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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 bold and visionary.
(c) It is timid and superficial.
(d) It is full of awesome promise.

2. In "The Baltimore of the Eighties," why does Mencken's mother lament about a trip to the market?
(a) A pickpocket had stolen her purse.
(b) The price of crabs had doubled.
(c) Mencken had stolen some penny candy.
(d) The vendors had started charging for roe.

3. In "Gore in the Caribees," what was Mencken's perspective on the revolution in Cuba?
(a) Mencken refused to cover the event, and is fired by his newspaper.
(b) Mencken was fervently pro-Cuba, and travels to the country to engage in propaganda.
(c) Mencken thought it is newsworthy, and he asks to cover it.
(d) Mencken thought the event is not newsworthy, and only reluctantly does he travel to cover it.

4. Which of the following could NOT be used to describe Mencken's tone in "Star-Spangled Man"?
(a) Sentimental.
(b) Hyperbolic.
(c) Tongue-in-cheek.
(d) Sarcastic.

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

6. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?
(a) Dreiser and Schubert didn't know the theory of their arts, but nonetheless they produce valuable work.
(b) Dreiser and Schubert exhibited an uncommon and sometimes perverse imagination.
(c) Dreiser and Schubert both created work that is "lighter than air."
(d) Dreiser and Schubert used whimsy, irony, and a sense of silliness.

7. What did Mencken think about Woodrow Wilson's biography of George Washington?
(a) "Woodrow Wilson couldn't shine George Washington's shoes."
(b) He was relieved that someone finally showed George Washington for who he really was.
(c) The biography had such a small print run as to be insignificant.
(d) It was poorly written and factually inaccurate.

8. According to Mencken, what was the Union fighting for in the Civil War?
(a) Freedom.
(b) Against the notion of self-determinism.
(c) Profit.
(d) Self-governance.

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

10. What aspect of man-woman relationships are the movies incorrect about, according to Mencken?
(a) Men don't like to date women younger than themselves.
(b) There is no such thing as romantic love.
(c) Women always begin a romance; men are too cowardly.
(d) Handsome men are not sought after by women.

11. What profession should the truth-teller NOT aspire to, according to Mencken?
(a) A jewelry maker.
(b) The President of the United States.
(c) A bartender.
(d) Owner of a large company.

12. How did Gene the magistrate handle an overzealous Methodist clergyman?
(a) Gene had policemen follow the clergyman wherever he went.
(b) Gene ruled that the clergyman was within his rights to practice in the Jewish ghetto.
(c) Gene created trumped-up charges to render him no longer a problem.
(d) Gene ruled that religion was essential to the functioning of a democracy.

13. Mencken provided what colorful phrase to describe a woman's body?
(a) An hourglass of horrors.
(b) A drunken dollar-mark.
(c) A star-spangled mess.
(d) A slap-happy seal.

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

15. According to Mencken, how did members of the lower class respond to Wilson?
(a) They were attracted to his lofty rhetoric.
(b) They responded to his lower class domestic policies.
(c) They threw rotten vegetables at him at the convention.
(d) They "clapped like fools" at a recent speech.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why shouldn't men trust other men?

2. Which was NOT a feature of the ideal aristocracy, according to Mencken?

3. In "Star-Spangled Man," Mencken argued that who, besides soldiers, should get medals?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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