Chapter 15, Odd Fish, Chapter 16, Economics Summary and Analysis

Chapter 15 finds Mencken discussing a variety of unusual men. For instance, a man, Mr. Gray, was electrocuted as punishment for a murder; he ate with a man, Valentino, who was to die of a fatal illness a week later. In both cases, he describes the events prior to their deaths.

Mencken discusses the surprise he feels that no one has violated the tomb of the honorable Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Secretary of the Navy and Attorney-General under Teddy Roosevelt. Charles was a strange man for a variety of reasons, a sort of Catholic Puritan. Finally, Mencken recounts the case of Sister Aimee, a woman he met at a basilica in Los Angeles. An orthodox Methodist revival was at work inside. Aimee was a rich evangelist; Mencken reacts to the religious "orgy" with disgust. Some...