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

2. Who was the attorney on the side of the prosecution in the Scopes Monkey Trial?

3. What two types of rich people does Mencken see in America?

4. Writers "who cannot write" write in what style?

5. Sister Aimee was an evangelist in what branch of Christian religion?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mencken make mention of Sister Aimee? Who was Sister Aimee, and what was Mencken's opinion of her?

2. Summarize Mencken's views on William Dean Howells.

3. Why does Mencken criticize the American Medical Association? What is his opinion of doctors as a professional class?

4. What insight does Mencken provide about physical disease/illness?

5. What should poetry ideally be, according to Mencken? What makes for a good poem? And how does taste in poetry reflect upon a person's qualities?

6. How does Mencken compare socialism to capitalism? Include the Bolshevik Revolution in your response.

7. What is Mencken's belief about American millionaires?

8. What is Mencken's opinion of Prohibition? What was its effect on society?

9. Describe the following under the category of what Mencken calls "'The Lesser Arts": a) oil painting, b) drama.

10. In Chapter 19, Mencken discusses science. Discuss his views of a) the scientific hypothesis, b) Charles Darwin, and c) Mr. Ayres' and his philosophy.

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) Mark Twain

2) William Dean Howells

3) Edgar Allan Poe

4) Ralph Waldo Emerson

5) Walt Whitman

6) Ambrose Bierce

Essay Topic 2

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 3

1) Discuss Mencken's view of socialism. What effect has socialism has on the world?

2) Compare and contrast Mencken's view of capitalism with that of socialism.

3) Relate Mencken's view of human nature with his view of economics. How do the tendencies and reality of the human condition affect the effectiveness of economical models, for Mencken?

(see the answer keys)

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