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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. According to "Quid Est Veritas?," what kind of religion professes to know God exactly and completely?
(a) Primitive religions.
(b) Admirable religions.
(c) American religions.
(d) Perfect religions.

4. What was the name of H. L. Mencken's brother?
(a) Mitch.
(b) Charlie.
(c) Bud.
(d) Jesse.

5. 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 unselfishly serve mankind.
(d) Both corrupt the truth to suit their best interests.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?

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

3. What was Alistair Cooke's relationship to H. L. Mencken?

4. Why do "handsome men" deserve suspicion?

5. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Mencken, why do so many people lie?

2. Instead of military generals, who did Mencken wish to award medals to in "Star-Spangled Man"?

3. Why did Mencken believe it was advantageous for him to have not attended college?

4. How did Charlie get craftsmen to work at the jail in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

5. What criticisms did Mencken have for Theodore Dreiser?

6. What was the chief problem of a Baltimore summer, according to Mencken in "The Baltimore of the Eighties"?

7. What was accomplished by Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas," according to Mencken?

8. How did Mencken answer the question of whether successful men should have mistresses?

9. In "A Blind Spot," why was Mencken impervious to the ills of democracy?

10. How must men react to a woman's allure?

(see the answer keys)

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