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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the subject of "A Good Man Gone Wrong"?
(a) A man who murdered at the request of another man's wife.
(b) A man who was jailed for protesting World War I.
(c) A man who heckled an animal at the zoo, and got arrested.
(d) A man who robbed in order to feed his family.

2. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Democracy is..."
(a) "...the application of love to money. Everybody's love."
(b) "...the Declaration of Independence after a trip to the dentist for a full root canal."
(c) "...the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
(d) "...the weapon waved by the fairer sex."

3. Why did Mencken curse those who translated the Bible into English?
(a) They misinterpreted the principles of Jesus Christ.
(b) They made a host of grammatical errors.
(c) They made many factual errors.
(d) They made the prose overly flowery and beautiful.

4. Why was early Christianity superior to modern Christianity, per "Holy Writ"?
(a) It featured a lot less sermonizing.
(b) Services took place in cold places, to ensure better concentration.
(c) It featured more moral instructions.
(d) Early Christianity had a less strict interpretation of Biblical stories.

5. How had Wallace behaved in "The Wallace Paranoia"?
(a) He had managed difficult times with great elegance.
(b) He was flirting with "most every thing in a dress."
(c) He was convinced there are Communist space aliens.
(d) He had been a bumbler and an "ass."

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the function of the Bill of Rights, per "Mr. Justice Holmes"?

2. Which is the best style of architecture, according to Mencken?

3. What was the general atmosphere of the Democratic National Convention of 1932, as reported by Mencken?

4. Per "Mr. Justice Holmes," which of the following might Mencken say about the legislature as a state organization?

5. How did Mencken describe the music of Bach?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Mencken conclude about his research into the court cases of Oliver Wendell Holmes?

2. Why did Mencken take issue with Oliver Wendell Holmes' final court case?

3. How was FDR able to win the Democratic National Convention of 1932?

4. What did Mencken feel were the true and most damaging consequences of the Civil War, according to "The Calamity of Appomattox"?

5. What was the content of "Sententiae"?

6. What caused Mencken to question the American psyche in "The Libido for the Ugly"?

7. What was Mencken's opinion of stage acting?

8. For what reasons did Mencken admire Grover Cleveland?

9. What was the nature of film actor Valentino's problem, as related in "Valentino"?

10. Why did Mencken miss corporal punishment in schools in "Travail"?

(see the answer keys)

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