A Little Book In C Major

by H.L. Mencken

""A Little Book In C Major"" is a collection of essays by H.L. Mencken, a prominent American journalist, cultural critic, and satirist. First published in 1916, this book includes Mencken's witty and insightful commentary on a variety of subjects, including literature, politics, music, and the arts. The essays are written in Mencken's signature style, which is characterized by his acerbic wit, irreverent humor, and sharp criticism of American society and culture. The title of the book refers to Mencken's belief that C Major is the most ""innocent and childlike"" of all musical keys, and he uses this metaphor to explore the themes of simplicity, purity, and naivety throughout the essays. Overall, ""A Little Book In C Major"" is a thought-provoking and entertaining read that offers a unique perspective on American life and culture in the early 20th century.A Splendid Basket Of Ripe One-Liners From America's Champion Of Wit And Cleared-Eyed Opinionists.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

About the author

Henry Louis "H.L." Mencken became one of the most influential and prolific journalists in America in the 1920s and '30s, writing about all the shams and con artists in the world. He attacked chiropractors and the Ku Klux Klan, politicians and other journalists. Most of all, he attacked Puritan morality. He called Puritanism, "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

At the height of his career, he edited and wrote for The American Mercury magazine and the Baltimore Sun newspaper, wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column for the Chicago Tribune, and published two or three books every year. His masterpiece was one of the few books he wrote about something he loved, a book called The American Language (1919), a history and collection of American vernacular speech. It included a translation of the Declaration of Independence into American English that began, "When things get so balled up that the people of a country got to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are not trying to put nothing over on nobody."

When asked what he would like for an epitaph, Mencken wrote, "If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."

(from American Public Media)

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

some amusing burns, bon mots, and observations. However, some are clearly products of their time and place, making reference to then current (pop?) cultural knowledge that left me baffled.