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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 Boorstin say was Milton's contribution to poetry?

2. How does Boorstin characterize "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?

3. What motif did Bruneleschi and Alberti introduce to Western art?

4. What does Boorstin say was the second step in the use of skyscrapers?

5. Where does Boorstin say Monet's achievement was made?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Boorstin put Kafka in his portrait of imaginative thinkers?

2. What does Boorstin say is Ben Franklin's contribution to the art of imaginative life?

3. In what way did T. S. Eliot change the course of literature's evolution?

4. What is the skyscraper's role in the development of the human imagination?

5. What does Boorstin say Pickering and Prescott have in common, and what is their role in the development of the Western imaginative consciousness?

6. What was Gibbon's innovation?

7. How does Boorstin characterize Monet's accomplishment?

8. How does Boorstin describe the evolution of the orchestra over time?

9. How does Proust change the way we understand imagination in modern times?

10. Where does Melville's Moby Dick fit in Boorstin's narrative?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Make an annotated timeline and map to show Boorstin's progress through the history of imagination in World culture. Describe how you arrived at the graphic representation at which you arrived. Account, too, for Boorstin's departures from straight chronology.

Essay Topic 2

Assess the proposition that Boorstin's inclusion of non-Western art and culture amounts to tokenism that reflects a Western bias.

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. 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.

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This section contains 737 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample