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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 23, Souvenirs of a Journalist, Chapter 24, Criticism.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mencken see as the problem with contemporary Protestantism?
(a) Protestants have forgotten the teachings of Jesus Christ.
(b) All modern Protestants are wishy-washy centrists.
(c) Protestants suffer from a Jewish weakness for poetry.
(d) There are few, sensible, centrist Protestants left.

2. What was Roosevelt's team of political advisers popularly called?
(a) The Brain Trust.
(b) The Brooklyn Thirteen.
(c) The Washington Eggheads.
(d) Roosevelt's Riveters.

3. What is the relationship between free will and morality?
(a) Free will is the cause as well as the effect of morality.
(b) Free will has no relationship to morality.
(c) Free will and morality work hand in hand in a positive way.
(d) Free will creates several difficulties for morality.

4. How does Mencken react to a religious ceremony inside a basilica, as he recounts in Chapter 15?
(a) With joy.
(b) With disgust.
(c) With indifference.
(d) With intellectual curiosity.

5. How does Mencken feel about the overall capacity for virtue in the human race?
(a) Very few men are virtuous.
(b) Everyone is virtuous, it's just a matter of uncovering it.
(c) Virtue is a nonsense term, because everything is relative.
(d) Most people are virtuous, but a few people spoil it for everyone.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is NOT one of the qualities of being a teacher according to Mencken?

2. In Chapter 23, Mencken attends a church service during the Scopes Monkey Trial. What is his impression of that service?

3. How intelligent are women according to Mencken?

4. Why did England experience particular difficulties in World War I according to Mencken?

5. What is Mencken's opinion of the telephone?

(see the answer key)

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