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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. The first suicide was committed by _______________, 27, who died January 27th, 1884 from overdosing on morphine.

2. Is Yellowstone National Park a visitor's friend?

3. How did Jack Davis die?

4. Six airplane crashes have killed ___________ people in 1943, 1963, 1970, 1978, 1987 and 1981.

5. The most drownings have occurred in __________________ Lake and arguably no body of water in the Park (and probably in the whole United States) is more potentially dangerous.

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did the Native Americans in Yellowstone live?

2. What does Whittlesey think about the suicides that take place?

3. How many have died in the Yellowstone River? What most likely led to these deaths?

4. How do many visitors enter a park? What can be done to protect these people? How does this affect the park? What does the author have to say about these safety measures?

5. Describe the violent deaths in Yellowstone. What does this reveal about the wild and national parks?

6. How many people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning? How is this relevant to today?

7. Describe one of the shootings. What does this story reveal about those who were involved in this shooting and about guns?

8. When were automobiles first seen in the park? How did this affect the death rate?

9. When did the era of drowning begin? How could this have been prevented or lessened?

10. Where have the most drownings occurred? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of the earliest deaths in Yellowstone come from battles with Native Americans.

Part 1) Describe Yellowstone's early Native American history. What tribes lived in Yellowstone? How might they ended up in Yellowstone? Why might they have left? What battles took place in Yellowstone? Why did these battles take place?

Part 2) How are these battles important to the author and to the purpose of this book? How do these battles and subsequent deaths differ from most of the other deaths mentioned in this book?

Part 3) What is the author's opinion of death during war? Why might he feel this way? How do his feelings about death during battle compare to his feelings about other fatalities? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful place yet it is full of fatal dangers.

Part 1) Describe Yellowstone National Park. How is it beautiful, yet dangerous? Why is this important to the author that the reader understand? How is the author's background and interests tied to the writing of this book?

Part 2) What is the purpose of this book? Does the author fulfill this purpose? If so, how? If not, why not? Can you relate to the purpose of this book? Why or why not?

Part 3) How might other places around the world be both beautiful and dangerous? Might the information in this book pertain to those places as well? Why or why not? What can be learned about the U.S. view of dangerous and beautiful places such as Yellowstone through this book? How might this compare to other views around the world?

Essay Topic 3

Most of the suicides at Yellowstone were those of employees.

Part 1) Describe the suicides that took place at Yellowstone. Why did many of them take place? How do these deaths compare to other deaths that have taken place at Yellowstone?

Part 2) How does the author feel about the suicides? Why might he feel this way? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? How do the author's feelings regarding these suicides compare to how he feels about other deaths at Yellowstone?

Part 3) How does the author treat these suicide cases? Does he speak of them in a different tone than he does the other deaths? Why or why not? How does he show his compassion for all who have died at Yellowstone?

(see the answer keys)

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