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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What aspect of death did Mencken find most interesting?

2. Why did Valentino invite Mencken to dinner?

3. According to Mencken, why was Samuel Johnson unique as an artist?

4. In "Valentino," what did the press find in a men's bathroom that caused them to mock Valentino and his "Latin Lover" image?

5. Which is the best style of architecture, according to Mencken?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Mencken's opinion of chiropractic?

2. According to "The Author at Work," why do writers write?

3. Why did Mencken miss corporal punishment in schools in "Travail"?

4. What were the general features of Anglo-Saxons, according to Mencken in "The Anglo-Saxon"?

5. Contemporaries wrote that Calvin Coolidge bore several similarities to Abraham Lincoln. Why did Mencken disagree with this claim?

6. What did Mencken feel were the true and most damaging consequences of the Civil War, according to "The Calamity of Appomattox"?

7. What did Mencken conclude about his research into the court cases of Oliver Wendell Holmes?

8. For what reasons did Mencken admire Grover Cleveland?

9. How did Mencken distinguish between plutocracy and aristocracy in "A Glance Ahead"?

10. How did Mencken--with tongue firmly in cheek--try to justify a man's murdering of his wife in "A Good Man Gone Wrong"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mencken mused about death in "Exeunt Omnes."

A) What was the aspect of death which interested Mencken the most?

B) How might "Exeunt Omnes" help us understand Mencken's anti-war stance? How does Mencken's attitude toward death relate to his anti-war stance?

C) Per Mencken's own apparent attitude, what might Mencken tell his readers is the best attitude to have toward death and mortality?

Essay Topic 2

Beauty and ugliness were topics of the articles "The Lure of Beauty" and "The Libido of the Ugly."

A) How does Mencken define beauty? How is beauty related to art criticism?

B) Is beauty objective or subjective? Cite examples in the text of how Mencken might answer this question.

C) How is beauty related to physical attraction?

Essay Topic 3

"Gore in the Caribees" had Mencken doing some foreign reporting in Cuba.

A) What is Mencken's opinion of the Cuban administration? What is his opinion of the rebellion?

B) What can the incident tell us about Mencken's general opinions about ideal government, and how to rule properly?

(see the answer keys)

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