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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 Mencken's nickname for Chesapeake Bay?
(a) The protein factory.
(b) Crab central.
(c) Home of the yummy lobsters.
(d) The big blue.

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

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

4. According to the editor, why were the 1930s Mencken's "downfall"?
(a) Mencken's severe illness limited his output.
(b) Mencken spent most of the decade in Europe.
(c) The hardships in the country changed popular sentiment.
(d) President FDR waged a battle of personal attacks against Mencken.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mencken state about the literary influence(s) of Theodore Dreiser?

2. Which is one of the stated reasons the editor put the volume together?

3. What profession should the truth-teller NOT aspire to, according to Mencken?

4. According to Mencken, what kind of books did Theodore Dreiser produce?

5. What moral choice faced Mencken and a cop on New Year's Day, in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. According to Mencken, why would a Christian man not cheat on his wife, according to "The Libertine"?

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

6. Why did Mencken criticize Woodrow Wilson?

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

8. What was Mencken's opinion about Henry Cabot Lodge?

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

10. What criticisms did Mencken level at General John Pershing?

(see the answer keys)

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