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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of sense of right and wrong do children have?

2. What aspect of President Grant does Mencken admire?

3. What is Mencken's belief about the concept of sin?

4. Before democracy came to be, what did people believe this system of government to be?

5. How has Mencken organized his book?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe Mencken's opinion of George Washington. Why does Mencken admire him? Why doesn't Mencken believe Washington would do well in a contemporary political climate?

3. What does Mencken have to say about politicians? What kind of people are they? How do they operate?

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

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

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

7. What is Mencken's take on the universality of morality? Can morality grow and change, or is it static?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe in-depth Mencken's views of the following people (and specific works, if applicable):

1) Ludwig van Beethoven

2) Richard Strauss

3) Johann Strauss

4) Johannes Brahms

5) Richard Wagner

6) Franz Schubert

Essay Topic 2

In Chapters 5 and 6, Mencken discusses morality, and crime and punishment, respectively.

1) Discuss Mencken's belief about the origin of morality, and how it evolved. Can morality change, or is it static?

2) Discuss Mencken's thoughts about Christian morality in general.

3) Discuss Mencken's opinion of contemporary forms of punishment for committed crimes. What is the role of punishment?

Essay Topic 3

Summarize Chapter 1 which discusses the nature of man.

a) What is the nature of man to Mencken? What is Man guided by?

b) What is the nature of the relationship between God and Man?

c) What is the nature of the relationship between Man and animal?

d) What part does "delusion" play in man's relationship to the universe?

(see the answer keys)

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