B
BABSON, ROGER WARD. Central American journey. (Interamerican geographical readers) il $1.20 (3c) World bk. 917.28
20–4903
This is the story of the Carroll family in their travels through Central America—an attempt to combine in the form of a story for children and an account of travel, certain information on our commercial relations with our southern neighbors. Its aim is to teach children that, in the process of linking nation with nation the world over, friendly trade relations contain the romance of the immediate future, that they imply human relations, fair dealing, and honorable business standards. Among the contents are: Castles in New Spain; The gateway of the world; The great waterway; On the trail of Columbus; A plantation in Costa Rica; Mules and mountain trails; The ancient land of Nicaragua; The wonders of a wilderness; The treasure of San Juancito; The small republic of Salvador. The book has an index and many illustrations.
Booklist 17:120 D ’20 + N Y Evening Post p2 My 1 ’20 250w
BABSON, ROGER WARD.[[2]] Fundamentals of prosperity; what they are and whence they come. *$2 Revell 174
20–20936
“In this book the statistician of Wellesley Hills holds that we must look to religion and not to modern efficiency methods to insure national prosperity. He contends that down to this hour, mankind (or humanity—or the world at large) has lost its way, chiefly because of its refusal to accept the golden rule as the basis of true living.”—Springf’d Republican
“It is a courageous book, inspired by an unshakable faith in the pricelessness of character, filled with wholesome advice to business men, and garnished with anecdotes that would be equally appropriate at a meeting of the stock exchange and a dinner party.”
+ N Y Evening Post p8 N 6 ’20 190w
“It is a business man’s call to business to change its aim, a sermon of a high order of eloquence that if heeded would change the course of civilization.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 D 13 ’20 200w
BABSON, ROGER WARD. W. B. Wilson and the Department of labor. *$2 Brentano’s 353
20–1493
“The present head of the Department of labor at Washington has had the kind of life history that is often described as ‘typically American,’ but it happens that he was born and passed his childhood days in Scotland. He was taken from school at the age of eight and sent to the mines. As he grew up he worked as a common laborer, iron miner, locomotive fireman, lumber-jack, log-driver, farmer, and union organizer. He was sent to Congress from Pennsylvania for three terms, and when the Department of labor was created he became by President Wilson’s appointment the first Secretary of labor. All this and much more is told in the present volume by Roger W. Babson, the statistician, who was himself formerly chief of the Information service of the Department of labor. Mr Babson’s book describes and analyzes the machinery and policy of the department.”—R of Rs
+ Am Econ R 10:363 Je ’20 80w Booklist 17:28 O ’20 + Cleveland p77 Ag ’20 60w
“A well-constructed and interesting biography.”
+ N Y Times p30 Ag 1 ’20 160w
“It is a little hard to tell where Babson begins and Wilson leaves off, for the biographer has not been quite able to play the part of Boswell to his Johnson.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ − Review 2:333 Ap 3 ’20 420w R of Rs 61:334 Mr ’20 150w Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 6 ’20 290w
“Mr Babson has both succeeded and failed. He has done effectively what he set out to do. He has failed to do the much greater thing, such for example, as that which Graham Wallas has accomplished in his life of Francis Place. In a word, his book is not a biography insofar as biography is an art.” W. L. C.
+ − Survey 44:89 Ap 10 ’20 600w
BACON, FRANK. Lightnin’; after the play of the same name by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon. il *$1.75 (3c) Harper
20–4438
A novel made from a popular play of the same name in which Mr Bacon has been playing the title part. Lightnin’ Bill Jones, so-called because it doesn’t describe him, is a gentle, genial old humorist who keeps a hotel in Calivada, on the California-Nevada line. In fact the state line runs thru the house, so that divorcees wishing to obtain the advantages of the easy divorce laws of one state might do so and at the same time enjoy the privileges of a California resort. Two land sharks, who for reasons of their own, wish to get control of the property, talk Bill’s wife and adopted daughter into their scheme, and then, unable to win Bill’s consent, persuade the wife to get a divorce. But their plans are foiled, and Bill with his genius for “fixing” things also brings about a happy ending to the love romance of two young people.
Booklist 16:280 My ’20
“The pathos and humor of the play seem dry and forced in the story. Still the charm of old ‘Lightnin’ Bill’ Jones stands to some extent.”
+ − Boston Transcript p4 Ap 21 ’20 220w
“The author continually insists that Jones is a ‘lovable character,’ but to the reader he seems no more than a lazy, shiftless, old drunkard, who looks to his wife and daughter for sustenance. Mr Bacon does not succeed in freeing the narrative from the atmosphere of the footlights.”
− Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w
BACON, SIR REGINALD HUGH SPENCER. Dover patrol, 1915–1917. 2v il *$10 (4½c) Doran 940.45
19–19869
“At Dover during 1915, 1916 and 1917, more operations were initiated and carried out than under any naval command since the wars at the beginning of last century.” (Preface) The author enumerates his reasons for writing the book: to write while memory is still accurate; to fill the need for an adequate account of the work of the Dover patrol; to contradict the untrue statements of the press anent his dismissal. Contents of volume 1: Historical; The ships of the Dover patrol; Matters of strategy; Coastal bombardments; The work of the trawlers and paddle mine-sweepers; The Belgian coast, its patrol and barrages; Landing the guns on the Belgian coast; A proposed attack on Ostend; Preparations for a great landing; Plans for blocking Zeebrugge and Ostend; The control and protection of traffic. Contents of volume 2: The incomparable sixth flotilla; The downs and merchant shipping; The barrages in the channel; The drifters and their tasks; The French coast; C.M.B.’s, M.L.’s, submarines and smoke; Operations; The air services of the Dover patrol; Dover harbour and dockyard; Epilogue; Appendixes; Index. Each volume is abundantly illustrated and supplied with charts and diagrams.
“An important contribution from the standpoint of historical truth.”
+ Booklist 16:273 My ’20
“As a question of strategy one of the most interesting parts of the book is that dealing with the plans drawn for a joint army and navy effort to turn the enemy out of his Belgian bases.” C. C. Gill
+ Bookm 51:477 Je ’20 1700w
“Admiral Bacon’s book has in it much matter for the layman and much for the expert. For that reason it is more shapeless than have been many books written about the war. For that reason also, it is a truer presentment of the conditions obtaining.” Muriel Harris
+ Nation 110:657 My 15 ’20 750w + Outlook 126:768 D 29 ’20 6Ow
“For this lucid and sailor-like account of an essential service Admiral Bacon deserves praise.”
+ Review 3:707 Jl 7 ’20 1400w
“This notable book wavers a little between treatise and narrative, but it is well worth reading all the same. A certain sense of grievance animates Sir Reginald Bacon’s pages. But it only obtrudes itself here and there, for instance, in a tendency to belittle the method of Admiral Keyes’s attack on Zeebrugge.”
+ Sat R 128:sup13 N 29 ’19 1050w
“Sir Reginald Bacon’s detailed narrative of the Dover patrol is a well-written and highly interesting book, which will rank with Lord Jellicoe’s history of the grand fleet among the chief authorities on the naval side of the war.”
+ Spec 123:582 N 1 ’19 1600w
“It is a striking and interesting narrative, gracefully related, with a thousand sidelights on this little-known field of naval operations.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Je 21 ’20 720w
“The 633 pages of ‘The Dover patrol’ are crowded with statements of fact, criticisms not indeed of persons (for, apart from his official enemy, and vague indications of contradicting sinners, Admiral Bacon is generous in his tone to his colleagues and subordinates), but of principles and the methods of the art of war at sea. Admiral Bacon sometimes writes expressly for the professional reader, but he remembers the little knowledge of most of us, avoids pedantry, and has a respectable share of the blessed faculty for making things clear.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p599 O 30 ’19 2150w + Yale R n s 10:437 Ja ’21 270w
BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH. Scoutmastership. *$1.50 Putnam 369.4
20–26747
This “handbook for scoutmasters on the theory of scout training” is the American edition of the author’s book on British scout training with a few alterations by way of adaptation. Its arguments are elaborations on the four main principles on which, according to the author, scout training is based, and which require of the scoutmaster that “(1) He must have the boy spirit in him; and must be able to place himself on a right plane with his pupils as a first step; (2) He must realize the psychology of the different ages of boy life; (3) He must deal with the individual pupil rather than with the mass; and (4) He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his individuals to gain the best results.” After the introductory exposition of these principles the contents are: How to train the boy; Character; Health and physical development; Making a career; Service for others; Reconstruction; The education act and the Boy scout; The attitude of labour towards scouting; Be ye prepared; Appendix.
“A readable handbook.”
+ Booklist 17:9 O ’20 + Review 3:215 S 8 ’20 80w
BAFF, WILLIAM E. Inventions, their development, purchase and sale. *$2 Van Nostrand 608
20–6991
“This book is essentially a manual on the marketing of inventions.... In its broader aspect it is a book on business policy and is sent out on its mission of enlightening inventors and others about plans by the aid of which inventions may be profitably exploited.... The problems discussed are the manufacturers’ problems as well as those of the individual inventor.” (Preface) Among the subjects covered are: Value and price of patents; Gauging the merits of an invention; Developing inventions; The market for inventions; Patents as property; Inventor and capitalist; Elementary contract laws. The final chapter consists of Suggestions from the author on every phase of selling inventions. There is an index.
“It should prove of essential service to the inventor who is about to market his ideas.”
+ N Y Evening Post p15 My 8 ’20 250w
BAILEY, CAROLYN SHERWIN. Broad stripes and bright stars. (For the children’s hour ser.) il $1.50 (3½c) Bradley, M. 973
19–13373
A series of stories from American history. The author says, “I have written this book because I believe that the story of the American people as it is embodied in the history of our United States supplies the most important material for character building in the entire field of elementary education, and should be offered to children in a new, humanitarian way as a means of helping them to understand the present.” (Preface) The stories are arranged chronologically and include: Pilgrims for freedom; The first fight; The freeman’s charter; Following the beaver’s trail; At the gate of old Harvard; Ringing in the fourth of July; In the wake of the first steamboat, etc. A chronology of main events referred to comes at the close.
“The stories are well told.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 My 25 ’20 100w
BAILEY, CAROLYN SHERWIN. Wonder stories. il $2.50 (3½c) Bradley, M. 292
20–12815
All the well-known myths are here retold for boys and girls. There is an introduction on How the myths began, followed by the stories of Prometheus, Pandora (Hawthorne’s “Paradise of children”), Vulcan, Orion, Perseus, Pegasus, Phaeton, Apollo, Mercury, Proserpine, Jason, the golden apples, the wooden horse, and others. There are six pictures in color by Clara M. Burd.
“An attractive collection.”
+ Ind 104:380 D 11 ’20 30w
BAILEY, HENRY CHRISTOPHER. Barry Leroy. *$2 Dutton
20–4707
“When the story opens Barry is a spy in the service of Napoleon; the war is on between France and England. Barry had learned to believe in the people who were fighting for liberty and equality. But there comes a time when Barry’s regard for the French consul is turned to contempt and hatred. The abduction and execution of the Duc d’Enghien, whom Barry knew to be loyal to Napoleon, was the cause of his revolt. Asserting that he would never forgive the Little Corsican for his cold-blooded treachery, he goes over to the other side and offers his services to the British. He forces a duel on Nelson at one moment and saves his life at the risk of his own at another.”—N Y Times
“Rather disconnected and has not quite the charm or vivacity of ‘The gamesters’ or ‘The highwaymen.’”
+ − Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20
“In criticizing Mr Bailey’s methods in portraying his most difficult figures, I would not subtract from the extent of his accomplishment. He has, we must admit, failed in Napoleon and Nelson. ‘Barry Leroy’ is an excellent story in spite of this lack. It possesses the fine dash, the romance, the joy of adventure for itself, that we have come to associate with other times than our own.” D. L. M.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 Ag 4 ’20 1050w
“Throughout the book the action never lags; there are no dull moments. As a spy-story having an historic background and interwoven with a charming love affair, ‘Barry Leroy’ is above the average in construction and sustained interest.”
+ N Y Times 25:168 Ap 11 ’20 500w
“The fantastic vein of the story is well sustained, though necessarily told in episodes with little organic connection, as if written for serial publication.”
+ Sat R 129:234 Mr 6 ’20 80w
BAILEY, LIBERTY HYDE. Nursery-manual; a complete guide to the multiplication of plants. (Rural manuals) il *$2.50 Macmillan 631.5
20–1758
“Rewritten and reset, L. H. Bailey’s ‘The nursery-manual’ is off the press in its 22d edition. It deals fully with seeds, layers, cuttings, buds, grafts and otherwise. To those who are acquainted with the earlier editions—the first having been issued early in 1891—little introduction is needed, save to say that the material is brought up to date with addition of observations gained in further research. An extended alphabetic list of plants with full directions for each is included. The volume also includes an illustrated account of the main diseases and insects of nursery stock, valuable to the commercial grower.”—Springf’d Republican
Booklist 16:231 Ap ’20 R of Rs 61:448 Ap ’20 50w + Springf’d Republican p10 Mr 12 ’20 240w The Times [London] Lit Sup p242 Ap 15 ’20 40w
BAILEY, TEMPLE. Trumpeter swan. il *$1.90 Penn
20–17175
“The hero, a young soldier, returns from France to face changes of fortune and soon to realize that the girl he loves has lost her heart to another man. How Randy makes good, writes the romance of ‘The trumpeter swan,’ and wins back the wandering heart of his lady, is all set down. Interwoven is the minor story of baby Fiddle Flippen.”—Boston Transcript
+ Booklist 17:115 D ’20
“The plot of Temple Bailey’s latest story is practically nil, but its settings are wonderfully picturesque. The hills of old Virginia and the moors of Nantucket are powerfully contrasted to furnish a background for a readable light tale.” C. K. H.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 N 3 ’20 500w + Cleveland p105 D ’20 50w
“Her readers will like this new book. The love passages are wholesome, strike the note of sincerity, and therefore cannot but be acceptable.”
+ N Y Times p25 Ja 16 ’21 430w
Reviewed by Marguerite Fellows
+ Pub W 98:658 S 18 ’20 190w
“A good simple natural harmless story.”
+ Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 2 ’21 230w
BAIN, FRANCIS WILLIAM. Substance of a dream. il *$1.75 (3½c) Putnam
19–19598
The author disclaims all responsibility for his stories which he says come to him “suddenly, like a flash of lightning all together.... I never know, the day before, when one is coming: it arrives, as if shot out of a pistol.” (Introd.) This exotic Hindu tale is half love-story, half fairy tale, and depicts in the extraordinary queen, Táráwalí, a being half male half female. It is in three parts: On the banks of Ganges; The heart of a woman; and A story without an end.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 51:240 My ’20 450w Lit D p91 S 4 ’20 1300w
“Those who have read Mr Bain’s other Hindu stories will not need to be told of the unique place he now occupies in the world of letters. Here the exigencies of space will permit us to say only that ‘The substance of a dream’ is a worthy successor to the other and earlier volumes.”
+ N Y Times 25:145 Mr 28 ’20 600w N Y Times 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 20w
“‘The substance of a dream’ will please those whom the other books of the author have pleased. It is very feminine; sensuous to the point of orgies of kissing; sensual with soulhuntings and langours and faintings; fleshly in artistic ecstasies; and psychological in imaginative suggestion.”
− + Review 2:682 Je 30 ’20 280w
“By no means the least delightful of Mr Bain’s long series of Indian romances.”
+ Spec 124:179 F 7 ’20 550w
“You cannot say whether his style is artful or artless; but the words make new associations for us, create an unfamiliar state of being, though they are familiar words.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p669 N 20 ’19 1000w
BAIRNSFATHER, BRUCE.[[2]] Bairnsfather case; as tried before Mr Justice Busby; defence by Bruce Bairnsfather; prosecution by W. A. Mutch. il *$2.50 Putnam 827
20–21304
In alternating chapters Bruce Bairnsfather and W. A. Mutch tell the story of Mr Bairnsfather’s life and struggles for success. There are illustrations from Bairnsfather drawings.
+ Booklist 17:145 Ja ’21
“If anything in late years has been more amusing than Mr Bairnsfather’s adventures in print, it is his adventures in black and white as drawn by himself. Forty drawings grace the book, and many of them are better than the original ‘fragments.’”
+ Boston Transcript p4 D 24 ’20 250w
“It has that satirical note without which a whole book of humour is apt to be sticky reading.”
+ Spec 135:818 D 18 ’20 60w
“The whole book is a happy means of bettering one’s acquaintance, book fashion, with the delightful Bairnsfather.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 Ja 18 ’21 330w The Times [London] Lit Sup p685 O 21 ’20 40w
BAKER, ERNEST. Life and explorations of Frederick Stanley Arnot. il *$5 Dutton
“Mr Arnot died in May, 1914, at Johannesburg, having just completed his ‘Missionary travels in Central Africa.’ He first went to Africa, inspired by the story of Livingstone, in 1881, and during his seven years’ residence gained the friendship of the King of the Barotse and was held in much esteem by the natives. Altogether he made nine journeys to the centre of Africa, and his self-devotion and the vast distances he traversed give him a high place among travellers and among missionaries. His life story is worth telling and it is given almost entirely in extracts from his own letters and diaries.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“A valuable contribution to the literature of brotherhood and religious democracy.”
+ Boston Transcript p7 N 20 ’20 430w
“Arnot was a noble character, and deserves a much better biography.”
− + N Y Evening Post p18 O 23 ’20 300w The Times [London] Lit Sup p602 S 16 ’20 90w
BAKER, GEORGE PIERCE, comp. Modern American plays. *$2.25 Harcourt 812.08
20–14860
Professor Baker has in this volume collected five American plays chosen from the output of the last ten years because decided success has been theirs, and they are worthy of professional revival, and because the selection shows the greatest possible variety. In his introduction he briefly analyzes each of the plays and ends his general remarks on American play-writing with the assurance that “We have the right to hope that the next decade will give us an American drama which, in its mirroring of American life, will be even more varied in form, even richer in content.” The plays are: As a man thinks, by Augustus Thomas; The return of Peter Grimm, by David Belasco; Romance, by Edward Sheldon; The unchastened woman, by Louis Kaufman Anspacher; Plots and playwrights, by Edward Massey.
Booklist 17:104 D ’20
“All the plays collected here are significant—all have added to the pleasure of playgoing. This book makes their remembrance the richer.” W. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p6 O 13 ’20 390w
“Most decidedly, these are not the measure of American drama. They are just five American plays. When a man has done what Professor Baker has done at Harvard, it is disappointing to find him fathering so trivial a venture as the collecting of these five dramas into a single volume.” K. M.
+ − Freeman 2:310 D 8 ’20 190w
“All these pieces, probably, profit by being printed in their entirety, but a somewhat deliberate study of them leads to the conclusion that, judged by any moderately critical standard, only two of them would be marked for revival on account of their actual merits. The best of them, by all odds, is the somewhat awkwardly named ‘As a man thinks.’ Of the other pieces in the list, ‘The unchastened woman’ is the only one that has substantial or abiding value.” J. R. Towse
+ − N Y Evening Post p4 O 23 ’20 1150w
“Four out of the five at least have interesting stories, and are flawless in their adaptation to the theatre; but gayly as they trip on the stage, they drag a little in the reading.”
+ − Review 3:389 O 27 ’20 350w
“This book is intended to interest both readers and amateur players. It has, perhaps, no great significance as a compendium of modern American drama but it should serve its purpose.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 S 13 ’20 240w Wis Lib Bul 16:234 D ’20 60w
BAKER, KARLE (WILSON) (MRS THOMAS ELLIS BAKER) (CHARLOTTE WILSON, pseud.). Blue smoke. *$1.50 Yale univ. press 811
19–14952
“The poems have been written ‘at intervals since 1901,’ the author says, and consequently their moods are various.” (Springf’d Republican) “Love, children, the cause of woman all move her to song. Among other pieces we have specially noted the well-handled conceit called ‘Winter secrets’; the happy introspective fancy called ‘The lost one’; the truly heartfelt elegy for ‘The dead fore-runner’ of the woman’s movement; and the delightful literary reverie called ‘The love of Elia.’” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“These poems are not all smoke. There are many glowing embers and a few blazing coals. Mrs Baker shows something of antique restraint and not a little of the newer and freer impulse.” C. M. Greene
+ Bookm 50:634 F ’20 140w
“Not ambitious in manner, Mrs Baker has the soundness and felicity of art to make her themes poetically alive.” W. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p5 S 17 ’19 1400w + Cleveland p85 S ’20 20w
“Hers is a gentle gracefulness, a light timidity that succeeds most when it is least emphasized.” L: Untermeyer
+ Dial 68:532 Ap ’20 150w
“Mrs Baker’s metaphors from nature have an almost unexampled finesse. She draws down trees, birds, stars, prints them on her page with a diamond delicacy, heats and lights them into a tender, fiery transparency. Her ideas are often second-hand, and her ardors, sweet and genuine though some of them, particularly those for her children, may be, are not perhaps distinguished enough to wear well. The solid core of her work, however, though small, is fine.” M. V. D.
+ − Nation 110:76 Ja 17 ’20 220w
“‘Blue smoke’ is a book of happiness and hope. It is unpretentious, modest, and sincere. The poems read as though publication had been an afterthought; they were not written to catch an exclusive or ‘appreciative’ audience.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 Ja 23 ’20 260w
“Mrs Baker, an American writer, is a craftswoman of much skill, who is never at a loss for ideas, various and fruitful, and can fit them to apt expression. Hence her book is always interesting, though it does not succeed in giving us the thrill of beautiful utterance.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p174 Mr 11 ’20 120w
“Possibly given overmuch to introspection, at times a little over-wistful, this poet gives only her best. Her style is simple, vivid, never précieuse; there is perfect ease in all the beauty of these songs.” E: B. Reed
+ Yale R n s 10:204 O ’20 170w
BAKER, RAY PALMER, ed. Engineering education. *$1.25 Wiley 620.7
19–14693
“These fourteen selected articles, written during the past decade by eminent engineers and scientists, are designed not only to inform engineering undergraduates concerning the broad aspects of their profession, but to serve as examples of good English. Simon Newcomb and Sir J. J. Thomson discuss the origins of engineering education; J. B. Johnson and Howard McClenahan deal with the types of engineering education; the relation of language to the profession is considered by J. J. L. Harrington and C. P. Steinmetz. The place of mathematics is discussed by Sir W. H. White and Arthur Ranum; physics by M. A. Hunter and R. A. Millikan; chemistry by J. B. C. Kershaw and Alfred Senier; and the role of the imagination in engineering by Isham Randolph and J. C. Smallwood. The editor is professor of English in the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
Booklist 16:76 D ’19
“Each is not only well chosen for its primary purpose of use in engineering schools but might also be read, or read anew, by engineers in practice.”
+ Engin-News Rec 83:891 N 13 ’19 240w
“It strikes a reader that these addresses, each advocating the claim of some one branch of science, interesting as they are, would have been more useful if there had been a recognition of the distinction between what should be included in the school course preceding the technical course, in the technical course itself necessarily restricted, and what extra academic self-education should be expected to accompany and follow it.” W. C. U.
+ − Nature 105:258 Ap 29 ’20 700w N Y P L New Tech Bks p15 O ’19 150w Pratt p18 Ja ’20 30w
BAKER, RAY STANNARD (DAVID GRAYSON, pseud.). New industrial unrest; reasons and remedies. *$2 (4c) Doubleday 331
20–8811
“The battle is on” between employers and employees, says the author in explaining the raison d’etre of the present volume whose object it is to “present a survey, for the general reader, of the present industrial crisis, and the various reconstructive experiments now under way to meet it.” It is the author’s conviction that the problems are very pressing, very real and intensely human and that, if the American people can only be made to see and know and understand where truly reconstructive experimentation is going on and who are the thoughtful leaders on both sides, they will decide aright regarding them. Some of the contents are: The industrial crisis as it appears from above to the capitalist-employer; The industrial crisis as it appears from below to the worker; The imputed causes of the unrest; The real causes of the unrest; Awakening of the public to the industrial crisis; Approaches to a solution of the problem—by political action, as suggested by the workers—the new labor party; The new shop-council system as applied in a typical small industry—the Dutchess bleachery at Wappingers Falls, New York; Development of the shop-council system in America—method of organization—the movement in England and Germany; Foundations of the new co-operative movement in industry: the new profession of management, and the labor manager.
+ Booklist 16:327 Jl ’20
“As a trained journalist, he sees the problem clearly, without that hard definiteness such as an economist who is more reliable but less readable, usually believes essential to correct understanding.”
+ Boston Transcript p7 O 9 ’20 280w
“Combining the lucidity of the trained writer, the quick eye of the reporter and the orderly reflectiveness of the born philosopher, Mr Baker’s birdseye view of what is wrong with American industry is the best book of its kind which has yet appeared.”
+ Ind 103:319 S 11 ’20 200w
“There is nothing the matter with Mr Baker’s observation, as far as it penetrates, but it does not penetrate to the causes which maintain the struggle in spite of anyone’s reasonableness or good intentions.” G: Soule
+ − Nation 111:534 N 10 ’20 190w
“He is always the reporter standing outside, trying to understand a technical problem and to help his audience to understand.” Ordway Tead
+ − New Repub 25:208 Ja 12 ’21 410w
Reviewed by J. E. Le Rossignol
Review 3:504 N 24 ’20 350w R of Rs 62:110 Jl ’20 30w
“An outlook free from confusing prejudices and a well disciplined ability to obtain facts were carried to the inquiry. Mr Baker’s principal prepossession seems to have been a desire to learn those things which are favorable to the public well being. That, I take it, is not an insuperable handicap. On the whole there is perhaps no other single book which tells so well and so truthfully the story of a large and important part of ‘the new industrial unrest.’”
+ Survey 44:316 My 29 ’20 300w
“Mr Baker’s writings are in more or less popular style which makes them decidedly readable without detracting in the least from the accuracy of the facts which he presents.”
+ Textile World 57:30 My 15 ’20 220w
“Mr Baker’s honesty and fair-mindedness verge upon genius—though they are plainly aided by his refusal to break through the surface where he is unable to see clearly.” W: E. Walling
+ − Yale R n s 10:217 O ’20 480w
BAKEWELL, CHARLES MONTAGUE. Story of the American Red cross in Italy. il *$2 (4c) Macmillan 940.477
20–15731
The story tells of the material aid that the American Red cross gave to Italy: at the front, in canteens, in assistance to hospitals, and in helping refugees and the needy families of soldiers, but the emphasis is put less on its achievements than on its contribution to a better understanding between our two people and on the finer and more discriminating appreciation of Italian character that our workers in the field have invariably gained. Some of the topics are: The American relief clearing house; The Baker commission, Red cross emergency commission; Organization; Civilian relief and the “inner front”; Cash distribution to soldiers’ families; Station canteens; Rolling canteens; Surgical dressings; Hospital supplies; Hospitals; Work with American troops in Italy. There are numerous illustrations and statistical appendices.
“A readable book not overloaded with statistics.”
+ Booklist 17:139 Ja ’21 + R of Rs 62:671 D ’20 50w
BALDWIN, CHARLES SEARS. God unknown. *$1 Morehouse 231
20–8877
A study of the address of St Paul at Athens, based on lectures delivered at Columbia and Indiana universities. There are five chapters: Religion in the open; Greek and Jew; Philosophy and religion; Personality; Symbol and reality. The author is professor of rhetoric and English composition in Columbia university and has written a book on “The Bible as a guide to writing.”
“One feels grateful for such an intellectual and scholarly work as that of the author of this small volume, who has made real one of the most famous events of ancient times.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 S 8 ’20 520w The Times [London] Lit Sup p623 S 23 ’20 50w
BALDWIN, JAMES, and LIVENGOOD, WILLIAM WINFRED.[[2]] Sailing the seas; introd. by E: N. Hurley. il *$1 Am bk. 656
20–5112
“A sailor’s imaginary log, full of interest for boys and written at the request of the U.S. Shipping board to promote in the younger generation an understanding of the development of types of American boats of commerce, of the interdependence of peoples and of the importance of the merchant marine. Includes whalers, tramp steamers and ocean liners.”—Booklist
+ Booklist 17:120 D ’20 + Springf’d Republican p8 O 5 ’20 240w
BALDWIN, MARIAN.[[2]] Canteening overseas; 1917–1919. *$2 Macmillan 940.48
20–15730
“What one Y. M. C. A. worker saw in France is told in a collection of letters written by Marian Baldwin and published under the title of ‘Canteening overseas.’ The dates on the letters run from June 30, 1917, to June 19, 1919. The first one was written on board the ship that took Miss Baldwin to France and the last one from Coblenz. Between the two are letters from Paris, Bordeaux, Aix-les-Bains, the Lorraine sector, the Argonne, the St Mihiel front, from Verdun and from Germany. All the letters are reprinted as they were originally written, except for the insertion of names of places, persons, and a few other indications, which, because of the censorship, had perforce to be omitted from the letters as mailed from Europe.”—N Y Times
“There is a gay spontaneity in parts of the book, a sincerity running through it, and more than all else it serves to reveal the effect of these dark days of service, of endurance, often of hardship upon the writer herself.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 N 17 ’20 320w N Y Times p30 Ja 9 ’21 170w
“These letters are made vivid by a natural descriptive touch, by an ever-present sense of humor, and by an admirable spirit.”
+ Outlook 126:378 O 27 ’20 130w
BALDWIN, SIMEON EBEN. Young man and the law. (Vocational ser.) *$1.50 Macmillan 340
20–2658
“Professor Baldwin, ex-chief justice and ex-governor of Connecticut, bears a leading name in the history of the legal profession. He discusses the majesty of the law and the lawyer as its minister, the cultivation of mind and heart incident to the legal profession, the lawyer’s various opportunities, the personal and educational qualities requisite of success, and the ideals of the profession.”—Boston Transcript
+ Boston Transcript p4 My 5 ’20 120w
“The dominant note of the book is its idealism. Judge Baldwin has the fortunate faculty of seeing things at their best.”
+ Nation 110:524 Ap 17 ’20 280w
“Eminently worth while for any young man who is thinking of the law as his profession.”
+ Outlook 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 50w The Times [London] Lit Sup p242 Ap 15 ’20 50w
BAMBER, MRS L. KELWAY, ed. Claude’s second book. *$1.60 (7½c) Holt 134
(Eng ed 20–8723)
“This book records a continuation of the ‘talks’ already published in ‘Claude’s book,’ which described a young airman’s first impressions and experiences of life after death in the spirit-world in which he suddenly and unwillingly found himself when he was killed.” (Preface) The present volume is furnished with an introduction by Ellis Thomas Powell and some of Claude’s “talks” are: Some difficulties of mediumship; The circle of power; Ideal sitters; Spiritualism and occultism; Man’s reincarnation; Dreams; The power of mind; Spirit helpers; God—the war—the Christ-spirit; Development of personality; The prerogative of spirit; Prayer.
“In this second book of Claude’s talks with his mother, we find a considerable advance in thought. Certain chapters, such as that on prayer, would be recognized for their worth, even if they were entirely disassociated with this type of book.”
+ Boston Transcript p1 N 27 ’20 280w
“The explanations themselves are as unconvincing and improbable as usual.”
− N Y Times p16 N 14 ’20 310w
BANGS, JOHN KENDRICK. Cheery way. *$2 Harper 811
20–13319
“A bit of verse for every day” says the subtitle, and, indeed, the verses contain a cheery message for every day in the year, full of courage, humor, sympathetic understanding of all human moods, and good advice. The page decorations by J. R. Flanagan are in four designs, one for each season.
“These little stanzas are full of the philosophy of good humor with some real gospel messages.”
+ Boston Transcript p4 D 31 ’20 340w
BANGS, MARY ROGERS. Old Cape Cod; the land, the men, the sea. il *$3.50 (4c) Houghton 974.4
20–19426
The table of contents indicates the scope of this book about Cape Cod. The chapter headings are: The land; The old colony; The towns; The French wars; The English wars; Theology and whaling; Storms and pirates; Old sea ways; The captains; The county; Genius loci. There are eight full-page halftone illustrations from photographs and two end maps, one a modern map of Cape Cod and the other a facsimile of a part of Captain Cyprian Southack’s map, made in 1717. There is no index.
“One of the best Cape Cod books.”
+ Booklist 17:148 Ja ’21 + Ind 104:242 N 13 ’20 60w + N Y Evening Post p18 N 13 ’20 220w
Reviewed by B. R. Redman
+ N Y Times p9 Ja 9 ’21 260w
“Good stories of pirates, Indians, and sea captains make the book lively reading.”
+ Outlook 126:470 N 10 ’20 40w
Reviewed by E: L. Pearson
+ Review 3:531 D 1 ’20 70w + R of Rs 63:111 Ja ’21 20w + Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 290w
BANKS, LOUIS ALBERT.[[2]] Winds of God. *$1.75 Funk 252
A volume containing thirty of the author’s sermons, among them: The east wind; The north wind; The whirlwinds of life; The need of a red-blooded Christianity; The banishment of anxiety; The sorrows of a tangled soul; The freedom of the city of God; Abraham Lincoln; The blessings that come from prayer; The romance and joy of the pioneer; Keeping the soul alive; The Bible ideal of a noble womanhood.
BANNERJEA, D. N. India’s nation builders. *$3.50 Brentano’s
“Fifteen biographies and character sketches of eminent Indians whom the author regards as pioneers of modern India. The leaders include Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Keshab Chandra, Sen., Dadabhoy Naoroji, Gopala Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and others.” (Brooklyn) “The writer would urge, by constitutional means, the immediate grant to India, subject to the stability of the empire as a whole, of a substantial measure of self-government.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup Jl 10 ’19)
Ath p684 Ag 1 ’19 340w Brooklyn 12:134 My ’20 40w
“The defects of the book lie on the surface. The author follows neither a logical nor a chronological order of treatment. But when due allowance has been made for these unfortunate short-comings, Mr Bannerjea’s realistic character-sketches are on the whole satisfying, critical and varied enough to attract American readers to a closer study of the Indian point of view.” B. K. Sarkar
+ − Freeman 2:115 O 13 ’20 1000w The Times [London] Lit Sup p378 Jl 10 ’19 50w
“It is unhappily evident that Mr Bannerjea, for all the sedulous good nature and tolerance which he consciously or unwittingly affects, caters for the kindly enthusiasts who find the careful study of historical origins a bore and an impediment to their pious belief that all men are alike, that India is and always has been ‘a nation,’ and that British administration is an oppressive and obsolete anomaly.”
− The Times [London] Lit Sup p490 S 18 ’19 1100w
BANNING, MARGARET CULKIN. This marrying. *$1.75 (2c) Doran
20–5228
In this tendency novel the problems of the modern woman are sympathetically discussed. Horatia Grant has taken a course in journalism at college and breaks away from her dull, respectable, middle-class home to make her own way. She shocks her relatives by taking a desk at the Journal, a progressive daily of socialistic leanings with its editor, Jim Langley, socially under a cloud. She meets a new class of people, acquires new outlooks, faces new problems. Putting herself and her friends to the test she learns to discriminate between the real and the acquired instincts. She finds herself and she and Jim Langley find each other.
Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20
“The success of the story lies not in an original plot, nor even in an unusual manner of telling the story, but rather in a certain freshness and joy in the experience of it all.” D. L. M.
+ − Boston Transcript p10 My 15 ’20 750w Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 40w
“The book is so distinctly pleasing, and is written with such unmistakable sincerity, that one passes over the blemishes—very trifling, after all—and gives himself up to the quiet enjoyment of a work that maintains its interest throughout without any strain or outbreak of violent emotion.”
+ − N Y Times 25:17 Je 27 ’20 400w
“Whether one does or does not think all the incidents probable, one cannot help enjoying the genuine American enthusiasm of Horatia.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p13a My 2 ’20 300w
“A bright and busy story.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p386 Je 17 ’20 90w
BARBOUR, RALPH HENRY, and HOLT, H. P. Joan of the island. *$1.75 Small
20–4709
“The story opens in an extraordinary way, by a sailor slipping overboard into the South Pacific ocean, just after killing the captain of the tramp steamer in which he sailed. The escaped sailor, who has taken with him no baggage save just a life-belt, is a strong swimmer and after some thirty hours of alternately swimming and floating, the fugitive reaches shore on an island of the South Sea. It is inhabited and the traveller lands just in time to save Joan, the heroine, from injury at the hands of an angry native. With such a beginning proceeds a romance of the Sulu sea and islands. Joan and her brother are the only whites in this vicinity and the brother is absent in another island, leaving his sister who is in care of a great Dane. The dog is poisoned by a treacherous native and Joan is barely saved from attack by the sudden entrance of the fugitive. Of course there are adventures without number, thrilling escapes from peril, a love episode and a pleasant ending.”—Boston Transcript
“Fairly readable.”
+ Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20 + Boston Transcript p4 Je 9 ’20 200w
“This is as good a novel of adventure as has appeared for some time, not only because there is a clean-cut story, but on account of the splendid lucidity with which it is related.”
+ N Y Times 25:308 Je 13 ’20 620w
“The story is hardly more than mildly interesting.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p7a D 26 ’20 130w
BARBOUR, RALPH HENRY, and HOLT, H. P. Mystery of the Sea-Lark. il *$1.75 (3c) Century
20–14289
Jack Holden and his chum George Santo salvage an abandoned sloop, the Sea-Lark, and fit her up for use as a ferry boat. Sometime before, Jack’s father had been forced to sever relations with his business partner, Simon Barker, under a cloud of suspicion and Jack is glad of the opportunity to help out the family finances. The venture is a success, but the boys are surprised at the sudden desire of two strangers to buy the boat. Then comes a series of strange midnight visits and finally both boat and boys are kidnapped and taken out to sea. They outwit their captors and in solving the mystery of the Sea-Lark clear Mr Holden’s good name and restore the stolen money that had been the foundation of the trouble.
Booklist 17:77 N ’20
“What a boy will call a ‘dandy yarn.’” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 12 ’20 80w
“A capital story for boys.”
+ Outlook 126:600 D 1 ’20 30w
“The story is well told and the interest is cumulative.”
+ Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 170w
“A good mystery story which, refreshingly, is quite free from German spies.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:197 N ’20 100w
BARCLAY, FLORENCE LOUISA (CHARLESWORTH) (MRS CHARLES W. BARCLAY). Returned empty. *$1.75 (5c) Putnam
20–11496
A strange story of reincarnation. Luke Sparrow is brought up in a foundlings’ home, where the only clue to his identity is the label found on him bearing the inscription “Glass with care” on one side and on the other “Returned empty.” He is a lonely baby, and grows up to be a lonely man, with one queer trait: he has a passion for peering thru the windows of comfortable homes, as if seeking for something he cannot find. And then one day, he finds it in the home of a beautiful woman. She tells him the strange story that explains his life. In a previous incarnation he had been her husband, and at his tragic death, she had grieved so deeply that her love had called him back to this world to live again. But this great love, altho it brought them together, cannot keep them so, and she steps out of his life again leaving him infinitely richer, for the short remaining span of his life, for the contact.
“She has made a most appealing story which will interest readers who do not usually number Mrs Barclay among their favorite authors.” Cornelia Van Pelt
+ Pub W 98:660 S 18 ’20 370w
BARCLAY, VERA C. Danny again; further adventures of “Danny the detective.” il *$1.25 (5c) Putnam
20–12601
This sequel to “Danny the detective” is a book of short stories. The first is a wartime story in which Danny again appears as the captor of a German spy. The other titles are: Christmas eve; A sporting kid; A midnight adventure; The secret room; In mid-air; Dicky’s chance; The bishop’s story. Some of the stories are reprinted from The Wolf Cub, an English Boy scout publication.
BARCYNSKA, HÉLÈNE, countess. Rose o’ the sea (Eng title Pretty dear). il *$2 (2c) Houghton
20–17652
Eccentric Henry Eton was the only father Rose had ever known since he had rescued her from the sea sixteen years before. Now at his death, she determines to go to London to make her way alone rather than stay in the little village which is so lonely without him. She is fortunate in London to fall at once into a congenial occupation and among friendly people. Among her new acquaintances is Denis Mallory, a lovable, wayward boy, whose father, Lord Caister, is much worried about the lad. Rose’s sweet spirit and common sense so appeal to the father that he arranges an engagement between Rose and Denny hoping thus to keep the boy straight. They both try to enter into the arrangement honestly altho Rose realizes she is doing it for Lord Caister’s sake rather than for his son’s. But when she comes into a large inheritance Lord Caister’s pride releases her from the agreement, which Denis, by a hasty marriage with an actress, has already made impossible. There is now no barrier between Rose and Lord Caister himself except pride, and that is finally broken down by Denny’s tragic death.
“The heroine is remarkably artless; a little too artless, indeed, to seem real—in this world, at all events. The author’s experience as a writer of eminently readable fiction enables her thoroughly to enlist the reader’s interest in this wild-flower heroine.”
+ − Ath p783 Je 11 ’20 110w
“A novel which many girls and women will like.”
+ Booklist 17:156 Ja ’21
“Rose in ‘Rose o’ the sea’ is a sort of female St Francis of Assisi. The novel may help an undiscriminating mind to while away a dull hour.”
− + N Y Evening Post p22 O 23 ’20 70w N Y Times p23 O 24 ’20 350w
“It is a little story sure to delight every lover of impossible romance.”
+ Springf’d Republican p7a N 21 ’20 160w
BARKER, ARTHUR.[[2]] British corn trade; from the earliest times to the present day. (Pitman’s common commodities and industries) il $1 (2½c) Pitman 338.1
The term corn trade in British usage includes “all trade not only in wheat, ... but also in any other cereal for which there is any commercial demand, such as barley, oats, maize, rye or rice.” Contents: The British corn trade and its units; The corn trade in old England; The English law on the “cornering” of wheat and other grain; Two hundred and fifteen years of wheat prices in England; The corn laws era; The growth and development of the modern corn trade; The effect of the great war on the corn trade. There are notes at the close and an index.
BARKER, D. A.[[2]] Great leviathan. *$1.75 (2c) Lane
20–22040
Tom’s life was regulated by principle. As a lad at Harrow his principles brought him into trouble because they ran counter to the rules of the school. Later they interfered with his adopting a settled career and he led a wandering life as a lecturer against social evils. Even as a child he had begun to look upon marriage as wrong, for he had witnessed his mother’s unhappiness, and free unions had become a matter of principle with him. He makes a convert of his beloved Mary. At first they are happy, but as little by little the great leviathan breaks her spirit, love goes and she leaves him. His other endeavors also meet with the world’s scorn and a complete nervous breakdown is the result. After his recovery he goes to India and there he joins a devout and aged Hindoo on his last pilgrimage and finds peace in the “glory of God” as taught by the Bhagavad Gita.
“For a first attempt it is a commendable piece of work, but it does not—if one may be permitted the expression—cut any ice. It is pleasantly written, and there are many happy touches, but we are never certain as to what it is that the author is after.” K. M.
+ − Ath p78 Jl 16 ’20 200w
“Mr Barker’s story is really very well told, he is greatly in earnest, and the ideals he handles are much ‘in the air’ just now, especially in England.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p18 D 4 ’20 170w
“A clever account is given of how he spoils his life by his experiment in evading the chains of matrimony. The end of the book is not quite so convincing.”
+ − Spec 125:439 O 2 ’20 40w
“Technically ‘The great leviathan’ is interesting as showing what Mr Wells’s technique may become in unskilful hands. But the book, though a failure, is an interesting failure. Mr Barker could not have written it without learning a good deal of the difficulties of novelwriting. He has things to say. His next book will probably be worth reading.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p367 Je 10 ’20 560w
BARKER, MRS HELEN GRANVILLE (HELEN MANCHESTER HUNTINGTON). Songs in cities and gardens. *$1.25 Putnam 821
19–19881
The princess’s garden, The narrow glass, To snow, The garden on the hill, The wayfarer, The playmate, Lost gardens, On the river, Songs of the rain and the wind, are some of the titles from part 1 of this collection of poems. Part 2, containing the Songs in cities, is devoted to such themes as: The house; The portrait; Night, and the curtains drawn; Beyond knowledge; Old age; Twilight; To fire; The city; Harvest of dreams. A note says that some of the verses have been printed in earlier books by the author, now out of print.
“Mrs Granville Barker’s great technical accomplishment is the source both of her triumphs and of her failures. Sometimes she is simply exercising her ingenuity in the void, creating bubble-shapes of a tenuous and fleeting prettiness. But at other times, when she has good material on which to employ her skill, she produces finished and distinguished work.”
+ − Ath p1137 O 31 ’19 70w
“Mrs Barker’s verse may not be for those who can ‘see heaven in a grain of sand,’ but it has a quality that intelligence and taste can thoroughly enjoy.” W. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p8 Mr 20 ’20 400w + Springf’d Republican p8 D 20 ’19 160w (Reprinted from The Times [London] Lit Sup p595 O 23 ’19)
“These songs are quite short and slight little wisps of fancy, as it were. But one cannot read on without being truly moved by the passing thoughts so tenderly expressed.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p595 O 23 ’19 180w
BARKER, J. ELLIS.[[2]] Economic statesmanship; the great industrial and financial problems arising from the war. *$7 Dutton 330
(Eng ed 20–11567)
“The publishers have brought out a second edition of J. Ellis Barker’s ‘Economic statesmanship.’ When this book was first published in the autumn of 1918 the negotiations at Spa and Versailles were still in the future. The new edition accordingly includes about two hundred additional pages dealing with problems and movements which have come to the front during the last two years. About half the new material relates to the economic position and future of Russia and Japan.”—Am Pol Sci R
“The descriptive and analytical features of the book are admirable; they contain a wealth of economic facts condensed in statistical form and ably presented to the reader, retaining his interest throughout with no sacrifice of accuracy and precision of detail. Mr Barker does not succeed so well in the development of the theoretical features of his book.” E. S. Furniss
+ − Am Econ R 10:806 D ’20 1000w Am Pol Sci R 14:737 N ’20 60w
“One may not agree with all Mr Barker’s conclusions, but there is no doubt that his book is a storehouse of important facts and figures.”
+ − Ath p224 F 13 ’20 180w
“Neither in the views expressed nor in the compilation of statistics is there much matter of importance for the American student: moreover, many of the chapters are inevitably out of date.”
− + Springf’d Republican p6 Jl 20 ’20 200w
BARNETT, EDWARD DE BARRY. Explosives. *$5 Van Nostrand 662
(Eng ed 20–6748)
In this volume of the Industrial chemistry series “the author has endeavoured to give a clear but concise account of the manufacture of explosives, together with an outline of the methods used for investigating this class of substance.” (Author’s preface) Contents: Introduction; Gunpowder; Explosive compounds; Smokeless propellants; Blasting explosives; Safety coal mine explosives; Percussion caps, detonators and fuzes; Matches, pyrophoric alloys and pyrotechny; Explosive properties; Sensitiveness and stability; Conclusion. A brief bibliography follows the introduction. Other references come at the chapter ends and there is an index.
BARNEY, DANFORD. Chords from Albireo. *$1.50 Lane 811
20–4705
This is the author’s second volume of poems. “Dust of stars” was published in 1916. “The present collection includes the work that Mr Barney has done since the publication of his first volume, and hence covers the varied periods before his enlistment, during his service in France, and since his return and discharge.” (Foreword) The four sections of the book are headed: 1917; France; 1919: By the sea. The foreword is by Lawrence Mason of Yale university.
Reviewed by W: S. Braithwaite
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 14 ’20 600w
“‘Chords from Albireo’ is a worthy successor to his ‘Dust of stars.’ It marks a deepening of the poetic instinct and a firmer grasp of technique. Mr Barney’s work is important because of its spontaneous evocation of moods, its impressionistic appeal to the senses.”
+ N Y Times 25:16 Je 27 ’20 240w
“My complaint against Mr Danford Barney is that my understanding is a horse which he overworks—and starves. All this would not have been worth saying in this place, had Mr Barney been destitute of poetical capacity.” O. W. Firkins
− + Review 2:519 My 15 ’20 280w
BAROJA Y NESSI, PIO. Youth and egolatry. (Free lance books) *$1.75 (4) Knopf 868
20–11320
“When I sat down to begin these pages, somewhat at random, my intention was to write an autobiography, accompanying it with such comments as might suggest themselves. Looking continually to the right and to the left, I have lost my way, and this book is the result.” (Epilogue) The result is a collection of aphoristic, partly whimsical, partly cynical, always sincere sketches of the author himself, his personality, his beliefs, his literary opinions and inclinations, the main facts of his life. The translation from the Spanish is by Jacob S. Fassett and Frances L. Phillips with an introduction by H. L. Mencken who says of the writer that he is more Spanish than most of his famous contemporaries. The contents are grouped under: Fundamental ideas; Myself, the writer; The extraradius; Admirations and incompatibilities; The philosophers; The historians; My family; Memories of childhood; As a student; As a village doctor; As a baker; As a writer; Parisian days; Literary enmities; The press; Politics; Military glory. The appendices are: Spanish politicians; On Baroja’s anarchists; Note.
Booklist 17:60 N ’20
“Baroja is a Latin: lucid reasoning and clear patterns of thinking teach him to gauge and adapt life.” Stark Young
+ Nation 111:693 D 15 ’20 370w
“The book is annoying and at the same time distinctly fascinating. The pages that are worth while are immeasurably fewer than the worthless ones; but these are so worth while that the book’s existence is justified.” C. W.
+ − N Y Call p11 S 12 ’20 190w
“He is wilful and headlong, but sometimes discerning in his literary judgments.”
+ − Review 3:322 O 13 ’20 330w
BARR, MRS AMELIA EDITH (HUDDLESTON). Songs in the common chord; songs for everyone to sing, tuned to the C major chord of this life; introd. by Joseph C. Lincoln. *$1.50 Appleton 821
20–1986
“From among the hundreds of poems I have written during forty years I have saved enough to make a small volume which some day I may publish.” So Amelia E. Barr is quoted in the introduction to this, the promised small volume. Among the titles are: The great happiness; The old piano; Lost flowers; The empty purse; At fifty years; Quiet hours; An old street; Harvest song; A country place in heaven; The tree God plants; At the last; A writer’s question.
Booklist 16:233 Ap ’20 Boston Transcript p9 F 21 ’20 320w
“Mrs Barr frankly was content with fireside narrative and easy injunction, with good deeds and cheerful rhythms. Her rhythm occasionally cantered too fast, so that her cheeks flushed and her bonnet bobbed; but there always was a halt somewhere, with no real effect of a runaway.” M. V. P.
+ − Nation 111:247 Ag 28 ’20 150w
“Mrs Barr was no master of the flaming phrase, to be sure, yet she had her felicity of line. What she looked at she saw clearly, and there was something of the folk quality in the best of her work.”
+ N Y Times 25:245 My 9 ’20 700w
BARRETT, WILTON AGNEW. Songs from the journey. *$1.25 Doran 811
20–5607
Among the contents of this book are poems reprinted from Poetry, the Forum, Contemporary Verse, Boston Transcript, McCall’s Magazine, and “Victory,” Mr Braithwaite’s anthology of peace poems. The author employs both free verse and regular meters. Titles are: Songs from the journey; A New England church; To a pair of scarlet tanagers in the square; Soldiers, behold your beauty; The valley and the shadow; The holiday; A song of fulfillment.
+ Booklist 16:336 Jl ’20
“Mr Barrett is one of the quieter young American poets who is not likely to be very much talked about, but who will leave an influence upon his readers wherever his book finds them.” W. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 7 ’20 550w
“Novel conceits of fancy expressed with appealing grace and fraught with the glamour of dreams.”
+ Cleveland p85 S ’20 30w
“Once only, in ‘Songs from the journey,’ does Mr Barrett touch authentic poetry—in the suave and colorful ‘The vase.’ The book is not distinguished verse.”
− + N Y Call p11 Ag 1 ’20 210w
“Mr Barrett is a poet of great promise, a spirit clear-eyed and keen.”
+ N Y Times 25:193 Ap 18 ’20 160w
“He has mastered the not too recondite, yet also not too facile, secret of expressiveness in free verse.” O. W. Firkins
+ Review 3:171 Ag 25 ’20 100w
BARRON, CLARENCE WALKER. World remaking; or, Peace finance. *$1.75 (4c) Harper 330.9
20–4717
“All history is bound up in the human problems of personal and national finance—personal and national protection to daily subsistence.” (Foreword) It is the object of the book to set forth from the point of view of the financier and the enemy of socialism “the true relations between the work of capital and the work of hand, and the relation of both to the labor of brain,” and to show their bearing on our present-day problems. Some of the articles are: England the great war loser; England’s weakness and restricted output; Ships and shipping; The value of the pound sterling; Protection and protected shipping; Reducing hours and increasing efficiency; The spirit under British finance and business; The social unrest; Peace “without victory”; Helpless Russia; Indemnities and signatures; Socialism versus democracy; Inflation by currency, war bonds, and taxes; Are we to pay for German intrigue at Panama? Bolshevik danger and the remedy.
Booklist 16:260 My ’20
“The book is gossipy and readable, and yet is trustworthy, for Mr Barron had entrée to authorities who talked freely.”
+ N Y Times 25:172 Ap 11 ’20 250w
“There are many little affectations of speech scattered through the book which some may find irritating. But it is, nevertheless, a good book and well worth reading.”
+ − Review 2:464 My 1 ’20 220w R of Rs 61:556 My ’20 60w
BARRUS, CLARA. John Burroughs; boy and man. il *$3.50 Doubleday
20–20968
“The incidents here related have been told me by Mr Burroughs himself, and are sanctioned by him. During the midsummer and fall for many years past I have wandered with him over the fields and hills and through the woods where he roamed as a boy. In these rambles he has pointed out the places where the narrated events occurred. He has explained in detail the curious and interesting ways and means of long ago—old-time ways which will never come again. And not only in his youthful haunts, but also during many an evening by the fireside at The Nest, he has again recounted the childish recollections, the boyish pastimes, and the youthful dreams recorded here.” (Preface) After a characterization of the “grown-up boy” and his forebears the contents are grouped under the headings: Childhood; Boyhood; Youth; Maturity. There are numerous illustrations and an index.
“Originally intended as a boys’ life of Burroughs, this is full of the human, humorous life of the country boy, with the story of the work and play of the man written in a way to interest readers of any age.”
+ Booklist 17:152 Ja ’21
“Cheerfully condescending and commonplace. Mr Burroughs deserves something better.” D. M.
− + Nation 112:89 Ja 19 ’21 40w + N Y Evening Post p10 D 31 ’20 220w
“It is true to the life, sympathetic and intimate. No admirer of John Burroughs can do without this pleasant book.”
+ N Y Times p2 D 5 ’20 1450w
“It is a good book for boys and girls as well as for older people up to the nineties.”
+ Outlook 126:600 D 1 ’20 50w + R of Rs 62:669 D ’20 120w + Wis Lib Bul 16:236 D ’20 60w
BARRY, RICHARD HAYES. Fruit of the desert. *$1.50 Doubleday
20–7295
“A race of sun-worshippers, the Sunnites, rescue the hero, left starving on the desert of Arizona by bandits. He finds his new friends to be survivors of an ancient civilization. Inevitably, as in all stories of this type, he falls in love with their high priestess and escapes with her to the less romantic but more comfortable life of every-day America.”—Outlook
“Having elected to write a romance, and a romance of a very romantic sort, Mr Barry is entirely justified in using romantic methods and in paying just as little heed as pleases him to probabilities. He writes with the skill of a craftsman, he keeps the interest well sustained.”
+ N Y Times p24 Ag 1 ’20 720w Outlook 125:223 Je 2 ’20 80w
BARTHOLOMEW, WALLACE EDGAR, and HURLBUT, FLOYD.[[2]] Business man’s English, spoken and written. il *$1.48 Macmillan 808
20–15735
“Bartholomew and Hurlbut have prepared a book which ‘intends to interpret English as used by the careful business man of today.’ Chapter I of this book indicates the need of a study of business English. Succeeding chapters take up such subjects as the business vocabulary, ‘Common errors,’ clearness and emphasis in written expression. Chapters VIII, IX, and X deal with oral English. Five chapters are devoted to the study of various forms of letters. The subject of advertising is given thorough consideration.”—School R
N Y Evening Post p9 O 30 ’20 90w
Reviewed by Brander Matthews
+ N Y Times p10 D 5 ’20 980w
“The book is well organized for use as a textbook. Persons giving English courses in secondary schools will find it helpful.”
+ School R 28:797 D ’20 320w The Times [London] Lit Sup p801 D 2 ’20 40w
BARTLETT, WILLIAM HENRY. Handbook of American government; rev and enl ed. by H: Campbell Black. *$1.25 Crowell 353
20–11824
The last previous edition of this book appeared in 1912. The present revision is designed to cover changes since that time, including three amendments to the constitution, changes in the judicial system, and changes brought about by the war. The editor has also “taken advantage of the opportunity to explain or discuss at greater length various important topics mentioned in the original text, and to introduce comments or explanations of some clauses of the constitution, or of the practical working of government under it, which had not previously been included.” (Editor’s note)
+ Survey 45:26 O 2 ’20 60w
BARTLEY, MRS NALBRO ISADORAH. Gorgeous girl. il *$1.75 (2c) Doubleday
20–6713
Stephen O’Valley became rich quick. He strained every nerve to become so because he wanted to marry the “gorgeous girl,” Beatrice Constantine, the spoiled daughter of wealth. When the engagement gaieties, the wedding and honeymoon were over, and Steve proposed to Beatrice that they quiet down and “find themselves” the disillusionment began. A perpetual round of social excitement, a reckless spending of money was Beatrice’s entire world and Steve’s comparisons between her and Mary Faithful, his right hand in business, became more searching. In time Mary assumes the rôle of critic holding the mirror up to Steve, to show not only his own life but Mary’s heart. When the failure of Steve’s business sends the heartless Beatrice to Reno another kind of “gorgeous girl” takes her place.
“Nalbro Bartley has mastered the style of American magazine fiction. She has the light touch, the gift for quick, clever characterization and a modicum of American slang. It is quite noticeable that the women of the story are much more real creations than the men.”
+ − Boston Transcript p11 Ap 3 ’20 500w + Ind 104:247 N 13 ’20 20w
“While Nalbro Bartley’s new story of ‘The gorgeous girl’ cannot be called particularly convincing, it is less glaringly improbable than some of her other tales. The book has some neat phrasing, Mary’s home life is nicely sketched, and there are a few clever touches of characterization.”
+ − N Y Times 25:199 Ap 18 ’20 480w
Reviewed by E. C. Webb
Pub W 97:995 Mr 20 ’20 300w
BARTLEY, MRS NALBRO ISADORAH. Gray angels. *$1.90 (1½c) Small
20–17174
The first notice the world took of Thurley Precore was when she “sang for her supper” and then continued to sing herself into people’s hearts generally. The rich ghost lady heard the voice in her living tomb and came out to take Thurley to New York and give her a musical education. She became a prima donna, lived in an intimate circle of first class artists, experienced their disappointments, their boredom and the restlessness of fame. She tried to become reckless and flirted with the forbidden, when her singing teacher, also a man of genius, whom she secretly loved, set her right by confiding to her his vision of America’s supreme mission in art. Winning the violet crown he called it. Later the war with its war madness showed to Thurley that her own particular mission lay in helping to restore a hysterical people to sanity and to become one of the gray angels to the broken ones of the war.
“The book is entertaining, the characters are well drawn. Fewer characters would have been better. Thurley’s interesting career, with its pleasing denouement, might have been told in considerably less than 420 pages.”
+ − N Y Times p10 O 17 ’20 350w
BARTON, BRUCE. It’s a good old world. *$1.50 Century 814
20–14616
The book is a collection of contributions to various magazines. They all look upon the cheery side of life, pick out the amenities from the commonplaces, and abound in good advice and cheery encouragement for the passengers on this “Good old world” whose “quiet, patient fashion in which he goes around about the same old task, day after day and year after year” the author admires. Some of the titles are: I expect to be entirely consistent—after ninety; A great little word is “why”; The second mile; It’s a moving picture world, and the film changes every few minutes; The fine rare habit of learning to do without; That fine old fake about the good old days; Everybody has something.
+ Booklist 17:137 Ja ’21 + Ind 104:249 N 13 ’20 30w
“Brief and pithy and filled with common sense philosophy.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:234 D ’20 30w
BARTON, GEORGE. Celebrated spies and famous mysteries of the great war. il *$2 Page 940.3
19–17029
“George Barton has gathered together some of the strange happenings of the war. It is no connected tale of espionage, but rather a series of pen pictures relating to only a few of those involved in the conflict, and those few among the best known. The opening chapter deals with the disappearance of the Hampshire, with Kitchener and his staff; the final one, with the murder of Ferdinand at Sarajevo. In between are such dissimilar persons as Edith Cavell, Capt. Fryatt, Bolo Pasha, Roger Casement, Ram Chanda and Werner Horn.”—Springf’d Republican
+ Booklist 16:126 Ja ’20
“Every chapter reads like an Oppenheim novel in little, and there is matter enough in the book to furnish material for all writers who are seeking plots for stories of mystery.”
+ Boston Transcript p11 D 13 ’19 200w
“This book contains more promise than performance. Whatever interest the stories themselves might hold is entirely spoiled by the stagey dressing.”
− Cath World 111:406 Je ’20 170w
“An especially interesting chapter is ‘Eugene Van Doren and the secret press of Belgium.’ If Mr Barton has told nothing new he has at least gathered together the fragments of interesting and varied careers reflecting differing aspects of the war.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 D 16 ’19 160w
BARTON, WILLIAM ELEAZAR. Paternity of Abraham Lincoln; was he the son of Thomas Lincoln? an essay on the chastity of Nancy Hanks. *$4 Doran
20–19246
The author says that this book may be considered a footnote to his earlier book, “The soul of Abraham Lincoln” and as a suppressed preface to a “Life of Abraham Lincoln” which he plans to write. He states that in collecting data for the first book he came upon a considerable body of material bearing on Lincoln’s paternity and discovered that a number of intelligent collectors of Lincoln books and students of history were convinced that Abraham Lincoln was not the son of Thomas Lincoln. “Moreover, the author found himself at length compelled to ask of himself the question, What if these reports are true? And he pursued his investigations with an open mind.... The author has endeavored to trace every rumor and report relating to the birth of Abraham Lincoln, to assemble all the available evidence in favor of it and against it, to judge each one of these reports upon its own merits, and to render what, he believes, is a judgment from which there can be no successful appeal.” The judgment is a refutation of the supposed evidence and the author believes that he has covered the ground so thoroughly that the matter need not be referred to again.
+ Boston Transcript p7 N 20 ’20 840w
“A convincing study which leaves not a square inch of ground for the scandal to stand on. Mr Barton’s researches have been exhaustive and—barring a few minor slips—accurate.” C. V. D.
+ Nation 111:734 D 22 ’20 820w
“It is undisputedly and indisputably a good work to which Dr Barton has set his hand.”
+ N Y Times p16 O 31 ’20 1750w R of Rs 53:222 F ’21 70w
“A scholarly monograph.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 N 15 ’20 480w
BARTON, WILLIAM ELEAZAR. Soul of Abraham Lincoln. *$4 (3½c) Doran
20–3862
“The fact that there are so many books on the religion of Abraham Lincoln is a chief reason why there should be one more.” (Preface) The author explains his volume by stating the considerations which differentiate it from earlier works. He has provided an adequate historical background for the study of Lincoln’s religious life in successive periods and has been aided in this effort by the fact that he spent seven years in the same environment in which Lincoln lived during two important epochs of his career. He has assembled a larger body of essential evidence than any previous writer has compiled, and subjected it to a critical analysis. He has opened several entirely new avenues of investigation and he has set forth his conviction concerning the faith of Abraham Lincoln aside from his theological opinions. Accordingly the book falls into three parts: 1, A study of religious environment; 2, An analysis of the evidence; 3, The religion of Lincoln. The appendices contain extracts from addresses and books of other writers and there is a bibliography and an index.
“For libraries attempting a complete Lincoln collection, though it is rather lacking in charm for general reading.”
+ − Booklist 17:28 O ’20
“This book is so important in its field that it must be regarded as necessary to any library, public or private, fittingly equipped for the critical consideration of Lincoln’s religious history. His book is so well done that it is likely long to remain the standard work on the subject.” L. E. Robinson
+ Bookm 51:547 Jl ’20 3200w
“The conclusion of the whole matter is that despite its entertaining and its authoritative biographical qualities, such a book as ‘The soul of Abraham Lincoln’ is utterly futile. It leaves us exactly at the point of its beginning. In its last page we have no clearer idea of Lincoln’s religious belief than in its first. Despite the mass of material he assembles, Dr Barton proves nothing.” E. F. E.
− + Boston Transcript p4 Ap 7 ’20 1500w
“His viewpoint, the skilful analysis of conflicting evidence, and the ability which the author shows in reaching a logical conclusion, seems to us to make this book one with which all students of the lives of Lincoln must hereafter reckon.”
+ N Y Call p10 Mr 28 ’20 340w
“His volume will probably be the final authority on the much-debated topic of Mr Lincoln’s religious faith.”
+ Outlook 124:656 Ap 14 ’20 2000w Spec 124:835 Je 19 ’20 70w
“Like many others who would like to have Mr Lincoln pictured not exactly as he really was, but as they are eager to think him, Mr Barton labors hard to show what he believes to have been the president’s religious ideas. The result is a new literary portrait of Mr Lincoln, interesting and agreeable in details of the president’s family life, but leaving one unconvinced regarding his religious convictions.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p6 Mr 15 ’20 600w
“Mr Barton has done his work with good feeling and well. In one thing we dissent from him seriously. He quite naturally ascribes Lincoln’s refusal to follow his wife all the way into the Presbyterian fold, or some other, to the weak side of his intellect and character. In all this there is something astray.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p480 Jl 29 ’20 1250w
BARUCH, BERNARD MANNES. Making of the reparation and economic sections of the treaty. *$3 Harper 940.314
20–18667
Having been intimately concerned with the creation of the reparation and economic sections of the treaty, the writer, in his introduction to the book, gives an apologetic review of the then existing conditions. The treaty was made, he says, in the still smouldering furnace of human passion. In the reparation clauses the conference was not writing a mere contract of dollars and cents; it was dealing with blood-raw passions still pulsing through peoples’ veins. He concedes that the treaty is severe but also insists that it is a flexible instrument, qualified to help effectuate a just and proper peace, if that desire and purpose be really present. Contents: How the reparation clauses were formed; Drawing the economic clauses; Reparation clauses; Economic clauses; Appendix; Index.
“He writes with more caution and less indignation than Keynes but his conclusion is essentially the same.”
+ Booklist 17:139 Ja ’21
“It is straight history, instead of being, like Keynes’s book, a blend of history, literary satire and propaganda.”
+ Ind 103:442 D 25 ’20 120w
“Though Mr Baruch is still somewhat under the influence of the pall of Paris, he lifts something of the veil of secrecy, and when he does he speaks with authority, and not as the journalists. It is an invaluable contribution.” L. S. G.
+ − Nation 111:506 N 3 ’20 1200w
Reviewed by Alvin Johnson
New Repub 25:21 D 1 ’20 1550w
“Mr Baruch seeks to explain, rather than to defend—which is the more enlightening method. His simplicity, candor, and restraint let the reader in to an apprehension of the true facts as he sees them. Where is it, then, that Mr Baruch’s conception of the relations of men and nations fails us and dismays us? Because he counts too low the significance of words. Mr Baruch comforts himself that the parts of the treaty which he hates not less than I do are empty because they are impossible, and harmless because they can never happen. But they have wounded, nevertheless, the public faith of Europe.” J. M. Keynes
+ − N Y Evening Post p3 D 4 ’20 3050w
“The author has given a valuable account of the matter; clear, dispassionate, uninvolved. His contentions gain in force through the strictness with which he keeps within the field that he has marked out for himself.”
+ No Am 212:859 D ’20 600w
“Should prove a valuable book of reference.”
+ Outlook 127:32 Ja 5 ’21 340w
“Mr Baruch’s chapters are brief and direct, while also persuasive to the point of carrying conviction. The atmosphere in which the work was done is well reproduced. This volume will be a necessary part of every public and private library that includes the essential books relating to the making of peace.”
+ R of Rs 62:668 D ’20 320w
“His new book is short and concise, but it is in some respects the most illuminating comment upon the treaty that we have seen.”
+ Spec 125:778 D 11 ’20 1300w
BASCOM, LELIA. Elementary lessons in English idiom. *$2 Appleton 425
20–15172
A work prepared in the Extension division of the University of Wisconsin as a textbook for students in correspondence-study. It is “designed to aid two types of students,—those who are not native Americans but who have had a season of study in night school or elsewhere so that they read and write English a little; and those native Americans who are handicapped by a lack of knowledge of good English usage.” The teaching thruout the book is by examples and exercises for practice. Rules are reserved for a summing up at the end.
BASDEN, GEORGE THOMAS. Among the Ibos of Nigeria. il *$5 Lippincott 916.6
20–20653
“The country of the Ibos is a district in British West Africa on the lower Niger immediately above the delta, and mainly on the eastern bank of the river. The people—some of them—are cannibals and addicted to the offering of human sacrifices with every circumstance of cruelty; they eat snakes, except the python which is sacred; their occupations are primitive, farming, fishing, and hunting—all three it will be noticed connected with the necessity for procuring the prime necessity, food. Their customs will be found detailed in this book.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“There are annoying misprints both in English and Ibo; the map, especially in the southern portion, must be termed misleading, it does not even contain all the names mentioned in the text; but Mr Basden has brought together much interesting material, some of it novel, though in many instances insufficiently localized to be of use to the scientific student. The errors pointed out above need not alarm the general reader, who will find the life of the people set forth in an interesting manner.” N. W. T.
+ − Ath p580 O 29 ’20 580w
“It is by a missionary of wide experience, rare open-mindedness, and a real gift of observation. He makes no pretension to literary excellence, but has made a book that is entertaining as well as valuable ethnologically.”
+ Outlook 126:470 N 10 ’20 60w
“If we did not begin by crediting Mr Basden with sincerity, we should be convinced of it in a few pages.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p631 S 30 ’20 720w
BASS, JOHN FOSTER. Peace tangle. *$4.50 Macmillan 940.314
20–19521
“Mr Bass traces recent diplomatic history from the secret treaties entered into by various nations through the Paris peace conference and the subsequent period. He devotes special chapters to conditions in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, the Balkans, and Turkey. Particular interest attaches to the comment on the League of nations.”—Outlook
“Not so much a study of the treaty itself as Scott or of particular sections of it as Baruch but more an evaluation in terms of actual conditions and hoped for results. Less well organized than Keynes but more detached in spirit (opinions are presented coldly, without any attempt to persuade).”
+ Booklist 17:139 Ja ’21
“His book falls short of some of the other accounts, notably that of Keynes, in organization of material, in charm of style and subtlety of argument. In compensation it offers superior evidence of candor, freedom from preconception and party bias and respect for the independence of the reader’s judgment.” Alvin Johnson
+ − New Repub 24:330 N 24 ’20 1700w
“We know of no better volume to commend either to the man in the street or to the serious student. The matter reveals a keen observation, a rich experience, and a ripe maturity of judgment.”
+ Outlook 126:470 N 10 ’20 330w
“It is the best single book that has been written showing how the peace treaty has actually worked in its application to political and economic conditions.”
+ R of Rs 62:668 D ’20 110w The Times [London] Lit Sup p843 D 9 ’20 100w
BASSETT, JOHN SPENCER. Our war with Germany; a history. il *$4 (3c) Knopf 940.373
19–19694
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
“Taken all together the account of Professor Bassett is the clearest and best that has yet attempted in one volume the story of our part in the world war. New sources will modify parts of the work, but the main outlines will stand much as this historian has dispassionately presented them. The chief complaint that some readers will make with justice is that the book is placid rather than penetrating or analytical.”
+ − Am Hist R 25:737 Jl ’20 650w
“Professor Bassett has written modestly and intelligently in a field in which it would be easy to go far astray, and has attained more than the ‘reasonable accuracy’ that his preface hopes for. No better book is as yet available for the student interested in our participation in the world war, and no other is so detached and historical-minded as this. The least successful portion of the book is that which covers the obscure yet significant leadership of the United States in the development of the ‘single front,’ military and economic.” F: L. Paxson
+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:351 My ’20 420w + Booklist 16:198 Mr ’20
“Carefully studied and judicially written, this book is sure to be one of the useful authorities. In a broad survey of the field, the only notable lack is a consideration of the economic effects of the war and of its financing.” Preserved Smith
+ − Nation 110:302 Mr 6 ’20 360w
BASSETT, SARA WARE. Paul and the printing press. il *$1.50 (2½c) Little
20–8885
Paul Cameron, president of his class in Burmingham high school, conceives the idea of a school paper. With boyish daring he approaches the leading editor of the town with a business proposition and to the great man’s surprise persuades him into printing the paper. The venture is a success and Paul learns much of modern printing methods as well as something of the history of early manuscript books and of printing. The book is the first volume in the Invention series.
“Miss Bassett has made the story readable and enjoyable. One is not too conscious of the didactic intention while on the other hand her information stands out clearly, and she never allows it to be smothered by the story interest.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Je 30 ’20 150w
BASSETT, SARA WARE. Wall between. il *$1.90 Little
20–15702
“A feud of four generations between two New England families is the motif of Sara Ware Bassett’s new romance, ‘The wall between.’ Since the days of Great-Grandfather Webster and Great-Grandfather Howe, the two families have quarreled over who shall keep in repair the stone wall dividing their farms. Ellen Webster, a narrow-minded, vitriolic spinster of seventy-five, and Martin Howe, forty, are the respective heads of the families of this generation. Matters change when Ellen brings her young niece Lucy from the West into the old home. Lucy, who has heard nothing of the feud, makes the acquaintance of Howe’s three timid sisters, and eventually meets him. It follows that the two fall in love. On her death bed, Ellen discovers how matters stand with her niece and neighbor and determines on final revenge. When her will is read it is found that she leaves all her property to Howe provided he repairs the long-disputed wall. Otherwise it is to become the town poor farm. The situation develops into a battle between Howe’s pride and the inclinations of his heart. But love, as usual, finds a way out.”—Springf’d Republican
“A wholesome and pleasant, though not remarkable story that will please girls and women.”
+ Booklist 17:70 N ’20
“Her previous novels, if one reads right, were somewhat saccharine, but with growing firmness of touch due to experience in writing ‘The wall between’ is more natural, more real, than its predecessors.” R. D. W.
+ Boston Transcript p9 O 16 ’20 160w
“While different from her ‘Cape’ tales, this story is fully as interesting, for, in spite of its artificialities, it is told with understanding of human nature and the perversion of human instincts.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a S 26 ’20 320w
BATES, KATHARINE LEE. Sigurd our golden collie and other comrades of the road. il *$2 (3c) Dutton 636.7
19–19679
Under the first title we have the biography of a beloved dog, household pet of two professional women, teachers in Wellesley college, who tended him from puppyhood until old age ended his career. The other comrades of the road were birds, a cat, and Hamlet and Polonius, another dog and a parrot. Poems occur between the chapters.
“The grownup lover of pets will enjoy this book of dog, cat and bird biography much as children enjoy their numerous animal books. The writer’s fondness for collies is tempered with a sly delightful humor which relieves the book of sentimentality.”
+ Booklist 16:169 F ’20
“She has, in short, made literature out of a dog and enshrined one lovable member of that remarkable race in a work as thoughtful as it is delightful. Sigurd, I believe, will take his place among the canine immortals, along with Greyfriars Bobby, John Muir’s Stikeen, and the great dogs of fiction.” W. A. Dyer
+ Bookm 51:575 Jl ’20 750w
“It was almost inevitable that in writing the life-story of Sigurd Miss Bates should have woven into the book so much of the atmosphere of Wellesley that it will take on for the alumnæ of those years the character of an unfading memory.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ja 28 ’20 1100w + Cleveland p33 Mr ’20 40w
“It may be that Miss Bates really understands dog nature, but she has not expressed it here.”
− Nation 110:861 Je 26 ’20 310w + Outlook 124:203 F 4 ’20 60w
“We like her writing best when it is most bookish. That is its note. We have other books on our shelves aplenty in which the canine hero plays a more tragic or pathetic or even humorous rôle, but none in which he is more humanly literate than Miss Bates’s Sigurd of the golden fleece.”
+ Review 2:135 F 7 ’20 260w
“Cannot fail to please all animal lovers.”
+ Springf’d Republican p13 F 1 ’20 1000w
BATTERSBY, HENRY FRANCIS PREVOST (FRANCIS PREVOST, pseud.). Edge of doom. *$1.75 (2c) Lane
20–7652
A novel with scenes laid in England, East Africa and on the western front. Rumors of Julian Abingdon’s disgraceful conduct in Central Africa, where he has held official position, reach London, together with an unconfirmed rumor of his death. Believing him still alive and desiring to clear his name, his fiancée, Cyllene Moriston, insists on going out to look for him. His cousin, Jim Chaytor, who has always disliked Abingdon, takes charge of her expedition. Cyllene is stricken with fever and is left in the care of German missionaries while Chaytor goes on to find Julian. He finds him alive and well and living voluptuously with native women and hence desiring to remain officially dead. He does not tell Cyllene the truth; marries her himself and is then separated from her by the outbreak of the war. During his absence she meets Julian, finds that her old love is dead, and turns with full hearted devotion to her husband.
“‘The edge of doom’ is a very capable piece of work, serious without being in any way disagreeable, absorbing both on account of the intensity of the emotion, the consciousness of beauty both in emotion and in the physical aspect of things, and the importance of the historic background.”
+ Boston Transcript p9 Je 5 ’20 400w
“The book reads very much as though the author had started out to write one kind of a story, then suddenly changed his mind and proceeded to produce another. This is the more deplorable because the second part of the book, the war section, is well done and interesting.”
+ − N Y Times 25:25 Je 27 ’20 480w
“The story is skilfully told, with a deft, yet sparing use of local colour which helps to carry conviction. It is well worth its place on any bookshelf.”
+ Sat R 129:111 Ja 31 ’20 200w
“The novel part cannot be commended as a story. At the same time there is no doubt that the whole book is well written; the dialogue and the narrative skilfully and vividly handled.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p652 N 13 ’19 280w
BAXTER, ARTHUR BEVERLEY. Blower of bubbles. *$1.75 (2½c) Appleton
20–1698
Five unusual stories based on the war, with a sparkling iridescent quality remote from, yet not antagonistic to, reality. The title story depicts a delightful, apparently carefree personality, a gentleman, university bred, who has no set vocation in life, is a dilettante in almost everything it is possible to be, and who spends most of his time and energy making unfortunate or gloomy people happy: in other words, blowing bubbles. In spite of his weak heart he contrives to get into the war, is permanently crippled, yet sitting in his invalid’s chair in a picturesque garden on the Isle of Wight, blows brighter, gayer, more luminous bubbles than ever before, and gives one person, at least, a lasting happiness. The other titles are: Petite Simunde; The man who scoffed; The airy prince; Mr Craighouse of New York, satirist.
“All are readable.”
+ Ath p1411 D 26 ’19 40w Booklist 16:242 Ap ’20
“The very fact that the actors are of various nationalities affords a wide scope in character drawing and the author has done this work with an incisive delicacy of feeling which one cannot fail to appreciate. Humor is not lacking and forceful, thought-compelling passages add to the graceful style of every story.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Mr 24 ’20 160w
“They are whimsically written. But the regularity with which the various characters undergo a metamorphosis under the stimulus of the patriotic impulse becomes wearisome.”
+ − Dial 68:399 Mr ’20 60w
“In this brightly written collection of five short stories we have proof—rather sorely needed—that fiction with the recent great war as a setting can avoid bathos on the one hand and obviously false joviality on the other. One of the best books of unassuming and yet purposeful fiction that has seen the light this season.”
+ N Y Times 25:123 Mr 14 ’20 1650w
“Perhaps the last is the best—‘Mr Craighouse of New York, satirist.’ His visit as a typical American to Lord Summersdale makes a very taking story.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p754 D 11 ’19 100w
BAXTER, ARTHUR BEVERLEY. Parts men play. *$2 (2c) Appleton
20–20646
Austin Selwyn, an American writer in England, has first hand opportunity, in his intercourse with the family of Lord Durwent, to observe the parasitism of the English aristocracy. The colorful personality of Elise Durwent and her latent protest against the uselessness of her class arouse his interest and love. When the war breaks out he sees in it a hideous wrong into which the people of all countries have been trapped by their ignorance. He embarks on a crusade against this ignorance and writes pacifist literature, which leads to a break with Elise. She declares indignantly that, far from crying out against the infamy and cruelty of the war, women feel the glory of it in their blood. The usual thing happens: Selwyn is gradually convinced of the error of his ways and his subsequent bravery in France wins him Elise.
“When he writes of London society as it was before the world war he exhibits a deft, light touch in drawing character sketches. Later he loses his attitude of detachment and ends in a loud outburst of jingoism which sounds strangely hollow in these disillusioned times.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p18 D 4 ’20 80w
“The author wrote another novel, ‘The blower of bubbles,’ which proved that he had a facile style, a whimsical spirit, and the power to divine and portray human nature. This book possesses all those qualities and an original undercurrent of philosophy as well.” Katharine Oliver
+ Pub W 98:1890 D 18 ’20 270w Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 150w
“A work of considerable promise. It is crude in parts, but crudeness is only a synonym of unripeness, and Mr Baxter’s literary defects are of a kind that experience can cure. Meanwhile, he has a vitality, a gift for swiftly moving narrative, and a creative power in flinging his characters upon the canvas which augur well for his future development.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p761 N 18 ’20 440w
BAXTER, LEON H. Boy bird house architecture. il *$1 Bruce pub. 680
20–7092
Mr Baxter, director of manual training in the public schools of St Johnsbury, Vt., has prepared this book out of his own experience with boy architects. “Each drawing offered is of a proven house, one that has served as a home for some of our songsters and if the directions, here set down, are faithfully followed, equal success will crown the builders’ efforts.” (Author’s preface) Some of the topics covered by the text are: Our friends the birds; Birds that adapt themselves to nesting boxes; Bird house material; Methods of conducting a bird house contest; Bird house day; Winter care of the birds. There are twenty plates with full working drawings for bird houses of various designs.
+ Booklist 16:302 Je ’20 + School Arts Magazine 20:41 S ’20 70w
BAYFIELD, MATTHEW ALBERT. Measures of the poets. *$2 Macmillan (Cambridge univ. press) 808.1
20–12409
“Mr Bayfield’s aim in ‘The measures of the poets’ is to ‘provide students of English verse with a system of prosody that is on the one hand sound in principle, and on the other not liable to break down when brought to the test of application.’” (Spec) “The broad outlines of Mr Bayfield’s system are fairly adequately apprehended if we blend together our existing notions about a foot in verse and a bar in music. Metre in music is built up out of a succession of equal time divisions marked off by the recurrence of an accent, the accented beat falling at the beginning of each of them. Mr Bayfield considers that the basis of metrical structure in poetry is essentially the same: and he therefore lays it down that the first syllable of every foot must bear an accent. The bulk of English poetry being written in dissyllabic feet or their equivalents, it follows that the typical English foot must be the trochee. The main portion of Mr Bayfield’s primer is devoted to an exposition of the system of scansion which he deduces from this governing perception.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“Mr Bayfield expounds his theory with bold lucidity, and illustrates it with telling examples from every variety of English verse.”
+ Ath p1017 O 10 ’19 210w
“Like almost all prosodic theories which look at theory first, Mr Bayfield’s necessitates, even on its own showing, endless easements and epicycles to get it to work at all. There is no plain sailing; in fact, Mr Bayfield would seem to agree with Dr Johnson that ‘pure’ metre is dull and inartistic.” G: Saintsbury
− Ath p1150 N 7 ’19 2050w
“Mr Bayfield’s general treatment and scansions are by no means so convincing as those of his predecessors, [Lanier in ‘The science of English verse’ and Thomson in ‘The basis of English rhythm.’]” J. R. Hulbert
− Mod Philol 17:727 Ap ’20 200w
“The principle of his scheme is sound, and in the application of it to English verse he has shown, besides the wisdom of his instinct, a careful patience that is beyond praise.”
+ − Spec 122:864 D 20 ’19 1050w
“His theory has not cut him off from vital contact with poetry. The things of which he is chiefly aware are the essential things, and to read him is to have the ear quickened to a new enjoyment.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p668 N 20 ’19 1100w
BAYLEY, HAROLD. Archaic England. *$7.50 Lippincott 942.01
(Eng ed 20–11405)
“This is in the nature of a sequel to a book which Mr Bayley published some years ago called ‘The lost language of symbolism.’ He has long been an enthusiastic and industrious student of symbolisms and emblems and their hidden meanings, and of esoteric doctrines generally. The present work is copiously illustrated and offers controversial theories as to the peopling of Britain. Mr Bayley, among other things, sees in the Cretan discoveries a wholly new standpoint for the survey of prehistoric civilization. He believes that the Cretans systematically visited Britain, and that men of Trojan race peopled the island.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“No doubt, Mr Bayley has worked hard and honestly. Use him as a quarry and one will find gold, and, may be, other things. But how accept his doctrine as a whole?” R. R. M.
− + Ath p240 F 20 ’20 260w The Times [London] Lit Sup p22 Ja 8 ’20 120w The Times [London] Lit Sup p166 Mr 11 ’20 2100w
BAZALGETTE, LÉON. Walt Whitman, the man and his work. *$3.50 (2c) Doubleday
20–2834
This work, the author says, was for him not a mere literary enterprise, but the fruit of close and fervent communion with Whitman’s work and character. Speaking of Whitman’s universality he says: “The America which dreams and sings, back of the one which works and invents, has given the world four universal geniuses: Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman.... And among these four figures, one of them more and more dominates the group: it is Walt Whitman.” (Introd.) The translator of the volume from the French, Ellen FitzGerald, attempts an explanation of the American masses’ neglect of Whitman, from the geniuses’ inevitable disregard of “untrained” minds, in deference to whom she has taken it upon herself to abridge M. Bazalgette’s treatment of the New Orleans episode and to lighten his emphasis on the “Leaves of grass” conflict. The book is in eight parts: Origin and youth; The multitudinary life; “Leaves of grass”; The wound dresser; The good gray poet; The invalid; The sage of Camden; The setting sun.
“Some remarkable pen portraits, a little Gallic exuberance at times.”
+ Booklist 16:241 Ap ’20
“The Frenchman’s biography, sympathetic and glowingly eloquent as it is, can scarcely rank as an authoritative chronicle of the poet’s life. It possesses, however, multiple values of its own. The translator has taken the liberty of abridging M. Bazalgette’s book. This is regrettable and not easily justified.” J. Black
+ − Bookm 51:172 Ap ’20 1100w
Reviewed by James Oppenheim
+ − Dial 68:633 My ’20 1350w
“M. Bazalgette communicates an absolute sense of Whitman’s greatness. His book, like his theme, is ample and magnificent.” V. W. B.
+ Freeman 1:68 Mr 31 ’20 500w
Reviewed by B: de Casseres
+ N Y Times 25:239 My 9 ’20 1350w
“Well informed, and adjusted to all the aspects of his subject, M. Bazalgette has written what is in all points as good a short life of Whitman as a reasonable person could wish. But M. Bazalgette is often illuminating, seldom penetrating.”
+ − No Am 211:719 My ’20 680w
“Admirers of Whitman will find it a stimulating and suggestive treatment of the poet from a new angle.”
+ Outlook 124:336 F 25 ’20 50w
“The book has been prepared with some care. But M. Bazalgette is inseparable from his subject; his jubilee from page 1 to page 355 is uninterrupted. When the author is too lavish of exclamation points the reader parries with the question mark.”
+ − Review 2:310 Mr 27 ’20 450w
“The biography, though rhapsodical rather than critical, will rank high among the scarce half-dozen of impressive books about the poet which have appeared in the quarter century since his death.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ap 8 ’20 480w
BAZETT, L. M. After-death communications. (Psychic ser.) *$1.60 Holt 134
The communications were received through automatic writing and the author says of them: “Whether these communications can come under the heading of telepathy from the living, or whether as the title suggests, they are partly due to telepathy from discarnate minds, is for the reader to decide.” (Preface) J. Arthur Hill, in his introduction to the book is inclined to attribute them to discarnate agency. Contents: First communications received; Cases where some link with communicators existed; Cases where relations were present; Cases where relations were not present; Character sketches; Special relationships; Erroneous, confused and irrelevant matter; Guides; Supernormal sense-impressions, etc.; The potential value of communication; Index.
N Y Evening Post p11 N 6 ’20 120w
BAZIN, RENÉ FRANÇOIS NICOLAS MARIE. Pierre and Joseph. *$1.75 Harper
20–7722
The story takes us to an Alsatian village at the outbreak of the war where the German subjects have all remained French at heart. Of the two brothers, Pierre and Joseph Ehrsam, the elder at once decides to flee the country and go to France to enlist, while the younger deems it wise to sacrifice himself in another way, to save the factory and the Ehrsam estate from confiscation by the Germans, by joining his German regiment. Pierre, in the French army makes unfavorable comparisons between French ways and German efficiency and is but slowly won over to complete enthusiasm for the spirit of France. Joseph at the eastern front develops an increasing hatred for the German spirit and when he is sent to the west and faces the necessity of fighting the French, he kills his superior officer and deserts to the French side. The translation is by Frank Hunter Potter.
Booklist 17:30 O ’20
“This latest novel of the gifted Frenchman adds not a single leaf to his laurel crown. For the most part, the interpretation is labored, and much space is devoted to moralizing upon the obvious. The general effect of the novel is accentuated by a translation which is awkward and infelicitous.”
− Cath World 111:688 Ag ’20 300w
“Interesting in itself, the story has an added interest through what it tells us of some of the events of the war, events which though important have not been much written about.”
+ N Y Times 25:264 My 23 ’20 1050w
“In its English dress, ‘Pierre and Joseph’ is not markedly distinguished from several earlier romances of Alsace-Lorraine in wartime, unless by its simplicity and precision.” H. W. Boynton
+ − Review 3:45 Jl 14 ’20 450w
BEAMAN, ARDERN ARTHUR HULME. Squadroon. il *$2.50 (3c) Lane 940.48
20–14681
The cavalry in the great war was most of the time in little demand, and had to take its turn in the trenches and at digging parties to relieve the infantry. “Towards the end of 1917 ... a horse soldier could hardly pass an infantry detachment on the road without being greeted by ironical cheers and bitter abuse.” (Foreword) But the time came when their prestige was reestablished. The war episodes sketched in the book are the reminiscences of a clergyman attached to a cavalry brigade. Among the contents are: Joining the squadroon; Day marching; The gap; The trench party; The devastated area; The great advance; The last lap.
+ Ath p751 Je 4 ’20 100w
“We commend the book most heartily: it is well and simply written, and deserves a wide popularity.”
+ Sat R 129:545 Je 12 ’20 50w
“Those who happen not to have read many ‘war books’ of the kind, or not to be tired of them, will find these genial, graphic, fluently-written pages pleasant enough.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p215 Ap 1 ’20 130w
BEARD, DANIEL CARTER. American boys’ handybook of camp-lore and woodcraft. il *$3 Lippincott 796
20–21339
This volume of the Woodcraft series is profusely illustrated by the author. The first chapters have to do with outdoor fires under the captions: Fire making by friction; Fire making by percussion; How to build a fire; How to lay a good cooking fire. Other chapters take up: Camp kitchens; Camp food; Packing horses; The use of dogs; Preparing for camping trip; Saddles; Choosing a camp site; Axe and saw; Council grounds and fires; Ritual of the council fire.
“His book is interesting, cheery, practical and constructive.”
+ Cath World 112:697 F ’21 110w
“A really valuable and comprehensive volume.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 19 ’20 80w
BEARD, MARY (RITTER) (MRS CHARLES AUSTIN BEARD). Short history of the American labor movement. *$1.50 (4c) Harcourt 331.87
20–7573
As the title indicates, the book is intended as a brief and simple story of the labor movement in the United States from the day of independence to the present time. After pointing out that every modern industrial country has a labor movement and that, although there are national peculiarities, it has overleapt national boundaries; that the origin of the movement lies in self-defense; and that it has a deep spiritual and social significance, the author limits herself to a plain statement of the facts in each phase of the movement as it appeared. Contents: Nature and significance of the labor movement; Origin of American trade unions; The century old tactics of labor; Labor’s first political experiments; Return to direct industrial action; Industrial panic, political action and utopias; Trade unionism and the Civil war; A decade of panics, politics and labor chaos; Rise of the American federation of labor; The American federation of labor and politics; Revolutionary philosophies and tactics; Labor and the world war; Index.
“It is well organized, carefully definitive of simplest terms, and adapted to a less advanced student or reader of labor policies than Carlton.”
+ Booklist 16:327 Jl ’20
“Mrs Mary Beard has not only supplied the student of the works of Professor Commons and his associates with a text-book admirably lucid and condensed, but she has achieved what is far more difficult in writing a text-book—especially where no text-book exists—a connected and in many ways a dramatic story.” A. L. Dakyns
+ Freeman 1:523 Ag 11 ’20 1500w
“Mrs Beard’s book could hardly be better, as a readable and brief summary.” G: Soule
+ Nation 111:17 Jl 3 ’20 800w
“Naturally, a large field has been covered in so small a work, but the reader in search of a small volume that will give him the essentials of this history will find this one valuable for the purpose.” James Oneal
+ N Y Call p10 Je 13 ’20 370w + R of Rs 61:671 Je ’20 40w
“An excellent summary of American labor history. The book is based on recent more voluminous works, but the clarity of explanation and the skill in selecting the salient facts of somewhat complicated situations and incidents are largely the author’s own.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 My 6 ’20 120w
“In her ‘Short history of the American labor movement’ Mrs Beard performs with interest, competence and wide sympathy a much needed service.”
+ Survey 44:313 My 29 ’20 150w
“It gives a clear impression of the ups and downs of a movement which in one form or another goes back to colonial times. But its value is impaired by the author’s laudable desire for brevity. Her book is so general that it gives no sense of the real life and color of the labor movement and but little understanding of the contending philosophies within it. So important a phase of the modern labor movement as the development of the Amalgamated clothing workers is not even mentioned.” N. T.
+ − World Tomorrow 3:189 Je ’20 180w
“The book preserves an admirably sane and restrained tone to the end.” W: B. Walling
+ Yale R n s 10:214 O ’20 380w
BEAUMONT, ROBERTS. Union textile fabrication. (Pitman’s textile industries ser.) il *$7.50 Pitman 677
A work dealing with the British textile industry. The preface states: “‘Union textile fabrication’ touches, in its technological aspects and interests, the many grades and branches of spun and woven manufacture.... The subject, when thus viewed, assumes proportions and bearings of paramount significance to the practitioner, the manufacturer, and the investigator, whether distinctly associated with the cotton, the wool, the flax, or the silk trade.” The book is made up of three sections: Bi-fibred manufactures; Compound-yarn fabrics; Woven unions; and the illustrations consist of “numerous original diagrams, sectional drawings, and photographic reproductions of spun and woven specimens in the text.” The author was formerly professor of textile industries, Leeds university.
“The book is well printed, neatly illustrated, and will be found valuable by all who are engaged in these branches of the textile industry.”
+ Engineer 130:281 S 17 ’20 360w
BEAVER, WILFRED N. Unexplored New Guinea. il *$5 Lippincott 919.5
(Eng ed 20–8650)
“This interesting book is concerned with the primitive races of western Papua, where the author, a young Australian, acted as a resident magistrate for ten years before the war. Professor Haddon, in a preface, declares that Mr Beaver’s death in Flanders, where he was serving with the Australian corps, was a great loss to anthropology.” (Spec) “His narrative is an account of personal experiences along the Bamu and Fly rivers; and he makes good his claim to be an explorer. Little is known of the country behind the coastline; means of transport have to be improvized and the inhabitants are savages. In fact, savage is a mild term, for many of them are cannibals and all apparently head-hunters. Mr Beaver enumerates such of their customs as came under his notice, and throws out suggestions as to their origin, but without committing himself to any theory.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“Mr Beaver’s descriptions of the customs of the Goaribari, Bamu, and other tribes are remarkably interesting; and Dr Gunnar Landtmann has added a noteworthy chapter upon the religious beliefs and practices of the Kiwai-speaking natives.”
+ Ath p1019 O 10 ’19 250w
“In short, considered from the standpoint of what Sir Richard Temple would term an applied anthropology, Mr Beaver’s book is eminently useful and instructive. Lack of space allows but a passing reference to his important chapter on property and inheritance.” R. R. M.
+ Ath p1117 O 31 ’19 950w
“An interesting and sound ethnological study, which is also an object lesson on the administration of aboriginal tribes by those who would introduce Caucasian culture.”
+ Booklist 17:25 O ’20
“This is one of those books, by no means rare from British pens, that make the American ethnologist green with envy. It suggests what stores of information on tribes now extinct or acculturated to the white man’s ways might have been garnered by our Indian agents if they had been selected from the class represented by Mr Beaver.” R. H. L.
+ New Repub 23:26 Je 2 ’20 900w + Outlook 124:79 Ja 14 ’20 40w R of Rs 61:221 F ’20 80w
“The author had the gift, not common among anthropologists, of writing well and of describing savage tribes with sympathy and humour. The book abounds in curious anecdotes.”
+ Spec 122:584 N 1 ’19 180w
“Mr Beaver is no globe-trotter concerned to make a good story out of a few days spent in a strange land. He is absorbed in a subject that is organically interesting, and he is content to let it produce its own effect. Unintentionally he has framed an indictment of mechanical progress.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p544 O 9 ’19 1900w
BECK, ERNEST GEORGE. Structural steelwork. il *$7.50 (*21s) Longmans 691.7
20–10621
“The book contains technical information for the designing and constructing of ordinary steel-framed buildings. ‘The principal endeavor throughout has been to make the work broadly suggestive rather than particular or exhaustive.’ (Preface) The appendix contains tables useful for reference. Partly reprinted from the Mechanical World and The Engineer.”—Booklist
+ Booklist 17:16 O ’20 N Y P L New Tech Bks p6 Ja ’20 70w
BECK, HERBERT MAINS. Aliens’ text book on citizenship; laws of naturalization of the United States. $1; pa 50c McKay 353
19–6644
“In preparing this book the aim has been to provide means of thoroughly and quickly acquiring the knowledge necessary to pass the examinations for naturalization and to assist those who have been deprived of the advantages of our modern public schools.” (Preface) The steps required for naturalization are first set forth. Then follows the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and a final section is given up to questions and answers on laws and government. There is an index. The author is chief of naturalization, Camden county courts, Camden, N.J.
Booklist 17:9 O ’20
“This business-like explanation of the law’s provisions is infinitely more satisfactory and useful than the mushy, sentimental and verbose expository books for the foreign-born of which there are so many.” B. L.
+ − Survey 43:408 Ja 10 ’20 250w + Wis Lib Bul 16:233 D ’20 60w
BECK, JAMES MONTGOMERY. Passing of the new freedom. *$1.50 Doran 940.314
20–18420
In part in the form of imaginary conversations, the book discusses the essential nature of President Wilson’s policies. The dialogues, in which the chief personages of the Peace conference take part, abounds in biting sarcasm. In the first dialogue Mr Wilson is made to appear upon the scene literally exuding “omniscience,” and to expound his new freedom with sounding grandiloquence. In his final estimate of Wilson the author says: “Already the world is conscious of a distinct revaluation of that interesting and complex personality, and it must be sorrowfully added that this revaluation adds nothing to his prestige.” The chapters are: Mr Wilson explains the new freedom; The old freedom; “It might have been”; The apostle of the new freedom.
“The use of imaginary conversation as a means of plucking the mystery out of the heart of the Peace conference may be questioned as to its integrity, but Mr Beck has employed the medium with such rare degree of skill that no one will question its effectiveness for literary purposes.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p24 O 23 ’20 190w
“Mr Beck has produced in these dialogues a kind of literature that is not often written after so much cool, thoughtful preparation, and that is seldom found to be, as in this case, profound and exact as well as amusing.”
+ No Am 212:859 D ’20 850w
“‘The passing of the new freedom’ gives him some claims to rank as a political satirist—that rare bird in American letters.” E. L. Pearson
+ Review 3:419 N 3 ’20 140w
BECKER, CARL LOTUS. United States; an experiment in democracy. *$2.50 Harper 342.7
20–13591
The book gives all the outstanding facts of our political history with such impartiality as to appeal to the reader’s critical faculty and to challenge independent conclusions. A “habitual dislike of thinking” the author holds to be a characteristic of Americans, which at the present time exposes them to the danger of mistaking the “form for the substance of democracy” and may prevent America from being in the future what it was in the past—“a fruitful experiment in democracy.” Contents: America and democracy; The origins of democracy in America; The new world experiment in democracy; Democracy and government; New world democracy and old world intervention; Democracy and free land; Democracy and slavery; Democracy and immigration; Democracy and education; Democracy and equality.
“It is to be hoped that the inaccuracies will not seriously injure the usefulness of a readable book, which is on the whole filled with sagacious comment and treats in a telling way a number of traits and tendencies of American democracy.” A. C. McL.
+ − Am Hist R 26:337 Ja ’21 560w + Booklist 17:10 O ’20
“The author has given a valuable sketch of the political history of America.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 18 ’20 580w
“Keen, clear, impartial analysis of American institutions and traditions, reminding the reader in many ways of Bryce’s ‘American commonwealth.’”
+ Ind 103:292 S 4 ’20 30w
Reviewed by C: A. Beard
Nation 111:sup416 O 13 ’20 450w
“Interesting, and would be valuable as a brief and rapid résumé of America’s early history and political problems were it not for one fatal defect. It lacks that aspect of detachment which we used to expect from college professors in dealing with debatable topics. Such a book must be read with the same caution with which the wise man reads the current political press during the presidential campaign.”
+ − Outlook 126:334 O 20 ’20 270w Wis Lib Bul 16:232 D ’20 50w
BECKWITH, ISBON THADDEUS. Apocalypse of John. *$4 Macmillan 228
19–16729
“This book is a veritable encyclopedia of information regarding the interpretation of Revelation. A series of introductory studies deals at length with a history of eschatological hopes among Hebrews, Jews, and Christians. An extended description is given of apocalyptic writings among the Jews. There is also a detailed account of the occasion, purpose and unity of John’s apocalypse. Other topics discussed minutely are the literary characteristics of the author, the content of his composition, the permanent and the transitory elements in his book, the main features of his theology, the different methods that have been used in the interpretation of the book, its circulation and canonical recognition in the early church, the question of authorship, the two Johns of the Asian church, the meaning of the ‘beast,’ and the condition of the Greek text of the book. The commentary proper, which embraces slightly less than half the volume, is of the usual analytical and statistical type.”—Bib World
+ − Bib World 54:428 Jl ’20 550w
“It is a real service to religion and sanity when a scholar equipped with common sense as well as knowledge provides a good commentary on the book of Revelation. This has been done by Professor Beckwith. The book fills a real need.”
+ Nation 111:163 Ag 7 ’20 250w
“A splendid treatise it is upon a splendid book, and a fresh honor to American scholarship.”
+ Outlook 124:29 Ja 7 ’20 280w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p243 Ap 15 ’20 70w
BEERBOHM, MAX, comp.[[2]] Herbert Beerbohm Tree: some memories of him and his art. il *$7 Dutton
“The volume is at once a biography and a tribute. The first half of the book is written by Lady Tree. After short contributions by Sir Herbert Tree’s two daughters and Max Beerbohm (who, it will be remembered, is his half-brother) come A sketch, by Edmund Gosse; A tribute, by Louis N. Parker; From the stalls, by Desmond MacCarthy; Herbert Tree—my friend, by Gilbert Parker; From the point of view of a playwright, by Bernard Shaw; and An open letter to an American friend, by W. L. Courtney. By no means least in interest are the appendices, which contain Sir Herbert’s ‘Impressions of America,’ as written for London papers in 1916 and 1917, and some extracts from his ‘Notebooks,’ as well as the speeches made at the unveiling of the memorial tablet at His Majesty theater and the sermon preached by the Bishop of Birmingham at the memorial service.”—Springf’d Republican
“Why did not Mr Max Beerbohm give us a whole book himself instead of a ‘carved cherrystone’ called ‘From a brother’s stand-point’? That, no doubt, is his business. But why did he not persuade (or bully) Lady Tree into writing the whole work and inserting his and Mr Shaw’s contributions at the appropriate places? Certainly the half of it which she has contributed under the title ‘Herbert and I’ is delightful, in style and individuality.” D. L. M.
+ − Ath p519 O 15 ’20 880w
“When all is said this book serves its purpose. It is readable; it contains the facts; it gives personal anecdotes; it has a host of portraits in character and out; it provides a variety of points of view.”
+ N Y Times p7 D 19 ’20 1250w
“A most interesting book about a great actor. Throughout, it is informal and lively.” E. L. Pearson
+ Review 3:648 D 29 ’20 90w
“Lady Tree’s portrait of Tree is the most vivid and the most life-like the world is likely to possess.”
+ Sat R 130:318 O 16 ’20 920w
“The whole book—all the contributions from all the different sources are in the mass so sparkling, that it is clear that for so many hands to write so amusingly, they must have been inspired by a thoroughly witty and amusing subject.”
+ Spec 125:569 O 30 ’20 1150w Springf’d Republican p8 O 23 ’20 40w Springf’d Republican p8 Ja 8 ’21 150w
“It is an amusing macédoine, never insipid, giving all the flavours of the subject, without perhaps any one flavour that can be called dominant. And that is right, for Tree’s was a ‘mixed’ temperament, and his art was a good deal ‘mixed’ too.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p633 S 30 ’20 1350w
BEERBOHM, MAX. Seven men. il *$3.50 Knopf
20–19582
Six men and the author make seven. The book contains six imaginary sketches of six imaginary men: Enoch Soames; Hilary Maltby and Stephen Braxton; James Pethel; A. V. Laider; “Savonarola” Brown; with an appendix of drawings of these men by the author. As the drawings are caricatures so are the pen sketches satires on human vanities, weaknesses and foibles, literary and otherwise.
“In none is the author’s authentic touch wholly absent, but there are tedious pages.”
+ − Ath p1138 O 31 ’19 80w
“Our only regret on finishing the book is that he might have paraded his seventh, and after all his most amusing puppet, himself, a little more lavishly.” S. W.
+ Ath p1186 N 14 ’19 720w
“The motif of each story in ‘Seven men’ is slight, the working out of it spread thin—very thin.” C. K. H.
− + Boston Transcript p6 D 4 ’20 480w + Nation 111:785 D 29 ’20 560w
“Another thing that gives feature to four of the five stories in ‘Seven men’ is their author’s love of design. Even upon his essays this love has left its mark, less distinct upon whole essays than upon single pages now and then.” P. L.
+ New Repub 21:386 F 23 ’20 1500w
“Max is more than a humorist—he is an ironist. His irony is exquisite in its nuances, a carefully wrought method of workmanship that grows almost precieuse at times. ‘Seven men’ is assuredly one of the most amusing books of the year. It will recapture an undefinable atmosphere that could only go with youth that was audacious and laughable, and, by strange flashes, poignantly serious.” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p9 Ja 2 ’21 2150w + − Sat R 128:465 N 15 ’19 240w
“Not even a good comedy is so rare as genuine satire, and when an example of the latter is produced some indulgence in superlatives may well be excused. In the case of Mr Max Beerbohm’s new volume, which brilliantly achieves what ‘Zuleika Dobson’ as conspicuously missed it is difficult to restrain praise within the bounds of judgment, for its beneficent, limpid ridicule is an undiluted joy.”
+ Spec 122:19 Ja 3 ’20 1500w
“The fragrant quality of the book, the solemn malice of the papers on Brown and A. V. Laider; the imaginative subtlety of the account of Enoch Soames, and the glorious remedy of the rivalry between Braxton and Maltby—they all show Max at his best.”
+ Springf’d Republican p13a Ja 25 ’20 270w (Reprinted from London Observer)
“Not only are his characters interesting in themselves but Mr Beerbohm depicts them with such skill that the book is a welcome relief from the work of less accomplished writers.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ja 3 ’21 300w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p627 N 6 ’19 810w
BEERS, HENRY AUGUSTIN.[[2]] Connecticut wits and other essays. *$2.25 Yale univ. press 814
20–22823
“Mr Henry A. Beers’s ‘Connecticut wits’ consists of eleven brief literary essays on subjects whose diversity is undisguised. He has found nothing in the tradition or the atmosphere of his Yale habitat to discourage the inclusion of an essay on Cowley and an essay on Riley in the same volume.” (Review) “He unearths Joel Barlow and those other neglected spirits of old Connecticut; and then allows his fancy to range over such themes as the poetry of the cavaliers, Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Thackeray and Sheridan.” (Freeman)
“In manner, these essays are scholarly, informative, and suavely graceful.” L. B.
