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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the source of Oliver Wendell Holmes' allure?
(a) His ability to stick to the facts and write sound legal opinions.
(b) His ability to bribe officials at every level of government.
(c) His personal charisma and sometimes outrageous court antics.
(d) His eloquent, epigrammatic writing style.

2. According to "The New Architecture," when will Man have "built his own prison"?
(a) When new architecture is replaced by neoclassical architecture.
(b) When Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is not heralded as a champion of new design.
(c) When he replaces Gothic architecture with Modernist architecture.
(d) When people build houses using the style of English Eighteenth Century.

3. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Adultery is..."
(a) "...a willingness to get what's yours."
(b) "...the application of democracy to love."
(c) "...like a marriage with a bad cold."
(d) "...the destruction of love, life, and money."

4. What was NOT a feature of chiropractors, according to "Chiropractic"?
(a) They had a good deal of anatomical knowledge.
(b) They did no good, and may in fact cause harm.
(c) They were retired baseball players or piano movers.
(d) They were quacks.

5. Which of the following was NOT an attribute of an artist, as Mencken describes in "The Artist"?
(a) The artist is more sensitive to his environment than normal people.
(b) The artist is more easily wounded.
(c) The artist is patriotic.
(d) The artist turns against his country and countrymen.

6. What did Mencken attribute to the fall of the "good man" in "A Good Man Gone Wrong"?
(a) A runaway automobile.
(b) An "unspeakable force in the universe."
(c) A Presbyterian upbringing.
(d) A nagging housewife.

7. What event did Mencken cover in "The Wallace Paranoia"?
(a) The New York World's Fair.
(b) The Progressive Party convention.
(c) A socialite's ball.
(d) The marriage of a governor.

8. What was the subject of "The Noble Experiment"?
(a) Voting during World War I.
(b) The Cuban revolution.
(c) Drinking during Prohibition.
(d) A scientific breakthrough Mencken reported on.

9. Which was NOT a reason Mencken used in his assessment that houses are ugly in "The Libido for the Ugly"?
(a) The houses were shabby and dilapidated.
(b) The houses had awkward, skinny chimneys.
(c) The houses were painted yellow.
(d) The houses were structurally misshapen.

10. What was Mencken's phrase for religious fundamentalism?
(a) "Ye Olde Honest Truth."
(b) "The Shepherd's Porridge."
(c) "That Old-Time Religion."
(d) "The Fluff of the Flock."

11. Why, according to Mencken, do virtuous people end up sinning the worst?
(a) Virtuous people do difficult work, and this work drives them insane.
(b) Virtuous people give of themselves so much, they are empty inside.
(c) The virtuous don't know how to handle sin, and thus get carried away.
(d) To be "virtuous" is a lie: the virtuous are among the most sinful among us.

12. According to Mencken, how might Calvin Coolidge had handled the Great Depression?
(a) By nationalizing many sectors of the economy.
(b) By cowering under his desk.
(c) By taking a more active role than FDR ever had.
(d) By sleeping through it.

13. What point did Mencken make when referring to the picture of a French soldier who was deformed with multiple amputations in war?
(a) Mencken imagined that the soldier likely sought a glorious death in battle, but now has to live life in a pathetic state.
(b) The French were brave people, indeed.
(c) The soldier made the noblest of sacrifices, and will be remembered forever.
(d) Mencken thought it was terribly sad that the man will not be able to walk into heaven.

14. Why might the Anglo-Saxon race have entered into the Spanish-American war, according to Mencken?
(a) The war protected vital interests in the Caribbean.
(b) They were courageous and foolhardy.
(c) It was a war they were sure to win.
(d) They knew they could seize the Spanish crown.

15. How was Mencken able to get a taxi driver to drive him to a speakeasy in Pennsylvania?
(a) He threatened the driver with jail time.
(b) He showed the driver the musical score from a Bach concert.
(c) He agreed to write an article about the driver.
(d) He gave the driver a ten dollar bill.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which was NOT a challenge to the schoolboy Mencken mentioned in "Travail"?

2. What city was featured in "The Libido for the Ugly"?

3. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Democracy is..."

4. How was plutocracy created, according to Mencken?

5. What did Mencken call for in "Mencken's Last Stand"?

(see the answer keys)

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