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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 does Gladwell say is the benefit of bigger classes?

2. Who did T. E. Lawrence lead against the Turks?

3. How many people had the courage to like a painting without Salon approval, according to Renoir?

4. How does Gladwell characterize art in the Impressionists’ Paris?

5. What percentage of wars were won by weaker countries, when the weaker countries use guerilla tactics, according to Ivan Arreguin-Toft?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is “relative deprivation” (77)?

2. What did Ranadivé find was the disadvantage of his success with his coaching style?

3. What are the factors that this conventional wisdom overlooks, in Gladwell’s account?

4. What does Gladwell say leads people to adopt David’s strategies?

5. What are the three kinds of warriors whom Baruch Halpern says balance each other?

6. What kind of lesson does Gladwell derive from the story of Jules Holtzapffel?

7. Where were the Philistines expanding into, when they encountered the armies of the Israelites?

8. In what way does Gladwell say Ranadivé’s girls are similar to Lawrence of Arabia?

9. How does Gladwell explain Ikea’s success through “disagreeableness” (118)?

10. What does Gladwell say is Gary Cohn’s emotional relationship with the daring leaps he took, to get himself into trading, from selling aluminum siding?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the author based on her style and content. What can we tell about him, based on the choices she makes in terms of description, characterization and plot? What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

Essay Topic 2

What topics would you like to research further, after reading David and Goliath? Describe why additional research or reading would be beneficial to an understanding of this book. Propose a list of articles or books you would read in order to get a better handle on David and Goliath.

Essay Topic 3

In many of Gladwell’s stories, Gladwell attributes a person’s success to the one trait he (Gladwell) is talking about—but this approach blinds us to the thousands of other variables that affect people’s careers and decisions, which in many cases are tied to other factors like the times, or simple luck, or the privileges of class and race that kept Dr. Freireich from being jailed for DWI, for instance (137).

How are Context and Privilege eclipsed in Gladwell’s stories, how does he try to account for them, and how successful is he? Does his refusal to include compounding variables ultimately compromise his examples to two-dimensionality?

(see the answer keys)

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