+ Freeman 2:358 D 22 ’20 170w
Reviewed by Brander Matthews
+ N Y Times p2 Ja 16 ’21 1150w
“Scholarship and humor are admirably blended in these essays.”
+ Outlook 126:470 N 10 ’20 30w
“Mr Beers is a clear expositor, is at ease with facts, and can make them agreeable by almost imperceptible departures from the jogtrot of chronicle. Without humor, he has something of the buoyancy of humor.”
+ Review 3:506 N 24 ’20 180w
“In his essays there is no trace of a professional tendency to carry on with the class room manner in one’s relations with the world beyond the class room.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ja 31 ’21 310w
BEGBIE, HAROLD. Life of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army. 2v il *$10.50 Macmillan
20–5263
In the preface to this life of the founder of the Salvation army, the author says: “William Booth is likely to remain for many centuries one of the most signal figures in human history. Therefore, to paint his portrait faithfully for the eyes of those who come after us—a great duty and a severe responsibility—has been my cardinal consideration in preparing these pages. Only when circumstances insisted have I turned from my attempt at portraiture to examine documents which will one day be employed by the historian of the Salvation army.” The work opens with an account of social conditions in England at the time of William Booth’s birth and reflections on the probable effects of his early surroundings on his mind and character. Volume 1 covers the years up to 1881 and volume 2 continues the story to his death in 1912. There are a number of portraits and other illustrations and an index.
“The world may be divided into people who pray with General Booth, people who are angry with General Booth, and people who turn their face away and look out of the window. Mr Begbie, unfortunately, seems to have considered that it was necessary for his official biographer to pray perpetually with the General, and his 1,000 pages of biography even conform to the tradition of prayer in their repetitions, vagueness, and verbosity.” L. W.
− Ath p365 Mr 19 ’20 1800w + Booklist 16:343 Jl ’20
Reviewed by O. L. Joseph
+ Bookm 52:76 S ’20 550w
“There can be no doubt that Mr Begbie has laid us all under immense obligation through the unusual blend of candor, insight, and reverence with which he has limned the picture of this noble soul. And yet we must confess to a feeling of disappointment. At important places the story lacks clarity. Perhaps the most serious disappointment of all is the paucity of reference to General Booth’s immediate touch with the outcast. We miss the bugles and the tears of the Army too much.” A. W. Vernon
+ − Nation 111:507 N 3 ’20 2000w
“Mr Begbie has done his work well. We could have dispensed with some of his own observations concerning Darwin, Bergson, Nietzsche, and other figures of interest which are unhelpful to the story and whose omission might have sensibly reduced the size of the volumes. But where he has been content with simple narration of events and the selection of letters and writings, he has proved himself a good biographer.”
+ − Nation [London] 26:778 Mr 6 ’20 2100w
“Every small detail is entered into sympathetically and fully. This is a human document worth the reading.”
+ N Y Times 25:191 Ap 18 ’20 120w
“The life-story of the man who created the Salvation army, written with a sympathy and understanding such as Mr Begbie puts in it, is an extraordinarily welcome book.”
+ N Y Times 25:210 Ap 25 ’20 2200w
“Mr Begbie’s life of William Booth would be for the general reader twice as good if it were half as long.”
+ − Outlook 125:679 Ag 18 ’20 3500w
“For the general reader there are rather too many ‘interesting cases’ of conversion described in the more or less technical diction of revivalism, too much journalism in the way of press clippings and tributes from royalty. But the record as a whole is an inspiring one of heroic achievement.”
+ − Review 2:680 Je 30 ’20 680w + R of Rs 62:334 S ’20 130w
“These portly tomes on the founder of the Salvation army are torrential in their eloquence and typhoon-like in their denunciations. They resemble nothing so much as an exceptionally lively rally at the Army headquarters, with the penitent-form in full view. Apart from his exuberance, Mr Begbie has an interesting tale to tell.”
+ − Sat R 129:230 Mr 6 ’20 1150w
“Though to the modern man this modern story has more to say than most of the annals of hagiology, it is as a romance, as a love story, that William Booth’s ‘Life’ is perhaps most to be valued. The pawnbroker’s assistant and the half-invalid girl from Brixton are the hero and heroine of a love romance which for passionate intensity, for sublimity, for tempestuous vicissitude, stands head and shoulders above the tales of Paris and Helen, of Tristram and Iseult.”
+ Spec 124:584 My 1 ’20 1600w
“The biography is a thorough, exhaustive, vividly personal piece of work.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 Ja 14 ’21 530w
“In spite of a tendency to repetition, his book will be welcomed widely as the good thing which it undeniably is—a book frankly written and free from prejudice or exaggeration.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p121 F 19 ’20 1850w
BELL, JOHN KEBLE (KEBLE HOWARD, pseud.). Peculiar major. *$1.75 (2½c) Doran
19–15567
“An almost incredible story” says the subtitle, and so it is. The major had been given a ring by an old Turkish priest in ransom for his life. This ring was found to possess the magic property of making its bearer invisible. It first brought the major into repute as a lunatic, then into all manner of scrapes and out again and so from one Arabian nights’ entertainment into another until the war was over and we leave him returned to England and in the arms of his best-beloved.
Boston Transcript p4 My 26 ’20 300w
“Mr Howard has produced a book that will be a welcome relief from much of the dreary fiction of the day.”
+ N Y Times 25:71 F 8 ’20 600w
“A book of irresponsible fun.”
+ Outlook 124:336 F 25 ’20 70w
“We thought the humours of the ring that makes the wearer invisible had certainly been pretty well worked out by now. But this was a delusion.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p414 Jl 31 ’19 100w
BELL, WALTER GEORGE. Great fire of London in 1666. il *$6 Lane 942.1
20–19932
The book comes with forty-one illustrations including plans and drawings, reproductions of English and foreign prints, and photographs. It is the first authentic account of the fire resulting from thorough historic research. The sources have largely been manuscript and the subject matter includes measures taken for meeting the distress occasioned by the catastrophe, the temporary housing of the citizens, the restoration of trade and the work of rebuilding. Among the appendices are letters from residents in London and contemporary accounts (English and foreign) describing the great fire. There are also notes, a list of authorities consulted and an index.
“In every chapter sidelights are cleverly thrown upon the habits and daily lives of the rather unpractical citizens.” E. G. C.
+ Ath p613 N 5 ’20 1200w + Outlook 126:654 D 8 ’20 70w
“Mr Bell had, of course, previously proved himself a scholarly and responsible historian, a good literary craftsman, and an excellent guide to old London. Here we have all his qualities at their best, lighted up with an enthusiasm which good Londoners at any rate will find exceedingly sympathetic. Now and then, perhaps, he allows his fervour to run away with him.”
+ Sat R 130:320 O 16 ’20 640w
“We commend Mr Bell’s excellent book, with its wealth of new material and its many illustrations and maps, to all who are interested in the history of London.”
+ Spec 125:403 S 25 ’20 1850w
“The book is well and accurately referenced throughout.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p609 S 23 ’20 1900w
BELL, WALTER GEORGE. Unknown London. il *$1.50 Lane 914.21
20–5387
“In the eighteen essays which make up this book—for most of them are sufficiently personal to be given that name—is nothing that is not interesting. Mr Bell has chosen, for the most part, from among those antiquities of which everybody has heard but of which most people know nothing. His ‘Unknown London’ deals with very familiar things—with such things as Domesday book, the shrine of Edward the confessor, London stone, the wax works in the abbey, the Roman baths, the bells of St Clements, the bones of the mummy of Men-Kau-Ra in the British museum, and London wall.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup D 11 ’19
Ath p734 Je 4 ’20 1400w Ath p763 Je 11 ’20 1250w + N Y Times 25:279 My 30 ’20 800w
“His book, while necessarily desultory, is readable and full of information gathered at first hand.”
+ Outlook 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 70w R of Rs 61:559 My ’20 100w
“If Mr Bell is so human and hearty an antiquary it is that in him the antiquary and the journalist are admirably joined. The one gives to his book the gusto of an enthusiast. The other prevents him from ever forgetting, in his accumulation of knowledge, the art of interesting others.”
+ Sat R 128:492 N 22 ’19 950w Spec 123:585 N 1 ’19 110w Springf’d Republican p10 Jl 1 ’20 170w The Times [London] Lit Sup p615 O 30 ’19 60w
“The merit of his book is that the stories are retold here in a simple, personal, and most attractive way. From first to last Mr Bell is an admirable guide to old London, an enthusiast, well stored, humorous and unfailingly entertaining.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p731 D 11 ’19 950w
BELLAIRS, CARLYON WILFROY. Battle of Jutland; the sowing and the reaping. il *$5 Doran 940.45
(Eng ed 20–8002)
Lord Jellicoe has written his own account of the Jutland battle. This book is by one of the critics of his policy, who says: “The ban on discussion, which was felt by many as applying right up to the time of the surrender of the German fleet, no longer exists. Nothing that can be done now can remedy the past; but much that can be said may safeguard the future. Hence this book, which must stand or fall in proportion to its influence on future thought and action. It is not intended to be any more than a critical survey. It is not a full history of the battle of Jutland, for the policy of secrecy pursued by the Admiralty, and the failure to hold an investigation, have made an accurate history impossible for the time being.” (Preface) The book is illustrated with diagrams and there is an appendix containing a chronology of the battle; also an index.
“It has the authoritativeness that will give it value to historians.”
+ Booklist 17:23 O ’20 Review 2:677 Je 30 ’20 1400w
“For the general reader it has less value than for the naval expert. Yet it is an interesting example of the kind of criticism which seems to be encouraged among British naval officers, not for the sake of mere controversy but in order to draw conclusions that may be useful in the future.”
+ R of Rs 61:670 Je ’20 120w
“We do not quarrel with Captain Bellairs’s main conclusion, ... but we could wish that his tone did not sometimes suggest that he fails to be judicial.”
+ − Spec 124:277 F 28 ’20 1300w
“If his captious tone be ignored, there is much in Commander Bellairs’s criticism in his more general chapters on the sowing which is well said and is well worth saying. But we cannot commend his tone and temper; and for the reasons we have given we can attach very little weight to his onslaught on Lord Jellicoe.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p115 F 19 ’20 1700w
BELLOC, HILAIRE. Europe and the faith. $2.25 Paulist press 940
20–15729
“Mr Belloc’s essay may be regarded as having a twofold aim, although, to the mind of its author, this aim appears to be one and indivisible. The first, and more narrowly historic aim of the essay, is to present a new picture of the decline of the centralized Roman empire and the subsequent building up of Europe, and the second, more obviously philosophic aim, is to account for the modern European consciousness in terms of (1) the Catholic faith and (2) the reformation. To Mr Belloc these two objectives are not really distinct. An account of Europe is an account of the Catholic faith, and an account of the Catholic faith is an account of Europe.”—Ath
“The most convinced opponent of Mr Belloc’s views of the historian’s qualifications will probably agree instantly that an acquaintance with the Catholic faith is necessary to writing a history of Europe, although he may not agree that the historian must be a Catholic. But the strangest part of Mr Belloc’s assumption is that he regards this condition as sufficient. We feel that Mr Belloc, although a Catholic, has not understood European history, and that he does not understand the modern European consciousness.” J. W. N. S.
− Ath p406 S 24 ’20 1150w
“If many points of detail are not new, the explanation of their import and bearing is original. In some cases the author’s critical examination of sources is particular and minute.”
+ Cath World 112:535 Ja ’21 900w
“Mr Belloc writes with great earnestness. One could wish that the solution of civilization’s difficulties were as simple as he judges it to be; and that for the strength of his argument history were as universally confirmatory of his preconceived thesis as it seems to him.” Williston Walker
+ − N Y Evening Post p9 O 23 ’20 950w
“Our real objection to him is not that he has twisted history to his own view—everybody does that—but that he has given us an incomplete book, and even on his own showing he has left out the vital part. He discusses at length the unified Roman state of Europe. He discusses at length the unified Roman church of Europe. But he omits to discuss the relations between the two.”
− + Sat R 130:338 O 23 ’20 1150w
“It is needless to say that from Mr Belloc’s whole conception of Protestantism we profoundly dissent. He cannot conceive of men opening their eyes and realising that they were serving an institution and not the cause for which the institution stood. This fatal lack of insight and comprehension effectually disqualifies him from giving the impartial presentation of European history which he is desirous of exhibiting, and almost completely nullifies the graphic force and admirable clarity of his narrative.”
− + Spec 125:858 D 24 ’20 1050w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p603 S 16 ’20 30w
“He has the courage of his consistency and the merit of a principle; but neither is adequate to the perplexities of the modern world.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p661 O 14 ’20 2100w
BEMAN, LAMAR TANEY, comp. Selected articles on the compulsory arbitration and compulsory investigation of industrial disputes. 4th ed, rev and enl (Debaters’ handbook ser.) *$2.25 Wilson, H. W. 331.1
20–18153
Altho issued as a revised edition of the handbook on compulsory arbitration first published in 1911, this is practically a new work. The explanatory note states: “This volume is compiled according to the general plan of the Debaters’ handbook series, but it differs from other members of the series in that it covers two questions.... In this case the two questions are closely related, and much of the literature deals with both, so that it is impracticable to present them in separate volumes and yet impossible to combine them into one question.... The volume contains a full general bibliography revised to the date of this issue, but not separated into affirmative and negative references.... It also contains briefs and reprints of the best material on both sides of each question.”
Booklist 17:165 Ja ’21
Reviewed by S. M. Lowenthal
+ − Survey 45:672 F 5 ’21 390w
BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT. Heavens and earth. *$2 Holt 811
20–21994
This collection opens with a long poem in two parts, Two visions of Helen followed by Chariots and horsemen; The tall town; Apples of Eden; The kingdom of the mad. The tall town is made up of poems of New York.
“So many moods and themes spread over the compass of this book, riotous and rapturous, whimsical and ironic, and undulating on waves of swift and thrilling music make ‘Heavens and earth’ an enjoyment to those who admire poetry when it is first of all music and imagination, and may be after these anything in the way of subject and ideal.” W: S. Braithwaite
+ Boston Transcript p4 D 29 ’20 1300w
“He has a swirling dexterity in syntax and rhythm, and practices a gorgeous, hot impressionism.”
+ − Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 60w
“Originality marks his work in spite of the intimation that his themes are somewhat threadbare. He possesses a virility that is manifest at all times and a delight in swinging measures and emphatic rhymes.” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p11 Ja 9 ’20 100w
BENET, WILLIAM ROSE. Moons of grandeur. *$2 Doran 811
20–19072
This collection of poems is reprinted from contributions to various magazines. With a few exceptions the poet takes his inspiration from history: the renaissance, ancient Egypt, medieval England furnishing him with subjects. Some of the titles are: Gaspara Stampa; Legend of Michelotto; Niccolo in exile; The triumphant Tuscan; Michelangelo in the fish-market; The ballad of Taillefer; The priest in the desert; Dust of the plains.
“The rich color and vigor of his poetry have caught some of the brilliance and romance of these times. The vocabulary and allusions make demands upon the reader which to many will be a serious drawback.”
+ − Booklist 17:104 D ’20
“A poet so fertile and diversified is bound to be interesting, and one cannot but recognize Mr Benet’s gifts of streaming phrase and bannered fancy; at the same time one often misses the clear, strong note of nature, often feels the absence from this work of actual blood and bone.”
+ − Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w
“The vigor, the individuality, the natural sources of growth and development in his work, deserve the first word. Mr Benet’s limitations in making the renaissance, in its essence, live again are inherent in his method and approach. There was a roundness of gesture in these years which is missed by nervous actions and pouncing words.” Geoffrey Parsons
+ − N Y Evening Post p8 Ja 8 ’21 720w
“In ‘Moons of grandeur’ he includes ten such poems that may be ranked among quite the best things he has done. It is apparent in this book that he has grown greatly in stature as a poet. An extravagance that was once fatal to him as an artist at times has been finely curbed and turned into channels where it becomes a virtue.” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p11 Ja 9 ’21 480w
“Mr Benet’s poems possess the essential qualities of beauty and imagination.”
+ Review 3:419 N 3 ’20 10w
“In these pictures of renaissance Italy Mr Benet proves his possession of rhythm, of knowledge, of an allusiveness as ingathering as a scythe, of energy, of a lambent and vibrant picturesqueness, of the gait and swing, if not the soul, of passion. ‘Moons of grandeur,’ with all its attractions, errs somewhat in the obscuration of the rhyme.”
+ − Review 3:654 D 29 ’20 290w
BENET, WILLIAM ROSE. Perpetual light. *$1.35 Yale univ. press 811
19–25952
“A memorial to the poet’s wife, who died early in 1919. ‘This verse is published in her memory,’ says the poet in a foreword, ‘because I wish to keep together the poetry she occasioned and enable those who loved her—and they were a great many—to know definitely what she was to me.’” (Springf’d Republican) “Some of the poems are reprinted from former books of Mr Benet, and a few of the others have appeared in American periodicals.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“Mr Benet has a great command of rich language and rich rhythms, and many of his poems are of a high literary value.”
+ Ath p194 Ap 9 ’20 80w
“A tribute full of deep and delicate feeling.”
+ Booklist 16:122 Ja ’20
“Poems of much delicate beauty, tenderness and deep feeling.”
+ Cleveland p85 S ’20 30w
“Mr Benet has written no better lyrics than some of those included in this volume. They are both brave and simple.”
+ N Y Times 25:173 Ap 11 ’20 180w
“Mr Benet has given his best to this little book.”
+ Springf’d Republican p15a Ja 18 ’20 200w The Times [London] Lit Sup p783 D 25 ’19 60w
“The dignity, the courage, the faith, the aspiration of these verses are like a beacon in this time of unrest and uncertainty.” E: B. Reed
+ Yale R n s 10:205 O ’20 220w
BENGE, EUGENE J. Standard practice in personnel work. il *$3 Wilson, H. W. 658.7
20–102
A work which aims to cover the subject of personnel work thoroly, showing what the standard practice at present is. “The author has attempted to preserve an impartiality of viewpoint, not by evading frank statement of conditions, but rather by presenting the pros and cons on each side of the labor question.” (Preface) Daniel Bloomfield, editor of the three volumes on industrial relations, contributes a foreword. Contents: The personnel audit; Job analysis; Study of the community; Labor turnover and labor loss; Organizing the personnel department; The employment process; Selection by mental and skill tests; Methods of rating ability; Education and training; Health supervision; Maintenance of the working force; Incentives and wages; Employee representation; Record keeping in the personnel department; Personnel research; Index.
BENNET, ROBERT AMES. Bloom of cactus. il *$1.50 (3c) Doubleday
20–7647
Jack Lennon goes prospecting for a lost copper mine in the Arizona desert. He encounters a fair amazon who, at the risk of her own safety, tricks him into becoming a partner to her scheme of rescuing her weak, drunken father from the clutches of a criminal white brute, and “Dead Hole, dad’s ranch” from marauding renegade Indians. She succeeds and so does Jack, after facing incredible dangers, cruelty and all-round slaughter, for Carmena becomes his own dearly beloved. She proves her metal by not only fighting her foes in the flesh but her own jealousy of her much more femininely frail, clinging and pretty foster-sister, Elsie.
BENNETT, ARNOLD. Our women; chapters on the sex-discord. *$2.50 (5c) Doran 396
20–18319
Sex-discord exists, the author avows; it will always exist; it will continue to develop as human nature develops—but on a higher plane; it is the most delightful and interesting thing in existence—a part of the great search for truth. In this vein a mere man writes broadly, sanely and humorously about women. Contents: The perils of writing about women; Change in love; The abolition of slavery; Women as charmers; Are men superior to women? Salary-earning girls; Wives, money and lost youth; The social Intercourse business; Masculine view of the sex discord; Feminine view of the sex discord.
+ Booklist 17:93 D ’20
“‘Our women,’ being witty, human, and full of challenging contradictions, will bore no reader, but will interest everyone, if only for the sake of that argument dear to every mind.” Dorothy Scarborough
+ Bookm 52:363 D ’20 560w
“He is not always sensible when he is serious, and he is not always funny when he seeks to be humorous. His discourse is merely the attempt of a glib and facile writer to toy with a theme upon which he can play endlessly, and at the end be no nearer his goal that he was at the beginning.” E. F. Edgett
− + Boston Transcript p6 O 16 ’20 1400w
“The book is diverting to read, but is not without that vein of vulgarity which mars so much of Mr Bennett’s work.” L. P.
+ − Freeman 2:190 N 3 ’20 270w Nation 112:90 Ja 19 ’21 400w + N Y Times p1 O 10 ’20 1500w
“Mr Bennett writes as a novelist and more or less for the human fun of it.” K. F. Gerould
+ − Review 3:377 O 27 ’20 900w Sat R 130:279 O 2 ’20 500w
“We believe that most of his own countrywomen, though they may praise, will not altogether like his book.”
+ − Spec 125:535 O 23 ’20 720w
“Though fresh enough in style and not philistine in precepts, ‘Our women’ is as conventional as ‘Godey’s lady’s book,’ which regaled several generations of young women; it is, however, a book modern in sentiment.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p10 O 21 ’20 320w
“His pictures of the modern woman are kaleidoscopic—a medley of truths and halftruths picked more or less at random from past, present and future.”
− The Times [London] Lit Sup p678 O 21 ’20 1000w
BENNETT, ARNOLD. Sacred and profane love. *$1.50 Doran 822
20–1240
A dramatization of the author’s novel “The book of Carlotta.” The story is that of Carlotta Peel, who as a young girl of twenty gives herself for one night to Emilio Diaz, a world famous pianist. She does not see him again for eight years and then, on learning that he has become a morphinomaniac, goes to him and nurses him back to health and manhood and restores him to his old place on the concert stage.
“It is, evidently, not the Arnold Bennett of ‘Clayhanger’ who plays upon the glittering instrument of the theatre. And it is that Arnold Bennett who could fortify the English drama.”
− + Nation 110:435 Ap 3 ’20 200w
“The dialog leaves us unconvinced and shadowed by the feeling that sooner or later Carlotta will awaken to the futility of her task. We glance with foreboding into the future. The present is temporarily serene, but beyond the final curtain lurks a suspicion that the real conflict of human emotions is still to come.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 520w
“Mr Bennett could hardly write a play without putting into it some insight into character, some witty or suggestive comments upon human life, at least one or two interesting situations and some passages of good dialogue. Hence, this play is readable enough, but it is clumsy and unconvincing.”
+ − Theatre Arts Magazine 4:174 Ap ’20 180w
BENNETT, RAINE.[[2]] After the day. $1.50 Stratford co. 811
A volume of poems written after the war, reflecting the impressions of war of one who took part in it. The author is a Californian who has written dramas for local groups and had one play produced at the Greek theatre in Berkeley. The introduction, by George Douglas of the San Francisco Chronicle, says: “These ‘after the day’ or ‘nocturnal’ impressions were all written with a view to their being read aloud, and as dramatic reading they take on a singularly magnetic quality.” Free verse is the form employed.
“The poems, dramatic rather than lyric, are an earnest expression of a man—one who has something to say in free verse that is worth saying.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 N 20 ’20 120w
BENOIT, PIERRE. Atlantida (L’Atlantide). *$1.75 (2½c) Duffield
20–12951
This prize novel of the French academy is translated from the French by Mary C. Tongue and Mary Ross. Two French officers engaged on a scientific expedition into the wilds of Sahara, discover the mythical island of Atlantis and find that instead of having been immersed in the sea, the desert had emerged about it preserving it with all its ancient treasures and through mysterious contact with the outside world, making it a storehouse of all the sciences and lore of all the ages. Antinea, its present ruler, a descendant of Neptune, is continually supplied with men from the outside world, who all die of love for her while she is unable to love. At last she loves one of the two officers of our story, but being scorned by him, she compels his companion to kill him. This one, by the aid of a slave girl in love with him, succeeds in escaping, but ever after wanders about a restless spirit, consumed with the desire to return.
BooklistM 17:30 O ’20
“There is a glamor of mystery in the story; there is a flavor of the Orient, a glint of gold, an aroma of perfume which attracts the senses and beckons the reader onward to the end. The French have a fascinating way with them.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 25 ’20 200w
“Benoit has learned from Anatole France to display erudition but the translators make a sad mess of it. What they do to classical names should be a warning to reformers of the curriculum.”
+ − Dial 69:546 N ’20 90w
“The tale is told with an economy, a sureness and a subtlety that show how a French writer can come near to salvaging for literature themes which, in English, are condemned to a humbler sphere.” H. S. H.
+ Freeman 2:358 D 22 ’20 120w
“Excellent as Monsieur Benoit’s book is, it does not equal, either in imaginative power, fertility of invention, ingenuity and abundance of incident, suspense, dramatic effectiveness, construction, character-drawing, sustained interest or the ability to make the reader feel that the events narrated actually occurred, any save perhaps some one among the lesser of the many romances written by Sir Rider Haggard. This is not to say, however, that it is not an admirable and very entertaining story, with a conclusion both artistic and dramatic, and more than one scene of fine imaginative quality.”
+ − N Y Times p24 Ag 1 ’20 1050w
BENOIT, PIERRE. Secret spring. *$1.75 (3c) Dodd
20–7919
In this story within a story Lieutenant Vignerte tells his brother-in-arms the story of his life, which is still casting a melancholy spell over him. Just before the war he had been a tutor to the heir of the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold. He had fallen in love with the Grand Duchess, received much friendly encouragement, had come on the track of a mystery which points to the murder of her first husband—brother to the present duke—by discovering old records and a secret spring opening a door into a hidden chamber. A conflagration in the castle and the outbreak of the war prevented complete disclosure. The duchess herself took him in her private car to the French frontier and saw him safely into the hands of the French commander there. While in action in the trenches a German prisoner of high rank is discovered, by Vignerte’s confidant, to be the arch-fiend in the Lautenburg tragedy, but here again a complete revelation of the secret is foiled by a shell that kills both Vignerte and the prisoner.
+ Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 70w
“In spite of the involved plot, the annoyance of a story within a story, and the somewhat cloudy narrative style—which latter may or may not be partly the fault of the translator—the spirit of romance in this volume makes it fairly acceptable to the leisurely reader.”
+ − N Y Times 25:21 Jl 11 ’20 550w + − Springf’d Republican p9a Ag 29 ’20 250w
BENSHIMOL, ERNEST. Tomorrow’s yesterday. *$1 Small 811
20–11179
Marsh dreams, The passing of a shadow, Morning and evening, Confession of hope, Atonement, In the wilderness, The tale of the grey wolf, The moon on the Palisades, At dusk, Evening, The end of the trail, are some of the themes in this volume of poems. The author is a young poet, a graduate of Harvard, class of 1917.
“It is pleasing to discover a poet today who thinks in every line he writes. There is no superfluous word-painting in any of Benshimol’s poems. They are the genuine and spontaneous expression of a highly imaginative and reflective mind. Here and there, unfortunately, the reader comes across an image that is obscure or jumbled.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 250w
“The writer is a true poet and this first volume not only has great promise for the author’s future development, but has great charm in the present.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 1 ’20 100w
BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC. “Queen Lucia.” *$2 (1½c) Doran
20–15389
Riseholme was a strictly Elizabethan village, and “The Hurst,” the Lucas’s house, more Elizabethan than all the rest, was its social centre. Here Queen Lucia reigned. For ten years she had been the undisputed ruler when the smoldering rivalry between herself and her neighbor, Mrs Quantock, threatened open eruption. Not content with having set the town’s pace with her classic taste, Queen Lucia must also make herself the leader in each new fad discovered and introduced by Mrs Quantock. With the coming of the famous singer, Olga Bracely, as a resident of the town, all social observances, rules and precedents are knocked into a cocked hat and one by one the bubbles, in which Mrs Lucas saw her own greatness reflected, are pricked. She no longer rules and social oblivion threatens to engulf her when Olga, in large-hearted pity, executes a series of maneuvers which reinstate a humbler and wiser queen in something of her former position.
“The dismallest feature of all is that Mr Benson’s humour should have gone—not to the dogs, but to the cats.” K. M.
− Ath p241 Ag 20 ’20 700w + Booklist 17:30 O ’20
“Fantastic in the extreme, Mr Benson’s latest novel may be accepted more as a light and airy fantasy than as a contribution to the study of English social manners. It is, in fact, a merry farce transferred from the lights of the stage to the printed pages of fiction and it bears further tribute to the ingenious qualities of Mr Benson’s humor.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 28 ’20 1150w
“A clever and amusing satire.”
+ Cath World 112:549 Ja ’21 170w
“The book is lacking in what we are constantly told is necessary for a good novel. There is not much plot; there is no love interest; there is no climax. But it is long since one has seen such a masterly bit of satire, such a piece of character-study as Lucia.”
+ Lit D p101 S 18 ’20 1400w
“The book is a great treat from beginning to end.” E. L. Pearson
+ Review 3:249 S 22 ’20 480w
“Apart from its humor and comic sense of character, the narrative emphasizes Mr Benson’s versatility and his mature art.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 400w
“Taken as pure farce, ‘Queen Lucia’ is an altogether satisfying entertainment; full of humorous situations, sparkling with wholesome wit. The characters, too, are for the most part consistent and original. So very little restraint would have kept it within the limits of comedy and we do not feel that it gains in any way from the touches which incline to extravaganza.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p502 Ag 5 ’20 480w
BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC. Robin Linnet. *$1.75 (2c) Doran
19–19852
The book shows us English society “snug and comfortable and stereotyped” in various aspects. First among the students and faculty of Cambridge where, in the former, the spirit of youth occasionally pierces through the stereotyped smugness doubly emphasized in the faculty. There we meet Robin Linnet, nicknamed “Birds,” a lovable boy, full of fun and horse-play with his chums, but fortified by a rare love and respect for his mother. The latter, Lady Grote—brilliant society woman, patroness of celebrities, shining center of an aristocratic coterie absorbed in “a fever of mere living, a determination to make the most of the present moment, whether bridge or scandal or games”—has for her saving quality her great and sane love for her son. The war-change that English society suffers, topples Lady Grote’s world over like a house of cards, when her son goes to France. She decides to superintend the Red cross hospital, into which her husband converts their country house, in person. When Robin is killed her spirit rises nobly to the occasion and what was a fill-gap and a duty now becomes a work of love.
“Full of bright and entertaining dialogue.”
+ Ath p1138 O 31 ’19 120w
“Parts of the book are so slow moving that some readers may not care to finish it.”
+ − Booklist 16:242 Ap ’20
“The action moves cumbrously; too much time wasted in irrelevant talk by superfluous characters. This tries the reader’s patience, and makes negligible a book which might have been one of Mr Benson’s most successful efforts.”
+ − Cath World 111:539 Jl ’20 210w
“The concluding pages of the book are beautifully written and very moving, making the whole worth while. It is a book practically devoid of even a slight thread of plot, and it is very much too long.” L. M. Field
+ − N Y Times 25:1 F 29 ’20 1150w N Y Times 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 70w
“Not Mr Benson’s best work in fiction. The whole [is] thrown together rather than thought out.”
− + Outlook 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 70w
“The story is told with Mr Benson’s usual vivacity, but the conversion of Lady Grote is far less convincing than the elaborate and often acute analysis of her emotions in her unregenerate days.”
+ − Spec 124:179 F 7 ’20 500w
“The closing chapters are beautifully written. Mr Benson is deeply sympathetic without giving way to the strong temptation to be highly sentimental. The characters are excellently individualized.”
+ Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 700w
“Has the same merits and weaknesses as Mr E. F. Benson’s previous novels.... Mr Benson, in fact, is almost entirely preoccupied with the superficial.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p629 N 6 ’19 460w
BENSON, STELLA. Living alone. *$1.75 Macmillan
20–2266
“This little book describes the adventures of Angela and the adventures of those with whom she comes in contact while she is caretaker of a small general shop which is also part convent and monastery, part nursing home and college, and wholly a house for those who wish to live alone. She is an out-and-out, thorough witch, a trifle defiant, poor, always hungry, intolerant of cleverness and—radiant.... We have said that ‘Living alone’ is a book about the war. There is an air raid described from below and from above, together with a frightful encounter which Harold has with a German broomstick, and one of the inmates of the house of ‘Living alone’ is Peony, a London girl who is drawing her weekly money as a soldier’s wife—unmarried. The story that Peony tells her fellow-lodger Sarah Brown of how she found the everlasting boy is perhaps the highwater mark of Miss Benson’s book.”—Ath
“We hardly dare to use the thumbmarked phrase, a ‘born writer’; but if it means anything Miss Stella Benson is one.” K. M.
+ Ath p1187 N 14 ’19 440w Booklist 16:203 Mr ’20
“Stella Benson possesses the rarest of attributes among writers—that of personality.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p4 My 5 ’20 950w
“The particular merit of ‘Living alone’ is that it is a fairy-tale for grown-ups, a piece of whimsical madness without rhyme or reason.” H. S. G.
+ Freeman 1:406 Jl 7 ’20 200w
“No one but a poet could have written ‘Living alone.’ It is Barrie at moments; again it is Chesterton, that preposterously humorous Chesterton of the romances; and, after all, it is Stella Benson. It is a book for the lonely and it is a lesson for the self-conscious. Best of all, it can be read for the sake of the narrative by those who do not care to trouble themselves with allegory.”
+ N Y Evening Post p2 My 1 ’20 720w
“It is a book to dally over and reflect on.”
+ Sat R 129:70 Ja 17 ’20 100w
“There are many amusing sketches of people.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a My 16 ’20 330w
“It is a pity that mere manner should so have marred this new essay in beautiful nonsense. Beautiful is none too grand a word for ‘Living alone.’ The book teems with beautiful ideas, beautiful imaginings, best of all—beautiful feeling.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p586 O 23 ’19 550w
BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS. Imperfect mother. *$2 (2c) Macmillan
20–8237
A story based on what the Freudians term the “mother complex.” Cecilia Kirkwood, a woman of dynamic personality, is married to a sombre little book-seller and is mother to three grown children. At forty-one she falls in love with the cathedral organist and leaves her family to go to London with him. Before taking the step she tells her story to her seventeen year old son thinking him the only one who will understand her. Stephen at this time is just beginning to fall in love with little Margaret Weatherly and his mother, hungry for admiration and sensitive to all shades of feeling toward herself, is conscious of the slight change in his attitude, and the one bond that might have held her to her home is broken. All thru his young manhood Stephen is influenced by the tie that binds him to his mother and all his relations with women, including his love for Margaret, are affected by it. With the dissolution of the conflict her spell over him is broken and he moves forward unhampered to business success and happy marriage.
+ Booklist 16:346 Jl ’20 + Boston Transcript p8 Je 12 ’20 950w
“Reads like a case book on the ‘Oedipus complex.’ But in spite of the author’s effort to get everything right according to Freud it is not a bad story.”
+ − Ind 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 110w
“The story is woven with great delicacy and with unobtrusive skill and is remarkably interesting. Yet it is doubtful whether really great fiction would thrive on so much scientific awareness.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − Nation 111:74 Jl 17 ’20 750w
“‘An imperfect mother’ is certainly one of the best of the recent English novels. The author is secure in the consciousness of a ripe and finely developed art.” W. H. C.
+ New Repub 24:52 S 8 ’20 900w
“It is all symmetrical enough. And yet it is all quite unconvincing. It is even uninteresting. Cecilia alone emerges—a splendid creature bursting through the murky moralities of stuffy Medboro.”
− + N Y Times 25:264 My 23 ’20 700w
“It is an easy enough book to read; but there is nothing much to carry away from it, except the impression of an experienced chronicler rehandling his materials in the light of an ‘idea.’”
+ − Review 2:654 Je 23 ’20 650w
“Where it might be thought to fail, is in the too subtle characterisation of Celia; older hands would have broadened their touches. It is a fine piece of work.”
+ − Sat R 130:14 Jl 3 ’20 100w
“The merit of the book lies in the skill with which the conflict between Cecilia’s better instincts and her invincible egotism is drawn. Mr Beresford is an admirably self-effacing narrator.... Allowing for the improbabilities we have noted, this is an excellent and restrained study of an ‘a-moral’ type of womanhood.”
