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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 25, Literature, Chapter 26, Literati.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How would George Washington fare in today's political climate?
(a) He would be arrested for corruption.
(b) He would have no chance of winning any political office.
(c) He would easily be elected president.
(d) He would be bewildered by modern methods and unable to perform his duties.

2. What comparison does Mencken make between man and animal in Chapter 1?
(a) The faculties of animal and man precisely balance when taken as a whole.
(b) The only thing man cannot do that animal can is fly.
(c) Man in every way has faculties that are superior to animals.
(d) Many animals have superior faculties to man.

3. Which is NOT one of the qualities Mencken ascribes to William Jennings Bryan?
(a) Insanity.
(b) Preference to keep in the company of intellectuals.
(c) Charlatanism.
(d) Lack of dignity.

4. What group of people has been "overestimated" throughout the course of human history?
(a) Russians.
(b) Egyptians.
(c) Greeks.
(d) Barbarians.

5. Why does Mencken praise doctors in Chapter 16?
(a) A professional class like doctors can create a new American aristocracy.
(b) They do a great deal of good for poor people.
(c) They are charlatans, but they know how to play the game.
(d) They have wonderful gadgets that are endlessly fascinating.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the "average man's" opinion of government?

2. What aspect of human nature fuels the democratic system of government?

3. Which Southern state does Mencken particularly mourn in his obituary on the American South?

4. Which is NOT one of the qualities of Anglo-Saxons Mencken points to in Chapter 10?

5. What subject does Mencken begin his volume with?

(see the answer key)

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