Highlights
Henry Louis Mencken, better known as H. L. Mencken, was a journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic and freethinker. The "Sage of Baltimore," as he was called, is regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century. Mencken was born in 1880 in Baltimore, the son of August Mencken, a cigar factory owner. The family moved to 1524 Hollins Street in the Union Square neighborhood when Mencken was three years old, and he lived in the house for the rest of his life, apart from five years of married life. He became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899 and joined The Baltimore Sun in 1906. In 1908, he became a literary critic for the magazine The Smart...
Henry Louis Mencken, better known as H. L. Mencken, was a journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic and freethinker. The "Sage of Baltimore," as he was called, is regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century. Mencken was born in 1880 in Baltimore, the son of August Mencken, a cigar factory owner. The family moved to 1524 Hollins Street in the Union Square neighborhood when Mencken was three years old, and he lived in the house for the rest of his life, apart from five years of married life. He became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899 and joined The Baltimore Sun in 1906. In 1908, he became a literary critic for the magazine The Smart Set. Together with George Jean Nathan, Mencken founded and edited The American Mercury, published in January 1924. It soon had a national circulation and became highly influential on college campuses across America. Mencken is perhaps best remembered for "The American Language," a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the prosecution, judge, jury and venue of the Scopes trial, which he is credited for naming the "Monkey" trial. In 1983, the City of Baltimore acquired Mencken's home on Hollins Street and the "H. L. Mencken House" became part of the City Life Museums. Shortly after World War II, Mencken expressed his intention of bequeathing his books and papers to the the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street in Baltimore. At the time of his death at age 75, most of the present collection had been received and a special room on the third floor was prepared to house the items. The Mencken Room was dedicated on April 17, 1956.
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The two Comments of the Week
Dining@LargeSometimes something needs to be said and it's nice when one of you says it so eloquently, more eloquently than I could have said it. EL Paul W and Donny B, you are technically correct about Baltimore's food traditions of......Tags: Liver, Grant Achatz, Steaks, Dining and Drinking, Restaurants
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John Rothman comes home to Center Stage
In 1963, 13-year-old John Rothman watched and listened intently as his father and several other prominent Baltimoreans sat around the family dining room table planning a crucial element in the city's cultural life.
"They were talking about how Ford's...Tags: Employers, Drama (genre), Literature, Family, Meryl Streep
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A 'wow' for murals
The colorful murals on the side of the Hollins Street Market glittered in the afternoon sun as small knots of middle school students and their teachers walked up and down the street looking astonished at the art they had created.
Seven murals made by...Tags: Middle Schools, Hands, Catonsville, Pikesville, History
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Eclectic events
Baltimore Sun reporterSEPTEMBER SEPT. 3-5: Justin Schlegel, Comedy SEPT. 3-6: Baltimore Summer Antiques Fair, Convention SEPT. 4: The Freedom Singers, Reginald SEPT. 4-5: Larry Lancaster, Magooby's SEPT. 10: Songs of Baltimore, Pratt Light Street SEPT. 10-13: "Sesame Street...Tags: Dr. Seuss, Genres, Pervez Musharraf, Essex (Baltimore, Maryland), Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
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Germany's invasion of Poland touched off war words
The first week of September 1939, when the world suddenly exploded into war with the invasion of Poland by Germany and the subsequent declaration of war by England and France, was defined by black headlines, extra editions and crackling trans-Atlantic...Tags: Maryland State Fair, Labor Day, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, International Relations, Glenn Miller
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Richard J. Flanigan Sr., Mercantile official
Richard Joseph Flanigan Sr., a retired senior vice president at the old Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co., died of cancer Friday at his Lutherville home. He was 81.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Woodington Road, he was a 1946 graduate of Calvert...Tags: National Government, Government, Naperville, Timonium, Korean War
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'The Wilderness Warrior' by Douglas Brinkley
The Wilderness Warrior
Theodore Roosevelt and the
Crusade for America
Douglas Brinkley
Harper: 960 pp., $34.99
Reviewing several Roosevelt biographies in 1920, H.L. Mencken reported that he had found more "gush" than "sense." Douglas Brinkley's...Tags: Puerto Rico, Mesa, Indiana University, The White House, National Government
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End the regulations, replace them with transparency.
South Florida Sun-SentinelThThe late satirist H.L. Mencken had an idea of how to fix politics. Rather than holding elections, he suggested political leaders be chosen by lot, similar to the way we empanel juries. Need a legislature? Pick the names out of a hat. How about a city...Tags: Parliament, Political Systems, Charles Crist, Marco Rubio, Family
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John Fante's great gift to Los Angeles
Cruelty, racism, poverty, lies, perversity and oversexed self-delusion: Could this be the stuff of the most lyrical love letter ever addressed to the City of Angels?
Yes, and it is "Ask the Dust," the 1939 novel by the late John Fante, who was born 100...Tags: Hollywood (Los Angeles, California), Santa Monica, Literature, Health and Safety at School, Charles Bukowski
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Tom Braden dies at 92; former CIA operative became columnist and talk show co-host
Tom Braden, a former CIA operative who became a syndicated newspaper columnist, liberal co-host of the CNN talk show "Crossfire" and author of "Eight Is Enough," a 1975 memoir that spawned the popular television series, died of natural causes Friday at...Tags: Museum of Modern Art, Culture, Family, Newspapers, CNN
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Past presidents -- an inaugural quiz
Today, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the nation's 44th president in a ceremony filled with tradition. Test your knowledge of ceremonies past. 1. Of whose inaugural speech did wordsmith H.L. Mencken say: "It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it...Tags: Parliament, Benjamin Harrison, Lower House, Religious Texts, Calvin Coolidge
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'The Lincoln Anthology' edited by Harold Holzer, 'The Best American History Essays on Lincoln' edited by Sean Wilentz, Ronald C. White's biography 'A. Lincoln' and others
It was Tuesday, May 30, 1922, the day of the dedication of the solemn and splendid memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, and the ceremony on the Mall featured speeches by President Warren Harding and Chief Justice William Howard Taft.
The most...Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Frederick Douglass, Slavery, History, Literature
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