+ − Spec 124:697 My 22 ’20 560w
“Judged as an essay in morbid psychology, ‘An imperfect mother’ is an interesting document; judged as a novel, it is a failure.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p199 Mr 25 ’20 850w
BERGER, MAURICE. Germany after the armistice. *$3.50 (5c) Putnam 914.3
20–9640
“A report, based on the personal testimony of representative Germans, concerning the conditions existing in 1919.” (Sub-title) The author of this book, which is translated from the French, with an introduction, by William L. McPherson, was a lieutenant of the Belgian army. He went to Berlin after the signing of the armistice to engage in a series of personal interviews with men of prominence in diplomacy, the army, industry, finance, politics, journalism, the arts and sciences. These interviews are here published in full and contain such names as: Brockdorff-Rantzau; Prince Lichnowsky; General Kluck; Karl Helfferich; Hugo Haase; Karl Kautsky; Theodor Wolff; Maximilian Harden; Hermann Sudermann, and many others. In his conclusions the author treats of: Germany and the war; Germany and the atrocities; The Kaiser—militarism—bolshevism; Public spirit—the government; Germany and the society of nations; The new Germany. The book also contains a preface by Baron Beyens, former Belgian minister in Berlin, and has an index.
+ Booklist 16:339 Jl ’20
“A full revelation is this volume of the true inwardness of the German character.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 4 ’20 500w
“The interviewer writes with the violent prejudice of an enemy who still fears his defeated foe. But many of the conversations are of peculiar interest none the less. Especially valuable, perhaps, are the statements of Kautsky and other Socialists; also the account of the shameless murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.” H: W. Nevinson
+ − Freeman 1:404 Jl 7 ’20 280w
“No better account has appeared of the individuals who are directing the destinies of the young republic.”
+ Ind 104:67 O 9 ’20 30w
“Lieutenant Berger draws with bold strokes the portraits of the men he met—they stand out with lifelike distinctiveness. His style is simple and vivacious and his subject matter is engrossing.”
+ N Y Times 25:10 Jl 18 ’20 1300w R of Rs 62:112 Jl ’20 40w
“There is a tone of sincere frankness in the interviews which carries weight. Lieutenant Berger is evidently a man of tact and discernment; he refused to enter upon useless discussion, but he was able to guide the conversation so skilfully as to secure for his superiors the desired information.” C: Seymour
+ Yale R n s 10:419 Ja ’21 310w
BERGSON, HENRI LOUIS. Mind-energy. *$2.50 (3c) Holt 194
20–15087
This collection of lectures and essays, translated from the French by H. Wildon Carr, is not only an authorized translation, says the translator, but has been carefully supervised by M. Bergson himself, as to details of meaning and expression, in order to give it the same authority as the original French. The lectures are partly in exposition of philosophical theory, partly detailed psychological investigation and metaphysical research illustrative of their author’s concept of reality as a fundamentally spiritual activity. Contents: Life and consciousness; The soul and the body; “Phantasms of the living” and psychical research; Dreams; Memory of the present and false recognition; Intellectual effort; Brain and thought; a philosophical illusion; Index.
+ Booklist 17:137 Ja ’21
“Bergson is brilliant, and he is in close touch with the life of men. He is always worth reading for his intellectual strength and his insight into things spiritual. In this book Bergson is found at his best.” F. W. C.
+ Boston Transcript p4 S 22 ’20 1050w
“The present volume is valuable for students of Bergson just because its confident reaffirmations proclaim that, in the author’s judgment, his theories have stood the test of time. Hence this is a good opportunity for attempting a total estimate of Bergson’s work and a sorting out of what is likely to live from what is likely to die.” R. F. A. Hoernle
+ N Y Evening Post p6 Ja 15 ’21 850w
“The student who lacks either the time or the training to study Mr Bergson’s larger and more difficult work will find in this volume of essays clues not difficult to understand and profitable to follow.”
+ Outlook 126:767 D 29 ’20 300w
“The essays before us, though diversely prompted, all converge towards one centre, which is revealed by the title of the book. At the end they leave the feeling that he has been pursuing the same subject all the time. The tenacity with which he applies his principles is certainly to be noted in a thinker who suggests such a flexible, almost elusive, view of reality. There is a fascinating essay about ‘false recognition.’”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p715 N 4 ’20 800w
BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HEINRICH ANDREAS HERMANN ALBRECHT, graf von. My three years in America. *$5 Scribner 940.32
20–11505
“As a pendant to Mr Gerard’s reminiscences of the American embassy in Berlin during the war, Count Bernstorff’s account of his work as German ambassador at Washington is of some historic interest. He is mainly concerned to defend himself and to put all the blame for the quarrel with America on the Berlin foreign office and on the military chiefs. He denies, of course, that he had anything to do with the campaign of bomb outrages which German-Americans, assisted by Irish-Americans, waged against American and Canadian factories and allied shipping. He records the profound horror and indignation caused by the torpedoing of the Lusitania, but disclaims all previous knowledge of that foul deed.”—Spec
“For the historian and student of the war Count von Bernstorff’s book has undoubted value. The excellence of the translation may be due in part to the style of Count von Bernstorff; for, unlike many German writers, he does not hide his thought behind dense and complicated entanglements of language, but sets it forth in clear, short, crisp sentences.” E. E. Sperry
+ Am Hist R 26:99 O ’20 1100w
“There are many curious statements in the book, some of which no sophisticated reader will believe without confirmation. At any rate students of political science will find many things in this volume to provoke dissent, and some also that will meet with hearty concurrence.”
+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:736 N ’20 250w
“The book is interesting and has a certain historical value.”
+ Ath p11 Jl 2 ’20 580w
“The tone is reasonable and conciliatory, the logic sometimes too smooth.”
+ − Booklist 17:23 O ’20
“Throughout the narrative Count Bernstorff is wonderfully frank. Whether this frankness arises from an honest openness of mind or from an utter absence of ability to realize his own obliquity is a question for each reader to solve for himself.” E. J. C.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 10 ’20 900w
“Count Bernstorff himself is not a thinker like Norman Angell and Bertrand Russell, but he is intelligent to a high degree, exact, fearless, without cheap pride, living in a much more real atmosphere than most of the German war statesmen. He has the prime advantage, for a time of such complexity, of having a good mind that functions without interference from his prejudices or his passions.” Norman Hapgood
+ Nation 111:132 Jl 31 ’20 1750w
“The story is told coolly and without any sign of prejudice, except for an occasional slurring reference to Colonel Roosevelt or Ambassador Gerard. The narrator analyzes his characters in an objective sort of way, unmoved by anger or enthusiasm, except for one exclamation of admiration for Colonel House; he dissects, he does not eulogize or condemn.” C. W. Thompson
+ N Y Times 25:3 Jl 4 ’20 2150w
“This book, as a real contribution to history, will assuredly take its place alongside volumes of such permanent value as Viscount Haldane’s, General von Falkenhayn’s, and Count Czernin’s. Indeed, in none of these is there sharper, more illuminative, and more cynical observation both of men and events.”
+ Outlook 126:690 D 15 ’20 250w Review 3:710 Jl 7 ’20 360w
“It would be a serious mistake to consider his ‘plaidoyer’ as dispassionate history. It is a further and exceedingly interesting addition to that large library of self-justification now appearing in Germany. It differs from other volumes only on a point of good taste.” Christian Gauss
− + Review 3:190 S 1 ’20 1200w
“The reader into whose hands it may come will not fail to find its chapters exceedingly interesting, as they review familiar episodes from what to Americans is an unfamiliar standpoint.”
+ R of Rs 62:221 Ag ’20 240w
“We think that all the great actors in the German tragedy, military, political and diplomatic, have now told their story, except the ex-Kaiser. Count Bernstorff’s is certainly the best of these ‘pieces justificatives,’ for it shows that the writer’s judgment was better than that of his masters, and his style is temperate and logical.”
+ Sat R 129:542 Je 12 ’20 900w Spec 124:799 Je 12 ’20 430w
“His attempt to gauge American character is on the whole happy. Even those who differ with him will find it difficult to disprove his findings. There is no rancor in his judgments. There is no attempt to add piquancy to the narrative by gossip.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 9 ’20 280w
BERRIMAN, ALGERNON E., and others. Industrial administration. (Manchester univ. publications) il *$2.40 Longmans 331
20–9654
“The lectures published in this volume were delivered in the department of industrial administration in the College of technology, Manchester, during the session 1918–19, by various well-known authorities on subjects relating to industrial administration.” (Nature) “Contents: Social obligations of industry to labour, by B. S. Rowntree; The applications of psychology to industry, by T. H. Pear; Education as a function of management, by A. E. Berriman; Occupational diseases, by T. M. Legge; Atmospheric conditions and efficiency, by L. Hill; Industrial councils and their possibilities, by T. B. Johnston; Training for factory administration, by St G. Heath; Industrial fatigue, by A. F. S. Kent.” (Am Econ R)
Am Econ R 10:840 D ’20 50w Ath p814 Je 18 ’20 60w Nature 106:74 S 16 ’20 620w
BETTER letters; a little book of suggestions and information about business correspondence. $1 Herbert S. Browne, 608 S. Dearborn st., Chicago 658
20–3557
“This little book has been compiled for the average person in business, whether executive or stenographer, who wants a statement in simple and direct form of the elementary things that are essential to good letters. It is a first-aid manual of style for business correspondence, suitable for adoption by any commercial concern, large or small.” (Introd.) Contents of part 1—The letter itself: Appearance; Substance; Phraseology; Punctuation; Paragraphing; Abbreviations; Miscellaneous. Contents of part 2—Words, right and wrong; Some misused words; Verbal vulgarisms; Similar words often confused; Pronouns: their use and abuse; Miscellaneous.
Booklist 17:17 O ’20
BIERSTADT, EDWARD HALE, ed. Three plays of the Argentine; tr. from the Spanish by Jacob S. Fassett, jr. *$1.75 Duffield 862
20–4775
In his introduction to these plays Mr Bierstadt has given us a glimpse of the culture of one of our American neighbors to the South, of whom we have hitherto known too little. His historical sketch of the folk drama of the Argentine, known as the drama criollo, shows it to have sprung from the very heart of the people, the gaucho, and to have had its inception in the sawdust ring of the circus. As given in the translation, the plays are transcriptions from the original popular and unprinted versions and although modified, have retained their true atmospheric and colorful qualities. Of the two first Mr Bierstadt says: “They are perhaps the most famous in all the category of gaucho plays, and carry as do no others the very spirit of the pampas.” These are “Juan Moreira” and “Santos Vega.” The third, “The witches’ mountain,” is not in the same sense a gaucho play, as it is set in the mountain country, but is considered as marking the last milestone in the epoch of truly native drama.
+ Booklist 16:336 Jl ’20
“‘The witches’ mountain’ is the only one of the three plays included that conforms to the canons of real drama.”
+ Dial 59:664 D ’20 80w
“The second, while sufficiently crude and violent, has elements of great beauty. The third, The witches’ mountain, is a really magnificent piece, both in conception and construction.”
+ Freeman 1:214 My 12 ’20 400w
“When we come to the actual texture of the ‘dramas criollos’ the impression is one of slight disappointment. The figure of the wandering ‘gaucho’ and minstrel is romantic rather than naive. Speech and verse, at least in their translated forms, present a curious mixture of the sentimental and the artificial. In The witches’ mountain there is high and concentrated dramatic passion. But this play is obviously the least primitive of the three.”
+ − Nation 110:693 My 22 ’20 260w
“These plays have a freshness and vigor of spaces our Wild West scenarios somehow lack. There are the same conventional gestures, the same corroborated sentiment from which any informing fire has gone out. But at least these are reminiscent of authentic instead of manufactured emotion.” Lola Ridge
+ − New Repub 25:236 Ja 19 ’21 660w + − Review 2:605 Je 5 ’20 240w
“However primitive the plays, they possess what our American drama strives in vain to discover, the soul of their native land.... The witches’ mountain is doubtless the most actable, and the most easily understood by an American audience.” D. Grafly
+ Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 600w
“If these plays seem immature rather than naive; crude, rather than in the spirit of the folk; if Mr Bierstadt seems to have mistaken the drama inherent in the life and character of the ‘gaucho’ for drama in the plays that represent him, there is still nothing but gratitude due him for introducing the ‘gaucho’ to our unromantic world.”
+ − Theatre Arts Magazine 4:256 Jl ’20 380w
BIGELOW, MELVILLE MADISON. Papers on the legal history of government; difficulties fundamental and artificial. *$2 (4½c) Little 320.1
20–4206
The author warns against making a fetish of history and points out the difficulty in the way of its infallibility as a teacher. The number and complexity of the facts, in part hidden, in part incomprehensible, impede correct judgment. Besides, latent energies may at any time spring into action to change men’s reactions to given facts. On the other hand there is a certain fundamental principle on which society rests and which serves as constant in the interpretation of history. It is the object of the book to study the past, to give assurance of the principle and then to see how men have acted and are acting in its presence. Contents: Unity in government; The family in English history: an inquiry; Medieval English sovereignty; The old jury; Becket and the law; Index.
Am Pol Sci R 14:738 N ’20 50w Booklist 17:10 O ’20 Boston Transcript p6 Ap 28 ’20 220w
BINDLOSS, HAROLD.[[2]] Lister’s great adventure (Eng title, Head of the house). il *$2 (2c) Stokes
George Lister, a young Canadian engineer, has his pluck and natural ability rather than a defective scientific training to thank for a moderate success. His self-reliance scorns the help of friends. He rescues a young girl, Barbara Hyslop, from an amorous crook who has induced her to run away with him. Later he is instrumental in returning the girl to the bosom of her family. Having lost his job he resolves to see something of the world and goes to England, and while there undertakes to raise a wreck off the African coast for Barbara’s step-father. After heroic efforts he succeeds but succumbs to the fever-ridden locality. Barbara, who from conscientious scruples over her romantic exploit, had refused his love, now calls him back to health with the gift of it.
“The heroine and the various members of her family have more individuality than is usual in this class of literature.”
+ Ath p523 O 15 ’20 80w
“There are no improbabilities and no excesses of sentimentality, the style is simple and effective, and the pace is brisk and unwavering.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p621 S 23 ’20 90w
BINDLOSS, HAROLD. Wilderness mine. il *$1.90 (1½c) Stokes
20–14600
This story is divided into three distinct parts, the first and third of which take place in England, and the second in Canada. Creighton and Stayward are partners in business until Creighton, driven on by his wife’s extravagances and his daughter’s need of an education, misappropriates some of the funds and Stayward dissolves the partnership. Creighton disappears and his wife spreads stories about Stayward’s cruelty and dishonesty to her husband. The Canadian part of the story has to do with Geoffrey Lisle, Stayward’s nephew, who is managing a mine there, and who comes in contact with Tom Carson, cook and chemist, who helps him defeat the rival mining company he is working against. Upon his return to England at his uncle’s death, Geoffrey again meets the girl who has been in his thoughts ever since he left England, to discover that she is Ruth Creighton, and theoretically his enemy. The timely discovery of who Tom Carson really was helps him to win the girl and to clear his uncle’s name in her eyes.
Booklist 17:70 N ’20
“His latest effort is a far more polished production than some of those that have gone before it. As it is not the best kind of romance, quite naturally it is not the best kind of adventure, but it serves very well for an hour or so’s amusement, and lovers of Mr Bindloss will find in this tale all the ingredients of his other efforts.”
+ − Boston Transcript p8 S 15 ’20 350w
“Mr Bindloss is one of those writers (all too few) who handle the adventure story without stressing the adventures to the disadvantage of all the other parts of the story. In other words, his characterization is always clear and distinct and worked up with some elaboration, and he has a quick eye at the description of natural scenery.”
+ N Y Times p27 Ag 22 ’20 370w
“The Canadian part of the book is much the best.”
+ Outlook 126:378 O 27 ’20 40w
BINDLOSS, HAROLD. Wyndham’s pal. *$1.75 (2c) Stokes
19–16148
Harry Wyndham having inherited from his forefathers an old business enterprise of somewhat doubtful credit, along with a romantic, restless, daring temperament, sets out on a trading adventure in the wild lagoons, mandrake swamps, fever atmosphere, and mysterious dangers of the Caribbean coast. There is a girl back home in England, for whose sake he wishes to return wealthy and successful. He achieves his purpose, although in order to do it he has to deal with a dangerous, sinister, mysterious creature called the Bat, and has to compromise his honesty and honor. Found out by his bride and business partner he seriously undertakes reparation and re-establishes his own self-respect, as well as the respect of others.
“Men, and boys in their teens, will like this story.”
+ Booklist 16:242 Ap ’20
“Without being particularly exciting or particularly vivid, it holds the reader’s attention.”
+ N Y Times 25:120 Mr 14 ’20 380w Outlook 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 50w
“To an astonishing degree, he maintains his average. And his average is good.” H. Dick
+ Pub W 97:604 F 21 ’20 280w
“We have read better stories by this author.”
+ − Sat R 128:422 N 1 ’19 60w
“The story is rather better than many of the author’s recent books, and his readers will find considerable entertainment in its pages.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 7 ’20 300w The Times [London] Lit Sup p502 S 18 ’19 100w
BINNS, OTTWELL. Mating in the wilds. (Borzoi western stories). *$2 (2c) Knopf
20–15961
Hubert Stane, who has served a prison sentence on a false charge, is in the north woods. Here he meets Gerald Ainley, the man who was responsible for his sentence. Ainley apparently stands high in the estimation of Hudson Bay company officials and is a suitor for the hand of Helen Yardely, a beautiful English girl who is making a tour of the posts with her uncle. Helen is lost in the woods. Stane finds her and fate forces the two to spend long months of exile together. Helen takes naturally to primitive life and when Stane’s name is cleared the two are married at an English mission and continue their wilderness life.
“An exciting tale told with literary excellence beyond the average of adventure stories.”
+ N Y Times p25 Ag 29 ’20 550w
“It is all admirably and romantically told. Though we know the tale of old, it is still alive when the right chronicler takes it up; and Mr Binns never for a moment lets it flag.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p126 F 19 ’20 200w
BIRDSEYE, CLARENCE FRANK. American democracy versus Prussian Marxism. *$2.50 Revell 335
20–4906
“Clarence F. Birdseye, in a volume entitled ‘American democracy versus Prussian Marxism,’ presents what he calls ‘a study in the nature and results of purposive or beneficial government,’ his object being to warn his fellow-citizens of the great danger threatening the American form of government through the attacks that are being made upon it by Marxian socialists. In order to make clear the danger is real, and not fanciful, Mr Birdseye analyzes both governmental forms and shows conclusively that no tolerance of the Marxian idea can be permitted in this country without damage to American institutions and ideals.”—N Y Times
“In this compact little volume, rich in well selected facts and information throughout, the author has performed a useful service.” W. B. Guthrie
+ Am Pol Sci R 14:510 Ag ’20 420w N Y Times p31 S 5 ’20 90w R of Rs 61:560 My ’20 50w
BIRNBAUM, MARTIN. Introductions; painters, sculptors and graphic artists. il *$5 Sherman, F: Fairchild 704
20–2849
“Papers by an American critic on Beardsley, Conder, C. H. Shannon, C. Ricketts, Pakst, Dulac, Alfred Stevens, John Flaxman, and some younger American artists—Maurice Sterne, Paul Manship (sculptor), Alfred Sterner (painter, lithographer, etc.), Robert Blum (illustrator, decorator, pastellist), Edie Nadeloman (Polish sculptor), Kay Nielsen, the Danish water-colourist, Jules Pascrin, the Austrian satiric artist.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“The Aubrey Beardsley and Conder introductions may be taken as the perfect models for this form of art. Mr Birnbaum, himself, never quite arose to the same plane of detachment in his later writings. The citations, though brilliant, become too incessant and the authorities parading through the pages scarcely give each other elbow room. The feats of memory displayed are prodigious, comparable to those of Mr Huneker. In fact, stylistically, there is more than a suspicion that Mr Birnbaum is Mr Huneker’s child.” H: McBride
+ − Dial 68:371 Mr ’20 1850w
“To be graceful, informing, and readily understood was the problem. The author has solved it with sure literary tact and offers as well a fine criticism which was not in the bond.”
+ Review 2:184 F 21 ’20 350w + Springf’d Republican p8 S 10 ’20 580w The Times [London] Lit Sup p304 My 13 ’20 50w
BIRRELL, AUGUSTINE. Frederick Locker-Lampson. il *$8 Scribner
(Eng ed 20–14702)
“A kinship of spirit as well as relationship by marriage bound Mr Birrell and Locker-Lampson, and in every page of his character sketch, he reveals a sympathy that is both personal and professional. Few books are both more and less a biography than this. It is merely a series of impressions and appreciations. Less than half its opening pages contain the biographical matter, and then follow some fifty pages of letters from eminent literary men—including Thackeray, Dickens, Tennyson, Holmes, Ruskin, Hardy and Stevenson—which reveal the esteem in which Locker-Lampson was held by his contemporaries. The other material which completes the volume includes six letters written by him to his son at Eton, some family bookplates, bibliographical notes on the books in the famous Rowfant library, and a brief account of the Rowfant library at Cleveland, with a list of its publications.”—Boston Transcript
“Mr Birrell’s biography reads so queerly because it brings before us a real human being. It is not that he is more profound than others, or that he has a story to tell to which we cannot fail to listen. It is that the values of life are quite different from those of biography. There is such a thing as living. One of the chief merits of Mr Birrell’s method, which is a peculiar compound of wit and sanity, is that it reduces these nineteenth-century phantoms to human scale.” V. W.
+ Ath p201 Ag 13 ’20 1300w
“It has been a long time since ‘London lyrics’ first appeared, but none the less this intimate and accurate character sketch of their author has a genuine interest and value.” H: L. West
+ Bookm 52:73 S ’20 450w
“A gentle and a genial tribute, it may well be said, is this volume to the personality, the achievements and the memory of a rare being.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Je 30 ’20 1250w
“As a piece of book-making, the offering is admirable; as a book—! But Mr Birrell is a devoted chronicler and if, from these impeccable pages, his placid father-in-law emerges an even less interesting figure than he seemed before one’s perusal of his memorial, the meticulous chronicler himself can not escape scot-free.” L: Untermeyer
− + Freeman 2:163 O 27 ’20 750w
“Hitherto the best analysis of Locker’s work was to be found in the sympathetic study prepared by Austin Dobson in 1904. Mr Birrell’s sketch is ampler than Mr Dobson’s and it is also more discursive. It abounds in playful digressions and in pleasant irrelevancies.” Brander Matthews
+ N Y Times 25:14 Jl 11 ’20 2300w
“His sketch is somewhat discursive and casual, containing more background than definite statements, but it includes some agreeable Birrelling.”
+ − Sat R 129:588 Je 26 ’20 1000w
“Nowhere has he gossiped more charmingly; and if he cannot resist an occasional divagation from his main topic, his obiter dicta are as pleasant as ever.”
+ Spec 124:82 Jl 17 ’20 1500w + Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 18 ’20 650w
“In reading this book, and noticing how Mr Birrell is always sliding away from his subject to talk about himself, or about somebody or something other than Frederick Locker, you ask why he chose ‘Frederick Locker-Lampson: a character sketch’ for the title of a book that might just as properly have been called ‘Scraps,’ or ‘Chips,’ or ‘Jottings.’ In the end nevertheless, you feel that you have been unfair. Mr Birrell, in his odd, slipshod way, is a man of letters—at least a man who delights in letters; and he gives you a faint character sketch of Frederick Locker-Lampson.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p381 Je 17 ’20 1500w
BISHOP, CARLTON THOMAS.[[2]] Structural drafting and the design of details. il *$5 Wiley 744
20–4714
“The author was formerly chief draftsman to one of the largest bridge companies, and is now a professor at Yale university. Part 1 covers comprehensively the duties of the draftsman and what he should know in a general way about organization of plant and office, as well as a survey of the manufacture and fabrication of structural steel. Part 2 tells in detail about the technique of drawing, with special chapters devoted to beams, girders, trusses, bracing systems, bills, checking, etc. Part 3 deals closely with the theory and practice of designing different types of construction members.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
+ Booklist 17:102 D ’20
“To the student or inexperienced draftsman the book is invaluable. The experienced draftsman can hardly fail to add to his efficiency by reading it. The typography of the book is all that needs be desired. This, with the general excellence of the contents, will make it a standard in the field of structural drafting for some time to come.”
+ Engin News-Rec 84:1215 Je 17 ’20 1150w + Iron Age 105:1293 Ap 29 ’20 160w Mining & Scientific Press 121:33 Jl 3 ’20 110w
“On the whole we are inclined to name this the best book on the subject.”
+ N Y P L New Tech Bks p27 Ap ’20 170w Pratt p16 O ’20 20w
BISHOP, ERNEST SIMONS. Narcotic drug problem. *$1.50 Macmillan 613.8
20–1614
“‘It is becoming apparent that in spite of all the work which has been done there has been practically no change in the general situation, and there has been no solution of the drug problem.’ This is the conclusion of Dr Ernest S. Bishop, clinical professor of medicine in the New York polyclinic medical school. Two outstanding elements appear to Dr Bishop to have received insufficient consideration in the efforts to solve the narcotic drug problem. One of these elements is the suffering of the addict: the other is the nature of the physical disease with which he is afflicted. Dr Bishop asserts that the exploitation of human weakness and suffering would be checked on any large scale, if the disease created by continued administration of opiates were recognized and its physical demands comprehended and provided for in legitimate and relatively unobjectionable ways.... Dr Bishop also recommends the establishment under proper supervision and management of stations or clinics at which those who for financial or other reasons are unable to secure honest medical help, may obtain their necessary opiate at minimum expense without ‘resorting to underworld associations and illicit commerce.’”—Springf’d Republican
+ Cleveland p74 Ag ’20 50w
“Occasionally, very occasionally, one finds a book upon a somewhat technical subject which is not merely readable and informative, but actually liberating. Such a book is Dr Bishop’s discourse on the narcotic drug problem.”
+ No Am 211:428 Mr ’20 850w Review 3:112 Ag 4 ’20 130w
“A criticism of the book might well be directed against its redundancy. Nor does it appear just what type of audience he had in mind when inditing his message. Obviously it is not intended for the narcotic drug addict. If addressed to the physician, it is incomplete and fragmentary. If meant for the layman only casually interested in the problem, the message should have had greater emotional appeal.” H. E. K.
+ − Social Hygiene 6:586 O ’20 480w
“Dr Bishop’s study of the situation is scientific, thorough and humane. It will authoritatively inform the public regarding a subject on which enlightenment is needed.
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ja 29 ’20 800w
“The real problems of the narcotic drug situation are related to the origin and prevention of heroin and cocaine addictions and the treatment and after-care of those so addicted. This book avoids these questions and is sterile of information on these essential points of the narcotic drug problem.” Medicus
+ − Survey 44:253 My 15 ’20 450w
BISHOP, H. C. W. Kut prisoner. (On active service ser.) il *$1.50 (3c) Lane 940.47
20–5240
The author, a subaltern of the Indian army reserve of officers, gives an account of prison life at Kastamuni in Asia Minor, and of his escape in company with three other officers, their recapture, and rescue by Turkish brigands and their voyage across the Black sea in a small boat, to the Russian border and freedom. Contents: Ctesiphon; Kut; From Kut to Kastamuni; Life in Kastamuni; Escape from Kastamuni; The first night; On the hills; Slow progress; Bluffing the peasants; Reaching the coast; Recaptured; Rescued; In hiding with the Turks; Continued delays; Three days on the Black sea; The Crimea and home; Friends in captivity. There are maps, illustrations and appendices.
“The book is interesting.”
+ Ath p386 Mr 19 ’20 30w + Boston Transcript p8 S 15 ’20 250w
“Mr Bishop describes his adventures simply and clearly, and his book is worth reading.”
+ Spec 124:216 F 14 ’20 70w The Times [London] Lit Sup p90 F 5 ’20 60w
BISHOP, JOSEPH BUCKLIN. Theodore Roosevelt and his time shown in his own letters. 2v il *$10 Scribner
20–17013
“Seven years ago, when Theodore Roosevelt published his ‘Autobiography,’ he prefixed to it a foreword, which began with this sentence. ‘Naturally, there are chapters of my autobiography which cannot now be written.’ Yet he had written from day to day, on the spur of the moment, in his frank letters to one or another of his multitude of friends, the very passages which he could not give to the public while he was still in the thick of the fight. And it is these passages which enliven and illuminate the two volumes which Mr Bishop has now selected and set in order, and explained and annotated. The work was begun while Roosevelt still lived; it had his complete approval; parts of it were read to him and amplified from his recollections.”—N Y Times
“The biography which will be most worth while to libraries.”
+ Booklist 17:68 N ’20
“One of the most notable works of the season is Joseph Bucklin Bishop’s ‘Theodore Roosevelt.’” Margaret Ashmun
+ Bookm 52:345 D ’20 140w
“With perfect taste and judgment Mr Bishop has stood aside and allowed the story to be told through Roosevelt’s letters. He has made an excellent book, important, always readable and often extremely amusing. With the ‘Autobiography’ and Mr Thayer’s book, the present work, ‘Theodore Roosevelt and his time’ is one of the three indispensable books on this subject. With Mr Huneker’s ‘Steeplejack,’ it is one of the two best American biographies of this year.” E. L. Pearson
+ Boston Transcript p5 O 23 ’20 2750w
“It is a work of notable artistic merit. Perhaps fifty years hence it may generally be conceded that this book preserves what is important in ‘the true Theodore Roosevelt’s’ character. At present one cannot help feeling that Mr Bishop’s figure of rugged integrity, unerring rectitude, and loftiest patriotism has been shorn of some of its beams.” S. P. Sherman
+ − Nation 112:18 Ja 5 ’21 2500w
“A difficult task has been accomplished triumphantly, and the result is a portrait of Roosevelt by himself, set in an editorial frame which is artistically unobstructive. Mr Bishop has given us a work which does for one president of the United States what was done for an earlier president by the publication of Grant’s ‘Personal memoirs.’ And neither of these great men would object to the comparison.” Brander Matthews
+ N Y Times p4 O 3 ’20 2300w
“There are a few little errors, nothing of consequence. But the book is undoubtedly partisan; which does not prevent it from being a thoroughly good and complete biography.” C: W. Thompson
+ − N Y Times p5 O 3 ’20 3450w
“It is a work after Roosevelt’s own heart, the sort of record that he himself would have endorsed just as it stands, showing him in the full strength and weakness of his very human quality.” F: T. Cooper
+ Pub W 98:1196 O 16 ’20 480w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
+ Review 3:314 O 13 ’20 340w
“These two volumes, as they stand, will serve not only for the present time but for future generations.”
+ R of Rs 62:669 D ’20 280w
“Mr Bishop has succeeded in giving us two volumes of great value and readability.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:236 D ’20 110w (Reprinted from Atlantic D ’20)
BISHOP, LOUIS FAUGÈRES. Heart troubles; their prevention and relief. il *$3.50 Funk 616.1
20–13070
A book written in popular style and addressed to the layman. The author believes that a patient is entitled to the full confidence of his physician and thinks that in heart disease “the educated patient can help more when wisely advised than in almost any other form of disease.” The book is in two parts: Physiological and symptomatic, and Therapeutic. The final chapter is devoted to Nursing in heart troubles. The book is illustrated and indexed and there is a one-page list of collateral reading. The author is professor of the heart and circulatory diseases, Fordham university, New York city.
+ Cath World 112:410 D ’20 90w
“The immediate effect of this sane and sensible work should be a wider dissemination of modern knowledge of the heart, its affections and their treatment; the ultimate result should be a reduction in the alarming death rate from heart disease in the United States.” V. B. Thorne
+ N Y Times p17 Ag 29 ’20 3000w
“A ‘doctor book’ of an unusual sort and one which will be found of great interest and of much practical value.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 2 ’20 130w
BISPHAM, DAVID SCULL. Quaker singer’s recollections. il *$4 Macmillan
20–1629
“For thirty years and more David Bispham has been prominent, here and abroad, as a baritone of note, a singing actor, and an advocate of the use of English speech in opera. In these recollections he has packed into one volume the record of a long and busy life—a life of many strange and varied experiences. Unlike most men who have their hour in opera, he has had his in society. He has traveled far and wide, and mixed with people who were worth knowing and far-famed in many ways. To this it may be added, unreservedly, that he has more than an instinctive turn for setting down, in plain but vivid words, what he would tell.”—Review
Booklist 16:241 Ap ’20
“The style, unfortunately, is plainly that of a singer, and wavers continually between the exclamatory and the sentimental.”
+ − Dial 68:402 Mr ’20 90w
“While Mr Bispham’s book may appeal primarily to singers and students of singing, it is none the less a valuable text book for students of the drama.”
+ Drama 10:356 Jl ’20 140w
“It is an interesting volume full of the writer’s personality written with more literary skill and taste than many such books, giving many sidelights on the musical life of the period of which it treats.” R: Aldrich
+ N Y Times 25:6 F 29 ’20 2150w
“If we were disappointed in David Bispham’s ‘A Quaker singer’s recollections,’ it was not because of lack of thoroughness, but because that delightful singer’s fund of anecdote has not been used to advantage.”
+ − N Y Times 25:192 Ap 18 ’20 80w
“A singer who can write with ease and style is rarer than that rare bird, the black swan. One artist of the kind is David Bispham.” C: H: Meltzer
+ Review 2:289 Mr 20 ’20 950w R of Rs 61:333 Mr ’20 100w
“An excellent volume of reminiscences.”
+ Spec 124:694 My 22 ’20 780w
“He has perhaps not grasped the first bitter truth to be learned by an author that of all the countless incidents which his own mind makes picturesque in retrospect only those are interesting which he can make picturesque to others. The bald stretches, however, are only occasional.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p233 Ap 15 ’20 850w
BISS, GERALD. Door of the unreal. *$2 (3c) Putnam
20–19179
Strange disappearances are common in fact and in fiction, sometimes involving equally strange explanations, but surely in either realm, nothing could rival the solution of the mystery of this story. Of the four people who completely vanish from a well-traveled English road about midnight of a moonlight night, the only one who is ever seen again is Tony Ballingdon, and he is found unconscious and bruised in a nearby wood. Lincoln Osgood, an American who happens to be on the scene, makes a study of the case and soon forms a theory which proves to be the correct one, altho so weird and uncanny is it that he himself can hardly credit it. It is based on lycanthropy and its strange lore: in fact, it presupposes the existence in the neighborhood of two werewolves, Prof. Lycurgus Wolff and his old servant. By his knowledge of the subject Osgood prevents further tragedy and frees Dorothy, Wolff’s daughter, from the curse that is threatening her.
“With the understanding that the solution of the mystery of the novel lies along the lines of lycanthropy, the reader finds before him a smoothly written, straightforward narrative, lucid and compelling in its admirable simplicity, and endowed with that sustained interest which before anything else connotes a good story.”
+ N Y Times p23 S 19 ’20 760w
“A readable yarn it is.”
+ Review 3:350 O 20 ’20 330w
BLACHLY, CLARENCE DAN. Treatment of the problem of capital and labor in social-study courses in the churches. *50c Univ. of Chicago press 330.7
20–2984
“The social-study movement in the churches of America has developed on lines both sound and broad in recent years, and a review of its present status would be decidedly helpful. Mr Blachly, however, has found the material so large that in the present essay he confines himself to only one aspect of that movement. He presents an analysis of several hundred pamphlets and reports, replies to questionnaires and letters of inquiry, the texts of the social study courses used in the leading Protestant churches, the principal church magazines and other literature. He distinguishes five methods of approach to the discussion of capital and labor by the churches: deductive study which he finds as a rule incomplete and non-conclusive; controversial discussion, especially the adoption of a definite political or economic platform, which is dangerous to church harmony; control of experience through attitude of mind and heart, i.e., emphasis on the spiritual rather than the legal control of conditions; scientific, critical examination—which is rare because the religious attitude is as different from that of the student as it is from that of the legislator; the incorporation of modern, scientific and sociological facts into teaching that is primarily religious. Evidently, the author’s preference is for the last named method.”—Survey
+ Booklist 17:10 O ’20 (Adapted from Survey 43:781 Mr 20 ’20)
“This is a valuable summary of information for the student of the teaching of organized religion on present-day problems of the social life and a suggestive criticism of the different policies that have been adopted.” B. L.
