View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Political favor.
(b) Public favor.
(c) Heroism.
(d) Celebrity.

2. Who wrote Crystallizing Public Opinion?
(a) Edward R. Burns.
(b) Edward L. Bynay.
(c) Edward A. Smith.
(d) Edward L. Bernays.

3. What was the name of the plane that Charles Lindbergh made his flight across the Atlantic in?
(a) The Spirit of America.
(b) The Lucky Lindy.
(c) The Lindbergh Jewel.
(d) The Spirit of St. Louis.

4. When was Al Capone indicted for income tax evasion and various violations of the Volstead Act?
(a) 1919.
(b) 1931.
(c) 1940.
(d) 1941.

5. Boorstin asserts that the influx of pseudo-events has caused the confusion of participant and what roles?
(a) Instigator.
(b) Catalyst.
(c) Viewer.
(d) Creator.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year did Karl Baedeker start his publishing company?

2. Established by Boorstin, what is the first way pseudo-events can overshadow real or spontaneous events?

3. Boorstin states, in Chapter 3 - Section I, that in today's travel there is very little what?

4. In what year did Thomas Cook's train tours first go to Scotland?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Conrad Hilton establish his hotel empire? Where was his first hotel built?

2. How did the "Crime of the Century" affect Lindbergh's celebrity?

3. How do the personalities of celebrities evolve, according to Boorstin?

4. How does Boorstin distinguish pseudo-events from propaganda?

5. What comparison does Boorstin make between celebrities and heroes in Chapter 2 - Section IV?

6. Who was Thomas Cook? What industry did he expand?

7. What does Boorstin relate of technology and the sciences in Chapter 2 - Section II?

8. What does Boorstin write of the changing nature of travel in Chapter 3?

9. What aspect of the pseudo-event does Boorstin explore in Chapter 1 - Section IV?

10. What does Boorstin write of the American concept of "greatness," in Chapter 2 - Section I?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample