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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. Who was Marshall's early biographer?

2. How did writer Henry James describe Eliot's physical appearance?

3. What job does Brooks write that Marshall must have been devastated not to have gotten from Roosevelt?

4. Whose house did Eliot live in for a time along with this person's wife?

5. Where did Bayard Rustin grow up?

Short Essay Questions

1. As a young woman, what causes a large rift between Eliot and her father?

2. What sect's teachings did Augustine initially follow and then renounce?

3. What significant event during the Civil Rights era did Rustin help to organize and execute?

4. What request did Marshall make for his funeral arrangements?

5. For Augustine, what did the stealing of the pears symbolize?

6. In Chapter 7, what does David Brooks say is the difference between self-control and love?

7. What crisis did Eliot write about concerning women's situation in society in her novel Middlemarch?

8. What does Brooks imply is the impetus for Marshall's drive to succeed?

9. What kinds of romantic relationships characterized Eliot's years as a young woman?

10. What kind of devotion dominated Eliot's teenage years?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Brooks' opinion, how is fame and our culture's obsession with celebrity damaging to the country's moral fabric? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining the specific actions and events from Dwight Eisenhower's life that demonstrate his ability to restrain and master his own emotions.

Essay Topic 3

Choose two figures that Brooks profiles in the book and write an essay discussing how their lives and experiences exemplify his claim that many people of admirable character "had to go down to go up" (13).

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