+ Survey 43:781 Mr 20 ’20 330w
BLACK, HUGH.[[2]] Lest we forget. *$1.50 Revell 824
“In the eleven chapters which make up this book the author discusses among other things the meaning of the victory, a democracy safe for the world, patriotism, true and false, peace and pacifism, the binding of the nations and the English-speaking peoples. In the chapter on the binding of the nations he says: ‘All men of goodwill must recognize that the plan for a league of nations is inspired with their highest ideal, and they can make it invincible.’”—Springf’d Republican
N Y Evening Post p24 O 23 ’20 90w N Y Times p21 N 14 ’20 120w + Springf’d Republican p8 D 21 ’20 280w
BLAKE, A. H. Things seen in London. il *$1.35 Dutton 914.21
20–26316
“This book is a pocket-sized volume, belonging to the Things seen series, which contains descriptive and historical chapters on points of special interest with post-card sized illustrations.”—Booklist
Booklist 16:239 Ap ’20 + Spec 122:546 O 25 ’19 40w
“It hardly exhausts the city. But it is a good introductory description, written by a person who appreciates historic flavor. The little book is well illustrated.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 F 18 ’20 120w
BLAKEMORE, ARTHUR WALKER.[[2]] Make your will. *$1.25 Appleton 347.6
20–22318
The book is “a guide to the drafting of a valid will under the laws of any state.” (Sub-title) In the introduction the reasons for making a will, its essentials, and definitions of the terms used are given. The other chapters are: Form and essentials; Provisions of will; Execution of will; Codicils; After execution of will. The book is indexed and has an appendix containing a synopsis of laws affecting wills for every state.
BLANCHARD, PHYLLIS MARY. Adolescent girl. *$2.50 Moffat 136.7
20–8047
“A pioneering into the field of girl life in a direction, says Dr G. Stanley Hall in his preface, which his studies took with the adolescent boy. The book is a summary of the main theories of Fichte, Schelling, Von Hartmann, Bergson, Freud, Trotter, Adler, Jung, Maeder and others.”—Booklist
“More helpful to the serious student than Evans [‘Problem of the nervous child’] because of its carefully selected chapter bibliographies.”
+ Booklist 16:302 Je ’20
“Unfortunately, she does not resist the temptation to adopt the evangelistic tone. Although ostensibly based on the findings of Freud, Jung and Adler, there is never any suggestion that their researches may ultimately lead to a questioning of some of our moral standards. But this is an eminently safe book.” Fola La Follette
− + Freeman 1:621 S 8 ’20 1100w
“To the reviewer the book commends itself most particularly on account of the richness of first-hand clinical material, put in a simple, readable manner, the frankness with which the author has handled the subject of the instinctive determinants of conduct, and finally because it reflects throughout a ‘mental hygienic’ rather than a therapeutic aim.” Bernard Glueck
+ Mental Hygiene 4:974 O ’20 800w
“The chief value of Miss Blanchard’s work is in line with her own real interest, philosophy. Busy workers with girls, who may feel that their knowledge of the main developments of psychoanalysis is rather vague, and who wish to know some of its real possibilities in their own field, will find this a useful and interesting introduction.” M. E. Moxcey
+ − Social Hygiene 6:584 O ’20 350w
“She endeavors to give a social direction to her material. But it remains a good deal of a jumble.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 70w
Reviewed by A. E. Morey
+ Survey 45:369 D 4 ’20 560w
BLAND, JOHN OTWAY PERCY. Men, manners and morals in South America. il *$4.50 Scribner 918
(Eng ed 20–14550)
“This book is the outcome of two or three journeys which Mr Bland, the author of several books on China, made to South America in the course of the war. They took him to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) “He protests against the ‘blue-book stodginess’ of many works which deal with that portion of the western hemisphere south of the equator. It is undeniable that the general reader wants, not dry particulars of South American trades, industries, and manufacturing possibilities, but silhouettes of the men and women and their social life; descriptions of the prairies and forests, of mountain gorges and the ‘everlasting hills.’ Mr Bland, who portrays numerous types of South American humanity, and spiritedly describes the places he has visited, successfully avoids the faults to which his strictures apply.” (Ath)
“His book is heartily to be commended.”
+ Ath p687 My 21 ’20 100w + Booklist 17:25 O ’20
“All that he tells is well worth the reading.” E. J. C.
+ Boston Transcript p8 Je 12 ’20 550w
“Tho rambling in manner and somewhat cynical in tone, is an illuminating introduction to a little understood part of the world.”
+ − Ind 104:68 O 9 ’20 60w
“In no place in the present work has he attained or even attempted that subtlety of characterization, that inimitable charm of description which enchants us in Hudson. The outsides of people he has faithfully observed and studiously catalogued; the insides he has missed. Not that there are lacking passages of rare beauty and memorable description in the present work. Had Mr Bland chosen any other theme than this one, which has already been covered by a master, his volume would stand out as an unusual contribution to the literature of travel.” H. L. Varney
+ − N Y Times p16 Ag 15 ’20 1700w
“He writes because he likes writing, and as he writes very brightly the reader has no cause to complain. He conjures up people and customs that were strange to him in phrases of so much colour, point, and pungency that we are well content to see them with his eyes.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p198 Mr 25 ’20 1100w
BLAND, OLIVER. Adventures of a modern occultist. *$2 Dodd 133
20–17101
To acquire psychic power, says the author, presupposes certain unusual natural gifts and the object of the volume is to render assistance to those possessing such gifts. It contains disclosures of hidden facts which have been abiding their time for years in the author’s notebooks, and which are of interest to the spiritualist, the theosophist, and the student of psychic research. Contents: The dead rapper; The automatist; Astral light and psycho-lastrometer; An experiment on the theory of protective vibration; Sex in the next world; The reality of sorcery; Incense and occultism; Beasts and elementals; Possession; Some new facts and theories; Oriental occultism.
BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE.[[2]] Enemies of women (Los enemigos de la mujer); tr. from the Spanish by Irving Brown. *$2.15 Dutton
20–19241
“In a fairy-like villa on the Mediterranean, Prince Lubimoff, a Russian Apollo, surfeited with luxury and liasons, gathers a group of friends,—a savant, a soldier, and a musician,—in order to live in calm contemplation, free from the most disturbing element in life—the feminine. These ‘enemies of women,’ as they style themselves, start with a sense of satiated superiority that makes renunciation easy, but the gradual defection of each from the code and the coterie forms an intriguing study of human nature and its inevitabilities. In the end, all the ‘enemies of women’ have succumbed to the eternal feminine and chiefly because of it have gone to fight on the side of idealism, even that incorrigible epicurean, the Russian prince, losing an arm in the Foreign legion and gaining some semblance of a soul.”—Pub W
“Taking it by the large, the book, though not without its weak spots, is a decided improvement over the two that went before it in point of time, and thus provides a genuine climax to the trilogy.” I. G.
+ − Boston Transcript p8 N 6 ’20 1350w
“While the book is a colorful, cross-section of the hectic war and post-war fragments of European civilization, it lacks the directed drive of the ‘Four horsemen’ and ‘Mare nostrum,’ as well as the concentration of theme and treatment of the Spanish stories.” Clement Wood
+ − N Y Call p10 Ja 16 ’21 200w
“The book is so full of splendid, glowing color, so rich in characters, each one clearly set forth and individualized—it has so many dramatic scenes, so many statements upon which one would like to comment, that to choose among them is extraordinarily difficult. That the book is beautifully written, and the descriptions of scenery remarkable, goes, of course, without saying.”
+ N Y Times p22 O 31 ’20 1300w
“Blasco Ibáñez has, with master hand, painted a broad, crowded canvas, teeming with life and glowing with primary colors. It is undeniably a strong book and thoroly characteristic of the author, tho with rather an over-emphasis on the sensual side and coronetted classes, and with different ethical values from those to which the Anglo-Saxon mind is trained.” Katharine Perry
+ Pub W 98:1888 D 18 ’20 410w
BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE. Mexico in revolution; tr. by Arthur Livingston and José Padin. *$2 Dutton 972
20–12284
“The author of the ‘Four horsemen of the Apocalypse’ happens to be one of the few Spaniards of distinction who have recently visited the United States. That he should prove to be a journalist as well as a novelist occasioned some surprise among his admirers in this country. His visit to Mexico was distinctly a journalistic enterprise, the outcome of which was a series of articles printed in the New York Times and other important newspapers and now brought out in book form.”—R of Rs
“Statements cited as facts are sometimes based on hearsay, or incomplete knowledge. The style is that of a vigorous piece of reporting, particularly in the vividness of the personalities portrayed.”
+ − Booklist 17:24 O ’20 Cath World 112:401 D ’20 260w
“It is interesting reading, and is, of course, excellently written. The book is of only temporary interest, however, and from the standpoint of historical study will be of little or no value.”
+ − Grinnell R 15:262 O ’20 100w
“His shrewd, quick-glancing political insight, his wit, his sense of the picturesque, his fundamental common sense views of life and the smooth, even flow of his style are all illustrated at their best in his little book on ‘Mexico in revolution.’”
+ Ind 104:244 N 13 ’20 320w
“Señor Ibáñez owes a great deal to his translators. They had an inspiring task, for Ibáñez is a born journalist of the highest type, and the swift rush of his narrative, the power of terse description, the characterization, the wit to ‘make you see it,’ should be a spur to any translator.”
+ N Y Times 25:10 Jl 25 ’20 3800w
“Ibáñez will seem to the friends of the Mexican people to have erred as badly in going to the opposite extreme [from the radical position]. Yet Ibáñez’ picture, even if overdrawn, is an honest one. It is a depressing picture if one accepts it as it stands. But the artist has overcharged his canvas.” W. J. Ghent
+ − Review 3:212 S 8 ’20 800w
“Señor Blasco Ibáñez is gifted with a ‘nose for news’ and an unusual ability to give literary form to his observations and impressions. In short, he is a first-rate reporter. He employed his time in Mexico to good advantage.”
+ R of Rs 62:333 S ’20 140w
BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE. Woman triumphant (La maja desnuda); tr. from the Spanish by Hayward Keniston; with a special introductory note by the author. *$1.90 Dutton
20–7292
“The central theme concerns the intimate tragedy of a great painter, Renovales, who, beholding the loveliness of his young wife, persuades her to pose for him, promising that the picture shall be destroyed. But when his inspired hand has added the last brush-stroke, Renovales knows that this is his master piece, and when exhibited will bring him fame. The wife, however, in a sudden revulsion of outraged dignity, flings herself on the picture and slashes it into ribbons. Her act cleaves asunder the artist’s two-fold worship. Meanwhile, a blight has fallen upon the wife’s former beauty. With pitiful futility she admits to herself that he might freely paint and exhibit her if only it would bring back her vanished charm. Yet she clings to life until the day when she becomes aware that even his technical fidelity is at an end. But when the prematurely old and faded wife is dead and buried, the memory of her comes back to haunt Renovales with the elusive charm of her girlhood. And it is borne in upon him that while pursuing unattainable desires he has missed the best life had to offer, and that now it is forever too late.”—Pub W
“‘Woman triumphant’ is, if one may say so without sounding dogmatic, one of the three great novels by Blasco Ibáñez that will endure. There are power, irony, depth and greatness in this novel. Josefina is one of Blasco Ibáñez’s few convincing portrayals of women, and Renovales is not merely an artist type, but a flesh and blood creature. The atmosphere is vibrant with interest, there are admirable pages of art-criticism, and the ever attractive scenes out of Bohemia.” I: Goldberg
+ Boston Transcript p10 My 1 ’20 1300w Dial 69:102 Jl ’20 130w
“It shares the vivid pictorial quality, the sweeping rhetorical strokes characteristic of his fiction, but the slightness of its structure, tenuity of its philosophy and a certain morbidity of theme relegate it to the secondary rank among his novels. There is too much in the book that has this charnel-house atmosphere, and while it has unmistakable power, power does not redeem it.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p2 Ap 24 ’20 850w
“Vicente Blasco Ibáñez is the great storyteller of today. In sheer ability to narrate, to make even the minutest analyses of the thought-processes of his characters part of his action, he stands peerless. ‘Woman triumphant’ only serves to emphasize those traits which have brought him enthusiastic homage before. The translation, like the original, is far above the average.” T. R. Ybarra
+ + N Y Times 25:198 Ap 18 ’20 950w
Reviewed by F: T. Cooper
Pub W 97:1287 Ap 17 ’20 450w
“What moves us in it is that for all their blundering and wantonness something real and abiding has sprung from the union of Renovales and his maja.” H. W. Boynton
+ Review 2:520 My 15 ’20 500w
“Despite an inherent tendency to sensationalism, ‘Woman triumphant’ may be enjoyed for keen interpretation of human nature, sustained romantic creation, strong plot and vigorous action.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a My 30 ’20 500w
BLEYER, WILLARD GROSVENOR. How to write special feature articles. *$2.25 Houghton 070
20–5605
“A handbook for reporters, correspondents and free-lance writers who desire to contribute to popular magazines and magazine sections of newspapers.” (Sub-title) “The book is the result of twelve years’ experience in teaching university students to write special feature articles for newspapers and popular magazines.... The success that these students have achieved leads the author to believe that others who desire to write special articles may be aided by the suggestions given in this book.” (Preface) A careful analysis of current practices is the basis of the methods presented and an effort has been made to show the application of the principles of composition to the writing of articles. The book falls into two parts of which the second is devoted to a collection of typical newspaper and magazine articles, with an outline for the analysis of them. Part 1 contains: The field for special articles; Preparation for special feature writing; Finding subjects and material; Appeal and purpose; Types of articles; Writing the article; How to begin; Style; Titles and headlines; Preparing and selling the manuscript; Photographs and other illustrations. There is an index.
+ Booklist 17:47 N ’20 + Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 240w
BLISS, DANIEL. Reminiscences of Daniel Bliss; ed. and supplemented by his eldest son. il *$2.25 Revell
20–20532
“Daniel Bliss is not a name of resounding fame, and yet the man who bore it lived a long and useful life, reaching well into its ninth decade, and this long life was for the most part spent in doing good to his fellowman. This book is largely an autobiography written, it is believed, wholly from memory, in his eighty-second year. His life was the life of a missionary, a teacher and the founder and president of the Syrian Protestant college at Beirut. He was born in August, 1823, in Vermont, the son of a farmer of the olden time. In his own language Mr Bliss records many incidents of his childhood. He follows these anecdotes with the story of his school life, his apprenticeship to a tanner, his course later at the academy and at Amherst, where he was graduated in 1852. It was during his college course that he became interested in missions and resolved to become a missionary. Soon after his graduation he received ordination to the ministry. Three years later he was married, and with his wife sailed for his lifework in Syria.”—Boston Transcript
+ Boston Transcript p6 O 9 ’20 340w N Y Evening Post p9 O 30 ’20 120w Outlook 126:421 N 3 ’20 1450w
“Exceedingly readable book. There is something extremely restful and benign in the manner and matter of the narration.”
+ Spec 125:674 N 20 ’20 300w
“One of the most interesting biographies of the year.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 N 19 ’20 700w
BLOCKSIDGE, ERNEST WALTER. Ships’ boats. il *$9 (*25s) Longmans 623.8
20–13582
“The first detailed text-book on this important subject. It follows mainly the requirements and classification of the British Board of trade and aims to deal essentially with practical applications and to avoid all abstruse theory. Form, stability, strength and capacity are carefully considered. Constructional details of the various classes are given and there are chapters on timbers, pontoon boats, motorboats, nested boats, and sail-boats; lifting and lowering appliances, buoyancy air-cases; miscellaneous equipment; galvanizing methods, painting, repairs and maintenance, fire and boat drifts, and stowage and transporting arrangements. The book is illustrated with photographs and line details. The author is ship surveyor to Lloyd’s register.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
“Mr Blocksidge presents for the first time a complete and authoritative work on a very important branch of naval construction.” C. M. Peabody
+ Int Marine Engineering 25:774 S ’20 1700w N Y P L New Tech Bks p31 Ap ’20 100w Spec 124:54 Jl 10 ’20 180w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p109 F 12 ’20 60w
BLOOD, BENJAMIN PAUL. Pluriverse; an essay in the philosophy of pluralism; with an introd. by Horace Meyer Kallen. *$2.50 Jones, Marshall 191
20–9219
“In 1874 Blood wrote and circulated a pamphlet entitled ‘The anaesthetic revelation and the gist of philosophy,’ which brought him into correspondence with Tennyson and Gurney, Emerson and Sir William Ramsay, Stirling and James. In the last years of his life he returned to the topic, and the result is ‘Pluriverse,’ posthumously published. The central point of the book is simple enough. It is that philosophy is ‘of all our vanities the motliest,’ and that the ‘satisfaction’ which it seeks, the sense of security through insight into the mystery of being, is not to be obtained through argument and reasoning but through the illumination or revelation which comes under the influence of anaesthetics.”—New Repub
“Another obscure volume is added to the literature of philosophy. And this will have to be acknowledged despite the fact that the diction of the author is in many places very beautiful, and his thoughts very often exceedingly suggestive.” F. W. C.
− + Boston Transcript p8 Je 12 ’20 570w
“Blood, in thorough keeping with the best in American philosophy, thinks waveringly and writes excellently.” E. P.
− + Dial 70:109 Ja ’21 200w
“Even Dr Kallen’s interesting and sympathetic introduction does not convince me that the aftermath was worth gathering in.... At any rate, most sane and reasonable men do not gather their religion in the obscure by-ways of abnormal experience, and one cannot help feeling that Blood’s memory would have been better served had it been allowed to live only through the pages of William James.” R. F. A. H.
− + New Repub 24:332 N 24 ’20 1250w
BLOOMFIELD, DANIEL, comp. Selected articles on modern industrial movements. (Handbook ser.) *$1.80 Wilson, H. W. 330.4
20–1961
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
Am Econ R 10:363 Je ’20 40w + Booklist 17:93 D ’20
“The selection on the whole is a fair and representative one. There is an exceptionally complete bibliography.”
+ Nation 110:774 Je 5 ’20 220w
“The editor seems to have been able to detach himself from any bias in making his selections. An excellent bibliography is presented, and an index completes what is, on the whole, a very useful documentary work. If the other volumes in the series maintain the standard set by this one they will prove valuable as a source of reference and study.” James Oneal
+ N Y Call p10 My 2 ’20 420w N Y Times 25:196 Ap 18 ’20 30w
“As in all compilations of broad scope and limited size, the judicious but fallible editor has included things that he might have left out, and excluded things that he should have put in, and none of his readers will be altogether satisfied; but for all that, he has set before them some good material, for which those who have appetite for industrial problems should be truly thankful.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ − Review 3:504 N 24 ’20 230w
“The compiler has made a discriminating selection of material. Papers on Bolshevism give a much needed insight into that creed, and tend to check the trouble-breeding application of the term to all radicals. Both the student and the man of business will find here ample material on which to base intelligent conclusions.”
+ Scientific American 122:476 Ap 24 ’20 130w
“Throughout an attempt is made to treat controversial subjects from various points of vision. Least successful in this respect is the chapter on Bolshevism, particularly as it relates to the achievements of the Soviet government. On the whole, however, the cream of the literature on both sides is impartially presented.” H. W. L.
+ − Socialist R 8:252 Mr ’20 120w + Springf’d Republican p10 My 6 ’20 70w Survey 44:312 My 29 ’20 100w
“The reader is left free to make his own deductions from the fund of valuable information contained therein. The selected bibliography which starts the volume is a real contribution to literature on the subject of industrial relations.”
+ Textile World 57:30 My 15 ’20 160w The Times [London] Lit Sup p741 N 11 ’20 50w
BLOOMFIELD, DANIEL, comp. and ed. Selected articles on problems of labor. (Handbook ser.) *$1.80 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 331.8
20–9366
This is volume 3 of Mr Bloomfield’s series of books on industrial relations following “Employment management” and “Modern industrial movements.” The compiler has selected for reprint the best of the recent material on the subject, grouping this material under the headings: Causes of friction and unrest; Cost of living; Methods of compensation; Hours of work; Tenure of employment; Trade unionism; Labor disputes and adjustment; Limitation of output; Industrial insurance; Housing; Methods of promoting industrial peace; Occupational hygiene; Women in industry. Bibliographies have been provided for each subject and there is an index. Meyer Bloomfield writes an introduction.
Am Econ R 10:607 S ’20 50w
Reviewed by R. W. Stone
+ Am J Soc 26:242 S ’20 200w
“All phases of the labor problem are ably and concisely treated.”
+ Am Machinist Jl 8 ’20 120w Booklist 17:10 O ’20 Springf’d Republican p10 Ap 24 ’20 200w
“This series has become indispensable for those who, unable to maintain a large filing system of their own, wish to keep important articles on industrial topics that appear in the periodicals.” B. L.
+ Survey 44:638 Ag 16 ’20 140w
BLOUNT, BERTRAM; WOODCOCK, WILLIAM H.; and GILLETT, HENRY J. Cement. il *$6 (*18s) Longmans 691.5
20–13877
“The present volume forms one of the series of Monographs on industrial chemistry which is being edited by Sir Edward Thorpe, F.R.S., and published by Messrs Longmans. The book contains an introduction, thirteen chapters, and five appendices. In the introduction it is explained that, although cements may vary in chemical nature from casein to iron oxide, yet, by common consent and because of the enormous practical importance of calcareous cements, the term cement, used without qualification, is restricted to them; and it is of calcareous cements alone that the book treats. There are, as Mr Blount points out, numerous varieties of such cements, but they all fall into two groups, (1) the calcium silicate group, and (2) the calcium sulphate group, the first being typified by Portland cement and the second by plaster of Paris. Strictly speaking, it is with the first group alone that the author is concerned.”—Engineer
“This is a welcome addition to what may be described as the ‘popular’ literature on cement. There is indeed much in the book that should cause the cement manufacturer of today to think.” S. G. S. Panisset
+ Concrete 17:130 O ’20 640w (Reprinted from British Chemical Industry)
“One has become accustomed to connect Mr Blount’s name with novel and interesting points of view on a variety of matters and we are not surprised, therefore, to find that he has in large measure treated his subject in a manner quite different from that adopted by any previous author.”
+ Engineer 130:280 S 17 ’20 2250w
“Rather fuller references to continental and American methods would have been welcome. A very useful book.” C. H. Desch
+ − Nature 106:3 S 2 ’20 820w + N Y P L New Tech Bks p48 Jl ’20 100w
BLÜCHER VON WAHLSTATT, EVELYN MARY (STAPLETON BRETHERTON) VON. English wife in Berlin. *$6 Dutton 940.343
21–600
“Evelyn, Princess Blücher, English wife of the great-grandson of the famous marshal of Waterloo, lived throughout the war among her husband’s people, mainly in Berlin, and set down a record of what she heard, saw, thought and felt. As one of that strange colony of distinguished internationals who were war-bound in the German capital, she met everybody of note and enjoyed exceptional advantages for seeing what was going on behind the scenes during those eventful and tragic years. She saw the war also as the country-folk saw it, for she was frequently at the Blücher family seat in Silesia; and at the same time she played a useful rôle in the care of the British prisoners and wounded.”—Freeman
Ath p107 Jl 23 ’20 520w
“There is nothing stale or war-worn in this account.” Margaret Ashmun
+ Bookm 52:346 D ’20 70w
“Remarkably shrewd and impartial record.” C. R. Hargrove
+ Freeman 2:283 D 1 ’20 1000w
“Almost alone of the chronicles that have come out of the enemy country, her diary presents a portrayal of events that is neither envenomed by partisanship nor warped by propagandist intention.” Amy Loveman
+ N Y Evening Post p14 D 4 ’20 1050w
“Takes high rank among the really worthwhile books of the war.”
+ N Y Times p28 D 26 ’20 920w
“Princess Blücher’s book adds hardly any fact of importance or of permanent historical value. The author saw German life during the war from only a few angles. The attraction of the book for the general public lies almost wholly in the appeal which it makes to persons who are interested in people of title for the title’s sake.”
− + Review 3:654 D 29 ’20 260w R of Rs 62:672 D ’20 90w
“This book, simply written by an English lady, with a decided sense of humour and deep religious faith, is far more amusing and informative than the many documented narratives of the famous war correspondents, because it is written from the centre of things in Germany, and has no political or partisan object.”
+ Sat R 130:73 Jl 24 ’20 1050w + Spec 124:84 Jl 17 ’20 2400w
“Its tone is moderate, neither violently pro-English or anti-German.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 N 25 ’20 980w
“This is not exactly an important book, but it is one of the most interesting of those that have been written about life in Germany during the war. Princess Blücher writes with ease, sympathy, and charm, but no special distinction.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p411 Jl 1 ’20 2250w
BLUNDELL, MARY E. (SWEETMAN) (MRS FRANCIS BLUNDELL) (M. E. FRANCIS, pseud.).[[2]] Beck of Beckford. *$2 Kenedy
(Eng ed 20–23029)
“The Becks of Beckford were baronets—alternatively Sir John and Sir Roger—and through an honest endeavour to repay money that had been embezzled by a member of the family they have come down in the world and live as hardworking farming folk. Young Sir Roger, the Beck of Beckford of the story, after school and Oxford, comes back to the farm; and instead of marrying an American heiress with whom he fell in love, wins through his hardships and difficulties by hard work.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“The book is wholesome and pleasant enough, but seems best suited to readers who are still at the naïve and unexacting age.”
+ − Cath World 112:550 Ja ’21 100w
“This is a simple, pretty tale, but saved from insignificance by the skill which never fails this novelist.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p386 Je 17 ’20 120w
BODENHEIM, MAXWELL. Advice; a book of poems. *$1.25 Knopf 811
20–16518
Among the titles are: Advice to a street-pavement; Advice to a buttercup; Foundry workers; Rattlesnake mountain fable; Advice to a butterfly; Fifth avenue; Boarding house episode; Steel mills; South Chicago. Some of the poems have appeared in the Yale Review, Smart Set, New Republic, Touchstone and other magazines.
“Mr Bodenheim uses words in a cryptic, esoteric fashion, attaching to them meanings of his own, as though they were his private property and not the common possession of the race.”
− Ath p614 N 5 ’20 140w
“Mr Bodenheim has proved himself a very capable artist. Once the reader is willing to lend a bit of sympathy to his theory there is much to enjoy in his poems. The clew to their virtues may be a little difficult to get, the harmony may seem discordant, the images a trifle confusing and fantastic, but careful discernment will bring unity out of the picture, and with a vivid phase of imaginative suggestion.” W: S. Braithwaite
+ Boston Transcript p3 N 27 ’20 1050w
“His unfailing sentiment for things leads him at moments whimsically to indulge both word and thought with frantic gestures, even occasionally with unworthy figures of speech. Such tricks, although they often steal distinction from surprise, wear out the power of the brain to respond and eventually develop a resentment toward the kind of verse that leaves us jaded. But it must be observed that Mr Bodenheim has not made a habit of these literary capers; as occasional lapses, his can be condoned.” Stewart Mitchell
+ − Dial 69:645 D ’20 1100w
“There is not a single piece in the volume that fails to possess a fresh outlook, a precious intellectual attitude; but these are labored over and strained at so painstakingly that whatever poetry existed in the original concept has long left, and only dry intellectual husks remain.” Clement Wood
− + N Y Call N 21 ’20 440w
“‘Advice’ is indubitably one of the important books of the year, as it is one of the books most compact with beauty, actually worthy of frequent rereading. It is a book small only in size, for behind its lines tremble the multitudinous vibrations of a world of beauty and thought.” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p22 D 26 ’20 920w
BOGARDUS, EMORY STEPHEN. Essentials of Americanization. $1.50 (3c) Univ. of Southern California press, 3474 University av., Los Angeles, Cal. 325.7
19–12739
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
“The book is written in splendid spirit and should be of good service to foreigners and to untrained Americanization workers. The chapter dealing with Democracy and the square deal, one of his four Americanisms, is the best in the book. It is much better than the other three. The chapter on the negro is very good but inconclusive.” A. E. Jenks
+ − Am J Soc 25:651 Mr ’20 280w Booklist 16:153 F ’20
“On the whole, the book is a valuable contribution to a subject in which there is much interest at the present time.”
+ School R 28:313 Ap ’20 180w
BOGARDUS, EMORY STEPHEN. Essentials of social psychology. new and enl ed $1.75 Univ. of Southern California press, 3474 University av., Los Angeles, Cal. 301
20–11686
This is a revised and much enlarged edition of a work published in 1918. “In this edition the problems have been re-stated and increased in number.... The subject matter has been re-written and elaborated. The original eight chapters have grown into fifteen chapters.” (Preface to 2d ed) Contents: The field, development, and literature of social psychology; Psychological bases of social psychology; The social personality (three chapters); Suggestion-imitation phenomena (three chapters); Invention and leadership (two chapters): The nature of groups; Group conflicts; Group loyalties; Group control; Social change and progress. Problems and references follow the chapters. There is a general bibliography and an index.
“The volume makes no particularly new contribution to its subject; its value lies in its outlining of the field in its differentiations, and its opening up to the student of volumes of pioneer inquiry.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p12 Ja 29 ’21 160w
BOGART, ERNEST LUDLOW. Direct and Indirect costs of the great world war. *$1 Oxford; pa gratis Carnegie endowment for international peace 336
19–18454
In this volume of Preliminary economic studies of the war Professor Bogart of the University of Illinois presents a discussion, with tables and estimates, of the war costs in each of the countries concerned. The foreword says: “In the following pages the direct outlays of the governments, which are matters of usual financial procedure, may be said to be fairly accurate; the attempt to estimate the indirect costs of the war, however, is attended with a considerable amount of conjecture and must be regarded merely as the best guess which is possible at the present time.” The work closes with a bibliography of thirty pages and an index.
+ Am Econ R 10:377 Je ’20 140w
“It is not as an accurate summary of the costs of the war, but as an outline of the financial history of the great powers, that the book will prove permanently useful.” Alzada Comstock
+ Am Hist R 26:362 Ja ’21 420w
“This book by Professor Bogart is the most complete and authentic account now in print of the losses of the war, stated in terms of dollars. The work bears the mark of painstaking cautions and scholarly method. An extensive bibliography and good index adds to its value.” C. J. Bushnell
+ Am J Soc 25:650 Mr ’20 280w Ath p386 Mr 19 ’20 100w
Reviewed by C. C. Plehn
Nation 111:379 O 6 ’20 380w Survey 44:309 My 29 ’20 350w
“Professor Bogart has produced a careful, sober, and thoughtful analysis of the cost of the war to the world at large, so far as the items can be stated without over-indulgence in ‘estimates,’ and with all proper caveats.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p74 F 5 ’20 1100w The Times [London] Lit Sup p369 Je 10 ’20 80w
BÖHME, JACOB.[[2]] Confessions of Jacob Boehme; with an introd. by Evelyn Underhill. *$2 Knopf 189
“Mr Scott Palmer has done a valuable piece of work in getting together in a small volume the more personal utterances of Jacob Boehme. It is a book that will appeal to many people who have felt an interest in the great mystic, but, at the same time, have found his writings, when presented to them in mass, heavy and difficult reading.”—Freeman
“Mr Scott Palmer has been wise in keeping as far as possible to William Law’s eighteenth-century translation, the simple language of which is so admirably adapted to the profound meditations of this homely tradesman. Quite apart from their speculative and philosophic value, certain sentences in this volume have about them the intense and innocent beauty of really great literature.” Llewelyn Powys
+ Freeman 2:357 D 22 ’20 840w
“We are grateful to Mr Scott Palmer and Miss Evelyn Underhill for their help in faithfully elucidating Böhme’s doctrine and revealing the man himself.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p502 Ag 5 ’20 1350w
BÖHME, JACOB. Six theosophic points, and other writings. *$3 (1½c) Knopf 189
20–4124
This book, written in 1620, has here been newly translated into English by John Rolleston Earle. In addition to the Six theosophic points, the contents are: Six mystical points; On the earthly and heavenly mystery; On the divine intuition.
“Valuable for helping to clarify a book written four hundred years ago in a very difficult vocabulary. Too obscure and special for any but the student of the question.”
+ − Booklist 16:326 Jl ’20
“These new translations have something more than the face value of new translations of an old and more or less inaccessible author. Students of German mysticism are indebted to the scholarship of John Rolleston Earle as a commentator as well as a translator.” G. H. C.
+ Boston Transcript p4 My 5 ’20 500w
Reviewed by Preserved Smith
Nation 110:sup483 Ap 10 ’20 220w N Y Times p15 S 12 ’20 130w
“In the ‘Six theosophic points’ one will wander long unless one is provided with some chart. Page after page record the wanderings of a puzzled, ever-searching, ill-equipped, penetrating spirit, with no compass or chart; often over-stepping, it would seem, the bounds of sanity, but from time to time letting fall a pregnant saying. Even in his incoherences are gleams of light.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p502 Ag 5 ’20 2650w
BOJER, JOHAN. Power of a lie. *$2 Moffat
“The novel tells the story of two men living in a small Swedish town or village, tells what the power of a lie did to them, to their families, and to those persons who came in contact with them—and it. Knut Norby, a wealthy farmer, has indorsed a note for a friend, Henry Wangen, a note for 2,000 kronen. Three or four years later Wangen becomes a bankrupt and Norby denies his signature, denies that he ever saw the paper, or ever signed one for Wangen. The witness is dead; Wangen is convicted of forgery and sent to prison, while Norby is given a banquet by his fellow-townsmen. The innocent man is punished; the guilty man is fêted.”—N Y Times
“Here is a novel of compelling power and dignity, illuminated by a bleak beauty like that of the aurora borealis.”
+ Dial 69:546 N ’20 60w
“Bojer does not allow himself the luxury of beauty except where it aids his story. He strips his narrative bare, trims it exquisitely to the least detail, and lets it glide straight before the wind. Johan Bojer is undoubtedly a great artist, although by no means a luxuriant and happy one. He has been aided in his American venture by the admirable translation of Jessie Muir, which deserves the highest praise.” R. L. Duffus
+ Freeman 1:524 Ag 11 ’20 360w
“The novel is indeed admirably written, the author indulging neither in verbal fireworks nor in splashes of black, white or scarlet. One reads it with the feeling that it is the truthful account of a real occurrence, but of an occurrence seen from all sides. ‘The power of a lie,’ in short, stands head and shoulders above the average contemporary novel.”
+ N Y Times 25:291 Je 6 ’20 1050w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:708 Jl 7 ’20 750w
“The idea is presented with fine suggestiveness and artistic vitality.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 25 ’20 280w The Times [London] Lit Sup p613 O 30 ’19 50w
BOJER, JOHAN. Treacherous ground; tr. from the Norwegian by Jessie Muir. *$2 Moffat
20–4783
“Young Erik Evje has two characteristics; he is a man whose former immoral aberrations weigh heavy on his conscience, and a man imbued with high ideals in connection with social reform. By putting into practice his ideals he hopes to atone for his sin. He can find no solace in religion, and he makes of his philanthropic work his crucifix. The little colony that he plants on a hillside is the only tangible evidence of his ideals, and at the same time his atonement. But he is told that his house is built on sand, that a landslide will carry it away. It is too necessary as his last grip on the best part of himself for him to give it up. The landslide occurs and wipes out several families.”—Springf’d Republican
“A story with interesting characters, a pleasant background and well sustained suspense, that is thoughtful without a touch of heaviness.”
+ Booklist 16:242 Ap ’20
“Its trenchant clearness is almost frightening, like transparent glass where one expected wooden walls; its teaching is both true and tragic.” R. M. Underhill
+ Bookm 51:444 Je ’20 100w
Reviewed by R. L. Duffus
Freeman 1:524 Ag 11 ’20 360w Lit D p93 Je 26 ’20 1800w
“The tale has the bite and ‘follow through’ of an Ibsen play, a ‘Wild duck’ or an ‘Enemy of the people.’ It lacks, accordingly, the rich sympathy of ‘The great hunger.’” H. W. Boynton
+ − Review 2:520 My 15 ’20 420w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:709 Jl 7 ’20 120w
“The theme is peculiarly and very strongly developed. Johan Bojer employs a very realistic style and presents a vivid picture of the Evje farm.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 My 31 ’20 250w
BOK, EDWARD WILLIAM. Americanization of Edward Bok; the autobiography of a Dutch boy fifty years after. il *$5 Scribner
20–17333
In writing his autobiography the author has treated himself objectively, which accounts for the title. It is with the editor and publicist that the book deals, not with the author’s private self. Not until he retired from the editorship of the Ladies’ Home Journal, did he cease to be two personalities and become simply himself. The book abounds in reminiscences of editorial experiences and of famous men, contains facsimiles of autographs and manuscripts, a list of biographical data, illustrations and an index.
