Prejudices, First Series

H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Mencken sharpens his pen and in a collection of short essays delivers acerbic opinions on issues and persons of the time. Among his targets in this volume (the first of six) are critics, H.G. Wells Thorstein Veblen, Arnold Bennett, William Dean Howells, Irvin S. Cobb. Mencken's critiques are delivered against a background of his own well known ethnic, racial, religious, and sectional prejudices. (It is said that the only thing Mencken loved about the Southern United States was his wife, who hailed from Alabama.) Not for the faint of heart, Mencken's prickly, yet unapologetic, prose reveals a window into American attitudes at the time they were written and their influences on the larger American culture. - Summary by DrPGould

Genre(s): Essays & Short Works, Literary Criticism, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Criticism of Criticism of Criticism DrPGould
00:18:55
Play 02 The Late Mr. Wells Linda Johnson
00:25:31
Play 03 Arnold Bennett Linda Johnson
00:30:39
Play 04 The Dean DrPGould
00:10:48
Play 05 Professor Veblen DrPGould
00:35:50
Play 06 The New Poetry Movement Larry Wilson
00:23:22
Play 07 The Heir of Mark Twain Karen Mallozzi
00:09:51
Play 08 Hermann Sudermann Shasta
00:18:07
Play 09 George Ade Shasta
00:20:35
Play 10 The Butte Bashkirtseff Shasta
00:12:13
Play 11 Six Members of the Institute DrPGould
00:29:01
Play 12 The Genealogy of Etiquette Linda Johnson
00:38:27
Play 13 The American Magazine Linda Johnson
00:18:43
Play 14 The Ulster Polonius Linda Johnson
00:17:30
Play 15 An Unheeded Law-Giver Shasta
00:08:52
Play 16 The Blushful Mystery Shasta
00:26:52
Play 17 George Jean Nathan Linda Johnson
00:28:44
Play 18 Portrait of an Immortal Soul Linda Johnson
00:21:20
Play 19 Jack London Linda Johnson
00:07:08
Play 20 Among the Avatars Linda Johnson
00:11:26
Play 21 Three American Immortals Larry Wilson
00:07:00