Non-Fiction:The 1930s Quiz | Non-Fiction

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Even before his 1938 self-help book, this man had a much acclaimed and profitable seminar on human relations. For about two thousand dollars such men and women as Mary Kay Ash (cosmetics), Warren Buffet (financier), Dave Thomas (hamburger king), Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan (presidents), Ann Landers (columnist) and Orville Redenbacher (popcorn guru) benefited from the course. What book opened this concept to a wider audience?

Answer: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale changed the spelling of his name from "Carnagey" to Carnegie, so as to associate with the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, a change that opened many doors for him even though he was not related. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" as had 17 re-printings and has been translated 31 times. In Japan it is virtually a requirement.

2. Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink in 1933 published a book that gave harsh criticism of the Food and Drug Act of 1909. Manufacturers were able to change formulas without adequate testing as to safety. To what laboratory animal did they compare the unknowing public?

Answer: Guinea Pigs

The book was "100,000,000 Guinea Pigs". Kallet and Schlink are among the first to advocate labeling of ingredients, something that we take as routine today. They took a strong position on so-called 'patent medicines' that were beyond regulations and promised miracle cures with unsubstantiated evidence and questionable if not dangerous chemicals. Cosmetics they found contained arsenic, lead, and radium. Most of all, they recommended a proactive stance by consumers to determine what is safe to put in their bodies. If honest labeling was in effect a pineapple pie would be "corn starch-filled, glucose-sweetened pie with made with sub-standard canned pineapple, artificial (citric acid) lemon flavor and artificial coal tar color".

The book was an instant best seller requiring thirteen reprintings in the first six months. Strong opposition was voiced, mostly by those who had a vested interest in the status quo. It was pointed out that the authors were engineers not scientists, pharmacists, or chemists. It was called 'sensational propaganda', 'unscientific and spurious conclusions', 'fantastically exploited and erroneous' and that the authors were unqualified in biology, chemistry, or public health.

One recommendation from the book was not to eat fiber, which would be disputed by modern dietitians. John G. Fuller, forty years later, published "200,000,000 Guinea Pigs" and concluded that "... the situation is worse, not better...Time bombs are ticking away in 'the bodies of consumers'.

3. In the late 1920s and 1930s card players became obsessed with the game of bridge. Who was the bridge expert that wrote three best selling books on the subject: "Contract Bridge Blue Book" (1931) and "Contract Bridge Blue Book of 1933" (and one other).

Answer: Ely Culbertson

The omission of the third book was deliberate as it was "Culbertson's Summary" (1931) and would have given the answer.

Culbertson, more than any other, popularized the game of contract bridge. He was an entrepreneur and iconic personality of the 1930s. His famous games made news in their time. He was a showman, rich and extravagant, and made and lost fortunes.

4. Clarence Day Jr. wrote a humorous autobiography featuring one of his family members in 1936. It was later adapted for the stage and film. Which family member was it?

Answer: Father

Segments of "Life with Father" were first published in "New Yorker Magazine" then in book form in 1936. Father is a Wall Street broker who at home demands perfection. His family, his servants and the inability of the world to meet his standards met with daily sarcasm. Yet he was loved by all in spite of his shortcomings.

"Life with Father" hit the Broadway stage on November 8, 1939 and ran until June 15, 1947, with 3,224 performances--one of the longest running ever. In 1947 the motion picture starred William Powell as Father. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (William Powell), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, and Best Music Scoring.

"Life with Father" ran for three years on television from 1953-1955, starring Leon Ames as Father. It was one of the first TV shows to be broadcast in color although few people had color sets.

5. From the political unrest of the post-World War One era emerged a book that outlined a new philosophy written by an Austrian-born German leader. Although written in 1925 it was not fully published in English until 1939. What was the name of the book that laid the groundwork for World War Two?

Answer: Mein Kampf

When Adolph Hitler was imprisoned for political activity in 1923, he began to dictate his autobiography that he called "Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice" but later changed to "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"). Primarily it was dictated to Rudolf Hess who may have been his ghost writer. Motivation to write the book was partly to pay off debts incurred during his trial.

