A Book of Prefaces
"A Book of Prefaces" by H. L. Mencken is a collection of essays published in 1917. This provocative work attacks American culture, literary movements, and Puritan influences on American letters. Mencken devotes essays to Theodore Dreiser, Joseph Conrad, and James Gibbons Huneker before unleashing his most controversial piece on Puritanism as a stifling literary force. The book sparked outrage among academics and defenders of American culture, yet inspired future writers like Richard Wright and marked a turning point in Mencken's career as America's most fearless cultural critic.
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- English
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More by H. L. Mencken
See all: More by H. L. Mencken
The American Language
A Book of Burlesques
Prejudices, second series
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
In Defense of Women
Prejudices, third series
Prejudices, first series
The American Credo
Notes on democracy
Prejudices, fourth series
Damn! A Book of Calumny
Europe After 8:15
Prejudices, fifth series
Ventures Into Verse
George Bernard Shaw: His Plays
Heliogabalus: A Buffoonery in Three Acts
