Mencken, Henry Louis

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amazing predictions for a book written in 1922
Mencken sets us straight about the sexes
Could almost have been written yesterday...
As good as it gets
A fantastic book by the greatest American of the 20th cent.

In Defense of Women
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
Manufacturer: Hard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1406945951

Book Description

1918. Mencken, American newspaperman, editor and critic known for his excellence in framing insults aimed at anyone. Contents: The Feminine Mind; The War Between the Sexes; Marriage; Woman Suffrage; and The New Age. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

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Turn, for example, to the field in which the two sexes come most constantly into conflict, and in which, as a result, their habits of mind are most clearly contrasted--to the field, to wit, of monogamous marriage. Surely no long argument is needed to demonstrate the superior competence and effectiveness of women here, and therewith their greater self-possession, their saner weighing of considerations, their higher power of resisting emotional suggestion.

Customer Reviews:

amazing predictions for a book written in 1922.......2004-11-02

Mencken wrote that "Nothing could be plainer than the effect that the increasing economic security of women is having upon their whole havit of life ... The diminishing marriage rate and the even more rapidly diminishing birth rate show which way the wind is blowing . . . large numbers of them [women] now approach the business [of marriage] with far greater fastidiousness than their grandmothers." So as a result, only relatively skilled men are marriageable, and lower-class men go without. By contrast, in the past "even marriage with a fifth-rate man was better than no marriage at all."

Mencken also correctly predicted that even after the influx of women into the workplace, women will still lag behind men economically: he writes that "it is impossible to imagine a genuinely intelligent human being becoming a competent trial lawyer, or buttonhole worker, or newspaper sub-editor, or piano tuner, or house painter. Women, to get upon all fours with men in such stupid occupations, will have to commit spiritual suicide, which is much further than they will ever actually go. Thus a shade of their present superiority to men will always remaijn, and with it a shade of their relative inefficiency, so marriage will remain attractive".

Mencken also predicts loosened sexual mores: "With the decay of the ancient concept of women as property there must come inevitability a reconsideration of the whole sex question."

And of course all these things have come to pass, both in America and in Europe: well-employed women marry later or not at all and get divorced more quickly, and low-income women have virtually abandoned marriage altogether.

Mencken only runs aground when he looks at war and peace. He correctly predicted World War II (in particular predicting wars between France and Germany, and between Japan and America) but thought that it would be so devastating, and wipe out so many of the world's men, that women would vastly outnumber men, which in turn would radically modify marriage- perhaps by causing the reinstitution of polygamy. Had WW 2, like WW 1, killed only soliders, Mencken might have been right. Instead, of course, millions of civilians were killed- including many women, thus limiting the male/female imbalance.

Mencken sets us straight about the sexes.......2002-04-25

Mencken's "In Defense of Women" has such a bad reputation in some circles that I'm almost afraid to review it for fear of virtual grenades. But surely the bad reputation is unjustified, for whether one approves of Mencken's conclusions or not, it would seem hard to deny the nobility of the his intentions in publishing them. He simply wished to help us rid ourselves of some harmful and incorrect stereotypes. To wit: men think they are intelligent and clear-headed while women are emotional and sentimental. But in reality, Mencken explains, it is men who are prone to sentiment and women who are intelligent and clear-headed. Of course many things follow from both the misconception and the "truth." Although it may be useful to some people to know Mencken's ideas about the sexes (I find this knowledge useful), perhaps the best reason to read "In Defense of Women" is that it is incredibly entertaining. If you are not amused by Mencken's style, or if you are afraid that you might encounter an uncomfortable truth or two, then by all means keep safely away.

Could almost have been written yesterday..........2001-05-15

Reading this book made me wonder "where are the men of today who are writing like this on these topics?" -- things like soul mates, monogamy/polygamy, affairs, prostitution, romance novels, Darwin's theory of sexual selection, the double standard, the "Madonna/whore complex" (not called that then), sexual harassment, employment discrimination, abolishing marriage, and declining marriage and birth rates all make an appearance in the book. And much of it retains its essential truth. The more things change...

It's especially interesting to see where HLM was right and where he turned out to be wrong. For instance: the book was written just before men gave women the vote (i.e., during World War I, when Mencken was in his mid-to-upper thirties and still a bachelor); Mencken thought women voting would cure politics of rampant corruption -- because women wouldn't allow such shenanigans. This is not to say that he had any kind things to say about the suffragettes. He didn't, and some of what he wrote was outrageously funny. One can extrapolate in a straight line to some of today's feminists.

