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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 is Mencken's opinion of original Christians?

2. Mencken sees that too often any discussion of suicide is rooted in what incorrect notion?

3. Privately, politicians are what kind of people?

4. What subject does Mencken begin his volume with?

5. What is the fundamental flaw of the democratic style of government?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Mencken's opinion of George Washington. Why does Mencken admire him? Why doesn't Mencken believe Washington would do well in a contemporary political climate?

2. What does Mencken feel about the relationship between science and religion?

3. Per Chapter 2, describe Mencken's summation of the following types of people: the romantic, the believer, the metaphysician, and the altruist.

4. What is Mencken's view of punishment for crime? What is the function of punishment?

5. Is morality necessary in Mencken's view? How many people are moral people? Is there a good and evil, or is that a human-created concept?

6. Describe Mencken's conception of the Anglo-Saxon American. What are this person's flaws?

7. Summarize Mencken's appraisal of William Jennings Bryan. How is Mencken's opinion related to the Scopes Monkey Trial?

8. Name four historic events Mencken mentions in Chapter 12, and his opinion of them.

9. What is Mencken's opinion of government? What is the role of government? Is one system of government preferable to another?

10. What is the average person's opinion of government, according to Mencken?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Summarize Chapter 1 which discusses the nature of man.

a) What is the nature of man to Mencken? What is Man guided by?

b) What is the nature of the relationship between God and Man?

c) What is the nature of the relationship between Man and animal?

d) What part does "delusion" play in man's relationship to the universe?

Essay Topic 2

1) Discuss Mencken's historical involvement in the Scopes Monkey Trial.

2) Summarize Mencken's own account of his attendance of the trial.

3) What was Mencken's impression of the townspeople? Of Clarence Darrow? Of William Jennings Bryan?

4) How does the conflict at the heart of the trial reflect upon Mencken's own values and convictions? Why was the trial so important to Mencken?

Essay Topic 3

1) Discuss Mencken's view of socialism. What effect has socialism has on the world?

2) Compare and contrast Mencken's view of capitalism with that of socialism.

3) Relate Mencken's view of human nature with his view of economics. How do the tendencies and reality of the human condition affect the effectiveness of economical models, for Mencken?

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