The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche was published by Luce in Boston in 1908, when Mencken was twenty-seven years old and already establishing himself as a literary critic of unusual range. The book was one of the first comprehensive treatments of Nietzsche’s philosophy in English, and it introduced the German thinker to a generation of American readers who knew him, if at all, only as a madman and an advocate of cruelty.
Mencken’s exposition is clear, sympathetic, and accessible — he had the gift of explaining complex ideas in plain language without simplifying them beyond recognition. He covers the major works (The Birth of Tragedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, The Genealogy of Morals) and the major ideas (the will to power, the Übermensch, the eternal recurrence, the transvaluation of values) with genuine understanding. His Nietzsche is not a proto-fascist but an aristocratic individualist — a man who despised the herd mentality and celebrated the exceptional person who creates his own values.
The book reveals the philosophical foundations of Mencken’s own work. His contempt for democracy, his celebration of excellence, his hostility to Christianity, and his belief that the function of society is to produce great individuals rather than to ensure mass comfort — all these positions derive, directly or indirectly, from his reading of Nietzsche. The book is as much a self-portrait as it is an exposition.
Collecting The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
First edition (Luce, Boston, 1908): Cloth binding. Mencken’s first book.
Market values:
- First edition: $100–$400
- Later editions: $15–$40