When H.L. Mencken died in 1956, he left behind well-ordered diaries, letters and personal papers that are collected here in this text. The work quotes from Mencken's writings on every subject, from Americans ("the most timorous, snivelling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goosesteppers ever gathered under one flag") to the English ("England gave us Puritanism, Germany gave us Pilsner"), from his thoughts on Jews (both "the most unpleasant race ever heard of" and "the chief dreamers of the human race, and beyond all comparison its greatest poets") to Puritanism ("that haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy"). Along with Mencken's literary slashings at the "boobsoisie" - with his trademark political "incorrectitude" - Hobson's access to many pages of personal manuscripts allows a broad look at the demons and affections of the personal life of the Sage of Baltimore.