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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 is Mencken's view of chiropractors?
(a) They are quack doctors.
(b) They are the newest members of a respected doctor aristocracy.
(c) He depends on them for his numerous back problems.
(d) He must study the subject further to render an opinion.

2. Who does Mencken identify as the founder of Christian Science?
(a) Mary Baker G. Eddy.
(b) Anthony Comstock.
(c) Sister Aimee.
(d) Theodore Veblen.

3. What device does Mencken call a "boon to bores"?
(a) Radio.
(b) Thermostat.
(c) Telephone.
(d) Elevator.

4. What point does Mencken make by bringing up an 84-year-old man he knew in Chapter 21?
(a) Age is nothing but a number.
(b) Illness makes a person stronger.
(c) The older a person gets, the crankier they get.
(d) A man's innate constitution may determine longevity more than illness.

5. Which is the "most democratic" of art forms according to Mencken?
(a) Poetry.
(b) Drama.
(c) Music.
(d) Sculpture.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the attorney on the side of the prosecution in the Scopes Monkey Trial?

2. What central critique does Mencken have for teachers of his day?

3. Why does Mencken criticize the American Medical Association?

4. Which is NOT one of the benefits Mencken sees should America put into place his ideas in "Utopian Flights"?

5. What two types of poetry does Mencken believe are the only viable ones?

Short Essay Questions

1. Summarize Mencken's views on William Dean Howells.

2. What memorable position does Mencken take on opera?

3. What does Mencken believe about contemporary new inventions? Mention the telephone as well as the thermostat in your response.

4. What is Mencken's opinion of Prohibition? What was its effect on society?

5. What insight does Mencken provide about physical disease/illness?

6. Summarize Mencken's views on inspiration, as recounted in Chapter 25.

7. What opinion does Mencken render about the Black Plague that decimated Europe in the Middle Ages?

8. What should poetry ideally be, according to Mencken? What makes for a good poem? And how does taste in poetry reflect upon a person's qualities?

9. How does Mencken compare socialism to capitalism? Include the Bolshevik Revolution in your response.

10. What is Mencken's own philosophy of psychology? What does he feel forms the basis of human psychology?

(see the answer keys)

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