from the period of his late high school days through the last half of the 1930’s. It should be read as a presentation of Menken writings that he wanted you to digest.
Menken was prolific. By his count he published some 5-million words newspaper writer, columnist and author. The breadth of his reading and then commentary was impressive – religion, the philosophy of Nietzsche, political theory, literary and music criticism and so much more. Menken was often grossly wrong in judging events – he failed to stand up to Nazi aggression mostly by remaining silent and his inborn prejudices lead to opinions on blacks and Jews we find reprehensible – but he was often courageous and he was never pulled a punch. He was in the thick of the Scopes trial in Dayton Tennessee (Gene Kelly played the Menken character in the movie Inherit the Wind) and lambasted “Homo Neanderthal” as being easily led dupes incapable of critical thought. I especially enjoyed the chapters titled, ‘Gore in the Caribbes’, ‘Inquisition” and ‘Beaters of the Breast’ which covered a Cuban revolution, the scopes trial and phony politicians in that order.
There are many ways to read Menken, his books, his essays and his editorials are just a few. Regardless of how you read him he is worth the experience. Just be cautioned that no matter how current much of his writings are they are still the product of a person born in the 1880s.

[Graychin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third volume of Mencken’s autobiography is made up of miscellaneous bits that span the whole of his life, from his childhood in the 1890s through his later newspaper years in the twenties and thirties. The best of it is in the early chapters. The legend of Baltimore back-alley ratcatcher Hoggie Unglebower and the tale of Frank the Shetland pony would have fit nicely into Mencken’s first volume, Happy Days, which I consider one of the great American memoirs.

Also noteworthy in this volume is Mencken’s chapter “The Tone Art,” on music and musicians. I wrote a blog post inspired, in part, by Mencken’s comical reflections on oboists and other orchestra members.

All of Mencken’s faults are on display in Heathen Days. I won’t go into them. But the virtues of his snappy prose and his gift for storytelling are present too. It’s possible to dislike Mencken the man, I’m sure, but I doubt it’s possible to hate reading him.

[Sukriti · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Happy Days: Mencken's Autobiography: 1880-1892" is a captivating glimpse into the early life of H.L. Mencken. This first volume of his memoirs, part of the Bumcombe Collection, covers his childhood and teenage years. Mencken's writing is both witty and reflective, offering a rich portrayal of late 19th-century America. His vivid descriptions and keen observations bring his experiences to life, from family dynamics to his budding interest in journalism. Readers will appreciate Mencken's sharp humor and candid storytelling, making this autobiography a delightful and insightful read.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third volume of Mencken's autobiography. It is episodic and ranges from his youth to the post World War II era. He is cocky and opinionated and he cuts with a knife that is exceedingly sharp. He is simply a joy to read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is volume III of his memoirs, but it's not as much of a memoir as volumes I & II. Really sort of a catch-all spanning 46 years. More about observations, less about Mencken and his experiences.

[Frank Kreps]

This one of my favorite reads in recent history! Mencken is a great writer and wordsmith. If you enjoy
early 20th century American history then you'll enjoy Mencken's stories and the people that he meets.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiography is still biography. Great.

[Dorothy]

ASE book