H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) is the author of A Mencken Chrestomathy. In his day, he was a famous journalist, satirist, editor and critic of American culture; he was also a renowned student of American English. It is arguable that Mencken, often called "Sage of Baltimore" was among the most important American writers and stylists of the first half of the twentieth century.

Mencken is most famous for writing an extensive student of the English language as it is spoken in the United States known as The American Language, along with his reporting on the famous evolution controversy that culminated in the Scopes trial, which Mencken famous coined "the Monkey trial".

Mencken wrote for many Baltimore publications, starting with the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899 and then becoming a literary critic for The Smart Set. In 1924, he and George Jean Nathan started The American Mercury; he also wrote...