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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Mencken feel about "American thinking"?
(a) It is cautious, yet optimistic.
(b) It is timid and superficial.
(c) It is bold and visionary.
(d) It is full of awesome promise.

2. What part of Mencken's work is NOT included in the volume?
(a) Mencken's political discourse of the 1920s.
(b) Mencken's esoteric views on art and art history.
(c) Mencken's work on language and grammar.
(d) Mencken's nostalgic musings on Baltimore.

3. What was Theodore Dreiser's national and ethnic background?
(a) Swedish.
(b) American.
(c) German.
(d) French.

4. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?
(a) Henry Cabot Lodge.
(b) William Jennings Bryan.
(c) Franklin Pierce.
(d) Grover Garfield.

5. What criticism did Dr. William Bayard Hale have for Woodrow Wilson?
(a) As an orator, Wilson was dull, and focuses too much on foreign policy.
(b) His rhetoric was lofty, but ultimately empty of substance.
(c) Wilson had the gall to pardon Eugene Debs.
(d) Wilson was more interested in tea parties and social functions than policy discussions.

6. Which decade, according to the author, was Mencken at his best?
(a) The 1910s.
(b) The 1920s.
(c) The 1930s.
(d) The 1940s.

7. What organization did Mencken's father force him to join at age fourteen?
(a) The Boy Scouts of America.
(b) Y.M.C.A.
(c) The Junior Achievement League.
(d) The Baptist Church.

8. Who is the editor of this volume?
(a) Alfred Knopf.
(b) Alistair Cooke.
(c) William Jennings Bryan.
(d) H. L. Mencken.

9. Why shouldn't men trust other men?
(a) Men can become violent at any moment.
(b) Men lie constantly.
(c) Men are only interested in accumulating wealth.
(d) Men can be subject to temptation, and thus betrayal.

10. What kind of presence did Henry Cabot Lodge have, according to Mencken?
(a) Lodge swore often and told dirty jokes, shocking women.
(b) Lodge was meek and soft-voiced.
(c) Lodge was cantankerous and given to bickering.
(d) Lodge was powerful and authoritative.

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

12. What, according to Mencken, is "The Incomparable Buzz-Saw"?
(a) A great work of art.
(b) The allure of a woman.
(c) The horrible smells of Baltimore in the 1880s.
(d) War.

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

14. Which is NOT a reason Mencken gives for admiring Theodore Dreiser?
(a) Dreiser's unique place in the world of literature.
(b) The ability for Dreiser to touch a reader on an emotional level.
(c) Dreiser's unchanging subject matter and style.
(d) Dreiser's insistence on describing every detail of a scene.

15. What does Mencken call a man who resists the charms of women?
(a) A most distinguished gentleman.
(b) A most rare beast indeed.
(c) An exceedingly wise stone statue.
(d) A most disgusting cad.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following could NOT be used to describe Mencken's tone in "Star-Spangled Man"?

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

3. What do saints have in common with scientists?

4. What famous speech did Ralph Waldo Emerson deliver in 1837?

5. In "Gore in the Caribees," what was Mencken's perspective on the revolution in Cuba?

(see the answer keys)

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