HISTORY
The late Henry Adams had much in common with Samuel Butler, that other seeker after an education. He knew that he had written a very good book (his studies on American history were quite as excellent in their way as “Erewhon” was in a somewhat different genre) and he was equally aware of the sad fact that his work was not being read. In view of the general public indifference towards history it is surprising how much excellent work has been done. Three names suggest themselves when history in America is mentioned, Robinson, Beard, and Breasted. Their works for the elementary schools have not been surpassed in any country and their histories (covering the entire period from ancient Egypt down to the present time) will undoubtedly help to overcome the old and firmly established prejudice that “history is dull” and will help to create a new generation which shall prefer a good biography or history to the literature of our current periodicals.
The group of essays published last year by Professor Robinson—the pioneer of our modern historical world—under the title of “The New History” contains several papers of a pleasantly suggestive nature and we especially recommend “History for the Common Man” for those who want to investigate the subject in greater detail, and “The New Allies of History” for those who want to get an idea of the struggle that goes on between the New and the Old Movements in our contemporary historical world.
But it is impossible to suggest a three- four- or five-foot bookshelf for those who desire to understand the issues of the battle that is taking place. The warfare between the forces of the official School and University History and those who have a vision of something quite different is merely a part of the great social and economic and spiritual struggle that has been going on ever since the days of the Encyclopedists. The scene is changing constantly. The leaders hardly know what is happening. The soldiers who do the actual fighting are too busy with the work at hand to waste time upon academic discussions of the Higher Strategy. And the public will have to do what the public did during the great war—study the reports from all sides (the relevant and the irrelevant—the news from Helsingfors-by-way-of-Geneva and from Copenhagen-by-way-of Constantinople) and use its own judgment as to the probable outcome of the conflict.
H. W. V. L.