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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 15-18.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was "The Art Eternal" according to Mencken?
(a) Literature.
(b) Prostitution.
(c) Lying.
(d) Portrait painting.

2. Why did Mencken disagree with contemporary assessments of Abraham Lincoln?
(a) Critics maligned Lincoln for his handling of the Civil War, and Mencken thinks he did a fine job.
(b) Critics praised him as a hero and don't question some dubious sections of his biography.
(c) Abraham Lincoln did not get nearly enough credit for freeing the slaves, according to Mencken.
(d) Mencken believed a much broader conspiracy was in place in regards to Lincoln's assassination.

3. What do saints have in common with scientists?
(a) Both manipulate public opinion to advance their own position.
(b) Both simply seek the truth.
(c) Both corrupt the truth to suit their best interests.
(d) Both unselfishly serve mankind.

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

5. What human flaw does democracy depend upon, according to Mencken?
(a) Vanity.
(b) Rage.
(c) Greed.
(d) Envy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of presence did Henry Cabot Lodge have, according to Mencken?

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

3. Which decade, according to the author, was Mencken at his best?

4. According to Mencken, what was the Union fighting for in the Civil War?

5. What organization did Mencken's father force him to join at age fourteen?

(see the answer key)

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