His basic thesis -- which may or may not have been meant to be taken seriously -- is that women are more intelligent than men, the proof being the ease with which they typically defeat men in the war between the sexes:

"I am convinced that the average woman, whatever her deficiencies, is greatly superior to the average man. The very ease with which she defies and swindles him in several capital situations of life is the clearest of proofs of her general superiority. She did not obtain her present high immunities as a gift from the gods, but only after a long and often bitter fight, and in that fight she exhibited forensic and tactical talents of a truly admirable order. There was no weakness of man that she did not penetrate and take advantage of. There was no trick that she did not put to effective use. There was no device so bold and inordinate that it daunted her."

It would be fifty years before Esther Vilar's "The Manipulated Man" continued with many of the same themes. But Mencken was quite prescient in the section on women's martyrdom, which today we'd call their claim to victimhood or being "oppressed". I could go on at some length about how close his description of marriage is to what prevails today (based on reports which come to my attention), but I'll spare you.

I'm sorry I waited so long to get around to this book, as it's truly a classic written by a great mind -- a highly recommended trip above the stratosphere for all men and, especially, bachelors.

As good as it gets.......2000-11-22

This is not a book for faint of heart. No one was better at invective than Mencken, and his defense of women is far more of an attack on men than a defense of the "unfair" sex, as Ambrose Bierce signified our better half. Mencken's basic argument goes something like this: women are pretty bad; men are worse; therefore, women are better than men. This is, to be sure, a gross over-simplification. Mencken's argument is really much more sophisticated and ingenious. He picked it up, he tells us elsewhere, from a madame of a bordello. It contains a great deal more truth than most people would be willing to admit. Mencken's hillarious presentation is recommended only to hardened cynics (which is to say, hardened realists). Sensitive people with "beautiful" souls are well advised to avoid this brilliant book.

A fantastic book by the greatest American of the 20th cent........2000-05-30

Undoubtedly, HL Mencken was the greatest American mind of the 20th century. It is my opinion that he was possibly the greatest man of letters in the world during the 20th century. He seems to me to be a combination of his two predecessors, Mark Twian and Ambrose Bierce, with all the bad alloyed out.

Shaw? Orwell? Pikers all, compared to the Holy Terror from Baltimore. This book is simply fantastic. Simply reading the preface for the first time left me breathless and in amazement.

The writing is so good, let me illustrate- a black writer was assigned a story on Mencken, because it was heard Mencken was a racist (which he was). Upon reading Mencken for the first time, the man said his original purpose melted away to be replaced with a single question. "How does one write like that? How can I write like that?". I concur- HL Mencken was the finest purveyor of ideas in any man during the 20th century.

Book Description

Philosopher's classic study declares that Greek tragedy achieved greatness through a fusion of elements of Apollonian restraint and control with Dionysian components of passion and the irrational.

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Whatever might have been be the basis for this dubious book, it must have been a question of the utmost importance and charm, as well as a deeply personal one. Testimony to that effect is the time in which it arose (in spite of which it arose), that disturbing era of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. While the thunderclap of the Battle of Worth was reverberating across Europe, the meditative lover of enigmas whose lot it was to father this book sat somewhere in a corner of the Alps, extremely reflective and perplexed (thus simultaneously very distressed and carefree) and wrote down his thoughts concerning the Greeks, the kernel of that odd and difficult book to which this later preface (or postscript) should be dedicated. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Customer Reviews:

defective merchandise.......2007-03-03

This is one of maybe five reviews I've ever written online. I only do so if I absolutely love a product or am absolutely appalled by something I wish a fellow amazon addict had included in an online review. This will be the latter. This book is rife with translation errors. Not even so much translation errors because I don't speak German but basic grammatical mistakes; "From another perspective we see the force of this un-Dionysian spirit in action directing its effects against myth, when we turn our gaze toward the way in which the way in which the presentation..." -page 56 (this is just one in a long list of examples). Another weird fact about this book is that it is the size of a magazine? I have no fundamental problem with that, I loved JG Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition which had the same dimensions; however because this book is a mere 80 pages it's just awkward to read. Do yourself a favor and buy another version of this book that doesn't have an abundance of errors. The only saving grace for this POS are the ideas contained therein.

