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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, what was Christianity's history with lying?
(a) Lying is a great sin before God.
(b) Lying is not expressly forbidden, and is oftentimes even encouraged.
(c) Every sermon uttered by a priest is a lie.
(d) One must lie to oneself in order to adhere to religious beliefs.

2. Which was NOT a source of loud noise in the Baltimore of the 1880s, according to Mencken?
(a) Penny candy vendors hawking their candy.
(b) Children singing and yelling in the streets.
(c) Barking dogs.
(d) Iron tires hitting hard cobblestone streets.

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

4. Which is one of the stated reasons the editor put the volume together?
(a) To sell books for profit.
(b) To introduce the works of H. L. Mencken to a new generation.
(c) To fight charges that Mencken was racist.
(d) To expose the corrupt policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

5. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?
(a) Theodore Dreiser.
(b) Napoleon Bonaparte.
(c) Abraham Lincoln.
(d) George Washington.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mencken, what kind of books did Theodore Dreiser produce?

2. What profession should the truth-teller NOT aspire to, according to Mencken?

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

4. What one thing did Mencken feel was useful from the contributions of Sigmund Freud?

5. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?

(see the answer key)

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