Jim Bovard on H.L. Mencken
![The Human Action Podcast](https://cdn.mises.org/styles/responsive_4_3_650w/s3/static-page/img/human-action-podcast_750x516_20200828.jpg.webp?itok=K9nOv0eq 650w,https://cdn.mises.org/styles/responsive_4_3_870w/s3/static-page/img/human-action-podcast_750x516_20200828.jpg.webp?itok=b_DSiohb 870w,https://cdn.mises.org/styles/responsive_4_3_1090w/s3/static-page/img/human-action-podcast_750x516_20200828.jpg.webp?itok=daNRxRi- 1090w,https://cdn.mises.org/styles/responsive_4_3_1310w/s3/static-page/img/human-action-podcast_750x516_20200828.jpg.webp?itok=BVIONA-C 1310w,https://cdn.mises.org/styles/responsive_4_3_1530w/s3/static-page/img/human-action-podcast_750x516_20200828.jpg.webp?itok=ykhSi0eL 1530w)
HL Mencken is the writer you need to read immediately. He was savagely brilliant, caustic, and witty, but also prolific across genres in ways almost unthinkable of journalists today. His skill with the English language was virtually unmatched in the 20th century, as was his deep and abiding contempt for utopian statism in any form. And his broadsides against two world wars were incredibly courageous at the time.
Our great friend Jim Bovard joins the show to discuss Mencken’s work, his complicated elitism, his Old Right politics and social views, and the magnificent pleasure of reading this master.
“H.L. Mencken, The Joyous Libertarian” by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/Joyous
Mencken Wikiquote: Mises.org/HLQ