Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was a German-American journalist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar of American English, known as the "Sage of Baltimore". One of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century, he produced dozens of books. Prejudices is a collection of some of the best essays he ever wrote and established the style that made him a titan of the free press. This book collects the first three volumes (out of six).

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956), was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, and acerbic critic of American life and culture. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore," is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century. He became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899, then moved to The Baltimore Sun in 1906. He continued to contribute to the Sun full time or occasionally until 1948, when he ceased to write. In 1908, he became a literary critic for the magazine The Smart Set, and in 1924, he and George Jean Nathan founded and edited The American Mercury. He co-authored a number of works with Nathan including The Artist (1912), Heliogobalus (1920) and The American Credo: A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind (1920). He is perhaps best remembered today for The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (1919). Among his other works are: George Bernard Shaw: His Plays (1905) and The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1908).