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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Mencken's opinion of the telephone?
(a) They are unnecessary, but are fun to play around with.
(b) They are necessary, and have greatly benefited mankind.
(c) They are unnecessary and harmful.
(d) They are necessary, but they have caused more harm than good.

2. What event does Mencken believe led to the European Renaissance?
(a) The invention of the printing press.
(b) The Rise of Charlemagne.
(c) The Fall of Rome.
(d) The Black Plague.

3. Which contemporary author does Mencken compare to Edgar Allan Poe because of his taste for the macabre?
(a) James Huneker.
(b) Ambrose Bierce.
(c) Hamlin Garland.
(d) Ring Lardner.

4. What is the BEST term to use for Mencken's characterization of American millionaires?
(a) Aristocrats.
(b) Saints.
(c) Exciting.
(d) Idiots.

5. Who does Mencken consider the greatest classical composer?
(a) Mozart.
(b) Beethoven.
(c) Brahms.
(d) Schubert.

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

7. How does Mencken characterize the emotional state of most schoolboys?
(a) They are very sad.
(b) They are eager to learn and curious.
(c) They are happy.
(d) They are murderously violent.

8. What two types of poetry does Mencken believe are the only viable ones?
(a) Poetry that tells a story and poetry that reveals essential truths.
(b) Musical poetry and poetry of false ideas.
(c) Musical poetry and poetry that rhymes.
(d) Poetry of false ideas and poetry that tells a story.

9. What is the contemporary invention that Mencken likes most?
(a) Radio.
(b) Telephone.
(c) Thermostat.
(d) Elevator.

10. In Chapter 15, Mencken expresses surprise that no one has violated the tomb of which man?
(a) Oliver Wendell Holmes.
(b) George Washington.
(c) Charles Joseph Bonaparte.
(d) Grover Cleveland.

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

12. Where did the Scopes Monkey Trial take place?
(a) Dayton, Tennessee.
(b) Mexico, Missouri.
(c) Frankfurt, Kentucky.
(d) Chicago, Illinois.

13. What is Mencken's view of chiropractors?
(a) He depends on them for his numerous back problems.
(b) He must study the subject further to render an opinion.
(c) They are quack doctors.
(d) They are the newest members of a respected doctor aristocracy.

14. What kind of test does Mencken believe teachers should have to pass prior to teaching?
(a) A speech test.
(b) An SAT test.
(c) An IQ test.
(d) A test of general world knowledge.

15. Why was the centenary of the Viennese Waltz not celebrated in America, according to Mencken?
(a) It is too slow for Americans with short attention spans.
(b) No one dances the waltz in America.
(c) Its melody is too sophisticated for Americans.
(d) It is a joyous waltz, and joy was banned with Prohibition.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is music difficult as a trade?

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

3. Who wrote the Viennese Waltz?

4. For Mencken, what is the nature of the range of the central psychological spectrum upon which all humans reside?

5. What word might Mencken use to characterize Mary Baker G. Eddy?

(see the answer keys)

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