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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Mencken disagree with contemporary assessments of Abraham Lincoln?
(a) Mencken believed a much broader conspiracy was in place in regards to Lincoln's assassination.
(b) Critics praised him as a hero and don't question some dubious sections of his biography.
(c) Critics maligned Lincoln for his handling of the Civil War, and Mencken thinks he did a fine job.
(d) Abraham Lincoln did not get nearly enough credit for freeing the slaves, according to Mencken.

2. Why do the majority of people lie, according to Mencken?
(a) They lie for fame.
(b) They are fearful of being arrested.
(c) They lie for profit.
(d) They are unhappy with their lot in life.

3. What profession should the truth-teller NOT aspire to, according to Mencken?
(a) Owner of a large company.
(b) A jewelry maker.
(c) The President of the United States.
(d) A bartender.

4. In "Recollections of Notable Cops," why does Mencken find the idea of a police academy remarkable?
(a) Academies usually teach useless skills; police academies teach useful skills.
(b) Mencken regards policemen as corrupt, vicious brutes.
(c) Cops in Mencken's younger days were not educated.
(d) Mencken states that police academies are contrary to the ideals of democracy.

5. What one thing did Mencken feel was useful from the contributions of Sigmund Freud?
(a) The notion that lying stemmed from an unconscious place.
(b) The notion that dreams could reveal aspects of our everyday lives.
(c) The notion that people could be easily hypnotized.
(d) The notion that "mother issues" were deeply-seated.

6. According to "Text for Newspaper Days," what is modern journalism missing?
(a) Proper fact checking.
(b) A carefree nature.
(c) Proper attention to art and art history.
(d) Multiple points of view.

7. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?
(a) Dreiser and Schubert exhibited an uncommon and sometimes perverse imagination.
(b) Dreiser and Schubert both created work that is "lighter than air."
(c) Dreiser and Schubert used whimsy, irony, and a sense of silliness.
(d) Dreiser and Schubert didn't know the theory of their arts, but nonetheless they produce valuable work.

8. In "Star-Spangled Man," Mencken argued that who, besides soldiers, should get medals?
(a) Murderers, thieves, and rapists.
(b) Writers and intellectuals.
(c) Anyone hostile to the United States.
(d) Dock workers and tugboat captains.

9. According to "The Skeptic," what do women always bear?
(a) A strong sense of household finances.
(b) A healthy mistrust of their husbands.
(c) The burden of caring for families.
(d) The strength of their religious convictions.

10. What did Mencken think about monogamy, as revealed in "Cavia Cobaya"?
(a) Functionally, monogamy was the same as polygamy, because everyone cheats.
(b) Great men aspired to and achieved it.
(c) Monogamy was the laughable product of democracy.
(d) Monogamy stifled the natural urgings of a man.

11. What was the "last straw" that forced Mencken to quit the organization in #16?
(a) A painful accident with the horizontal bar.
(b) The fact that the running track was rectangular.
(c) An evangelical teen in the reading room.
(d) The relentless shouting of his gym teacher.

12. Why does the typical man have a poor conception of beauty?
(a) Even mirrors are manufactured to lie about a woman's beauty.
(b) Make-up is made with a chemical that confuses the brain.
(c) Even a man's enemy will tell him his wife is pretty.
(d) The entire world, with very few exceptions, is hideously ugly.

13. Why shouldn't men trust other men?
(a) Men are only interested in accumulating wealth.
(b) Men can become violent at any moment.
(c) Men lie constantly.
(d) Men can be subject to temptation, and thus betrayal.

14. What stance can Mencken be said to have taken in "Star-Spangled Man"?
(a) Pro-gun.
(b) Anti-establishment.
(c) Pro-life.
(d) Anti-war.

15. What did Mencken feel about "American thinking"?
(a) It is bold and visionary.
(b) It is full of awesome promise.
(c) It is cautious, yet optimistic.
(d) It is timid and superficial.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to "Quid Est Veritas?," what kind of religion professes to know God exactly and completely?

2. Which man did Mencken dub the "Star-Spangled Man"?

3. Why do "handsome men" deserve suspicion?

4. What quotation did Mencken borrow from Theodore Dreiser in "Cavia Cobaya"?

5. In which city did Mencken grow up?

(see the answer keys)

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