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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the sixth characteristic of the image, according to Boorstin?
(a) It is simplified.
(b) It is synthetic.
(c) It is ambiguous.
(d) It is believable.

2. Boorstin writes in Chapter 5 that "God himself becomes not a power but" what?
(a) A myth.
(b) An advertisement.
(c) An image.
(d) A nonentity.

3. What term refers to that pertaining to one's own or a particular country as apart from other countries?
(a) Domestic.
(b) Conservative.
(c) Nationalist.
(d) Foreign.

4. What system does Boorstin assert affected "traditional forms of achievement," in Chapter 4 - Section VIII?
(a) Communism.
(b) Democracy.
(c) The star system.
(d) The caste system.

5. What refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theater District, New York?
(a) SoHo.
(b) Main Stage.
(c) West End.
(d) Broadway.

6. What is the fourth characteristic of the image, according to Boorstin?
(a) It is vivid.
(b) It is synthetic.
(c) It is believable.
(d) It is ambiguous.

7. When was Daniel J. Boorstin born?
(a) 1895.
(b) 1911.
(c) 1914.
(d) 1908.

8. Boorstin writes that our enemies profit from the fact they are known only, or primarily, through their what?
(a) Reality.
(b) Politics.
(c) Ideals.
(d) Images.

9. What refers to reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, rank, or other favorable attributes?
(a) Prestige.
(b) Pseudo-reality.
(c) Narcissism.
(d) Understanding.

10. What word does Boorstin suggest we created out of the need to express the specialness of that which is real, in Chapter 6 - Section III?
(a) Non-fiction.
(b) Fiction.
(c) Capitalization.
(d) Arbitration.

11. Who invented the steam powered rotary printing press in 1843 in the United States?
(a) Johannes Gutenberg.
(b) Henry Watson.
(c) Richard M. Hoe.
(d) Stephan Michaelson.

12. What refers to a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible?
(a) Prestige.
(b) Image.
(c) Ideal.
(d) Archetype.

13. What does Boorstin describe as a kind of pseudo-event, especially in the sense that they were "more vivid and more impressive than the spontaneous original"?
(a) Movies.
(b) Books.
(c) Photographs.
(d) News media.

14. In Chapter 5 - Section V, Boorstin states that even ____ have become blurred because of the relentless drive of business and consumerism.
(a) Politicians.
(b) The seasons.
(c) Books.
(d) Movies.

15. When did P.T. Barnum purchase Scudder's American Museum?
(a) 1905.
(b) 1841.
(c) 1859.
(d) 1867.

Short Answer Questions

1. Boorstin claims that in the effort to make art and literature accessible to all, these forms of expression were what?

2. When does Boorstin say books began to be made cheaper, due to a variety of factors, in Chapter 4 - Section I?

3. The first aspect of successful advertising discussed by Boorstin in Chapter 5 - Section IV is what?

4. Boorstin writes that the image must exist in a kind of liminal state "between expectation and" what?

5. Boorstin writes in Chapter 6 - Section III, "We fill our lives not with experience but with the ____ of experience."

(see the answer keys)

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