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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. When did the Peaks come to California from Missouri?

2. How many books were destroyed in the fire?

3. When and where was Wyman Jones born?

4. How many boxes of books were sent to freezers in food warehouses?

5. Where was Harry hired as a valet once?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the Career Onlie High School (COHS)?

2. What book did Orlean burn and how did she describe the process?

3. What was Charles Lummis's first job in Los Angeles, and how did he get to the city from Cleveland?

4. What was the first recorded instance of book burning, and what were the circumstances of that book burning?

5. How did the fire department begin investigating after the fire was extinguished?

6. What were the first two libraries like in Los Angeles?

7. How was money raised to replace the library books?

8. In Chapter 8, how many new books would arrive at the library in a month, and how were they processed?

9. How many times were there fires in the Central Library after the fire in April 1986?

10. What had to be done with the books that were wet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Orlean referred to arson as a perfect crime. Why was it so difficult to solve a case of arson? Why might it be considered a perfect crime?

Essay Topic 2

Orlean considered the topic of shared memory. What were Orlean’s thoughts about shared memory? What did that have to do with identity and culture and libraries? How were libraries able to preserve a culture’s collective memory?

Essay Topic 3

John Szabo became city librarian of Los Angeles in 2012. What were his contributions to the library? What did his contributions reveal about innovation?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 940 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample