Actor Joseph Potter, impersonating H.L. Mencken, opens this show on the "Sage of Baltimore," and quotes him throughout the program. Lynn Poole gives a pictorial account of Mencken's early life. Dr. Carl Bode, University of Maryland English professor, discusses Mencken as a critic of literature, society, and politics. He points out Mencken's contentiousness in his writing, especially in political criticism, such as his comments in 1912 on Baltimore mayor James H. Preston. Although Mencken stood up for New Realists such as Dreiser and Hemingway, he disliked the pretentiousness of many authors of his day and spoke out against bestsellers with no literary merit. With Mr. Potter's assistance, Dr. Bode describes events in Mencken's career as editor and columnist with "The Baltimore Sun" newspaper, co-editor with George Jean Nathan of "The Smart Set," editor and writer for "The American Mercury," and author of numerous books, such as "George Bernard Shaw" and "The American Language." Mr. Potter dramatizes a portion of Mencken's obituary for William Jennings Bryan, written after Bryan's death following the 1925 Scopes Trial. In 1926 the Watch and Ward Society of Boston forced off the newsstands Mencken's controversial "Hatrack" story in "The American Mercury," but Mencken prevailed. However, his unchanging views became trivial when he failed to recognize and understand the grave implications of the Great Depression or Hitler. Johns Hopkins professor emeritus Kemp Malone discusses Mencken's book "The American Language," which posits that American English was so different from British English that it should have a separate name. As an amateur philologist, Mencken also launched "American Speech," a learned journal, although he considered himself "a scout for scholars," not a scholar himself. In conclusion, Lynn Poole recommends Mencken's "A Carnival of Buncombe" for additional reading.

Johns Hopkins history professor Charles A. Barker describes the characteristics and beliefs of Henry David Thoreau, one of the Transcendentalists in Concord, MA. The narrator enumerates Thoreau's life events, including his isolation at Walden Pond and Emerson's influence on him. Dr. Carl Bode, English professor at the University of Maryland, analyzes Thoreau's 26-month Walden venture and suggests that Thoreau was experiencing the cycle of withdrawal and return as described by Arnold Toynbee. Dr. Barker discusses Thoreau's animosity towards his peers and his polemic essays, such as the 1849 "Essay on Civil Disobedience" and the 1859 "A Plea for Captain John Brown," his last outburst of creative energy. Individualistic and dogmatic to the end, Thoreau died of tuberculosis in 1862. Actor Ed Golden portrays Thoreau and recites lines written by him to underscore the scholars' comments.