In Defense of Women (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Satirical Essays on Gender, Marriage, Suffrage, and Social Convention in Early Twentieth-Century AmericaBy H. L. Mencken
Length6h 16m
About this audiobook
In Defense of Women is H. L. Mencken's bracing, paradoxical meditation on sex, courtship, marriage, and social convention, first published in 1918 amid the upheavals of suffrage-era America. Written in his characteristically epigrammatic, combative prose, the book mingles satire, social criticism, and pseudo-anthropological speculation. Its "defense" is often ironic: Mencken attacks sentimental chivalry and male vanity while advancing claims that remain deliberately provocative, sometimes troubling, and unmistakably of their age. Mencken, the Baltimore journalist, critic, and co-editor of The Smart Set and later The American Mercury, built his reputation by assaulting cant, moralism, provincialism, and democratic pieties. His skepticism toward marriage, reform movements, and conventional respectability informs this work throughout. A lifelong bachelor until late middle age, he wrote as an observer of manners rather than a reformer, using the woman question to expose what he regarded as the absurdities of masculine self-deception and bourgeois morality. Readers interested in American modernism, gender discourse, and the history of contrarian criticism will find the book invaluable. It should be read critically, not as doctrine, but as a sharp artifact of early twentieth-century debate, displaying Mencken at his most agile, infuriating, and intellectually theatrical.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (258)
Includes Amazon
GenrePsychology
Length6 hrs 16 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMay 21, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1In Defense of Women (Annotated)
2617. Fundamental Motives
2Introduction
2718. The Process of Courtship
3Synopsis
2819. The Actual Husband
4Historical Context
2920. The Unattainable Ideal
5Author Biography
3021. The Effect on the Race
Show all chaptersShow less
6Introduction
3122. Compulsory Marriage
7I. The Feminine Mind
3223. Extra-Legal Devices
81. The Maternal Instinct
3324. Intermezzo on Monogamy
92. Women's Intelligence
3425. Late Marriages
103. The Masculine Bag of Tricks
3526. Disparate Unions
114. Why Women Fail
3627. The Charm of Mystery
125. The Thing Called Intuition
3728. Woman as Wife
13II. The War Between the Sexes
3829. Marriage and the Law
146. How Marriages are Arranged
3930. The Emancipated Housewife
157. The Feminine Attitude
40IV. Woman Suffrage
168. The Male Beauty
4131. The Crowning Victory
179. Men as Aesthetes
4232. The Woman Voter
1810. The Process of Delusion
4333. A Glance Into the Future
1911. Biological Considerations
4434. The Suffragette
2012. Honour
4535. A Mythical Dare-Devil
2113. Women and the Emotions
4636. The Origin of a Delusion
2214. Pseudo-Anaesthesia
4737. Women as Martyrs
2315. Mythical Anthropophagi
4838. Pathological Effects
2416. A Conspiracy of Silence
4939. Women as Christians
25III. Marriage
5040. Piety as a Social Habit
A Book of BurlesquesH. L. Mencken2h 58m3.7 (103)$1.99 · $0.00
Notes on Democracy (Annotated)H. L. Mencken6h 9m4.4 (484)$2 · $0.00
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (Annotated)H. L. Mencken10h 21m4.0 (631)$2 · $0.00
A Book of Prefaces (Annotated)H. L. Mencken7h 52m3.8 (67)$2 · $0.00
Prejudices, First Series (Annotated)H. L. Mencken7h 23m4.3 (92)$2 · $0.00
Damn! A Book of CalumnyH. L. Mencken1h 9m3.8 (383)$1 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken5h 52m3.8 (877)$2 · $0.00
The American LanguageH. L. Mencken10h 52m4.1 (554)$2 · $0.00
Prejudices, fifth seriesH. L. Mencken7h 16m4.1 (22)$1 · $0.00
Prejudices: EssaysH. L. Mencken7h 15m4.4 (110)$2 · $0.00
The American Credo (Annotated)H. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan4h 27m3.7 (51)$2 · $0.00
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (Summarized Edition)H. L. Mencken5h 3m4.0 (593)$2
Notes on Democracy (Summarized Edition)H. L. Mencken2h 20m4.1 (635)$2
Notes on DemocracyH. L. Mencken5h 52m4.1 (864)$2 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken4h 36m3.9 (604)$2 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken5h 58m3.7 (875)$1 · $0.00
The American Language (Annotated)H. L. Mencken18h 39m4.3 (889)$1.99 · $0.00
H. L. Mencken - Premium CollectionH. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan51h 5m4.4 (11)$2 · $0.00
The American Language: Development of English in the United StatesH. L. Mencken18h 31m4.3 (597)$2 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding Your VoiceMannette Morgan8h 10m4.8 (187)$20
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
AretéBrian Johnson19h 57m4.7 (2.2K)$35
Ullathin KuralPrem Rawat8h 17m4.8 (165)$18 · $0.00
Vax FactsPaul Thomas MD, Deedee Hoover10h 26m4.7 (577)$25
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
TerraformPropaganda5h 39m4.7 (594)$24 · $0.00
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett2h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m4.6 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
The Thomas Sowell ReaderThomas Sowell14h 51m4.6 (2.3K)$25
So You Want to Talk about RaceIjeoma Oluo7h 41m4.6 (146.2K)$17
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
You may also like
The Complete Works of Honoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac569h 44m4.5 (459)$3 · $0.00
UtopiaSaint Thomas More4h 26m3.7 (102.4K)$2.30
Chronicles of Barsetshire - Complete Edition (All 6 Books in One Edition)Anthony Trollope141h 40m4.5 (3.1K)$1 · $0.00
SmokeIvan Sergeevich Turgenev6h 49m3.9 (2.4K)$2.30 · $0.00
Notes on Democracy (Summarized Edition)H. L. Mencken2h 20m4.1 (635)$2
All Things ConsideredG. K. Chesterton6h 15m4.0 (988)$2.30
The Dilbert PrincipleScott Adams1h 11m4.0 (48.5K)$13 · $0.00
The Complete Chronicles of Barsetshire: (The Warden + Barchester Towers + Doctor Thorne + Framley Parsonage + The Small House at Allington + The Last Chronicle of Barset) (Annotated)Anthony Trollope141h 33m4.6 (2.2K)$2 · $0.00
See No EvilJoel B. Pollak9h 14m4.1 (616)$20
All Things ConsideredG. K. Chesterton6h 17m4.1 (1.2K)$2.30 · $0.00
Arms and the ManGeorge Bernard Shaw3h 53m4.0 (13.6K)$2 · $0.00
Voltaire's Philosophical DictionaryVoltaire9h 31m4.3 (13.4K)$2.30
The Woman's Bible (Complete Edition)Elizabeth Cady Stanton16h 41m4.0 (2.8K)$2 · $0.00
100 People Who Are Screwing Up AmericaBernard Goldberg6h 16m3.5 (2K)$24 · $0.00
MAPP AND LUCIA (Annotated)E. F. Benson60h 38m4.3 (466)$2 · $0.00
President MeAdam Carolla6h 1m4.1 (3.3K)$24 · $0.00
The WardenAnthony Trollope9h 6m3.9 (25.9K)$2 · $0.00
The Politics of America: 9 Classic Books on Power and PolicyBlythe Harding, William H. Taft, Robert J. Shores, Leslie M. Shaw, Joseph C. Manning, Newton Macmillan, Paul S. Reinsch, Thomas Baines, J. W. Sullivan24h 44m$1.99 · $0.00
On Love (Annotated)Stendhal13h 15m4.3 (11)$2 · $0.00
The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public BenefitsBernard Mandeville24h 20m3.7 (346)$1 · $0.00