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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. Where did the Scopes monkey trial take place?

2. What was Roosevelt's strategy at the Democratic National Convention of 1932?

3. Per "Mr. Justice Holmes," which of the following might Mencken say about the legislature as a state organization?

4. How was Mencken able to get a taxi driver to drive him to a speakeasy in Pennsylvania?

5. According to Mencken, how might Calvin Coolidge had handled the Great Depression?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Mencken--with tongue firmly in cheek--try to justify a man's murdering of his wife in "A Good Man Gone Wrong"?

2. Did Mencken's aesthetics conform to the ideals of the "new architecture"? Explain.

3. What opinion was rendered about William Jennings Bryan in "In Memoriam: W.J.B."?

4. According to "The Author at Work," why do writers write?

5. Why did Mencken take issue with Oliver Wendell Holmes' final court case?

6. Why are artists "anti-patriotic," according to Mencken in "The Artist"?

7. What did Mencken feel were the true and most damaging consequences of the Civil War, according to "The Calamity of Appomattox"?

8. What caused Mencken to question the American psyche in "The Libido for the Ugly"?

9. What was the nature of film actor Valentino's problem, as related in "Valentino"?

10. In "The Noble Experiment," what story did Mencken relate about acquiring alcohol at the Republican National Convention?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Articles such as "Theodore Dreiser" and "Masters of Tone" present Mencken the art critic.

A) What can Mencken's criticisms reveal about his theory of art? Cite specific examples.

B) What can Mencken's criticisms reveal about his own preferences? Can art be objectively excellent, or does it always depend upon the viewer/spectator?

Essay Topic 2

Mencken was interested in reviving an American intellectual movement.

A) Who were the forefathers of this movement? What texts are important?

B) What does Mencken feel is the current state of the American intellectual movement?

C) What can be done to further the movement?

Essay Topic 3

Quackery was a favorite subject of Mencken's. What is quackery? Why does Mencken mock it? How does quackery relate to ignorance? In Mencken's view, do those who fall victim to quackery "deserve" their fate?

(see the answer keys)

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