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I think the Mencken article suffers from biases against Mencken that stem from a personal dislike and a lack of understanding of the huge influence he had on a whole generation of intellectuals (see Lippmann) and the comic overtones of much of his writing. I don't think you understand Mencken. The whole of the outlook is punctuated with a failure to understand his real contributions, despite his many limitations. His influence on black writers and his publication of their works in the Mercury (see Richard Wright) are neglected here. His influence upon young American writers was immense, including Sinclair Lewis and many who went on to win accolades and literary respect. I don't like his anti-semitism but it was ironic that many of his friends, including his publisher Knopf, was Jewish. There are many ironies here and he was a man of contradictions.

My mother's family were neighbors to him in Baltimore, and Jewish. There were always friendly relations with my uncles and others. We were, of course, disappointed to see what appeared. He shared the prejudices of his times. He was limited by his prejudices. The American Voltaire, as he was called, suffered from the same limitations of the Frenchman. Yet one-eyed like the Cyclops, they both still had great vision into human affairs.

Michael E. Abrams, Ph.D.