In Defense of Women

Written by H.L. Mencken

Narrated by Fred Williams

Originally published in 1922, this book considers topics that remain of vital interest to today’s readers, including monogamy and polygamy, the double standard, sexual harassment, and declining marriage rates. Written in Mencken’s characteristic no-nonsense manner, In Defense of Women crackles with controversy and caustic wit.

“The truth is that neither sex, without some fertilization by the complementary characters of the other, is capable of the highest reaches of human endeavor. Man, without a saving touch of woman in him, is too doltish, too naïve and romantic, too easily deluded and lulled to sleep by his imagination to be anything above a cavalryman, a theologian, or a bank director. And woman, without some trace of that divine innocence which is masculine, is too harshly the realist for those vast projections of the fancy which lie at the heart of what we call genius. Here, as elsewhere in the universe, the best effects are obtained by a mingling of elements” (H. L. Mencken).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Apr 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9780786117918

H.L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. Mencken is best known for The American Language, a multivolume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States.

Reviews for In Defense of Women

[liam39 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

fascinating reading, 90 years after it was written, this edition being published about 5 years later. Mencken was a complicated person, and his writing is in the same mold. After reading this book, I checked author out on Wikipedia.com . I recommend the same order of reading.