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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 23, Souvenirs of a Journalist, Chapter 24, Criticism.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Mencken define government?
(a) A collection of the looniest among us.
(b) A dozen men who can't do anything right.
(c) A war on the poor.
(d) A conspiracy against superior men.

2. Which is NOT one of the qualities of rich people, as described by Mencken?
(a) They buy boring, unoriginal assets.
(b) They engage in exciting, risky ventures.
(c) Many buy public esteem.
(d) They are largely swindlers.

3. Before democracy came to be, what did people believe this system of government to be?
(a) They believed democracy was just another form of dictatorship.
(b) A heavenly form of government.
(c) A wretched form of government that should not come to pass.
(d) It was such a foreign concept, no one could really imagine it.

4. How has Mencken organized his book?
(a) By date.
(b) By length.
(c) By subject.
(d) By author.

5. What is the subject of Chapter 7?
(a) Death.
(b) Taxes.
(c) Quackery.
(d) Classical composers.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do rich people "buy public esteem" according to Mencken?

2. What kind of men has history been written by, to date?

3. What does Mencken believe about the concept of evil?

4. Why might "reflective and skeptical men" refrain from suicide?

5. Who did the Black Plague mostly kill off, according to Mencken?

(see the answer key)

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