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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 5-9.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which book was Mencken's touchstone into literature?
(a) Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers.
(b) Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
(c) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
(d) Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

2. According to "Text for Newspaper Days," what is modern journalism missing?
(a) A carefree nature.
(b) Proper fact checking.
(c) Proper attention to art and art history.
(d) Multiple points of view.

3. According to the editor, why were the 1930s Mencken's "downfall"?
(a) The hardships in the country changed popular sentiment.
(b) Mencken's severe illness limited his output.
(c) Mencken spent most of the decade in Europe.
(d) President FDR waged a battle of personal attacks against Mencken.

4. What does Mencken state about the literary influence(s) of Theodore Dreiser?
(a) No one author can be pointed to as an influence.
(b) Dreiser was the product of Emile Zola.
(c) Dreiser was the product of Frank Norris.
(d) Dreiser draws upon the literary tradition of Germany.

5. How was Theodore Dreiser like Joseph Conrad, according to Mencken?
(a) They both had a love of pirate adventures and the sea life.
(b) Both men shared an innate pessimism.
(c) Both men were inherently optimistic.
(d) They both seemed to hate women.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Theodore Dreiser's national and ethnic background?

2. What was the "last straw" that forced Mencken to quit the organization in #16?

3. What was Alistair Cooke's relationship to H. L. Mencken?

4. What was the name of H. L. Mencken's brother?

5. Who is the editor of this volume?

(see the answer key)

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