The Icon-Mugger

The caustic American essayist has gone the way of the buffalo. It is almost as if the passing of the venerable H. L. Mencken signaled a moratorium on the art. A pity, since the curmudgeon from Baltimore is sadly missed these days, when such a multitude of absurdities invite public pillory.

From his Bloomington bunker, a puckish Bob Tyrrell stokes the iconoclastic embers to brilliant intensity and singes the fannies of assorted gasbags across this land. Tom Wolfe remains in a class by himself. Though somewhat long in the tooth and uncertain of his literary destiny, Gore Vidal can mug any icon when he feels the urge. From there on, though, the field thins out. Wilfrid Sheed has gone softly to the novel and John Leonard to the New York Times. The source of Hunter Thompson’s inspiration could best be analyzed by a urine specimen, which would likely result in his disqualification.

AM

About the Author

Alan L. Miller

The caustic American essayist has gone the way of the buffalo. It is almost as if the passing of the venerable H. L. Mencken signaled a moratorium on the art. A pity, since the curmudgeon from Baltimore is sadly missed these days, when such a multitude of absurdities invite public pillory.

From his Bloomington bunker, a puckish Bob Tyrrell stokes the iconoclastic embers to brilliant intensity and singes the fannies of assorted gasbags across this land. Tom Wolfe remains in a class by himself. Though somewhat long in the tooth and uncertain of his literary destiny, Gore Vidal can mug any icon when he feels the urge. From there on, though, the field thins out. Wilfrid Sheed has gone softly to the novel and John Leonard to the New York Times. The source of Hunter Thompson’s inspiration could best be analyzed by a urine specimen, which would likely result in his disqualification.