TOPIC GUIDE TO MINORITY REPORT: NOTEBOOKS OF H. L. MENCKEN

S. L. Harrison, 2000

MENCKEN’S POSTHUMOUS Minority Report: The Notebooks of H.L. Mencken (Knopf, 1956, available in paperback from Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997) contains a collection of HLM's observations comprised of “memoranda of long years,” the author explains, “devoted to the pursuit, anatomizing and embalming of ideas.” In no selected order, the 432 entries are listed numerically and comments are eclectic. The book lacks an index; a brief identification of major topics in each of the entries in the published Notebooks provides a helpful guide for readers seeking specific subjects.

A B C D E F G H I J K K M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Adultery (10)

Actors (11)

Altruism (126), (250)

American: Authors (47); law (56)

Archbishop (59)

Aristocracy (39), (251), (265), (267)

Art (77), (80) , (269) , (419)

Aspirations (190)

Astronomers (74)

Atheist (69)

Atonement (198)

Aural sensations (55)

Authors: (396), (425); citation (200), (279), (406), (410)

Autobiography (73), (417)

B

Babbitt, Irving (157)

babies (164)

Baltimore (189) , (385)

banishment (152)

bankrupt (271)

Beethoven (52)

Belloc, Hilaire (65)

bibliobibuli [readers] (71)

Bill of Rights (241)

biography (417)

birth control (62), (270)

bishops (424)

blindness (261)

boasting (142)

bores (67), (109), (309), (401)

bravery (266)

brain (313)

business men (375)

bugaboos (38)

C

camping (280)

Canon law (18)

Catholic: confession (21); doctrine (284); history (65); moral theology (85);

Carlyle, Henry (410)

Capitalism (310) , (397)

capital punishment (40), (60), (120), (219)

casuistry (141)

causation (365), (370)

Chesterton, G.K. (279)

Chinese (95)

Christianity (49), (128) , (139) , (158), (227), (395), (398), (402), (421)

certainty (418)

Civil rights (33), (347)

Civilization (50), (107)

clergy: education (86); ethics (12)

Confederacy (271)

colleges (51), (146), (175), (363)

Congress (42), (195), (206)

contentment ((367)

conversion [causes] (162)

common sense (183), (263)

Communists, communism (15), (109), (185), (282), (301), (337), (338)

competence (168), (335), (362), (384)

consanguinity (264)

conscription (122), (249)

criminal punishment (6), (64), (120), (208), (219)

custom (303)

D

death (113), (147), (357)

delusions (125)

Democracy (63), (111), (135), (167), (172), (191), (211), (218), (256), (268), (286), (296), (393), (413)

depressing days (2)

depression [econ.] 246

devil, the (366)

devotion (216)

dignity (345), (348), (354)

divorce (229)

dramatic criticism (176)

drinking (136)

Dust Bowl (377)

E

Eastern philosophers (48)

Education (43), (92), (146), (161), (215), (274), (360), (405), (426)

elected office (131), (421)

economics (291)

Egypt (113)

employment (148)

endeavor [work] (133)

English, the (99), (132), (199), (229), (233)

envy (350)

epistemology (285)

Equality (36)

eucharist (206)

experience (248)

F

faith (194), (355)

female moron (103)

fickleness (351)

franchise (289)

Free speech (37)

freedom (304)

football (186)

Founding Fathers (267)

G

Gambling (32)

Gentleman defined (26)

Gettysburg Address (332)

Germans (217), (349)

God (35), (79), (194), (298), (309), (342), (389), (408), (423)

Government (22), (68), (95), (148), (197), (201), (203), (299), (312), (314), (322), (323), (326), (327), (343)

H

Happiness (14)

Haeckel, [Ernst] theory (13)

Heaven (400)

hill-billies (385)

History (65), (116), (138), (353), (374)

Hitler, (349)

honor (149)

Hope (278)

humor (396)

hypocrisy (368)

I

idealism (223), (305)

idiotic (323)

immortality (414)

impeachment (314)

incompetence (281)

influenza (237)

innovation (72)

immortality (23), (144)

insurance (356)

isolation (341)

intelligence (409)

Italy (328)

Z

Jesus (229)

Jesuits (203)

Jews (407)

jobs (236)

