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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what year did urban tourism in America become a profitable industry, as the number of tour agencies, railroad passenger departments, guidebook publishers, and travel writers grew at a fast pace?
(a) 1915.
(b) 1856.
(c) 1959.
(d) 1900.

2. Who opened the first motel as a new form of accommodation in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952?
(a) William Berkshire.
(b) Conrad Hilton.
(c) James Anderson.
(d) Kemmons Wilson.

3. In his argument in Chapter 2 - Section IV, what does Boorstin suggest are created by the media?
(a) Heroes.
(b) Politicians.
(c) Celebrities.
(d) Pseudo-events.

4. What word means to represent concretely, to externalize?
(a) Assert.
(b) Objectify.
(c) Project.
(d) Dejectify.

5. Who wrote Mein Kampf?
(a) Benito Mussolini.
(b) Adolph Hitler.
(c) Friedrich Engels.
(d) Friedrich Nietzsche.

6. When did Al Capone die?
(a) 1951.
(b) 1965.
(c) 1947.
(d) 1949.

7. Who does Boorstin claim was a major figure of presidential creation of pseudo-events, including his solidification of the presidential press conference and his fireside chats?
(a) John F. Kennedy.
(b) Dwight Eisenhower.
(c) Hubert Humphrey.
(d) Franklin D. Roosevelt.

8. With whom did Thomas Cook form a partnership and rename the travel agency as Thomas Cook and Son?
(a) John A. Mason Cook.
(b) Thomas Cook, Jr.
(c) Andrew Michael Cook.
(d) Alexander Mason Cook.

9. Pseudo-events, according to Boorstin, create distortion through what?
(a) Falsehood.
(b) Ambiguity.
(c) Complication.
(d) Propaganda.

10. When was Thomas Cook born?
(a) 1911.
(b) 1808.
(c) 1825.
(d) 1908.

11. Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in what year?
(a) 1945.
(b) 1938.
(c) 1933.
(d) 1929.

12. When did the development of hotels with leisure complexes become a popular development in the United States?
(a) 1950s.
(b) 1930s.
(c) 1940s.
(d) 1960s.

13. What, according to the author, is always in the present and requires a constant stream of publicity and pseudo-events to maintain its status?
(a) Heroism.
(b) Public favor.
(c) Celebrity.
(d) Political favor.

14. What term means to make uniform or similar, as in composition or function?
(a) Uniformize.
(b) Conform.
(c) Amass.
(d) Homogenize.

15. What term refers to widespread reputation, especially of a favorable character of renown and public eminence?
(a) Celebrity.
(b) Prowess.
(c) Greatness.
(d) Fame.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the third characteristic of the pseudo-event, according to Boorstin?

2. In Chapter 1 - Section IV, Boorstin uses an example from the 1950s in which a story was released about an imminent attack by whom?

3. When did Thomas Cook conduct his first train tour?

4. When was Adolf Hitler born?

5. Boorstin suggests, in Chapter 1 - Section V, that the advances made in American society have served to "blur the edges of" what?

(see the answer keys)

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