AMERICAN MERCURY

American 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. The periodical, under the editorship of Mencken, fast gained a reputation for Mencken's vitriolic articles 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. Under Eugene Lyons, the American Mercury generated much of the pressure exerted on the U.S. Congress to vote for funding of air power at the beginning of World War II. Later, the magazine passed through the hands of several publishers and over a period of time developed a militant anticommunist stand and a strident right-wing tone.