Chapter I: Front Matter

PREJUDICES

FOURTH SERIES

_THE WORKS OF H. L. MENCKEN_

PREJUDICES: FIRST SERIES[1]

PREJUDICES: SECOND SERIES[1]

PREJUDICES: THIRD SERIES[1]

PREJUDICES: FOURTH SERIES

A BOOK OF BURLESQUES[1]

A BOOK OF PREFACES[1]

IN DEFENSE OF WOMEN[1][2]

THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE[1]

THE AMERICAN CREDO
[_With George Jean Nathan_]

_OUT OF PRINT_

VENTURES INTO VERSE

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: HIS PLAYS

THE ARTIST

A LITTLE BOOK IN C MAJOR

A BOOK OF CALUMNY

MEN VS. THE MAN
[_With R. R. LaMonte_]

HELIOGABALUS[2]
[_With Mr. Nathan_]

EUROPE AFTER 8:15 [_With Mr. Nathan and W. H. Wright_]

THE PHILOSOPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE[1]

_TRANSLATIONS_

THE ANTICHRIST, BY F. W. NIETZSCHE

_NEW YORK: ALFRED · A · KNOPF_

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Also Published in England

[2] Also Published in Germany in translation

PREJUDICES

FOURTH SERIES

By H. L. MENCKEN

PUBLISHED AT THE BORZOI · NEW YORK · BY

ALFRED · A · KNOPF

COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. · PUBLISHED, OCTOBER, 1924 · SET UP, AND ELECTROTYPED BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINGHAMTON, N. Y. · PAPER FURNISHED BY W. F. ETHERINGTON & CO., NEW YORK. · PRINTED AND BOUND BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS, NORWOOD, MASS. ·

THE FIRST EDITION OF “PREJUDICES: FOURTH SERIES” CONSISTS OF THIRTY-SIX HUNDRED AND TEN COPIES AS FOLLOWS: ONE HUNDRED AND TEN ON BORZOI ALL RAG PAPER SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR NUMBERED FROM 1 TO 100, AND A TO J; AND THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED COPIES ON ENGLISH FEATHER-WEIGHT PAPER.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

I The American Tradition, 9

II The Husbandman, 43

III High and Ghostly Matters, 61

1. The Cosmic Secretariat, 61

2. The Nature of Faith, 65

3. The Devotee, 76

4. The Restoration of Beauty, 77

5. End-Product, 78

6. Another, 79

7. Holy Clerks, 79

IV Justice Under Democracy, 85

V Reflections on Human Monogamy, 103

1. The Eternal Farce, 103

2. Venus at the Domestic Hearth, 108

3. The Rat-Trap, 110

4. The Love Chase, 112

5. Women as Realpolitiker, 113

6. Footnote for Suffragettes, 114

7. The Helpmate, 114

8. The Mime, 116

9. Cavia Cobaya, 117

10. The Survivor, 118

11. The Veteran’s Disaster, 119

12. Moral Indignation, 119

13. The Man and His Shadow, 120

14. The Balance-Sheet, 123

15. Yearning, 124

VI The Politician, 125

VII From a Critic’s Notebook, 138

1. Progress, 138

2. The Iconoclast, 139

3. The Artists’ Model, 140

4. The Good Citizen as Artist, 140

5. Definitive Judgments, 141

VIII Totentanz, 145

IX Meditations in the Methodist Desert, 158

1. The New Galahad, 158

2. Optimist vs. Optimist, 161

3. Caveat for the Defense, 167

4. Portrait of an Ideal World, 173

X Essay in Constructive Criticism, 180

XI On the Nature of Man, 197

1. The Animal That Thinks, 197

2. Veritas Odium Parit, 198

3. The Eternal Cripple, 199

4. The Test, 200

5. National Characters, 201

6. The Goal, 204

7. Psychology at 5 A. M., 204

8. The Reward, 205

9. The Altruist, 205

10. The Man of Honor, 206

XII Bugaboo, 207

XIII On Government, 220

XIV Toward a Realistic Aesthetic, 237

1. The Nature of Art, 237

2. The One-Legged Art, 240

3. Symbiosis and the Artist, 248

XV Contributions to the Study of Vulgar
Psychology, 253

1. The Downfall of the Navy, 253

2. The Mind of the Slave, 261

3. The Art Eternal, 269

XVI The American Novel, 278

XVII People and Things, 294

1. The Capitol of a Great Republic, 294

2. Ambassadors of Christ, 296

3. Bilder aus schöner Zeit, 297

4. The High Seas, 299

5. The Shrine of Mnemosyne, 300

PREJUDICES: FOURTH SERIES