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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. In "Recollections of Notable Cops," why does Mencken find the idea of a police academy remarkable?
(a) Academies usually teach useless skills; police academies teach useful skills.
(b) Cops in Mencken's younger days were not educated.
(c) Mencken states that police academies are contrary to the ideals of democracy.
(d) Mencken regards policemen as corrupt, vicious brutes.

2. What was Mencken's criticism for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?
(a) It was a slap in the face to Southern Democrats.
(b) It was more poetry than logic.
(c) It was full of racist remarks and innuendo.
(d) It was more about logistics and policy than stirring rhetoric.

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

4. What stance can Mencken be said to have taken in "Star-Spangled Man"?
(a) Anti-war.
(b) Pro-life.
(c) Pro-gun.
(d) Anti-establishment.

5. Which boat captain helped Mencken while in Cuba?
(a) Demetrio.
(b) Ignacio.
(c) Leonhard.
(d) Menocal.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What cheeky nickname did Mencken give Theodore Dreiser?

3. What was Theodore Dreiser's national and ethnic background?

4. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?

5. What did Mencken think about monogamy, as revealed in "Cavia Cobaya"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was Mencken's remedy for curing the ills of modern religions?

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

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

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

6. In "Gore in the Caribees," what becames of the rebel leader, Jose Miguel Gomez?

7. According to Mencken, Theodore Dreiser had what emotional effect on the reader?

8. What is the difference between men and women in regards to trust, according to "The Skeptic"?

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

10. Why are "handsome men" suspicious, according to "The Lure of Beauty"?

(see the answer keys)

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