The Op. 1 of Frederic Niezsche !.......2004-11-02

The first essay of this giant philosopher is deeply influenced for the echoes of Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner and pretends expose a new conception of the world : the tragic thought, , the intuition of the unity of the things , the converse affirmation of the life and death , the timeless return , the innocence of becoming .
Fundamental text if you want to get ready for the Apollonian and Dionisus duel!

Dionysian without Apollo Will Destroy - Rebirth of Tragedy.......2004-06-15

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The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche's first book. Why have I read it? Three reasons. One, I am studying ancient Greek culture. Secondly, I love to learn anything from mysticism, spiritual and Eastern thought, psychology and philosophy and again Grecian thought of Plato, Socrates, Aristophanes, Sophocles and etc. Third, I've always admired Jim Morrison, a Rock singer and poet who was also influenced by Nietzsche, primarily his interpretation of ancient Greek tragedy, more specifically, "The Birth of Tragedy. And so I've read it. Now Walter Kaufman's translation agrees with me and I think it one of the best in understanding and clarity. This book is a great read and answers so many questions and thoughts.

But ultimately I found something I never intended on thinking and it's staring me right in the face with bold assertiveness. I honestly never expected to find this. First Nietzsche does a superb job in slamming the Socratic culture of logic, science and optimism, which I agree, has destroyed the real chaotic nature of true art, the Dionysus nature and that of the real meaning of tragedy. He is right on the money here. "Existence is only justified as an aesthetic phenomenon." Euripides has destroyed the Aeschylean and Sophoclean tragedy into Socratized thinking. The Dionysian element of chaos, of drunkenness and dissolution, of irrational art in it's raw existence is imaged by Apollo and necessary in conceptualization of the fleeting moment of depth that only resides in temporal flow of Dionysus and yet is destroyed by the scientific Socratized analysis. Euripides's plays have adopted such logic, lost the Dionysus, taken the optimism and linguistic clarity in destroying the satyr's chaotic hold of frenzy and creativity found in formless tragedy of music. The Apollonian form is imagery while the Dionysian forms the Apollonian. "Dionysian speaks the language of Apollo, and Apollo, finally the language of Dionysus and so the highest goal of tragedy and all art is obtained." P. 130

All of this, and much more, is brilliant and profound, but then, this now leads to something about German history, and is there in the flagrant words, of Nietzsche who calls for "The rebirth of tragedy," the rebirth of Greek tragedy. Where is this? In the German spirit.

"Out of the Dionysian root of the German spirit a power has arisen which, having nothing in common with the primitive conditions of Socratic culture, can neither be explained nor excused by it, but which is rather felt by this culture as something terribly inexplicable and overwhelming hostile, the German music we must understand it. from Bach to Beethoven, and to Wagner." p. 119

What is this Dionysian root, this power from the German spirit.? Nietzsche symbolically calls it a "demon, " a power one that cannot be easily subdued, and it is rising from the unfathomable depths, which is against the Socratic logic and superficial optimism. And here Nietzsche goes further than music into a Dionysian spirit of German philosophy that he believes transcends the boundaries of Socratic thinking into adrenaline flowed tragic rediscovery, a rebirth of Greek tragedy.

"Let us recollect further that Kant and Schopenhauer made it possible for the spirit of German philosophy, streaming from similar sources to destroy scientific Socratism's complacent delight in existence by establishing its boundaries; how through this delimitation was introduced an infinitely profounder and more serious view of ethical problems and of art, which we may designate as Dionysian wisdom comprised in concepts. . . ." p. 120

In the earlier sections Nietzsche brought home the point that lyrical composition and most certainly concepts of any nature could not contain any shape or form of Dionysian, as it is only found in the raw and creative form of music. And now I find a contradiction, as Nietzsche is telling us of Kant's and Schopenhauer's thoughts to be comprised in Dionysian wisdom. It has now planted the seed for German readers and thinkers.

What this philosphical Dionysian wisdom and the German spirited power of Dionysian music now needs is a new political leader.

"And if the German should hesitantly look around for a leader who might bring him back again into his long lost home whose ways and paths he scarcely knows anymore, let him merely listen to the ecstatically luring call of the Dionysan bird that hovers above him and wants to point the way for him." p. 139

I don't know about you, but this sounds like the Dionysan "furor" to me. A new tragic, ecstatic leader, a non-Socratic leader with charisma and power. Now who later fits this bill?

