Mencken Award Winners, 1982–1996

Best Book

1996: Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality, by Andrew Sullivan (Knopf)

1995: Lost Rights, by James Bovard (St. Martin’s)

1994: Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend, by Jeffrey Victor (Open Court)

1993: Africa Betrayed, by George Ayittey (St. Martin’s)

1992: Parliament of Whores, by P.J. O’Rourke (Atlantic Monthly Press)

1991: The Excluded Americans: Homelessness and Housing Policies, by William Tucker (Regnery)

1990: Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War, by Paul Fussell (Oxford)

1989: Freedom at Risk: Secrecy, Censorship, and Repression, edited by Richard Curry (Temple)

1988: Dealing with Drugs, edited by Ronald Hamowy (Lexington)

1987: The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine, by Robert Conquest (Oxford)

1986: Emergence of a Free Press, by Leonard Levy (Oxford)

1985: Cities and the Wealth of Nations, by Jane Jacobs (Random House)

1984: The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House, by Seymour Hersh (Summit)

1983: The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume I, by Robert Caro (Knopf)

1982: Ethnic America, by Thomas Sowell (Basic)

Best Cartoon

Where a cartoon is displayed, you can click on it to see it at full size.

1996: “Reno Explains Waco,” by Michael P. Ramirez (USA Today)

1995: “Eerie Parallels,” by John Bergstrom (Liberty)

1994: “Which Greedy, Deceptive, Inefficient Bureaucracy?” by Mike Thompson (State Journal Register)

1993: “Sobriety Checkpoint: You VILL Pull Over,” by Chip Bok (Akron Beacon Journal)

1992: “How to Save the Elephants: Bureaucrats or Businessmen?” by Chuck Asay (Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph)

1991: “Advice on Building a Free Society,” by Jim Morin (Miami Herald)

1990: “First Amendment Exceptions,” by Tom Toles (Buffalo News)

1989: “We Have to Draw the Line Somewhere,” by Bob Engelhart (Hartford Courant)

1988: “The Normal Have Nothing to Fear,” by Ben Sargent (Austin American Statesman)

1987: “Stop Me, Big Brother, Before I...” by Chuck Asay (Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph)

1986: “Pick the Most Offensive Record,” by Clay Bennett (St. Petersburg Times)

1985: “I Always Say...” by Bob Thaves (Frank and Ernest, Newspaper Enterprise Association)

1984: “Pick the Person Who Lives Under a Government That Puts Him Under Curfew from Midnight to 5 AM,” by Scott Stantis (Copley News Service)

1983: “Trade Barriers,” by John Trever (Albuquerque Journal)

1982: “Bazooka Bubblegum,” by Berke Breathed (Bloom County, Washington Post Syndicate)

Best Editorial or Op-Ed Column

1996: “Journeys Amid Paranoia,” by Alexander Cockburn (The Nation)

1995: “The Children’s Hour,” by Virginia Postrel (Reason)

1994: “The Waco Massacre,” by Alex McColl (Soldier of Fortune)

1993: “Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?” by John MacArthur (New York Times)

1992: [information missing]

1991: “What We Really Need is Amendment to Stop Lies,” by Mike Royko (Chicago Tribune)

1990: “When They Burned the Flag Back Home,” by James Warner (Washington Post)

1989: “La Prensa: Economic Freedom and the Press,” by Doug Bandow (Copley News Service)

1988: “Now Meese Wants Teachers Urine-Tested,” by Charles Levendosky (Casper Star-Tribune)

1987: “The Challenger Tragedy: Which America Should We Send to the Stars?” by John Dentinger (Los Angeles Daily News)

1986: “Taxpayers vs. the Proposed Convention Center,” by Linda Paustian (Philadelphia Inquirer)

1985: “Feminism and the First Amendment,” by Jonathan Marshall (Oakland Tribune)

1984: “Saving Wild Animals,” by Sudha Shenoy (Seattle Times)

1983: a tie:

* “Fighting the Next War,” by Nicholas von Hoffman (King Features)

