American Mercury

American Mercury, monthly literary magazine known for its often satiric commentary on American life, politics, and customs. It was founded in 1924 by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan.

Under the editorship of Mencken, the periodical fast gained a reputation for the vitriolic articles he directed at the American public (the “booboisie”) and for Nathan’s excellent theatrical criticism. Its fiction and other articles were the work of the most distinguished American authors and often the sharpest satiric minds of the day, but the magazine’s popularity peaked in the late 1920s. Mencken resigned in 1933. At the beginning of World War II, the American Mercury generated much of the pressure exerted on the U.S. Congress to fund air power. The magazine foundered, however, and passed through the hands of several publishers.