Just imagine the adrenaline flow as the German people leave their Socratic constraints of logic and enter into their Dionysian nature of power and run down the street and smash the Jewish windows declaring in ecstasy, the Dionysian power of the new German spirit, the rebirth of Greek tragedy. Do you see what I'm leading to here? Real history! Don't get me wrong, please. Nietzsche does not talk hatred, or anti-Semitic, no not at all! But he sets the stage for chaos, for hate to come out of the depths of men and women that already contain Dionysian nature deep inside their non-Socratic nature, the "primitive man" as Nietzsche calls it, when the Apollonian is disregarded and the rational, optimistic Socratic man is destroyed and the Dionysian can come out and "tragedy be reborn."

Don't get me wrong, I think Nietzsche is amazing in his acknowledgment and connection to the real depth of the Dionysian spirit. But do get me right on this; this is dangerous teaching, dangerous enough to let educated people loose their Socratic, scientific nature and enter places they should not be. Nietzsche even writes in a letter 10/8/1868 to Rohide, (p. 120 ftn.) that the dimension of feelings of Wagner's music are greater than the "weak eyes and feeble legs of the educated."

Live life to the fullest without Apollo to conceptualize and form you, which subdues and constrains, and you will most assuredly mis-translate William Blake's words (as Jim Morrison did) in telling us "to live the road to excess." Live Socratic thinking alone, without Dionysus, and you will be destroyed, dead to the aesthetic, inner creative and primordial self. Live Dionysus without Apollo and without Socratic thinking and you will either destroy yourself or those around you.

An interesting insight into the early Nietzsche........2004-01-17

"The Birth of Tragedy" (1872) was Nietzsche's first published work, and what a work it is. Taking as its point of departure the origins and eventual death of tragedy in ancient Greece, this book shouldn't be taken as a literal meditation on Greek tragedy. Instead, Nietzsche uses his discussion of this art form to analyse trends he saw in the Germany of the early-1870s and to examine the similarities between the Hellenic world and the world of Bismarckian Germany.

He begins with an explanation of the dual Apollonian and Dionysian tendencies in art. The Apollonian, based on illusion, form, and restrained aesthetic contemplation, is contrasted with the Dionysian, which is characterized by a visceral, ecstatic, transcendental state. To Nietzsche, Greek tragedy was the only art form which was able to merge these two conflicting aesthetics into a successful union. He likens the operas of his then-hero, Richard Wagner, to the tragic drama of ancient Greece, and suggests that this similarity should be a cause of hope for the renewal of the "German spirit."

Crazy? Of course. Nietzsche was not a man noted for his intellectual restraint, and his associative thinking is never wilder or more disputable than in "The Birth of Tragedy." It is this very wildness which would later lead the philosopher to all but disown this book.

But "The Birth of Tragedy" is more than far-fetched theorizing--it is also a penetrating gaze into the destructive side of pure reason and the sunny optimism of the Enlightenment, which Nietzsche posits as being embodied in ancient Greece in the form of Socrates, whose withering, anti-aesthetic thinking Nietzsche finds deadening and repugnant. In the hyper-rational, heavily bureaucratic world in which he found himself at the dawn of the 1870s, Nietzsche looked to the colossal operas of Wagner to find a counterbalance to the icy skepticism of Socrates (and the Enlightenment) and what he considered to be a fundamental misunderstanding of ancient Greek culture on the part of his contemporaries. In stark contrast to their appraisal of Greek culture as serene and harmonious, Nietzsche located the enduring greatness of the Hellenic world in its brave and fierce pessimism, which he saw best represented in tragedy.

"The Birth of Tragedy," then, is a cry of hope from its author for what he considered a renewal of German myth and unity. It does not make for easy reading, however, and the reader should be prepared for many, many pages of exhausting and often ludicrous "insights," not one of which makes much sense from a logical point of view, but all of which play a vital role in Nietzsche's brilliant and brilliantly original analyses of ancient and modern culture.

