H.L. Mencken: Disturber of the Peace

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of either author or subject, but worth reading
Review: Those who have read Mencken extensively might find this biography a bit tame. Those who have feasted on Manchester's rich accounts of the lives of such people as Winston Churchill and Douglas MacArthur will wonder why this seems so flat in comparison. Still, "Disturber of the Peace" is both a valuable and an immensely readable book. In its few pages (compared with the three volumes on Churchill), the young William Manchester gives a concise but thorough account of Mencken and a thoughtful assessment of the man's importance during his own era and today. It's a pity this book is out of print.