Language:
English
Year of publication:
1993
Titel der Quelle:
Pertinent Players
Angaben zur Quelle:
(1993) 222-245
Keywords:
Mencken, H. L.
;
Antisemitism History 20th century
;
Authors, American 20th century
Abstract:
Discusses recent criticism of H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), the American journalist, editor, and literary critic, accusing him of having been racist and an antisemite, in the wake of the recent publication of his diary covering the years 1930-1948, and the reactions of reviewers. States that Mencken made risky generalizations about racial groups, but he always judged individuals above groups and races (i.e. some of his friends were Jewish). He hated Roosevelt and had an abiding suspicion of the British, so that at first he tended to underplay the danger of Hitler and the Nazis. But in 1939 he published a plea to save the Jews of Central Europe from the Nazis. Concludes that Mencken "talked about Jews the way Jews talked about Jews"; he may have been foolhardy, but he was not an antisemite.
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