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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do most women think of their husbands according to Mencken?
(a) Women fear and loathe their husbands.
(b) Women are indifferent to their husbands and use them as mere tools.
(c) Women pity their husbands and consider them asses.
(d) Women love and respect their husbands.

2. What group of people has been "overestimated" throughout the course of human history?
(a) Barbarians.
(b) Russians.
(c) Egyptians.
(d) Greeks.

3. Which is NOT one of the features Mencken imagines for the Confederacy, had it survived the Civil War?
(a) It would have a strong aristocracy in place.
(b) It would be a wealthier place.
(c) It would be a more cultured place.
(d) It would never have abolished slavery.

4. Who rules American culture, according to Chapter 10?
(a) Psychologists and doctors.
(b) Quacks such as chiropractors.
(c) The uncivilized mob.
(d) The learned aristocracy.

5. What is the fundamental flaw of the democratic style of government?
(a) There are simply too many intelligent people to decide between.
(b) Over time, democracy resembles monarchy.
(c) The people are not competent to govern themselves.
(d) Voting systems can never be 100% accurate.

6. What is the relationship between Anglo-Saxons and civilization?
(a) Anglo-Saxons are the least civilized of all white people.
(b) Anglo-Saxons choose to live outside civilization because they are morally superior.
(c) Anglo-Saxons created civilization, and are its last bastion of hope.
(d) Anglo-Saxons are the most civilized of all white people.

7. Which Southern state does Mencken particularly mourn in his obituary on the American South?
(a) Virginia.
(b) Georgia.
(c) Louisiana.
(d) Texas.

8. How intelligent are women according to Mencken?
(a) They are completely stupid in thought and deed.
(b) They pretend to be intelligent, but deep down are quite stupid.
(c) They are usually much more intelligent than men.
(d) They pretend to be dumb, but are in fact quite intelligent.

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

10. Which is NOT one of Mencken's view of humankind as expressed in Chapter 1?
(a) Man is the center of the universe, and rightly so.
(b) Man is prone to believe in ridiculous things.
(c) Man is full of errors.
(d) Man is the product of random and meaningless processes.

11. What kind of people are most often forgotten by historical records, per Chapter 12?
(a) The commoners.
(b) Respectful and intelligent men.
(c) Courageous women.
(d) Great warriors.

12. Per Chapter 2, what kind of person has Mencken never met?
(a) A quack with a conscience.
(b) An altruist who actually did good for anybody.
(c) A moral man that was honorable.
(d) A metaphysician who was intellectually curious.

13. What kind of men has history been written by, to date?
(a) The most intelligent men, and this is why history cannot be understood by most.
(b) Noble men of purpose.
(c) Men more interested in power than factual accuracy.
(d) Third-rate, inferior men.

14. What is Mencken's opinion of original Christians?
(a) They were vulgar cads without imagination.
(b) The historical record is so poor that Mencken cannot form an opinion.
(c) They were "men's men" and should be looked upon as examples.
(d) They were patriots, akin to the Founding Fathers.

15. What or who rules the American South?
(a) Secular liberals.
(b) A love for automobiles and technology.
(c) Baptist and Methodist "barbarism".
(d) An aristocratic class.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of sense of right and wrong do children have?

2. What is Mencken's opinion about the variety of political systems?

3. What is Mencken's hope for democracy?

4. What aspect of Lincoln's historical persona does Mencken doubt, or at least question?

5. What kind of men does a democracy produce?

(see the answer keys)

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