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

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

3. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?
(a) Theodore Dreiser.
(b) Abraham Lincoln.
(c) George Washington.
(d) Napoleon Bonaparte.

4. What is a man's usual response to beauty?
(a) Romantic affection.
(b) Indifference.
(c) Lust.
(d) Highly-violent behavior.

5. Why do "handsome men" deserve suspicion?
(a) They are "ugly" inside.
(b) They are terrible conversationalists.
(c) They are always self-serving and vain.
(d) The human body is inherently ugly.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of presence did Henry Cabot Lodge have, according to Mencken?

2. What dominated Puritanism, according to Mencken in "The National Letters"?

3. Why do the majority of people lie, according to Mencken?

4. Which was NOT one of the reasons why a Christian wouldn't man cheat on his wife, according to "The Libertine"?

5. What was Mencken's criticism for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was Mencken's opinion of Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The American Scholar"?

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

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

5. Why do men usually marry women who are "basically hideous"?

6. What was the nature of Mencken's first memory, as described in "Introduction to the Universe"?

7. Why was 1880s Baltimore such a loud town?

8. What was the nature of Mencken's first-ever printed article?

9. What was Mencken's ideal form of government?

10. Why did Mencken criticize Woodrow Wilson?

(see the answer keys)

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