Historic American Authors Quiz

Instructions: Answer each question to the best of your ability. Once you select an answer, you will then find out if it is correct or not. There will also be an explanation to help you learn more about history. An orange “Continue” button will appear and allow you to move to the next question.

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What is the name of the socialite writer behind the quintessential Roaring Twenties text The Great Gatsby?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Stephen Crane
Washington Irving
Edwin Arlington Robinson

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Washington Irving is known as a collector of American folk tales. In his short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Irving introduced American audiences to what literary monster?
The sasquatch
The invisible man
The werewolf
The headless horseman

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What American writer is known for his apline tales of survival such as "To Build a Fire" and The Call of the Wild?
Cormac McCarthy
Paul Porter
O. Henry
Jack London

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What writer became the first African American woman to ever receive a Pulitzer Prize for her book The Color Purple?
Nikki Giovanni
Alice Walker
Toni Morrison
Regina Temperance

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One of America's most renowned science-fiction authors was Ray Bradbury. Of his many works, what story about firemen burning literature stands out as one of his most prominent works?
Celsius 118
Fahrenheit 451
39 Kelvin
522 Newtons

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What is the name of the famous John Kennedy Toole work which followed the slothful academic Ignatius as he encountered peculiar caricatures of American society?
Catch-22
Slaughterhouse-Five
A Confederacy of Dunces
Mrs. Westinghouse

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"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People" are two famous southern gothic tales by what short story author?
Agatha Christie
Flannery O'Connor
Edith Wharton
Alice Grey

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L. Frank Baum wrote a series of children's stories set in what fantasy land?
Oz
Narnia
Sorell
Midlund

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A Farwell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls are two major works by what famous American author?
Mark Twain
O. Henry
Joseph Conrad
Ernest Hemingway

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Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was so influential that what American president reportedly called her "The little lady who started (the Civil War)"?
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Abraham Lincoln
Millard Fillmore

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What American author is credited with coining the term "Robot" to refer to artificial humanoids?
Thomas Laurent
H. G. Wells
George Orwell
Isaac Asimov

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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird told the story of what literary lawyer as he sought to defend a man wrongly accused of assault?
Sam Spade
John Scopes
Atticus Finch
Logan Debbs

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The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror are two of the grim stories by what pioneer of cosmic horror?
Robert E. Howard
Stephen King
H. P. Lovecraft
Edgar Allen Poe

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Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind told of a doomed romance set against the backdrop of what burgeoning American war?
The Civil War
The Revolutionary War
World War One
World War Two

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Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author behind the literary classic The Scarlet Letter. In the text, what letter is stitched onto the clothing of Hester Prynne?
A
B
C
D

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What is the name of the author who wrote such works as Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath?
Historic American Authors Quiz
John Steinbeck
Charles Rawlins
J. D. Sallinger
E. E. Cummings

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Will Cather is best known for her three novels, O, Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Antonia which collectively make up what literary trilogy?
The American Cycle
The Divine Comedy
The Plains Trilogy
The Song of an Hour Trilogy

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What New England horror writer became famous for his works of suburban darkness in stories like It, Salem's Lot, and The Tommyknockers?
Stephen King
Edgar Allen Poe
Robert E. Howard
Robert W. Chambers

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Blood Meridian and The Road are famous but bleak works by what American author?
Michael Crichton
John Grisham
Cormac McCarthy
Douglas Adams

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Upton Sinclair's The Jungle led to the creation of the F.D.A. since it exposed so many abuses in what industry?
The water treatment industry
The greengrocer industry
The pharmacology industry
The meat-packing industry

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What woman wrote American classics like Beloved and Song of Solomon?
Nikki Giovanni
Toni Morrison
Rayette Kynes
Phoebe May

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J.D. Sallinger wrote what classic piece of American literature that followed the wayward youth Holden Caulfield as he raged against the society of "phonies" around him?
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
The Catcher in the Rye
Man and Superman
Dog Day Afternoon

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Joseph Heller coined what phrase when he wrote a novel of the same name about the humorous and horrifying escapades experienced by a bomber unit during World War Two?
Paradox
Personification
Slip of the Tongue
Catch-22

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Louisa May Alcott wrote the famous novel Little Women about what group of fictional sisters?
The Tender Sisters
The March Sisters
The Lee Sisters
The Swan Sisters

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Edith Wharton was the first woman to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. She won this award for what novel about trying to establish a life in the constricting social world of upper-class life during the 1800s?
The Age of Innocence
Kindness
I Learned to Walk Without You
Step Inside My Home

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What American writer is known for deconstructing southern society in works like "A Rose for Emily" and The Sound and the Fury?
Milton Thorne
Walt Whitman
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
William Faulkner

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What is the name of Herman Melville's major American work that followed the crew of the Pequod as they hunted down the infamous White Whale?
The Count of Monte Cristo
Moby Dick
Wuthering Heights
The Sea Wolf

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What is the name of the humorous short story writer behind works like "The Ransom of Red Chief," "A Retrieved Reformation," and "The Gift of the Magi"?
Maurice Reval
Rod Serling
Max Potter
O. Henry

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In Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven," what is the term which the namesake bird repeats?
Oppression
Revenge
Death
Nevermore

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What is the name of the famous Mark Twain protagonist who rode a raft down the Mississippi River with his friend Jim?
Huckleberry Finn
Billy Budd
Tom Sawyer
Bartleby the Scrivener

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