The Skeptic

(Paperback)

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Description

When H. L. Mencken talked, everyone listened -- like it or not. In the Roaring Twenties, he was the one critic who mattered, the champion of a generation of plain-speaking writers who redefined the American novel, and the ax-swinging scourge of the know-nothing, go-getting middle-class philistines whom he dubbed the "booboisie." Some loved him, others loathed him, but everybody read him. Now Terry Teachout takes on the man Edmund Wilson called "our greatest practicing literary journalist," brilliantly capturing all of Mencken's energy and erudition, passion and paradoxes, in a masterful biography of this iconoclastic figure and the world he shaped.

Reviews

"Who now reads Mencken Not nearly as many people as Mencken's still-astonishing writings deserve. But many more people will discover the delights of Mencken's work, thanks to Terry Teachout's judicious but lively assessment of the more-often-lively than judicious journalist and critic." -- George F. Will

"Mencken has finally met a worthy biographer. Teachout is the kind of tour guide a first-rate biography requires." -- Ken Auletta

"(Mencken's) life is worth recounting and is here expertly and fairly summarized ... An important book." -- Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times

"Many more people will discover the delights of Mencken's work, thanks to Terry Teachout's judicious but lively assessment." -- George F. Will, syndicated columnist

"Teachout has brought Mencken to life, in all his rich comic irascibility. The Skeptic is irresistible." -- Sam Tanenhaus, author of Whittaker Chambers

"A fascinating biography that has much of the neat phrasing and sly wit that the rancorous writer displayed himself." -- Publishers Weekly

"A balanced, judicious assessment, flecked with sharply critical insights." -- Washington Post Book World

Author Bio

Terry Teachout writes about literature and the arts for the New York Times, Time, National Review, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Commentary. His books include A Second Mencken Chrestomaby, a manuscript he rediscovered among Mencken's private papers. He lives in New York City.