H. L. Mencken was one of the leading literary, social, and cultural critics of the 1910s, '20s, and '30s. However, very few of his literary reviews have been reprinted in any form prior to their appearance in this volume.H.

This is a collection of Mencken's reviews of the leading American writers of his time, including provocative analyses of the best and worst in American literature. He took great pains to vaunt writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerlad, while finding deficiencies in others, such as Edith Wharton.