+ Booklist 17:111 D ’20
“Mr Bok has done more than merely carry the reader with him along the pleasant paths which he has trod. He has thought deeply upon the problem of the immigrant and the result is a valuable contribution.” H: L. West
+ Bookm 52:362 D ’20 540w
“This autobiography of the ex-editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal is likely to produce upon the sophisticated reader that impression of exasperated amusement which I have noted in more or less civilized Britons when they have undergone a course of the Saturday Evening Post, at my suggestion, in order that they might become familiar with that microcosm of the United States.” E. A. Boyd
− Freeman 2:355 D 22 ’20 2550w
“This is an extraordinary array. In all the account of it there is not one gleam of intellectual speculation, not one sign that Mr Bok ever heard of the world of ideas, or that he understood any passions stronger than sentimentalism. His criticism of the America in which he lived and which he seems to have understood so well, is always merely trivial.” I. B.
− Nation 111:783 D 29 ’20 1050w
Reviewed by A. M. Jungmann
N Y Evening Post p2 O 23 ’20 1400w
“Considered in every aspect, ‘The Americanization of Edward Bok’ is an affording and a significant book. In style it is as simple and perspicuous as Xenophon’s ‘Anabasis,’ which was also written in the third person and by a man of shrewd common sense who trusted his instincts.”
+ No Am 213:134 Ja ’21 2000w
“There is a great deal that is stimulating to energy, originality, and resourcefulness in this autobiography, as well as much that is amusing and agreeable reading.” R. D. Townsend
+ Outlook 126:514 N 17 ’20 1600w
“It is pleasant reading and happily stimulating to wholesome ambition.” R. R. Bowker
+ Pub W 98:1884 D 18 ’20 300w
“All in all, this is a remarkable book. Edward Bok is as compelling a writer when telling his own story as when writing on other themes, and this ought to be one of the ‘best sellers’ of the year.”
+ Springf’d Republican p7a D 26 ’20 850w + Wis Lib Bul 16:237 D ’20 100w
BOLTON, GUY, and MIDDLETON, GEORGE. Light of the world. il *$1.75 Holt 812
20–19671
The scene of this three-act play is Oberammergau, the village of the Passion play, just previous to a new performance; the time, between the choosing of the actors and the opening of the play; and the theme, the disparity between the teachings of Christ and the daily life of Christians. Anton Rendel, the chosen Christus, discovers, on the eve of his friend Simon’s wedding, that Simon has betrayed the girl Anton had loved. Anton forgives but advises confession to Ruth, the bride, and is left under the impression that it was made. The girl and her baby seek refuge and find shelter in Anton’s house. His rivals among the actors throw suspicion on Anton and insist that he drive out the girl or give up his rôle as Christus. He does the latter and before the play is to open a mob comes to set fire to his house. At that moment the truth of the situation has just been revealed to Ruth. She exacts open confession from Simon as the price of her love, whereupon the rôle of Christus is once more offered to Anton.
“In no sense is this a play that will live, but it is a workmanlike performance with a creditable motive—defence of the unfortunate and misunderstood.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p16 D 4 ’20 220w
“Guy Bolton and George Middleton have made a real addition to the literature of our contemporary stage. Yet curiously, perhaps, the illustrations interspersed through the published play serve as a check rather than a spur to the reader’s enjoyment.” Dorothy Grafly
+ Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 30 ’21 450w
BOLTON, HERBERT EUGENE, and MARSHALL, THOMAS MAITLAND.[[2]] Colonization of North America, 1492–1783. il *$4.25 Macmillan 970
20–16766
“A solid treatise (arranged in headed paragraphs) by two American history professors, giving a comprehensive survey of the colonization of North America from 1492 to 1783, and providing a more complete account than previous works have done of the colonies of nations other than the English and of English colonies other than those which established their independence. A special attempt has been made to do better justice to Spanish achievements in North American colonization. Of the three sections into which the work is divided the first deals with the founding of the colonies, the second with their expansion and the international conflict (Anglo-Spanish and Franco-Spanish as well as Franco-English), and the third with the revolt of the English colonies. Numerous convenient maps elucidate the text. Index 53 pp.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
+ R of Rs 63:110 Ja ’21 240w
“A convenient and readable sketch of the whole subject.”
+ Spec 125:823 D 18 ’20 110w
“The style of the work is far from distinguished, and it is a text-book rather than a work of history; but it shows just that breadth and firmness of treatment which will aid the student to acquire a true perspective of past events. The excellence of the idea should have considerable effect on the elementary teaching of history.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 N 4 ’20 120w
“Because of this comprehensive character, from the point of view of our present interests instead of from that of the original thirteen states of the union, it will be particularly appreciated by those of us who feel the importance of intelligent acquaintance with our historical backgrounds but have not the time to specialize in colonial history.” Lilian Brandt
+ Survey 45:579 Ja 15 ’21 100w The Times [London] Lit Sup p802 D 2 ’20 120w
BONI, ALBERT, ed. Modern book of French verse in English translations. (Modern books of verse) *$2.50 Boni & Liveright 841.08
20–8026
“‘The modern book of French verse’ covers the whole field of French poetry from Guillaume de Poitier’s writing in 1071 to Jules Romain’s, who was born as late as 1885. All the famous figures of French poetry are generously included, the book being starred with the names of Villon, Marot, de Ronsard, Du Bellay, Chenier, De Beranger, Victor Hugo, De Musset, Gautier, De Lisle, Baudelaire, Prudhomme, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Samain, Laforgue, De Régnier, Jammes, Paul Fort and Vildrac. Among the translators may be casually noted Jethro Bithell, Robert Bridges, Chaucer, Austin Dobson, Ernest Dowson, James Elroy Flecker, Andrew Lang, Arthur O’Shaughnessy, John Payne, W. J. Robertson, Rossetti, Swinburne, J. A. Symonds, Arthur Symons and Francis Thompson.”—N Y Times
Booklist 16:337 Jl ’20
“Mr Boni’s admirable compilation of English translations of the best French poetry makes a delectable volume. There are very few false notes in this varied chorus.”
+ Cath World 111:834 S ’20 170w
“An excellent anthology of translations. Should be valuable in courses in comparative literature.”
+ Dial 69:434 O ’20 100w
“The wealth of material at Mr Boni’s command must have made his editorial task a pleasure as it has undoubtedly made the resultant book invaluable. In future editions, however, Mr Boni should fill a few very obvious gaps.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − Nation 110:857 Je 26 ’20 950w
“His anthology has many gaps, judged as a selection of French verse. However, it is useful and interesting to have this collection of translations, not only for a better idea of French verse among those to whom the originals are sealed, but for a study of poets of the whole subject of translation.” W. P. Eaton
+ − N Y Call p11 Je 13 ’20 620w
“It must have been a labor of love on Mr Boni’s part, and, like all labors of love, it vindicates itself by its completeness and high average of value. The book will be found invaluable by those who do not read French easily.”
+ N Y Times 25:296 Je 6 ’20 600w
“The quality of the verse is comparatively high; none of it is high enough to dissuade a sensitive reader from learning French.”
+ − Review 3:47 Jl 14 ’20 250w Springf’d Republican p8 Jl 15 ’20 230w
Reviewed by E: B. Reed
+ − Yale R n s 10:202 O ’20 360w
BONJOUR, FELIX. Real democracy in operation: the example of Switzerland. *$1.50 (3c) Stokes 342.4
20–9847
The author of the book, a former president of the Swiss national council, outlines and explains the constitution and the workings of the Swiss federal republic, which he considers to be in the vanguard of democratic evolution. The twenty-five more or less autonomous states comprising this confederation are political laboratories which borrow one from another those forms of government which appear to succeed best—a practice which insures continuous democratic growth. Contents: Federalism in Switzerland; The evolution of democracy in Switzerland; The Landsgemeinde; The referendum; The results of the referendum; The popular initiative; The results of the initiative; The election of the government and officials by the people; Democracy in the communes and the churches; Compulsory voting and woman suffrage; Proportional representation; Democracy in the army and maintenance of neutrality; The future of democracy in Switzerland; Appendix; Index.
“Written in a pleasing style and admirably translated.” R. C. Brooks
+ Am Pol Sci R 14:514 Ag ’20 330w Booklist 17:50 N ’20 + Boston Transcript p6 Ag 18 ’20 220w + Cleveland p90 O ’20 40w N Y Times p19 Ag 22 ’20 3000w Outlook 126:558 N ’21 ’20 180w + R of Rs 62:109 Jl ’20 80w
“We recommend those who are interested in the theory and art of modern politics to read this volume of Mr Felix Bonjour with attention, even though they may be bored occasionally with its inevitable parochiality.”
+ − Sat R 130:119 Ag 7 ’20 750w
“A book such as M. Bonjour’s was much needed.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p416 Jl 1 ’20 950w
BOOK of Marjorie. *$1.50 (6½c) Knopf
20–4704
The book is an idyl of married life told by the husband. It begins with that night in spring when he first told Marjorie that he loved her and makes the reader a confidant of all the intimate details that lay between then and the time when they both bent over Peter’s bassinette and knew that they “should live forever in Peter and Peter’s children.”
“The book offers no unusual problems and its reactions are simple and happy.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p11 Ap 17 ’20 800w Nation 110:402 Mr 27 ’20 250w
“The telling is graceful and natural; the little autobiographical fragment is a thing to cherish.” C. W.
+ N Y Call p11 My 16 ’20 180w
“‘The book of Marjorie’ is a simple description of a happy marriage by a writer whose main charm is simplicity.”
+ N Y Times 25:164 Ap 11 ’20 650w
BORDEN-TURNER, MARY. Romantic woman. *$2 (1½c) Knopf
20–15390
The story of a Chicago heiress who marries into the British aristocracy. It opens in Chicago, here lightly disguised as “Iroquois,” with the heroine’s own account of her democratic and rather hoydenish girlhood and an introduction to the childhood friends, Louise, Phyllis, Jim Van Orden and Pat O’Brien, who play a part in her later life. Perhaps she should have married Jim and settled down to a conventional and comfortable American life, but traveling with her father in India she falls romantically in love with a handsome cavalry officer, not knowing that he is heir to a dukedom. He, on his part, tho genuinely attracted to the girl, is not unconscious of her wealth. Marriage brings disillusionments and introduces the naïve American into a society whose standards are quite incomprehensible. There is considerable analysis of the two contrasting points of view and the story ends with a glimpse of the war.
“If you can find either constructive idea or positive personality in this book, I cannot; and therefore it remains for me, despite its clever elaboration of detail, that thing which Mr Hewlett rightly dismisses as not worth the name—a string of anecdotes, and no more.” H. W. Boynton
− Bookm 52:71 S ’20 560w
“Her picture of that city [Chicago] and its people is one of the very brilliant things in recent literature. Its temper is not harsh, but it has an edge and the edge cuts clean every time. Always she conveys the richness, the distinction, and the vigor of an arresting character and mind.”
+ Nation 110:625 My 8 ’20 900w
“Miss Borden is not a little pretentious. She does not avoid trying to take more soul out than she has really put in. At the same time, she has a rich theme and she knows her theme. She has a real Englishman in hand and she knows him; and she has a vitality almost as good as the vitality of art. Hers is not the detachment of art or the sincerity of artistic self-expression. It is the drive of emotion, the sincerity of a personal confession told in provisional terms.” F. H.
+ − New Repub 22:290 Ap 28 ’20 1650w
“Except where it becomes too involved the book is well written. Where its author has been most successful is in the atmosphere of dull discontent, of poignant disillusion, which she evokes throughout. There are neat characterizations, epigrammatic bits of phrasing and some passages written with unblushing frankness.”
+ − N Y Times 25:208 Ap 25 ’20 600w
“It is a book worth reading slowly and must be so read, for it is told in that peculiar manner practiced by Conrad. It is a taxing style, but it has its fascination.” M. K. Reely
+ − Pub W 97:1288 Ap 17 ’20 300w
“The work is characterized by contrasts, there are times when the climaxes and the description are vivid but between these there are pages where the writing is labored.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Je 6 ’20 220w
BOSSCHÈRE, JEAN DE. City curious. il *$3 Dodd
20–18755
A fantastic fairy tale, retold in English by F. Tennyson Jesse. Smaly and Redy, husband and wife, who live in a charming little white house, regret that they haven’t three daughters to occupy their little bedrooms. They wished for them and said a magic verse, but nothing happened. Then they set out to look for them. The story follows their strange adventures and describes the very curious people they meet. The grotesque pictures by the author are in keeping with the text.
Lit D p96 D 4 ’20 30w
“The Belgian turns of thought and imagery have been kept, but not at the expense of good English, as is sometimes the case in a translation.”
+ Spec 125:745 D 4 ’20 260w
“It is really ingenuous of M. de Bosschère and his admirers to imagine him as qualified to draw for children. We should hide all his pictures from them.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p830 D 9 ’20 330w
BOSTWICK, ARTHUR ELMORE. Librarian’s open shelf; essays on various subjects. *$3 (3c) Wilson, H. W. 814
20–26990
“The papers here gathered together represent the activities of a librarian in directions outside the boundaries of his professional career, although the influences of it may be detected in them here and there.” (Preface) The book forms a companion volume to “Library essays” and like that volume is composed of collected papers and addresses prepared for various occasions. Partial list of contents: Do readers read? What makes people read? The passing of the possessive: a study of book titles; Selective education; The uses of fiction; The value of association; Modern educational methods; Some economic features of libraries; Simon Newcomb, America’s foremost astronomer; The companionship of books; Atomic theories of energy; The advertisement of ideas.
+ Booklist 17:91 D ’20
BOSTWICK, ARTHUR ELMORE. Library essays. *$3 (2c) Wilson, H. W. 020
20–26991
The author celebrates his twenty-fifth year of librarianship with the publication of this volume of collected essays and addresses. They are arranged chronologically and “reflect to a certain extent the progress of library work during the past quarter century.” (Preface) Among the subjects covered are: Pains and penalties in library work; How librarians choose books; The work of the small public library; Lay control in libraries and elsewhere; The whole duty of a library trustee, from a librarian’s standpoint; Library statistics; The love of books as a basis for librarianship; The library as the educational center of a town; The librarian as a censor; How to raise the standard of book selection; The library and the business man; The future of library work; The library as a museum; The library and the locality. There is an index.
+ Booklist 17:91 D ’20
BOSWELL, A. BRUCE. Poland and the Poles. il *$4 (4½c) Dodd 943.8
20–26318
The book is based on a study of Poland extending over many years and on personal contact with Poles during a five year’s residence of the author in their country. It is rather a series of essays than a continuous narrative and aims to treat Poland ethnically rather than politically and to describe all the region where Polish civilization is an important element. The contents are: The land; The people: National characteristics; The past of Poland; Divided Poland; Political parties; The country-side; Commerce and industry; The Ukraine question; Work at the foundations; The capital city; The great romantic poets; Modern currents in Polish literature; Education and science; Art and music; The war; Three maps, numerous illustrations and an index.
“A valuable contribution to the literature dealing with a country of which too little is known by the English reader. The Polish national characteristics are very clearly described.”
+ Ath p1243 N 21 ’19 70w
“We would draw attention to Mr Boswell’s able summary of the Ukrainian problem.... On the other hand, although he devotes a whole chapter to Polish affairs during the war, his treatment of the Teschen question is, in our opinion, neither adequate nor correct. The purely informative sections of Mr Boswell’s book are accurate and thorough. His treatment of ethnographical matters is particularly good, while the two chapters he devotes to Polish literature cover a large amount of fresh ground.” P. S.
+ − Ath p1396 D 26 ’19 700w + Booklist 16:240 Ap ’20
“One of the foremost impressions made by the book is that of the earnest effort of the author to give a truthful delineation of the country and the people of whom he writes. This after the long years of propaganda on the part of both Germany and Russia is too important to be overlooked.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p4 My 19 ’20 600w Ind 104:68 O 9 ’20 50w + R of Rs 61:446 Ap ’20 100w
“A readable and instructive book by a competent authority. The concluding chapter gives a useful sketch of Polish policy during the war which was very perplexing for western readers.”
+ Spec 124:21 Ja 3 ’20 140w
“Unlike some supporters of the Polish cause he has no need to make up in sentiment what he lacks in knowledge; on the contrary his knowledge saves him from an unqualified and undiscriminating enthusiasm. The historical and political side is naturally the most important at the present time, and it is in regard to this that Mr Boswell’s work is most illuminating.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p659 N 20 ’19 850w
BOSWORTH, THOMAS OWEN. Geology of the mid continent oilfields. il *$3 Macmillan 553
20–26532
A work covering the oil fields of Kansas, Oklahoma and north Texas. A bibliography of four pages following the introduction shows the sources on which the author has drawn. The sections of the book are then devoted to: Geographical and geological situation of the mid continent oil region; History of the development of the mid continent oil region; Geological structure of the mid continent oilfield region; Geological history of the oil bearing deposits; Stratigraphy and the oilfields; The oil accumulations and their relation to geological structure; Character of the oil; The natural gas; Production of gasoline from natural gas; Salinity of oilfield waters; Some general conclusions. There is a folding map showing the region under consideration, with additional maps and drawings and eight illustrations from photographs. The book is indexed.
“Although the vocabulary of the book is more or less technical, nevertheless the lay reader may pursue it with comfort and understanding.” I: Lippincott
+ Am Econ R 10:588 S ’20 410w
“There is certainly nothing strikingly new in Dr Bosworth’s book, and one further perceives in the work a strong undercurrent of bias to prevalent American opinion. For the rest, the book certainly contains some useful features.” H. B. Milner
+ − Nature 105:608 Jl 15 ’20 750w Spec 125:541 O 23 ’20 160w The Times [London] Lit Sup p639 S 30 ’20 60w
BOUCICAULT, RUTH BALDWIN (HOLT) (MRS AUBREY BOUCICAULT). Rose of Jericho. *$1.90 (1½c) Putnam
20–6707
Sheelah Brent was literally picked up by a traveling theatrical company and pressed into their services as substitute for a sick stage child, when she was only seven. For six weeks she thus tided over, with her earnings, a crisis in her family while her widowed father was ill from overwork. Later, when she came to choose her own course, it was the theater. She made good in her profession and in due time became an artist. Towards this latter development her love experiences as a woman helped. But it meant struggle and heartache for Sheelah and defiance of all conventions. Heart solitude once more overtakes her when her son Michael, the fruit of her first girlish and illicit love, is sent to school in England under the guidance of his English father. It is then that she finds so much solace in a book that she writes to the author for more spiritual help. With the coming of the war both Michael and his father volunteer and the latter rescues his son at the cost of his eyesight. The usual thing follows but not before Sheelah has turned to religion, Michael has been killed and she has discovered in her former lover the author of the helpful book.
“A good deal of the novel is well written, particularly the first two ‘books,’ but it drags badly toward the close.”
+ − N Y Times 25:170 Ap 11 ’20 350w
“The beginning is cleverly human, but the close is strongly-presented pathos of the type commonly classed as ‘sob stuff.’”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 190w
BOUCKE, OSWALD FRED. Limits of socialism. *$1.50 (1½c) Macmillan 335
20–7869
After having made it clear that he considers socialism as neither a chimera nor a crime the author makes an attempt at a sympathetic examination of its various tenets with a view to laying bare its weak points and demonstrating the necessity for amendments of the original creed. “Revision is a step in the onward march of civilization. Science itself is nothing if not continual growth and redefinition of terms, whose finest fruit is the advancement of humanism.” The book falls into two parts. Part 1, The limits in theory, contains: The problem; Karl Marx and the economists; The economic interpretation of history; Justice. Part 2, The limits in practice, contains: The limits in production; The limits in distribution; The limits in consumption; The limits in government; A petition. There are seven statistical tables and an index. The author is professor of economics at Pennsylvania state college.
“In regard to the program of socialism, the author makes a worthy contribution to a much neglected subject in that he points out the difficulties which socialists will encounter in trying to realize their ideals, and the limited success which they are likely to attain.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ Am Econ R 10:860 D ’20 780w Booklist 17:50 N ’20
“When he leaves the field of economics he is less convincing. The book will prove rather stiff exposition to the general reader, who will be annoyed at the needlessly scientific vocabulary.”
+ − Nation 111:304 S 11 ’20 340w
“The book is stimulating to thought because it is itself thoughtful, a model in manner and temper, a better antidote to socialism’s errors than denunciation or denial of the evils it seeks to cure.” E: A. Bradford
+ N Y Times p12 S 12 ’20 2000w
“There is much good stuff in the book, some shrewd ideas, and some sound generalizing, which if turned into language understanded of the people would be valuable.”
+ − Review 3:112 Ag 4 ’20 320w R of Rs 62:672 D ’20 20w
BOULENGER, JACQUES. Seventeenth century. *$3.50 (2c) Putnam 944.03
20–26872
This work forms one of the volumes of the National history of France. It is preceded by “The century of the renaissance” by L. Batiffol, published in 1916, and is followed by “The eighteenth century,” by Casimir Stryienski, also issued in 1916. Contents: The youth of Louis XIII; Richelieu; The preponderance of France (1630–1643); The kingdom under Louis XIII; The beginnings of society and of classic literature; The Fronde and Mazarin; The “Roi-soleil”; The glorious years, 1661–1678; Decline; Religious matters; Sunset; The kingdom under Louis XIV; The great age. References come at the end of the chapters and there is an index.
“Distinctly a readable book.”
+ Booklist 17:64 N ’20
“This new presentation of the greatest period in the history of France is brilliantly written.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 24 ’20 700w + Ind 104:217 N 13 ’20 50w
“Boulenger has undertaken a difficult task, and he has done it well. Though treating the general history of a whole century in some detail, he is neither superficial nor tiringly technical. One feature of his book is especially commendable; the author’s desire to be non-partisan. It may be well to bring out the fact that, for the real or quasi-specialist, Boulenger treats his subject too much from the outside, and thus fails to emphasize sufficiently at least one feature of much importance for the proper understanding of the epoch he treats.”
+ − Review 3:503 N 24 ’20 1900w R of Rs 62:223 Ag ’20 30w
“His portraits of Richelieu, Mazarin, Colbert and the great King himself are vivid and unforgettable. M. Boulenger is a learned historian but, like so many French scholars, he wears his learning lightly.”
+ Spec 125:344 S 11 ’20 150w
“M. Boulenger’s subject is relatively simple, but it is a big one, and it has the disadvantage of being hackneyed. The best praise that can be given to his book is to say that it is on a level with M. Madelin’s ‘French revolution,’ and superior to any other volumes in this attractive series.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p436 Jl 8 ’20 700w
BOULNOIS, HENRY PERCY. Modern roads. il *$5.75 (*16s) Longmans 625.7
(Eng ed 20–9208)
“The author was a member of the British Advisory engineering committee appointed in 1910 as a result of the increasing dust nuisance due to poorly constructed roads. Much information regarding British conditions was obtained and standard specifications produced. This book covers in a comprehensive way the subjects of motor traffic, the various kinds of roads and details of construction, waves and corrugations, slippery streets, with appendices relating to traffic regulations.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
N Y P L New Tech Bks p28 Ap ’20 70w Spec 122:145 Ja 31 ’20 420w
BOURNE, RANDOLPH SILLIMAN.[[2]] History of a literary radical; and other essays. *$2 (3c) Huebsch 814
This collection of essays, reprinted from various magazines, is edited with an introduction by Van Wyck Brooks. The latter is a sketch of the author’s intellectual development which is corroborated in the first essay, “History of a literary radical.” What Bourne stood for, says Van Wyck Brooks, was a new fellowship of the youth of America, a league of youth, for the purpose of creating, out of the blind chaos of American society, a fine, free, articulate cultural order. “He, if any one, in the days to come, would have conjured out of our dry soil the green shoots of a beautiful and a characteristic literature: he knew that soil so well, and why it was dry, and how it ought to be irrigated!” (Introd.) The essays are: History of a literary radical; Our cultural humility; Six portraits; This older generation; A mirror of the Middle West; Ernest: or Parent for a day; On discussion; The puritan’s will to power; The immanence of Dostoevsky; The art of Theodore Dreiser; The uses of infallibility; Impressions of Europe; Trans-national America; Fragment of a novel.
“The essay which gives its title to the book is a piece of intellectual biography which is worth the careful study of everyone who is puzzled by the open revolt of the choicest intellects in our undergraduate bodies against the ideals and discipline of our universities. In ‘The Puritan’s will to power’ and in ‘Transnational America’ Randolph Bourne’s feelings were perhaps too deeply involved to permit him to attain the complete clarity and cogency usual with him. But the gently whimsical ‘Ernest, or Parent for a day’ would be a sufficient compensation for any imperfections there might be elsewhere in the book.” Alvin Johnson
+ Freeman 25:293 F 2 ’21 880w
“It is impossible, in spite of all that makes it valuable, to read this book without a final sense of disappointment. Randolph Bourne’s interests were as wide as the world; his views were true and tempered; his style is simple, and it is effective chiefly because the words he uses are wise and exact rather than original; but his appeal, after all, is very narrow. He is the pure intellectual addressing the ‘younger intelligentsia,’ and his exclusiveness gradually becomes slightly tiresome even as the phrase quoted becomes irritating.” Freda Kirchwey
+ − Nation 111:619 D 1 ’20 1050w
BOURNE, RANDOLPH SILLIMAN. Untimely papers. *$1.50 (3½c) Huebsch 320.4
20–26319
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
“Written during America’s war preparations, these papers are well named untimely, for they question with the rigor of a clear minded, uncompromising pacifist and idealist, America’s attitude in combating the spirit of the war lord with war. They are an interesting portrayal of the courage in his belief of the author.”
+ Booklist 16:219 Ap ’20
“Dying just when he should have come into his own, Randolph Bourne left behind him a set of brilliant essays on the political life of yesterday. These have been gathered and edited by James Oppenheim with a foreword perhaps a thought too laudatory. Yet much can be said for Mr Bourne’s keen insight and flashing style. His sentences are diamond cut, his reasoning clear even to the most undiscerning.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ap 28 ’20 240w
Reviewed by E. C. Parsons
+ Dial 68:367 Mr ’20 1500w
“They are courageous papers in that they represent an unwincing defence of an attitude which can never have been at all popular. They are turned from protest into positive statement by a long and unfinished essay on the state, in which Mr Bourne was clearly searching to vindicate the ultimate rights of personality against the demands of authority outside. The whole essay is a superb cry of anger against a tyranny which he felt to be grinding. Yet I venture to think that the essay is in fact largely devoid of realistic basis. It has a specialized motivation which makes it valuable as the record of a personal experience, but impracticable as a contribution to political science.” H. J. Laski
+ − Freeman 1:237 My 19 ’20 1150w
“It is the book of a too sensitive spirit, dying brokenhearted in a world that seemed hopelessly insane and misdirected. Whatever we may think of the substance of these essays there can be no question of the delicate beauty of their expression or the evidence they give of the patrician dignity and courage which marked the author’s personality.”
+ Ind 102:234 My 8 ’20 100w
“No educated, honest, able-bodied man can read the war essays of Randolph Bourne without some degree of admiration for their dead author and some sort of shame for himself. What we say now without being either brave or original he said then, not, perhaps, with the maturity of a Bertrand Russell or a Romain Rolland, but at least with fine courage and imagination. It may turn out that the cleanest picture of ourselves when we were not ourselves is here in these two hundred and thirty pages.”
+ Nation 110:522 Ap 17 ’20 380w
“The unfinished fragment on the state, which was to have been so great a book, is still a keen and impressive analysis of social psychology.... And after the self-styled peace what would Randolph Bourne have added, what doubly bitter denunciation, to the temperate ironies of these searching papers? Perhaps nothing but the tolerant smile of one who foresaw.” Marion Tyler
+ Socialist R 8:251 Mr ’20 550w
“Academically, his arguments may have been right, but it is obvious that they were uttered at a time when they must have proved the reverse of helpful. They may now be read with the dispassionate calm to which they are entitled, and they well repay careful consideration.”
+ Springf’d Republican p13a F 22 ’20 220w
“He proved right in many of the pronouncements which can now be weighed against actual happenings; and for this reason there is hope that a kindly hearing may yet be given to the essays here reprinted.”
+ Survey 44:291 My 22 ’20 150w
“These papers are overshadowed by the war; and as the war figured in Bourne’s outlook as a tragic impertinence which had rudely choked the young shoots of a new life in America with which his dearest hopes were bound up, there is a steady undertow of resentment which disturbs the balance of his thought. But all the same, these papers were worth printing as a historical document to show the generations to come how the war struck a profound and honest mind that had enthroned the spirit of life and was already seeing afar off the triumph of life over the forces of death.” R. R.
+ − World Tomorrow 3:157 My ’20 160w
“He could write—there is no question about that—and he could think, but these two fine qualities do not excuse the fact that his first principles are nearly always wrong.” M. F. Egan
− + Yale R n s 10:188 O ’20 380w
BOWEN, WILLIAM.[[2]] Enchanted forest. il *$2.50 Macmillan
20–20549
In this series of fairy tales a forest is turned into paper, its brooks petrified and the voice of the birds stilled by the bad temper of a king. How the forest was redeemed by Bilbo the woodcutter’s son, who thereby won the princess; how the pair cured the old king’s temper through an “Interrupter” and his “Encourager”; and how little Prince Bojohn and his playmate Bodkin had many adventures with elves and fairies, is all told in these tales with delightful humor. The book is illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham.
BOWER, B. M., pseud. (BERTHA MUZZY SINCLAIR) (MRS BERTRAND WILLIAM SINCLAIR). Quirt. il *$1.75 (2½c) Little
20–8857
Lorraine Hunter lives in Los Angeles and has absorbed her ideas of the “West” from the movies. She has never known her father, a rancher in Idaho, but she pictures him as a cattle king and sees herself in the rôle of cattle king’s daughter. She finds the Quirt, Brit Hunter’s ranch, a very different place from her imaginings. It is one of the few small ranches allowed to survive in the shadow of the great Sawtooth cattle company’s holdings. Other small owners have been absorbed or have met “accidental” deaths, but Brit and his partner, as two highly respected old-timers, have remained unmolested. On the night of her arrival Lorraine loses her way and finds herself mixed up with one of the “accidents” referred to. She talks, and talk is dangerous to the Sawtooth. In the fight that follows Lone Morgan lines up with the Quirt but it is Swan Vjolmar, the seemingly innocent Swede, who plays the final card.
Booklist 16:350 Jl ’20
“The tale begins interestingly enough, but what with deeds of violence, and thunderstorms of a like violence, soon passes into the realms of mediocrity.”
− + Boston Transcript p7 Je 23 ’20 300w Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 60w
“The story moves briskly, with plenty of sensational incident, while all its detail, as always in B. M. Bower’s novels, is colorful and convincing.”
+ N Y Times 25:22 Je 27 ’20 370w Outlook 125:507 Jl 14 ’20 40w Springf’d Republican p11a Je 20 ’20 200w
“A story of western life that is both fresh and plausible.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:193 N ’20 160w
BOWMAN, ARCHIBALD ALLAN. Sonnets from a prison camp. *$1.50 Lane 811
20–8620
The author, professor of philosophy at Princeton university, says of these sonnets written in captivity that they “stood between my soul and madness,” and hopes that what has meant so much to him under one of the heaviest blows that can befall a soldier will have some general human interest. They are grouped as follows: In the field; The nadir; On the march; Rastatt; Hesepe; Thoughts of home; Influences; Watchwords and maxims; England and Oxford; Home thoughts once more; Interlude; England.
“When he begins to write of those reflective themes to which the sonnet form is fitted, Mr Bowman reveals himself as an interesting and talented writer. Mr Bowman’s chief defect is a certain stiltedness and overnobility of language, which sometimes leads him to talk of prosaic or trivial things with a pomp which does not become them.”
+ − Ath p429 Mr 26 ’20 180w
“Benvenuto Cellini also wrote sonnets in captivity: and they are as perfunctory and uninspired as are Professor Bowman’s.” R. M. Weaver
− Bookm 52:63 S ’20 70w
Reviewed by Marguerite Williams
N Y Times p24 Ag 22 ’20 100w Sat R 129:110 Ja 31 ’20 200w
“Grave and eloquent sonnets, a little sententious and here and there a little prosaic.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p755 D 11 ’19 80w
BOYER, WILBUR SARLES. Johnnie Kelly. il *$2 (3c) Houghton
20–16092
Johnnie Kelly is a red-headed Irish boy of thirteen when he makes his debut at Public school 199, Amsterdam ave., the Bronx. The teachers regard him as a terror, but one instructor, Daniel Parks, takes enough interest in him to try to show him how he can be a leader. His various escapades fill the book, culminating in his being elected vice-president of the Amsterdam Republic, and receiving the wrist watch which is offered to the pupil who sells the most liberty bonds. Incidentally, he plays no small part in the romance that develops between Mr Parks and the pretty new teacher, Helen Bouck.
“Many schoolmasters are of a cut-and-dried sort, who cut circles in deep ruts and see nothing in life beyond the daily routine of the schoolroom. But Mr Boyer sees beyond this and has made a natural study of the boy and his characteristics. Not this alone, but he himself has a rare gift of humor, and the two are combined in ‘Johnnie Kelly.’”
+ Boston Transcript p5 N 6 ’20 190w
“The efforts of a ‘Bronix’ policeman’s son to attain popularity in a Manhattan public school are amusing enough, and he and his young associates are human and healthy.” M. H. B. Mussey
+ Nation 111:sup672 D 8 ’20 150w
BOYNTON, PERCY HOLMES. History of American literature. *$2.25 Ginn 810.9
20–3784
Omitting authors of minor importance the book has been written “with a view to showing the drift of American thought as illustrated by major writers or groups and as revealed by a careful study of one or two cardinal works of each.... The growth of American self-consciousness and the changing ideals of American patriotism have been kept in mind throughout.... As an aid to the student, there are appended to each chapter (except the last three) topics and problems for study, and book lists which summarize the output of each man, indicate available editions, and point to the critical material which may be used as a supplement, but not as a substitute, for first-hand study.” (Preface) Beginning with the 17th century, the contents contain chapters on the earliest verse, the poetry of the revolution and the early drama, all our American classics as: Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, Mrs Stowe and Holmes, the later poetry and Walt Whitman, the rise of fiction and contemporary drama. There are also two maps, three chronological charts, an appendix characterizing the most significant American periodicals and an index.
Boston Transcript p7 Ja 28 ’20 750w
“The style throughout is marked with a crispness and vivacity that are missing in too many textbooks in the same field. The author’s scientific knowledge and scholarship are winningly displayed on every page of his book.”
+ School R 28:315 Ap ’20 220w
BRACKETT, CHARLES. Counsel of the ungodly. *$2 (3c) Appleton
20–13703
When Peter van Hoeven, scion of an old and wealthy New York family, lost his fortune at the age of sixty-two, he determined to earn his living as a butler. Luck brought him into a newly rich family, mother and daughter, of whom the mother is exuberantly vulgar and the daughter sensitively aware of their short-comings. Jacob Smith, alias Peter van Hoeven, becomes Mary’s guardian angel and she relies on him and confides in him more and more. When it is subsequently discovered that Mary is not Mrs Davison’s daughter, as the long lost husband with the real daughter turns up, Peter resolves to adopt Mary as his niece, trumping up a story of a lost brother Richard whose daughter she is. That she really is his niece becomes probable later. He now makes himself known to his family to whom he introduces his niece. He also undertakes to cure her of an undesirable love affair by first engineering her into and then out of an engagement by ungodly counsel. As the right fellow is waiting just around the corner it all ends well.
“Light and fairly amusing.”
+ Booklist 17:70 N ’20
“It is a delightful atmosphere into which you are led in this swiftly moving story, where almost every one is pleasant to know.”
+ Lit D p92 O 23 ’20 1550w
“The author’s flexible style and skill in drollery, distinctly above the average, makes one regret that he has not employed his literary ability in a less inconsequential plot.”
+ − N Y Times p24 Ag 29 ’20 330w
BRADFORD, GAMALIEL. Prophet of joy. *$1.50 Houghton 811
20–14773
This tale in verse relates the career of a millionaire’s son, a golden-haired vision of a boy, imbued with a faith that it was his mission to redeem the world with the gospel of joy. His first convert was a spinster cousin, Theodora, who undertook to stand between him and his stern father, to be ever his haven of refuge and to smooth the way for him generally. His exploits are many and fantastic. He meets all manner of people, the lowly and the artists, the pious and the rich, and he meets them all alike with laughter, gaiety, and love. With this love and joy in life he at last undertakes to assuage a striking mob and meets his death. The woman agitator whose method, unlike his, had been to stir up hatred and revenge as a means of salvation, but who had long loved the boy, vows before his body that violence must die and dedicates herself to “joy’s pure torch” and to love as the “Star of immortal hope to mortal men.”