Life As Art!!!.......2003-10-10

"The Birth of Tragedy Out Of The Spirit Of Music" is Nietzsche in the raw. This is before the later, "mature" posturing armchair philosopher took over. This is the philologist unearthing a great treasure - the Ancient Greeks REALLY lived, and in their super-abundance of LIFE, they had room for Tragedy/Pessimism! The opposite then, is also true, our modern society that cries out for OPTIMISM and "positive-thinking" is therefore the clearest sign that we are less than alive. This book is Nietzsche seeing in ART, that blazing passion for being ALIVE. This is Nietzsche as the young, unsystematic YEA-SAYER to LIFE. Aesthetics as the true metaphysics - not morality, since LIFE is beyond temporal, earthly taboos. ART-LIFE as the representation of transcending good and evil (later formulated more fully in "Beyond Good And Evil". This is art seen under the lens of life.

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Mencken is talented.
The Baltimorean Belle-Lettrist...
new h.l. mencken fan- life's full circle is timeless.
A book for pricking poo-flinging monkeys
a must read

A Mencken Chrestomathy
Henry Louis Mencken
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0394435958

Amazon.com

A choice selection of H.L. Mencken's previously out-of-print writings. Highly recommended!

Customer Reviews:

Mencken is talented........2007-01-12

This book is an excellent item for the individualist who knows how to appreciate a critical thinker. It's hard to put down.

The Baltimorean Belle-Lettrist..........2006-12-11

Most human beings can't write worth a damn. Mencken was an anomaly--a once-in-a-generation anomaly. This book represents over six-hundred pages of his best work, culled (by Mencken himself) from a fifty-year career in journalism. It is enjoyable and educational, and you can't ask for much more than that. Of course, Mencken allows his fulsome personality free rein, and hypersensitive, humorless, religious, and/or idealistic folks may be put off. Mencken needed those people to make fun of, to pinpoint their hypocrisy, silliness, uselessness to society, etc.; ergo, they may feel roughly used. Everyone else should have a good laugh.

new h.l. mencken fan- life's full circle is timeless........2006-11-07

so many topics so little time. i found quickly the time to delve into the genius as presented. humor,candor,insight going lightly before you.

A book for pricking poo-flinging monkeys.......2006-10-05

"but my sense is that his times were really the last 1900s, not even the times when he wrote."
-- Bruce Applebaum

Does the man who wrote this presume to judge between good and bad writing?

Mencken was, in a literal sense of the term, a prick. He seems to have surveyed his society for inflated egos to deflate with his acrid pen. Mencken is dead, but the sensitive stuff of which Mr Applebaum's ego-baloon is made is easily punctured. Even Mencken's ghost can do it, and has. As his deflating ego sqeeked out its last whine, Mr A. became indignant, set out pugnaciously for revenge on Mencken by writing his blurb, and tripped over his shoelaces.

If you are the kind of nitwit that flings words like ``racist'' and ``bigot'', like an angry monkey throws his poo, at any white man bold enough to suggest that the different races may have different attributes, than you need to read this book. The prick of it may send you howling from your tree, but you may find your way out of the jungle.

a must read.......2006-06-19

HL Mencken was one of the greatest journalists of his era in American history, perhaps of all of American history.

Any American who aspires to consider him or herself educated, must read this book, which is his collection of his all time most trenchant essays. The vast majority of his opinionated insights are correct; all of his essays are extremely well written, and very amusing. Even if you don't aspire to consider yourself educated, this book is full of life lessons that most many people have to learn the hard way.

One of the five best books I've ever read.

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The Man Mencken
Henry Louis ; Goldberg, Isaac Mencken
Manufacturer: New York, NY, U.S.A.: Simon & Schuster,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OVAG6S

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The Nietzsche-Wagner Correspondence
Friedrich Nietzsche
Manufacturer: Boni & Liveright
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FSTTNQ

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A Book of Prefaces
Henry Louis Mencken
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1426496605

Book Description

Under all his stories there ebbs and flows a kind of tempered melancholy a sense of seeking and not finding.

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Menckeniana: A Schimpflexion
H. L. [Henry Louis] Mencken
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JW2USE

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Menckeniana: a Schimpflexikon
H.L. [Henry Louis] Mencken
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Kopf
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: B000FTUJAC

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Eleven Plays Of Henrik Ibsen
Henry Louis Mencken
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Mencken and Shaw : The Anatomy of America's Voltaire and England's Other John Bull

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Mencken and Shaw : The Anatomy of America's Voltaire and England's Other John Bull
Henry Louis ; Shaw, George Benard ; De Casseres, Benjamin Mencken
Manufacturer: New York: Silas Newton,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OVAP4G

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