* “Protectionist Paranoia,” by Michael Kinsley (New Republic)

1982: “Bigotry and Tolerance,” by Roy Childs (Libertarian Review)

Best Feature Story or Essay

1996: “This is Not the USA,” by Jim DeFede (Miami New Times)

1995: “No Exit,” by Elizabeth McCaughey (New Republic)

1994: “Blood Money: French Hemophiliacs Are Dying of AIDS Because French Officials Knowingly Gave Them Tainted Blood,” by Mark Hunter (Discover)

1993: “Slavery,” by Tom Masland, Rod Nordland, Melinda Liu, and Joseph Contreras (Newsweek)

1992: “Journalists and the Drug War,” by David Boaz (Liberty)

1991: “Revolution in D Minor: How the Czech Philharmonic Toppled Communism,” by Paul Berman (Village Voice)

1990: “All the Congressman’s Men: How Capitol Hill Controls the Press,” by Walter Karp (Harper’s)

1989: “China’s Andrei Sakharov,” by Orville Schell (The Atlantic)

1988: “The Erotic Stripped Bare,” by Linda Mizejewski (Harper’s)

1987: “Castro’s Victims,” by Aryeh Neier (New York Review of Books)

1986: “Convicting the First Amendment of Espionage: Samuel Morison’s Case,” by Nat Hentoff (Village Voice)

1985: “Simon Geller vs. the FCC,” by Robert Bidinotto (Intellectual Activist)

1984: “Killing Us Softly With Their Song,” by Asa Baber (Playboy)

1983: “Tales of the Vienna Airport,” by Joseph Nocera (Harper’s)

1982: “Protocols of the Learned Experts on Heroin,” by Thomas Szasz (Libertarian Review)

Best News Story or Investigative Report

1996: “Anatomy of a Killing” (series), by Seth Rosenfeld (San Francisco Examiner)

1995: a tie:

* “Profits from Pain,” by Fred Schulte and Jenni Bergal (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

* “Wasteland” (series), by Karen Dorn Steele and Jim Lynch (Spokesman-Review)

1994: “The Forfeiture Racket: A Modest Weapon in the War on Drugs Can Be Used as a Bludgeon Against the Innocent,” by Gary Webb (San Jose Mercury News)

1993: “Drug Forfeitures: Are Seizures ‘Legalized Theft’?” (series), by Dennis Cauchon (USA Today)

1992: “The War That Didn’t Have to Happen: How U.S. Scuttled the Arab Peace Plan,” by Michael Emery (Village Voice)

1991: no winner

1990: “First Probe on USS Iowa disaster” (series), by John Hall and Steve Goldberg (Media General News Service)

1989: “The Child-Pornography Myth,” by Lawrence Stanley (Playboy)

1988: “The Making of a Modern Witch Trial,” by Debbie Nathan (Village Voice)

1987: “Braving the Border,” by Jeff Smith and Ruben Hernandez (Phoenix New Times)

1986: “Deadly Force: Guns and Off-Duty Cops” (series), by Jane Fritsch and Jennifer Preston (Newsday)

1985: “Heroin: The Unwinnable War” (series), by Glenn Garvin, Earl Byrd, John Holmes, and Charles Wheeler (Washington Times)

1984: “The Myth of M.I.T.I.,” by David Henderson (Fortune)

1983: “The Rise and Fall of a Ward Hack,” by Murray Waas (Inquiry)

1982: “Love Canal: The Truth Seeps Out,” by Eric Zuesse (Reason)

Special Mencken Awards
In addition to the five annual categories, the Free Press Association presented three special Mencken Awards:
* Best Defense of First Amendment:
1991: “Burn This Cover: The First Amendment Under Cover,” special issue, L.A. Weekly
* Mencken Award for Life Achievement:
1986: Robert LeFevre (1911–1986), Freedom Newspapers syndicated columnist and Colorado Springs Gazette editorial-page editor and columnist
1986: Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993), writer for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Nation, The American Mercury, and Newsweek, where he wrote an economics column from 1946 to 1966