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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 is the chief problem with political theorists?
(a) They are too antagonistic to the current political system.
(b) They hate politics in general.
(c) They have little sense of history.
(d) They attempt to dignify the political order of their day.

2. What is Mencken's opinion of original Christians?
(a) They were "men's men" and should be looked upon as examples.
(b) The historical record is so poor that Mencken cannot form an opinion.
(c) They were vulgar cads without imagination.
(d) They were patriots, akin to the Founding Fathers.

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

4. Which is NOT one of the reasons Mencken praises George Washington?
(a) He was a pious man.
(b) He enjoyed whiskey.
(c) He scorned foreign entanglements.
(d) He ignored the private morals of his neighbors.

5. What is the "average man's" opinion of government?
(a) The government is an unknown phenomenon the average man knows nothing about.
(b) The government is a source of great good.
(c) The government is deceitful and contrary to his interests.
(d) The government is made up of people like him.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what event did Mencken first personally encounter William Jennings Bryan?

2. Why is the "pretty man" hated?

3. Which is NOT one of Mencken's view of humankind as expressed in Chapter 1?

4. What does Mencken NOT believe about the possibility for morality to change over time?

5. What does Mencken believe about the concept of evil?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is morality necessary in Mencken's view? How many people are moral people? Is there a good and evil, or is that a human-created concept?

2. In Chapter 1, what comparison does Mencken make between man and animal? Who is "superior"?

3. Summarize Mencken's appraisal of William Jennings Bryan. How is Mencken's opinion related to the Scopes Monkey Trial?

4. Describe Mencken's conception of the Anglo-Saxon American. What are this person's flaws?

5. What effect did the Civil War have on the American South, and why was this conflict so disastrous to Mencken from a cultural standpoint?

6. What is the origin of morality according to Mencken?

7. Name four historic events Mencken mentions in Chapter 12, and his opinion of them.

8. What does Mencken feel about the relationship between science and religion?

9. Who is Professor Thorstein Veblen, and what is Mencken's opinion of him and his work?

10. In Chapter 1, how does Mencken's view of humanity coincide with that of the modern scientist?

(see the answer keys)

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