Part 1

Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in underscores. Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.

NOTES ON DEMOCRACY

THE WORKS OF H. L. MENCKEN

PREJUDICES FIRST SERIES¹ PREJUDICES SECOND SERIES¹ PREJUDICES THIRD SERIES¹ PREJUDICES FOURTH SERIES¹ PREJUDICES FIFTH SERIES¹ SELECTED PREJUDICES² A BOOK OF BURLESQUES¹ BOOK OF PREFACES¹ IN DEFENSE OF WOMEN¹ ³ THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE¹ ³ NOTES ON DEMOCRACY¹ THE AMERICAN CREDO [With George Jean Nathan]

OUT OF PRINT

VENTURES INTO VERSE GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: HIS PLAYS THE ARTIST A LITTLE BOOK IN C MAJOR DAMN: A BOOK OF CALUMNY MEN VS. THE MAN [With Robert Rives LaMonte] HELIOGABALUS¹ [With Mr. Nathan] EUROPE AFTER 8·15 [With Mr Nathan and Willard H. Wright] THE PHILOSOPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE¹

1 Also Published in England

2 Published only in England

3 Also Published in Germany in translation

TRANSLATIONS

THE ANTICHRIST, BY F W NIETZSCHE

BOOKS ABOUT MR MENCKEN

H. L. MENCKEN, BY ERNEST BOYD [Robert M. McBride & Company] THE MAN MENCKEN, BY ISAAC GOLDBERG [Simon & Schuster]

NEW YORK: ALFRED · A · KNOPF

NOTES ON DEMOCRACY

By H. L. MENCKEN

PUBLISHED AT THE BORZOI · NEW YORK · BY ALFRED · A · KNOPF

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC.

PUBLISHED, OCTOBER, 1926 SECOND PRINTING, NOVEMBER, 1926

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

I. DEMOCRATIC MAN

1. His Appearance in the World 3

2. Varieties of Homo Sapiens 9

3. The New Psychology 15

4. Politics Under Democracy 22

5. The Rôle of the Hormones 28

6. Envy as a Philosophy 35