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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter II Section I-III.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 1 - Section IV, Boorstin uses an example from the 1950s in which a story was released about an imminent attack by whom?
(a) Iraq.
(b) Russia.
(c) Iran.
(d) China.

2. What title did Mussolini go by after 3 years in office as Prime Minister?
(a) Il Deuce.
(b) Il Capitain.
(c) Il Furor.
(d) Mein Furor.

3. Boorstin suggests, in Chapter 1 - Section V, that the advances made in American society have served to "blur the edges of" what?
(a) Commercialism.
(b) Commerce.
(c) Truth.
(d) Reality.

4. In Chapter 1 - Section II, Boorstin discusses the temptation of newsmen to make images that were what?
(a) Aligned politically.
(b) Believable.
(c) Newsworthy.
(d) Probable.

5. What refers to a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position?
(a) Newspaper.
(b) Pseudo-event.
(c) Propaganda.
(d) Stereotype.

Short Answer Questions

1. Boorstin writes that critical history and critical biography have reduced heroes to mere pawns of what?

2. What is the first of the "extravagant expectations" held by Americans, according to Boorstin?

3. In Chapter 1 - Section V, Boorstin discusses a change in the way people relate to truth and to what?

4. What term is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy?

5. Pseudo-events, according to Boorstin, create distortion through what?

(see the answer key)

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