Magazine and Newspaper Work, 1926

In 1926, H. L. Mencken continued his prodigious journalistic work in both magazines and newspapers. He coedited the American Mercury and contributed editorials and a book review column to almost every issue, while also writing occasional reviews for the Nation. He wrote trenchant reviews of the work of Theodore Dreiser, Ring Lardner, James Branch Cabell, Sinclair Lewis, H. G. Wells, and many others. as well as books on religion, politics, and African Americans. In his newspaper work, Mencken continued writing prolifially for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Chicago Sunday Tribune on such topics as religious fundamentalism, the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, the continuing farce of Prohibition, birth control, and much else. He also pokes fun at the spiritualist charlatan Aimée Semple McPherson and writes touching tributes to his friend George Sterling, the California poet who committed suicide while Mencken was visiting San Francisco. In all his work, Mencken fuses insight and biting wit to create some of the liveliest and most vital journalism of his era.