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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. Whose Apologia Pro Vita Sua is discussed in Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside"?
(a) Augustine of Hippo.
(b) John Henry, Cardinal Newman.
(c) Charles Kingsley.
(d) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. What is being discussed in Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," when Foster says that the "form and tone of the essay must fit the writer like a suit" (144)?
(a) Characterization and personality.
(b) Conflict and theme.
(c) Subjectivity and attachment.
(d) Style and voice.

3. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," Foster says that the chief aim of Fire and Fury is to demonstrate what?
(a) That Trump was unable to control his staff.
(b) That Trump's White House was not as transparent as publicly claimed.
(c) That the Trump White House was dysfunctional at all levels.
(d) That Trump was a petty tyrant.

4. In Chapter 12, "Life from the Inside," Foster calls Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation "pointillist" (179). What quality is he saying this book has?
(a) A focus on detail at the expense of continuity.
(b) A focus on the "big picture" at the expense of fine detail.
(c) A focus on immediacy at the expense of long-term perspective.
(d) A focus on individual voices at the expense of institutional perspective.

5. In Chapter 14, "The Universe of Ideas/Ideas of the Universe," why does Foster introduce the example of Malcolm Gladwell?
(a) To contrast with the more rigorous writing of Neil deGrasse Tyson.
(b) To provide an example of amateur profiling.
(c) To show how a clever writer can overcome public skepticism.
(d) To illustrate the idea of a science writer who has developed a "brand" for his writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. Based on Chapter 14, "The Universe of Ideas/Ideas of the Universe," what would Foster call a neuroscientist reporting on and analyzing recent developments in neuroscience?

2. In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," what important characteristic of the essay does Foster point out?

3. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," Foster says that Fire and Fury was "incendiary" (189). He is comparing the book to what?

4. In "Interrogating the Text," where does Foster say the "three questions" originate?

5. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," Foster says that the outsider exposé has what advantage over the insider exposé?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 15, "Reading Internet Sources," Foster reveals the central issue of the book. What does he say the issue is, and why does he believe it is worth devoting a book to?

2. In Chapter 14, "The Universe of Ideas/Ideas of the Universe," what does Foster say motivates antiscientific beliefs?

3. Explain why, in Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside," Foster says that the narrators of nonfiction can be just as unreliable as the narrators of fiction.

4. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," why does Foster say that Hunter S. Thomson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is really a roman à clef?

5. In Chapter 12, "That Is So Last Year," what change in "fashion" does Foster say that the publishing of history has followed in the past decades?

6. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," what two main types of subjective nonfiction does Foster define, and what four categories does he break these main types into?

7. In Chapter 15, "Reading Internet Sources," what does Foster propose as a solution to inaccuracies on the web?

8. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," what concern does Foster say that other journalists have about Wolff's work?

9. In Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside," what does Foster say is the difference between autobiography and memoir?

10. In Chapter 12, "That Is So Last Year," what difference does Foster explain between primary and secondary sources?

(see the answer keys)

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