[crashryan]

You're right, Krac, "anti-liberalism" was a poor choice of words. It was my vain attempt to give a name to an undercurrent that runs through the Mencken/Nathan/Hatteras essays. On many issues they take stands generally ascribed to liberals: critiquing fundamentalist religion, for example, or disdaining bourgeois capitalism. But they also take shots at "liberal" concepts like democracy, universal education, and socialism.

Re-reading their essays I realize that the writers aren't criticizing particular ideals or values. They're ridiculing the very notion of having ideals or values.

I've read references to the cynicism of 1920s intellectuals. I guess this is what it looks like. Mencken & Co. define themselves primarily in terms of what they're against, and what they're against is anything that lots of other people--left, right or center--agree upon.

Link to the book: The Smart Set v64 01