View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 45-49.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Alistair Cooke's relationship to H. L. Mencken?
(a) A childhood acquaintance.
(b) A political enemy.
(c) A poet whom Mencken greatly admires.
(d) A journalist and friend.

2. What aspect of old-time education did Mencken miss most in modern education?
(a) The tolling of the dinner triangle.
(b) Corporal punishment.
(c) The insistence on only male teachers.
(d) The charm of the one-room schoolhouse.

3. Which was described as Mencken's earliest memory?
(a) Attending a speech of William Jennings Bryan.
(b) Swatting flies with his brother in the kitchen.
(c) Watching a carnival of the Order of Orioles.
(d) Getting bitten by a snake.

4. Who is the editor of this volume?
(a) H. L. Mencken.
(b) William Jennings Bryan.
(c) Alistair Cooke.
(d) Alfred Knopf.

5. Mencken provided what colorful phrase to describe a woman's body?
(a) A slap-happy seal.
(b) An hourglass of horrors.
(c) A star-spangled mess.
(d) A drunken dollar-mark.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Mencken appraise Valentino in their dinner meeting?

2. What city was featured in "The Libido for the Ugly"?

3. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Adultery is..."

4. Who was Mencken with at a Bach concert in Pennsylvania when he decided to get some liquor?

5. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 290 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample