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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. How much does Gladwell say criminals consider the potential consequences when they decide to plan a crime?
(a) He says that they are usually blinded by addiction or poverty.
(b) He says that they do a cost-benefit analysis.
(c) He says that they do not consider the consequences really at all.
(d) He says that they cannot make good decisions when desperation drives them to crime.

2. What unexpected reaction does Gladwell describe London residents having to the Blitz?
(a) Euphoria.
(b) Depression.
(c) Philosophical reflection.
(d) Simple kindnesses.

3. Who does Gladwell say took in the Jews in France?
(a) The rich.
(b) The middle class.
(c) Marginal people.
(d) The poor.

4. What was the occasion that brought the British army into Northern Ireland?
(a) Terrorist attacks in London.
(b) A riot in Lower Falls.
(c) A gun battle in Ballymurphy.
(d) Bombings in Belfast.

5. What does Gladwell say geniuses require that prodigies do not?
(a) Loving parents.
(b) Adverse conditions.
(c) Supportive surroundings.
(d) Resentment.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Gladwell characterize general Freeland’s tour of the deserted streets of Lower Falls?

2. What does Gladwell say led to the “unexpected freedom” that Wyatt Walker felt, in stirring up trouble with Bull Connor (173)?

3. How much does Gladwell say the odds increase, that a child of an incarcerated parent will have a psychiatric disorder?

4. Derksen was prepared to forgive her daughter’s killer until she realized what?

5. How many people does Gladwell say General Freeland brought in, to subdue a population of 8,000 in Lower Falls?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gladwell see Wyatt Walker setting up the photo of the dog attack as evidence of the same law he see in dyslexics succeeding in spite of their condition?

2. How does Gladwell say successful dyslexics typically feel about wishing dyslexia on their children?

3. What does Gladwell say would have happened had the Nazis killed André Trocmé?

4. How did Freireich compensate for the isolation that came from experimenting in the way he did?

5. What does Gladwell credit Bill Hudson’s photo of Walter Gadsden being attacked by the police dog in Birmingham with having done?

6. Where had Kellen gotten his background for the RAND job to consult on the Vietnam war?

7. What was the effect of the Three Strikes law in California?

8. Why does Gladwell say the Nazis did not come to Le Chambon and make an example of the town?

9. What does Stella get wrong about teaching in the video Gladwell refers to, from the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia?

10. What were the effects of the Three Strikes law that turned public opinion against it, and led to its being “radically scaled back” (248)?

(see the answer keys)

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