Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken (September 12, 1880, Baltimore – January 29, 1956, Baltimore, Marylan), was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century.