Damning Words

The Life and Religious Times of H. L. Mencken

D. G. Hart

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780802873446
• eBook ISBN:
  9781467446112
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Journalist Biographies

Recounts a famously outspoken agnostic's surprising relationship with Christianity
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) was a reporter, literary critic, editor, author—and a famous American agnostic. From his role in the Scopes Trial to his advocacy of science and reason in public life, Mencken is generally regarded as one of the fiercest critics of Christianity in his day.
In this biography D. G. Hart presents a provocative, iconoclastic perspective on Mencken's life. Even as Mencken vividly debunked American religious ideals, says Hart, it was Christianity that largely framed his ideas, career, and fame. Mencken's relationship to the Christian faith was at once antagonistic and symbiotic.
Using plenty of Mencken's own words,  Damning Words superbly portrays an influential figure in twentieth-century America and, at the same time, casts telling new light on his era.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Lamentable Heresies
• 2. The Maddest, Gladdest, Damnedest Existence Ever
• 3. Civilized Adults in Their Lighter Moods
• 4. Philistinism—Another Name for Puritanism
• 5. Educated Toryism
• 6. The Mencken Show
• 7. The Stronger Sex
• 8. Finding Meaning and Losing Readers
• 9. Delivered from Anonymity
• 10. What Could Be More Preposterous Than Keeping Alive?
• Conclusion: Learning from H. L. Mencken
• Notes on the Sources
• Index