Alec Mouhibian

Two pieces about H.L. Mencken’s Baltimore: the first a reflection for Liberty Magazine (scroll down to read); the second a full article for The Weekly Standard, which I’ll reproduce below.

Mencken Slept Here
Has Baltimore forgotten the Sage of Baltimore?
08/06/2007, Volume 012, Issue 44

For the first half of the 20th century, an ordinary row house in a quiet Baltimore neighborhood was the castle of American intellectual culture. From its book-lined second-story office, the man on the throne canonized F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, paralyzed perceptions of Franklin D. Roosevelt, swayed Clarence Darrow to the defense of a young biology teacher, and clanged out more than 10 million of the juiciest words to pass through an American typewriter.

At 1524 Hollins Street, H.L. Mencken commanded the thunder and lightning of his era.

Read more…

Just back from Baltimore, where I visited the home of the great American journalist H.L. Mencken. In that common red brick house, the Sage of Baltimore convinced Darrow to take on the Scopes case, translated Nietzsche, coined “Bible Belt,” and wrote more than 10,000,000 words of infectious opinion, literary criticism, and fiction. The Mencken House is now rotting. His furniture deported, his ceilings crumbling, and his ghost long evicted, Mencken is a persona non grata in the city for which he entertained deep — and unrequited — affection. More on this in an upcoming article.