An abridged edition in English became available in 1933 but the full text not until 1939. The targets of "Mein Kampf" are mainly Judaism and Communism and at first it was intended to rally the forces of National Socialism (Nazis).

6. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by Thomas Edward Lawrence actually was written in 1922 but did not become a best seller until 1935. By what name do most people know him?

Answer: Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence began "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" in 1919. His lost the first draft when he forgot his briefcase on a train.

He tried to rewrite it from memory as his notes had been lost; this version he described as very bad and burned it.

He distrusted typewriters and chose to have the third version typeset. This version was only shown to friends and was replete with errors that he was unable to revise because of the expense and the post traumatic shock that he suffered from his war experience.

Finally, in 1926, a subscriber's edition was printed with unique, sumptuous, hand-crafted binding. However, at the price of 30 pounds, Lawrence lost about 60 pounds each which put him deeper into debt. After his death, the book became more or less in the public domain and went world wide.

7. Vash Young was seventy when he published a how-to book (1932). It was based on his life and his experiences as an entrepreneur. It became an instant best seller. What was the name of the book?

Answer: A Fortune to Share

Vash Young published "Fortune to Share" during the Great Depression and could not have found better timing. People desperate for ideas flocked to these types of books. Young recounted his life and experiences and gave specific information about salesmanship and tactics.

8. John Gunther was a prolific writer and journalist. He wrote both fiction and non-fiction. Many of his books contain the word 'inside'. What was he 'inside' in 1936?

Answer: Europe

Gunther's first book of the 'inside' series was "Inside Europe". Gunther traveled through Europe and interviewed the nation's leaders in many fields. In addition he talked with citizens, gathered statistics, and tried to interpret these for readers. He once said that he hit it lucky when interest was high on the changing political landscape of Europe. About twelve 'inside' books were published.

I remember family from Indianapolis were upset when "Inside USA" (1947) called the city 'the dirtiest city in America'.

Gunther wrote eight novels. "Death Be Not Proud" is the true story of his son who died of at 17 of a brain tumor. For a while he hosted a television program called "John Gunther's High Road" (1959-1960) that was mainly a travelogue program.

9. Anne Morrow's father was a Wall Street broker and later an ambassador; her mother was a teacher and poet. During the 1930s she published a best seller--"Listen! the Wind"(1938) and also books on aviation and poetry and woman's role. Who was her world famous husband?

Answer: Charles Lindbergh

Lindbergh once said that "experience in breeding animals on our farm had taught me the importance of good heredity" hence his marriage to Anne in 1929. He taught her to fly and they wrote books on the future of aviation. They were the focal point of the so-called 'crime of the century' when their son Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. was kidnapped.

To escape the press, they withdrew to a small island of Illiec, off the coast of Brittany. When they reappeared they became very political and leaned toward isolationism and authoritarian government. In 1940 she wrote a short essay called "The Wave of the Future" that Franklin Roosevelt denounced as the "Bible of American Nazis". In a letter, she wrote of Hitler that he was "a very great man, like an inspired religious leader-and as such rather fanatical-but not scheming, not selfish, not greedy for power."

Otherwise she wrote of women's issues: youth and age, love and marriage, peace, solitude and contentment, and the role of women. She won numerous awards and honorary degrees from many colleges and universities.

She died in 2001 and was in poor health and confused. It was later revealed that the husband to whom she bore six children had had three mistresses and seven additional children.

10. Edna St. Vincent Millay published "Fatal Interview" in 1931. In what literary genre did she write this book?

Answer: Poetry

If one chooses to make a career as a poet, the best advice is to keep your day job. Millay and a few others are the exception. "Fatal Interview" is a book of poetry in the form of sonnets. After having an affair with poet George Dillon, she was inspired to compose "Fatal Interview". Millay was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for poetry.

She was an advocate of feminist activism and occasionally noted for her numerous love affairs.

Source: Author Rehaberpro

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Non-Fiction:The 1930s Trivia Quiz

A review of popular non-fiction books published in the 1930s.

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