I would almost mandate all of the 30-plus books that he wrote...be read by first-year college students. Absolute skeptic on any good will or achievements ever coming out of Washington DC. Graduated high school at 15. Just all-round knowledge in everything.
One can spend years of enjoyment reading Mencken. Imagine a journalist and commentator who cannot be bought, a brilliant researcher and analyst of politics, psychology, and was also in his heyday both America's most read pundit and leading literary critic.
I have two Mencken collections in my library:
• The Impossible H. L. Mencken, edited by Marion E. Rodgers
• H. L. Mencken's Smart Set Criticism, edited by William H. Nolte
Two days ago I commented on a remarkable piece of Menken analysis on the kind of person who runs for the Presidency.
And just now I read your FR profile where you pinpointed the very same essay :- )
Here’s the Presidency essay of Mencken in abridged form.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3860562/posts?page=28#28
“The Age of the Idiot? ...the bumper crops of humorless, dour “dunderheads” America is now siring”
The writer is perfectly describing the current set of journalist in the media today. Think CNN, MSNBC, New York Times. Imbeciles.
If he'd be around today, he certainly would be detested by the establishments of both political parties and probably would be reluctant to support any politician. It's refreshing to have people who think for themselves rather than falling into groupthink, whether you agree with them on any particular issue or not.
We don't seem to have very many such people in public life. Who in your opinion comes closest to filling this contrarian niche today?
BUMP
One of those rare gems that comes once in a lifetime, maybe a century.