Johnson, Andrew (267)

Johnson, Samuel (406)

K

killing (393)

Kipling, Rudyard (200)

L

labor unions (154), (173), (276)

League of Nations (39)

legislatures (117), (225), (328)

leisure (29), (87)

liberty (108), (111), (170)

Life (260), (361)

Lincoln, Anbraham (312)

Literature (90), (128)

luck (411)

M

Macaulay, Rose (128)

machines (238)

Man: Admirable (179), behavior (61), docile (318); envious (256 inferior (29), (158), (270), (287); imperfect (20); physic (247) , (415); religious (415); social (196), superior (8), (119), (344), (366); stupid (321); talkers (174),

unambitious (3); unemployable (306); unhappy (98); unlucky (319)

Man's inhumanity (30); toughness (83); weakness (54)

manners (27)

marriage (4), (100)

Maryland [legislation] (117), (423)

Marxism (15), (70), (230), (307), (390)

medical men (41)

metaphysics (239), (252), (357), (371), (392), (430)

Milton, John (92)

military leader (317)

miracles (386)

moderation (361)

monarchy (188), (202), (286)

money (145), (177), (224)

Moral theology (85); systems (19)

Morals: behavior (62), (149), (243); medicine (7); war (91); sexual (46)

mothers (228)

motion pictures (160)

music (419)

N

Napoleon (410)

Nations (50)

Natural law (121)

Negroes (31), (110), (187), (213), (231), (270), (272), (295), (352)

New Deal (75), (89), (150), (165), (220), (363), (422), (429)

New Humanism (157)

newspapers (94), (97)

nuns (221)

O

opinion (380), (383)

opportunity (381)

P

Parties (political) (104), (204), (330)

Paley, William (336)

patriotism (159), (163), (406)

Paraguay (203)

parlor-car (178)

Pedagogy (25), (134), (182)

Philosophers, Eastern (48); (44)

Philosophy (57)

philanthropy (114)

physicians (41), (115)

Pittsburgh stogie (325)

planning (316)

Poetry (28), (132), (331), (387), (399)

political campaigns (204)

political corruption (222)

politicians (209), (245), (255), (293)

poor (292)

poverty (273)

power (369)

prayer (309)

prejudice (184)

priests (93)

Prohibition (277), (391)

progress (82)

public schools (127), (215)

punishment (6), (64), (89), (152), (262)

Pure Food And Drug Act (428)

Puritanism (171), (284)

Q

Quacks (53), (172), (193), (293), (338)

R

race (378(, (379)

Religion (1), (101), (169), (229), (244), (263),(288), (300), (309),(311), (324), (333) (336),(338), (342), (373), (376), (380), (383),

(386), (380), (383), (386), (390), (398), (402), (403), (416), (431)

reform (257), (283)

rich (292)

Roosevelt II [FDR] (259), (275)

Rotarians (253)

Russia (315)

S

schools (340)

Scientists (45), (58), (118), (123), (155), (192), (232), (242), (412)

sex (16), (102), (227)

skepticism (88)

social workers (214)

Socialism (58), (397)

socialized medicine (124)

sorrow (78)

South, the (175), (187), (242)

spinsters (425)

Steinbeck, John (425)

suffrage (81), (13)

suffering (129)

suicide (106), (147)

T

Talmud (205)

teaching (340)

temperature (212)

thinking (308)

Theology: And science (45); (58), (118), (139), (155), (175), (258), (404)

time (101)

trade (303)

travel (234)

Truth (84), (382)

Turner, Fred J. (302)

Twain, Mark (396)

U

uniforms (143)

Ungentlemanly communists (15)

unknowable (364)

universe, the (388), (427)

uplifters (112), (114), (153), (156), (257)

V

Values (137)

vanity (372)

virtue (420)

W

War (17), (66), (76), (91), (116), (122), (130), (143), (151), (163), (164), (210), (226), (243), (254), (258), (266), (280), (290) , (294), (297), (320), (338), (359), (393), (403)

wealth (145), (224)

West, the (302)

Wilson, Woodrow (368)

wives (96)

women: fashions (5), (180); marriage (100); work (348)

words (265)

world court (240)

work (34), (105), (181), (236)

writing (24), (432)

X

Y

Yogi (334)

Z