“Characters, incidents and beauty of telling combine to make an interesting story and a poem of wide appeal.”
+ Booklist 17:60 N ’20
“What fun the author must have had composing all this! He has not only worked with his subject, he has played with it. He keeps up his own and the reader’s courage, sometimes by whistling. It is one of the most original contributions to literature that I have seen, and I know nothing in American literature which it resembles. And it is written in the American, not the English language.” W: L. Phelps
+ Bookm 52:170 O ’20 1400w
“When the ‘prophet of joy’ is killed in an attempt to mediate between a band of strikers and their employer, there is little sense of pathos because the character has been largely a creature of fancy and as such has engaged the reader’s attention rather than his affection. But Mr Bradford is fluent and dexterous and the rhymes carry one along through one hundred and ninety-three pages of easy and agreeable reading.” L. M. R.
+ − Freeman 2: S 29 ’20 300w
“He takes pains to show what it is that he is not talking about—Christian Science, Sunday school morality, silly altruism—but we are never sure what it is that he is talking about, and never sure that his is not the nambiest-pambiest of palliatives.”
− + Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 230w
“Mr Bradford is a poet, and a good one. Much of the present poem shows a deftness and a skill that place him high among writers of light verse. But in all fairness he must leave his ivory tower and acquaint himself with causes he dislikes before writing unfairly of them. The book, barring this one capital fault, is a capital one, and as such may be recommended.” C. W.
+ − N Y Call p10 S 12 ’20 700w
“It seems to the present reviewer, indeed, the most stimulating and absorbing volume that has appeared in American poetry since ‘The Congo’ and ‘Spoon River.’ It is not an imitation but a vital incarnation of the Byronic satire, proving that modern life may be dressed in an ancient mode at least as effectively as in the fashions of the hour. The ‘Prophet’ should find an audience for many years to come; should even, one is tempted to say, win a permanent place among the classics of lighter American verse.” C: W. Stork
+ N Y Evening Post p5 O 23 ’20 1150w
“Nothing can be gayer, idler, saucier, easier, more winningly devious and desultory than his treatment of the eight-line Italian epic stanza. The story is agreeable, and the only point of failure is the point in which in a poem of this kind failure is most forgivable and least important—the nature and handling of the thesis.”
+ − Review 3:390 O 27 ’20 310w
BRADLEY, ARTHUR GRANVILLE. Book of the Severn. il *$5 Dodd 914.2
(Eng ed 21–834)
“The ancients had river gods; we too have them in our minds and feel their qualities. For rivers are things of life and personality, of soul and character.... Some of our river gods are men and some are women.... Father Thames has proclaimed his sex for all time; but the Severn has been a lady since literature began.” (Chapter 1) The author shows his readers not only the scenic but also the historic Severn and conducts him from its cradle in Plinlimmon to Gloucester with sixteen color plates to mark the way. There is no index.
“The author tells the story in ample detail and with full knowledge.”
+ Outlook 126:202 S 29 ’20 60w
“In brief, this is a most entertaining volume. The coloured plates do not add much to its attractions.”
+ Spec 124:465 Ap 3 ’20 150w + Springf’d Republican p8 My 8 ’20 210w
“Mr Bradley has a mingled zest for scenery, for history, and for the humours and graces of life, which makes him one of the best of all-around companions on such a series of excursions, either afoot or in an armchair.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p209 Ap 1 ’20 950w
BRADLEY, GLENN DANFORD. Story of the Santa Fe. (Frontiers of America) il *$3 Badger, R: G. 656
20–6283
“The [story of the] railroad known as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe describes the beginnings and development of one of the most extensive of American railroad systems. Projected by the vision of Cyrus K. Holliday, and developed by the energy and financial support of other farseeing Americans, this railroad was built to develop the business which was originally conducted in primitive fashion from the Missouri river across the Kansas prairies and through the mountains to the old mining centre, Santa Fe. It is an account of what real men by the exercise of push and profanity have been able to accomplish, even in the face of tremendous obstacles and hindrances, both natural and those presented by the devilish ingenuity of man.”—Boston Transcript
“The story as written by Mr Bradley is very complete. The author has done his work very well.” J. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p4 Ap 7 ’20 800w R of Rs 61:672 Je ’20 30w
BRADLEY, MRS MARY (HASTINGS). Fortieth door. *$1.75 (2c) Appleton
20–2264
A romantic adventure story staged in Cairo, Jack Ryder, altho young and good to look at, has managed to evade the society of girls and devote himself wholly to the fascinations of Egyptian tombs. He is bored unspeakably at thought of the masked ball to which his compatriot, Jinny Jeffries, is dragging him. But at the ball he meets Aimée, the alluring veiled figure who is to lead him so far on the road to romance. It is only when the dance is over, his heart already well lost, that he learns that her attire is no picturesque disguise donned for an evening, that she is a high born Moslem escaped for a few mad moments from the haremlik. Fate and ancient custom are against him, but he learns by accident that Aimée is of French birth, and youth, daring and good luck conspire on his side to bring all to a happy end.
Booklist 16:203 Mr ’20
“Here is a ‘romantic incident’ carried through from start to finish without a false note, though some of the harmony toward the end is, as is were, a trifle close.” H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 51:583 Jl ’20 220w
“Mrs Bradley transports us to the realms of romance. We realize that we are not moving among scenes of reality, but we do not greatly care.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Mr 24 ’20 160w
“The story is well thought out and interesting. And it has the merit of being smoothly written and vividly as well.”
+ N Y Times 25:120 Mr 14 ’20 60w
“Cleverly told with plot of interest and original details well sustained throughout.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 7 ’20 280w
“A good adventure story.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p353 Je 3 ’20 90w
BRADLEY-BIRT, FRANCIS BRADLEY. Bengal fairy tales. il *$5 (7½c) Lane 398.2
20–22478
These fairy tales have been collected by the author from the natives of Bengal by word of mouth. They breathe the spirit of the East and are unlike any of western tales, as are also the six full-page illustrations in color by Abanindranath Tagore. The contents are in three parts, the first of which consists of the stories told by Bhabaghuray, the traveller.
“The really ideal illustrator of this kind of literature is, of course, the artist who is himself a product of the land which has given birth to it, and from this point of view the book illustrated by Mr Tagore is of special interest.”
+ Int Studio 72:206 Ja ’21 60w
BRADY, LORETTA ELLEN. Green forest fairy book. il *$2 (4c) Little
20–18407
A book of new fairy tales into which the author has put much of the true fairy-land atmosphere. Some of the titles are: Dame Grumble and her curious apple tree: A tale of the Northland kingdom; The little tree that never grew up; The tale of Punchinello; The strange tale of the brown bear. The illustrations are by Alice B. Preston.
+ Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 70w
BRAITHWAITE, WILLIAM STANLEY BEAUMONT, ed. Anthology of magazine verse for 1919; and Year book of American poetry. *$2.25 Small 811.08
Mr Braithwaite who omits from this annual volume his usual critical introductory essay takes occasion to call attention to Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “The valley of the shadow,” as a poem demanding careful attention and study. Other notable poems are Leonora Speyer’s “The queen bee flies,” Sara Teasdale’s “August moonrise,” Vachel Lindsay’s “The empire of China is crumbling down,” Lola Ridge’s “The everlasting return”; also poems by Witter Bynner, Scudder Middleton, Edna St Vincent Millay, Louis Untermeyer, Maxwell Bodenheim, Amy Lowell, and others.
+ Booklist 16:194 Mr ’20
Reviewed by H: A. Lappin
+ Bookm 51:212 Ap ’20 50w
“Taken as a whole, the ‘Anthology of magazine verse for 1919’ possesses distinct merit as a collection of contemporary verse. As a stepping-stone in the steady advance of American poetry it is even more interesting.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ja 14 ’20 1700w
“All in all the anthology is valuable not only as literature, but as a barometer of the spirit of the times.”
+ Ind 103:185 Ag 14 ’20 280w
“There is poetry here of a grade we like to boast of being able to find every day in the magazines, that of Conrad Aiken, Sara Teasdale, Clement Wood, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and sundry others. There is singing here that is something more than verse, and there is verse that is something less than poetry.” R. P. Utter
+ − Nation 110:238 F 21 ’20 100w
“The year book is, if anything, more representative and satisfactory than its predecessors. The critical material at the back is more restrained than hitherto, and gains thereby. For those who wish to keep up with the best of the new poetry, the book is indispensable.” C. W.
+ N Y Call p10 My 23 ’20 400w
“Critics have often told Mr Braithwaite that his collections of magazine verse can never have the highest value because the best American poetry is not published in magazines. This year, at any rate, that would seem to be untrue. It is doubtful whether anything better than Edwin Arlington Robinson’s ‘Valley of the shadow’ has been published in any of the books of the year.” Marguerite Wilkinson
+ N Y Times 25:140 Mr 28 ’20 360w
“Mr Braithwaite’s annual ‘Anthology of magazine verse’ improves from year to year. The present volume is no exception to this rule. Particularly to be commended is the elimination of Mr Braithwaite’s usual attempt at rating the verse of the year according to merit.”
+ Outlook 124:203 F 4 ’20 100w
“Mr Braithwaite has done his work with knowledge, with discernment, and with a liberality which sometimes compromises his discernment.”
+ − Review 3:236 S 15 ’20 300w Springf’d Republican p8 Mr 9 ’20 750w + Survey 43:554 F 7 ’20 150w
“He is too generous in his appreciation, including much that is excellent but not significant. As with every anthology, we quarrel with the selections. Though the book would gain by omissions, the general level is a high one.” E: B. Reed
+ − Yale R n s 10:199 O ’20 390w
BRAITHWAITE, WILLIAM STANLEY BEAUMONT, ed. Book of modern British verse. *$2 Small 821.08
20–1984
“A collection intended to acquaint American readers with contemporary British verse in the period which ‘began with an assault upon reality and a shock of symbols’ to be disturbed and perhaps re-directed by the forces of war.” (Booklist) “John Masefield’s ‘August, 1914,’ is included, and G. K. Chesterton’s booming ‘Lepanto,’ also favorite poems by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Walter de la Mare, J. C. Squires, Ralph Hodgson, Joseph Campbell, James Stephens, Thomas MacDonald and many others. William Butler Yeats, probably the greatest of all living makers of lyrics, is not represented. But it is generally understood that his work seldom appears in anthologies.” (N Y Times)
+ Booklist 16:195 Mr ’20
“It has Masefield’s ‘Biography,’ ‘August, 1914,’ and ‘Cargoes’; Belloc’s ‘South country’; Brooke’s five splendid sonnets; Julian Grenfell’s ‘Into battle’—finest of all the ‘war poems’; de la Mare’s ‘The listeners.’ And these are only a few of the memorable things included.” H: A. Lappin
+ − Bookm 51:211 Ap ’20 700w
“Due to something more incomprehensible than his taste he has failed signally. ‘The book of modern British verse’ begins as a misnomer; it ends as a misrepresentation.” L: Untermeyer
− Freeman 1:69 Mr 31 ’20 1100w
“It exhibits the period fairly enough without characterizing it, and with this book as with other anthologies, even the best, the critical reader will miss old friends and make new ones.” R. P. Utter
+ − Nation 110:238 F 21 ’20 80w
“A pleasant and interesting little book. Mr Braithwaite has over-emphasized the importance of Cicely Fox Smith’s verse.... Nor do the ‘Songs from the evil wood’ represent Lord Dunsany’s poetic talent as well as would a passage from his imaginative and often beautiful prose.” Marguerite Wilkinson
+ − N Y Times 25:140 Mr 28 ’20 160w
“The sheer beauty and spontaneity of these poems must surprise pleasantly those who have believed this period of social unrest and of war incapable of producing art of the highest order.” B. L.
+ Survey 43:554 F 7 ’20 150w
BRAND, MAX. Trailin’! *$1.75 (3c) Putnam
20–6637
A wild-west story that opens in Madison Square garden, where Anthony Woodbury accepts a challenge and rides a man-killing horse. Shortly after, the man Anthony has always regarded as his father is killed and Anthony goes West to follow the trail of the slayer and learn the secret of his birth. With the foolhardiness of a tenderfoot he takes unrealized risks, but his skill and daring always carry him through, and he is successful too in winning a western bride.
“The story undeniably grips.”
+ Ath p118 My 28 ’20 100w + Booklist 16:311 Je ’20
BRANOM, MENDEL EVERETT. Project method in education. (Library of educational methods) *$1.75 Badger, R. G. 371.3
19–15249
In his first chapter on “The nature of the project method,” the author discusses the term “project” and the different meanings assigned to it, saying, “There is no fundamental difference of opinion concerning the meaning of the word, but the difference lies in the degree of elasticity that should be permitted. In every case a unit of purposeful, intellectualized activity is involved.” The chapters that follow take up: The evolution of the project as an educational concept; The relation of the project method to instincts; The social basis for the project method; The significance of motivation; Teaching by projects; Learning by projects; The project-question; The project-exercise; The project-problem; Manual or physical projects; Mental projects not involving manual activity; The project method in history; The project method in geography; The reorganization of the course of study; The preparation of the teacher. There are twelve pages of references and an index.
“A valuable discussion of the project method.”
+ Cleveland p19 F ’20 20w
“The author sets forth in clear terms one of the existing needs in education, namely, to get away from the ‘bookish, theoretical education of former days.’ There are times, however, when his distinctions are not exactly clear to the reader.”
+ − School R 28:234 Mr ’20 900w
BRASOL, BORIS L. Socialism vs. civilization. *$2 Scribner 335
20–4141
As indicated by the title, the object of the book is to prove that socialism is the most dangerous enemy to civilization and that socialist agitation “threatens to ruin not only the existing order but also every attempt to improve it and to insure social progress and general prosperity.” The author claims to be a close student of Marx whose economic and social theories he attempts to explain and to refute. Professor Thomas Nixon Carver of Harvard university writes an introduction, and the contents are: Modern socialism—its theories and aims; Criticism of the Marx theory; The great socialistic experiment in Russia; Socialist explanations of the failure in Russia; Socialistic agitation in Europe and America; Social revolution or social reconstruction.
“Mr Brasol’s book gives a just though not a neutral estimate of the character and aims of modern socialism.” J. E. LeRossignol
+ − Am Econ R 10:624 S ’20 800w
“Brasol’s treatise is a valuable criticism of radical socialism, it fails to meet in a convincing way, the issue as raised by Laidler, Spargo, Vandervelde, Rauschenbusch and others, although the constructive proposals given in the last chapter might to some extent at least mitigate the admitted evils of the present system.” L. M. Bristol
+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:520 Ag ’20 200w Booklist 16:260 My ’20
“He makes out his case by infinite omissions, by a near-sightedness that throws the whole subject out of proportion, and by a plentiful use of epithets like ‘soap-box agitator’ and ‘parlour Bolshevist’; and his constructive suggestions are of an incredible banality.”
− Freeman 1:71 Mr 31 ’20 240w − Nation 110:860 Je 26 ’20 340w
“The chief moral to be drawn from the volume is that he wastes his time who tries to interpret present-day social movements without being at least sympathetic with the spirit of social unrest and demand for change.” H: P. Fairchild
− N Y Evening Post p16 Ap 24 ’20 850w
“His book is full of ammunition for those who feel a call to oppose propaganda to propaganda, and of reassurance to those who consider the facts disquieting.”
+ N Y Times p10 N 21 ’20 920w Outlook 125:124 My 19 ’20 650w
“In offering opinion on his book a sharp distinction should be drawn between the first four chapters and the last two; the book would be twice as good with the last two eliminated.”
+ − Review 2:491 My 8 ’20 380w
“While it cannot be recommended to the opponent of socialism as an altogether reliable armory of arguments, the book, nevertheless, often hits the nail and should prove stimulating and useful to the convinced Socialist and the impartial student.” B. L.
+ − Survey 44:121 Ap 17 ’20 200w
BREARLEY, HARRY CHASE. Time telling through the ages. il *$3 Doubleday 529
20–1749
“When the Ingersolls of watchmaking fame desired to celebrate the quarter-century of their experience in that industry, a book relating the evolution of time-keeping devices was adopted as a fitting memorial and as an anniversary contribution to horological art and science. The anniversary occurred in war time and the book had to wait until the establishment of peace. It is a handsomely illustrated volume, ‘Time telling through the ages,’ and bears the name of Henry C. Brearley as author, although credit is given Miss Katherine Morrissey Dodge for the research work necessary. The book relates the development then of watchmaking in England, France, Switzerland and America, past the days of the guilds and of handmade watches to the era of machine made standard parts at a price within the reach of everybody. Among the illustrations are many photographs of rare and curious old watches in the museums of the world. There is also included as an appendix forty-two pages of encyclopedic dictionary, defining and often illustrating all the terms pertaining to watchmaking and all the names of people identified through the ages with the progress and perfecting of the art.”—Springf’d Republican
+ N Y Times p23 Je 27 ’20 720w
“Most ingenious compilation. The illustrations are numerous and interesting.”
+ Review 3:478 N 17 ’20 200w St Louis 18:243 O ’20 50w
“The story is interesting and valuable.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 1 ’20 550w
BREASTED, JAMES HENRY, and ROBINSON, JAMES HARVEY. History of Europe, ancient and medieval. il $1.92 Ginn 940
20–5789
A work based on the authors’ “Outlines of European history.” “Chapters 1–20 have been completely rewritten, simplified, and condensed; and more space has been given to Roman history and less to that of the ancient Orient.... As for the rest of the work, much condensation has been effected and the details of presentation have been reconsidered from beginning to end.” (Preface) The bibliographies have also been revised. Part 1 of the book, Earliest man, the Orient, Greece and Rome, is by Professor Breasted. Part 2, Europe from the break-up of the Roman empire to the French revolution, is by Professor Robinson.
Booklist 17:165 Ja ’21
“The writer sees no reason why the book should not meet with immediate success, for it is without question one of the best in a somewhat barren field.”
+ School R 28:475 Je ’20 250w
BREBNER, PERCY JAMES (CHRISTIAN LYS, pseud.). Ivory disc (Eng title, Gate of temptation). *$1.75 (1½c) Duffield
20–10366
Dr Bruce Oliver had, until nearly his fortieth year, found women only an interesting study, and had not regarded them sentimentally. But when Estelle Bocara came into his life, his heart awakened. She felt and responded to his love, but she was already married to an eastern professor and mystic. As their acquaintance grew and their intimacy developed, Dr Oliver found Estelle at times to be under the strange mesmeric power of her husband, when she committed crimes of which she had no knowledge. Thinking her mental condition due to physical injury received in her childhood, Dr Oliver performed a successful operation on her brain. In an effort to complete the cure, Oliver put himself in Bocara’s power, with almost disastrous results. Fortunately for him, another victim of Bocara’s cruelty freed them both, and the obstacle to marriage with Estelle was removed. The ivory disk of the title is the amulet, the gift of Estelle which Oliver believes saved him from death.
“To become an adept in the craft of storytelling sometimes means advancement in literary style; had it been so in Mr Brebner’s case he would not have opened one of his chapter-sections with such a passage as ‘The crisp air of the morning had not yet let go of the world.’”
+ − Ath p750 Je 4 ’20 160w
“‘The ivory disc’ will furnish the reader with a harmless kind of diversion and will make no extortionate demands either upon his attention or upon his intellect.”
+ − N Y Times p28 Ag 15 ’20 360w
“The book can be recommended to lovers of sensation and cheap sentimental versions of occultism.”
− Sat R 130:164 Ag 21 ’20 90w Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 18 ’20 170w
“A distressing story. Apparently the author wants to make our flesh creep. But, somehow, he does not.”
− The Times [London] Lit Sup p305 My 13 ’20 110w
BRERETON, FREDERICK SADLIER. Great war and the R. A. M. C. *$6 Dutton 940.475
(Eng ed 20–285)
“‘The great war and the R. A. M. C. takes up the work of the Royal army medical corps on the western front during the first months of the war and relates with full detail the whole story of its efforts, failures and achievements, with especial reference to the service of its field ambulances.” Springf’d Republican
+ Ath p1275 N 28 ’19 120w Springf’d Republican p8 Jl 10 ’20 50w
“His succinct accounts of the various actions and manœuvres are just sufficient to support the main thread of the story without diverting the interest from it.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p4 Ja 1 ’20 1400w
BRIDGE, SIR FREDERICK. Westminster pilgrim. il *$8 Gray, H. W.
19–14604
“This bulky but entertaining book recounts a great deal more than the story of a pilgrimage to Westminster. It might excusably claim to be the history of the Abbey itself during the last half-century—coronations, funerals, choral functions, musical services, etc., having all the prominence that the organist would naturally consider their due. First and foremost, it is an autobiography of the chatty gossipy order; the life-story of a singularly busy musician who rose from the ranks, who came into contact with many of the leading men of his time, and who by his own showing never lost an opportunity for profiting by his talents or his peculiar fund of ready wit and jocularity. But in addition to this it deals now and again with serious musical topics, more particularly, of course, those which have come within the orbit of the author’s own wide professional experience.”—Sat R
“On the whole, however, the book suffers from those very excellences which make Sir Frederick so eminently suited to his office.”
+ − Ath p396 My 30 ’19 600w Brooklyn 12:67 Ja ’20 40w
“The Illustrations are of exceptional interest, and the whole book is excellently got up.”
+ Sat R 127:508 My 24 ’19 1200w
“The emeritus-organist of Westminster has led a full and successful life, and the record of his professional activities makes excellent reading, for Sir Frederick Bridge is an admirable raconteur.”
+ Spec 122:665 My 24 ’19 1350w
“He records meetings with a few great men outside his profession—Dickens, Tennyson, Browning; but it seems that the organist of the Abbey is most likely to meet great men at their funerals. His friends who were not great in the worldly sense are much more entertaining.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p233 My 1 ’19 1100w
BRIDGE, NORMAN. Marching years. il *$2.50 (3c) Duffield
20–18955
The above title is given to the autobiography of a noted physician of New England origin, the eighth generation in direct descent of Deacon John Bridge, to whom a bronze statue has been erected near Harvard university. Dr Bridge was graduated from the Chicago Medical college, served on the teaching staff of Rush Medical college for two decades and is the author of many publications on medical subjects, a list of which is appended to the text.
BRIDGES, ROBERT. October. *$1.50 Knopf 821
“‘October, and other poems’ does not bring anything particularly new to bear on Mr Bridges’s poetry. Its principal value is to show the poet laureate’s reactions to the war.” (N Y Times) “The best that we get is a quiet sound to arms in ‘Wake up, England,’ a tribute to victory in ‘Der tag: Nelson and Beatty,’ a ghostly dialogue between the victorious admirals of the past and present, some stanzas on ‘Britannia victrix,’ in the orthodox tradition of rehearsing the spirit of England’s greatness, some tributes to personal friends who were lost in the war, laurel-verse for the great soldier Lord Kitchener, sonnets to America in joining the fight for liberty, praise for the dominions for throwing in their lot with the mother of the brood, and other such occasional verses.” (Boston Transcript)
“The disappointment, if we may call it disappointment, of this small book is that so much of its room is taken up by poems of a more or less official inspiration. Nothing he writes, be the occasion never so official or the inspiration tenuous, is marred by a touch of shoddy; the dignity of poetry is safe in his hands. This dignity has no pomposity. It is only a name for the austerity and candour that mark the true artist.”
+ − Ath p472 Ap 9 ’20 640w
Reviewed by S: Roth
+ Bookm 52:361 D ’20 160w
Reviewed by W: S. Braithwaite
+ Boston Transcript p4 Ag 28 ’20 1150w
“The collection is hardly representative of Mr Bridges’ best work, but at its least, it is good verse.”
+ Dial 69:664 D ’20 80w
“Mr Bridges was created to do small things in poetry, and to do them very well.”
+ Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 80w
“The one drawback to Mr Bridges’s poetry is a lack of fire. It all seems conscious, coldly worked out to a well-defined formula. He carves carefully and with meticulous skill the clever cameos which he offers the public.” H. S. Gorman
+ − N Y Times p13 Ag 29 ’20 950w
“The name ‘October’ which the poet laureate has given to his new book of poems is exceedingly appropriate. There is the perfection and completion of autumn about them, the sense of something rounded and finished, a matured and considered beauty.”
+ Spec 124:557 Ap 24 ’20 320w
BRIDGES, VICTOR. Cruise of the “Scandal,” and other stories. *$1.75 (2c) Putnam
A volume of short stories by an English writer who introduces them with graceful apologies to “the countrymen of Edgar Allan Poe and O. Henry.” Mr Bridges is author also of “The lady from Long Acre” and the stories are written in the light-hearted manner of that novel. Among the fifteen titles are: The cruise of the “Scandal”; The man with the chin; Tony and his conscience; With the conquering turkey; A bit of Old Chelsea; Full-back for England; The bronze-haired girl; His reverence.
“A cluster of very delightful short stories.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 7 ’20 400w
“Here is an English author who is satirical, keenly observant and above all humorous.”
+ Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 60w
“Most of the tales are amusing, the author’s style is light and readable, and several of the stories reflect pleasantly the easy-going existence of the well-to-do young English bachelor as it was before the war.”
+ N Y Times 25:23 Jl 18 ’20 450w
“The short story which gives this book its title is charming and gay. Some of the others are flippant or rummy.”
+ − Outlook 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 20w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:253 S 22 ’20 200w
BRIGGS, THOMAS HENRY. Junior high school. (Riverside textbooks in education) *$2 Houghton 373
20–13790
A work by a professor of education, Teachers college, Columbia university. “The purpose of the book is to present the facts, so far as they can be ascertained, concerning the newly established junior high schools, or intermediate schools, and at the same time to set forth a constructive program for the reorganization if it is to be educationally effective.” (Preface) The author states that he has visited personally more than sixty junior high schools, that he has supplemented the information thus obtained by a study of the literature of the subject, by questionnaire returns, conferences and correspondence. He has also acted as educational advisor of the Speyer experimental junior high school in New York. Contents: The need of reorganization of schools; The development of the junior high school; Claims and objections; Organization; Special functions of the junior high school; Curricula and courses of study; Methods of teaching; Teachers and salaries; The administration of the schedule and of class units; Social organization and control; Buildings and grounds; Costs; Results; In conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
Boston Transcript p5 S 4 ’20 260w
“The book will serve a moderately useful purpose as a textbook for classes of beginners who need to be taught some definition of the movement, but will probably do little to influence practice in the present or the future.”
+ − El School J 21:70 S ’20 600w
BRIGHAM, ALBERT PERRY. Cape Cod and the Old Colony. il *$3.50 (6c) Putnam 974.4
20–14826
The book considers the Cape in its entirety: geologically, geographically, and historically. We are told of its relation to the glacial invasion, of its changing shoreline, due to the corroding and depositing force of the waves, and “how the first colonists and those who followed them have adjusted themselves to the mobile conditions of nature and of man.” (Preface) Contents: The Pilgrims around the bay; The origin of the Cape; The changing shoreline; Old Colony names and towns; On the land; The harvest of the waters; Roads and waterways; Three centuries of population; The environment of the sea; illustrations, index and maps.
“Clear, informative, and without distinction of style. Good photographs and charts.”
+ Booklist 17:26 O ’20
“It is sort of glorified geography, with a good deal that is both interesting and instructive.” W. A. Dyer
+ Bookm 52:126 O ’20 50w
“One thing at least is certain—he has presented science in a garb that does not repel the layman, and that in itself is always in the nature of an achievement.” B. R. Redman
+ N Y Times p9 Ja 9 ’21 260w + Outlook 126:202 S 29 ’20 60w + Review 3:539 D 1 ’20 120w
BRIGHOUSE, HAROLD. Marbeck inn. *$1.75 (2c) Little
20–3713
Sam Branstone’s cradle had stood in a laborer’s cottage. Through a deed of heroism in his boyhood he secured a grammar school education and his face was set towards success. A loveless marriage to an extravagant woman emphasizes the necessity for money. The means he employs for getting it are not of the highest. To business he adds politics and the ambition for power. Then in the capacity of his secretary, comes Effie, the woman of beauty and charm and a talent for self-sacrifice. She loves Sam and resolves to sacrifice herself for him by putting the beauty, that has never found a place there, into his life. During a week at Marbeck inn together, she changes his outlook and as he sinks in the social scale he rises spiritually.
Ath p573 Ap 30 ’20 850w
“A book full of clever detail but somehow without any final whereabouts. For myself, I am unable to like or believe much in either Sam or his Effie, and can’t feel that I ought to have been bothered with them, despite the craftsmanship of their sponsor.” H. W. Boynton
− + Bookm 51:343 My ’20 150w
“‘The Marbeck inn’ is, as far as we know, Mr Brighouse’s first novel. In it may be found certain of the characteristics discoverable in all his plays, a shrewd knowledge of and a censorious attitude towards the life and the people of his own section of England, and a contempt for the ruling powers of both city and nation. The basis of Mr Brighouse’s art, both as dramatist and novelist, is character.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p8 F 28 ’20 1550w
“The unregenerate Sam and his world have a magnificent solidity and lifelikeness. His formidable and admirable mother, his moral slattern of a wife, the Rev. Peter Struggles, George Chapple, and even Mr Alderman Verity—these people are authentic, vivid, and memorable.”
+ − Nation 110:393 Mr 20 ’20 380w
“As a study of certain phases of life in and about Manchester, this English author’s new book is to be commended for its faithfulness. That the story is decidedly sordid in tone may be the consequence of its environment. Certainly there are few pleasant people among its characters.”
+ − N Y Times 25:148 Mr 28 ’20 340w
“The action of the story is rapid and free. It has a dash that savors somehow of the movies, and the characters are perhaps equally moviesque—bold in outline without much delicacy of shading. One feels that one has to take the author’s word for their third dimension—all except Anne, the watchful mother, and Peter Struggles, loved pastor of St Mary’s.” Marguerite Fellows
+ Pub W 97:602 F 21 ’20 260w
“One agrees with the author that Sam is worth staying with until the moment arrives when he is to discover that he has a soul. On the other hand, exception will be taken to Mr Brighouse’s method of showing Sam his soul.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Ap 11 ’20 550w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p241 Ap 15 ’20 100w
BRIGHOUSE, HAROLD. Three Lancashire plays. $2.50 French, S. 822
20–13324
“The first of the three plays, ‘The game,’ proposes to be about football. The true subject of the play is parents and children. The daughter of the ‘gentleman’ rebels against her father and wants to marry the footballer; the footballer clings to his stern old mother and will not marry the girl unless he may keep his mother. And naturally the girl realizes that that would never ‘work’ and gives up her lover. ‘The northerners’ is a play about the introduction of machine-looms and the new tyranny of the masters of labour in the Lancashire of 1820. ‘Zack’ is a character comedy.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“The first two plays in the volume are hardly adaptable to use in America, but ‘Zack’ will be a valuable addition to the repertory of amateur groups.”
+ Drama 10:355 Jl ’20 170w
“His plots are neither simple and exact, nor, on the other hand, marvels of good carpentry. They are either too weak or too strong, invertebrate or too dependent on situation. But ... we have here three plays in which Brighouse’s keen sense of good stage-humour, and his knack for observing character are applied to a people and a life that he could know honestly at first hand.” K. M.
+ − Freeman 1:525 Ag 11 ’20 650w
“Mr Brighouse’s touch and temper are equally uncertain. In ‘The northerners’ his action is ingenious in the bad and artificial sense, and flares into the noisiest melodrama in the last act. ‘The game’ is a far sounder and less pretentious play than ‘The northerners’; ‘Zack’ is negligible.” Ludwig Lewisohn
− + Nation 111:18 Jl 3 ’20 200w
“‘The game’ is, perhaps, a trifle too local, with an appeal to a more specialized audience whose chief interest lies in the fair play of organized sport. It is a relief to discover in the last play, ‘Zack,’ amusement for its own sake.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 11 ’20 580w
“As for ‘Zack,’ it cries out for acting. But the dialogue and the situations go for little in print.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p121 F 19 ’20 900w
“All show a sense of the theatre, good situations, lively talk (and, one might exclaim, ‘What more could you ask, in Heaven’s name?’), but for all this they are at best but commonplace.”
+ − Theatre Arts Magazine 4:350 O ’20 140w
BRINKLEY, FRANK, and KIKUCHI, DAIROKU. History of the Japanese people. il *$4.50 Doran 952
This history dates from the earliest times to the end of the Meiji era and has been compiled with the collaboration of Baron Kikuchi who also contributes the foreword. He claims that among the many books on Japan there has not yet been a history of Japan so essential to the proper understanding of Japanese problems. Besides that part of the contents devoted especially to dynastic and political history there are chapters on: The historiographer’s art in old Japan; Japanese mythology; Rationalization; Origin of the Japanese nation; Language and physical characteristics; Manners and customs in remote antiquity; The capital and the provinces; Recovery of administrative authority by the throne; Manners and customs of the Heian epoch; Art, religion, literature, customs, and commerce in the Kamakura period; Foreign intercourse, literature, art, religion, manners, and customs in the Muromachi epoch; Christianity in Japan; Revival of the Shintō cult; Wars with China and Russia. The appendix contains: The constitution of Japan; The Anglo-Japanese agreement, 1905; and the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905. There is a list of Japanese works consulted; an index; 150 illustrations engraved on wood by Japanese artists; half-tone plates and maps.
+ Bookm 51:633 Ag ’20 20w + Springf’d Republican p8 D 21 ’20 460w
BRINTON, REGINALD SEYMOUR. Carpets. $1 Pitman 677
20–14784
This volume of Pitman’s Common commodities and industries series comprises the following chapters: History; Materials; Dyeing; Hand-made carpets; Brussels; Wilton; Axminster; Chenille; Tapestry; Ingrain; Design and colour; Statistics; Employers and employed; Conclusion. There are thirty illustrations and an index.
BROOKE, STOPFORD AUGUSTUS. Naturalism in English poetry. *$3 Dutton 821.09
20–20661
“These studies deal with that reaction from artificial and conventional poetry of the eighteenth century which began with Thomson, grew through a transition period of some fifty years (1730–1780) into the ‘naturalistic’ poetry of Burns and Cowper, reached its height with Wordsworth, and died with Shelly, Keats, and Byron. They are based on the Ms. of a course of lectures delivered by the late Stopford Brooke at University college, London, in 1902. The later chapters of the book are also printed from Mss., except two, which appeared after the author’s death in the Hibbert Journal.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“There was, perhaps, no great originality in Stopford Brooke’s criticism; and in reading his particular book one sighs occasionally for a page or two of precise discussion of the keyword in the title. On the other hand it has the redeeming salt of a genuine humanity, an enthusiasm which, if it attaches sometimes to what seems to us only diluted poetry, is in the main convincing—a book, in short, which can be read with pleasure rather than exhilaration, and which, considered as lectures delivered to a university audience, is admirable.”
+ − Ath p792 Je 18 ’20 600w
“Mr Brooke’s book is one that should be widely read, for it gives new life to these men [Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron].” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p14 Ja 16 ’21 400w
“While Stopford Brooke has written good criticism, he has not written great criticism; for a criticism which, while dealing with human values, does not really seek for the larger reconciling ideas, and which always in a pinch leans toward a theological standard cannot be called great.”
+ − No Am 213:284 F ’21 1300w
“Though the present work penetrates deeply into the spirit that animated the naturalistic poets, it is marred by the use of many outworn phrases, examples of tautology, and an irritating loquacity that might be forgiven in a lecturer, but cannot be condoned in the printed page.”
+ − Sat R 130:141 Ag 14 ’20 550w Springf’d Republican p8 N 27 ’20 300w The Times [London] Lit Sup p305 My 13 ’20 70w
BROOKS, ALFRED MANSFIELD. From Holbein to Whistler; notes on drawing and engraving. il *$7.50 Yale univ. press 767
20–15784
“Starting with the ‘Beginnings of line engraving in Italy,’ Mr Brooks comments on the line engraving and wood in the North, talks upon the work of such men as Mantegna, Marcantonio, Raimondi, Lucas of Leyden, Durer and Holbein; gives an account of the theory and progress of etching through Rembrandt, Van Dyck to Claude Lorraine; mezzotint engraving as exemplified by Claude Lorraine and Richard Earlom, and concludes on the famous collection of engravings and designs by Turner known as ‘The liber studiorum.’ The volume is illustrated in both line and shadow, with reproductions of the famous drawings of the artists dealt with.”—Boston Transcript
“Ease and dignity mark the style.”
+ Booklist 17:59 N ’20 Boston Transcript p5 S 4 ’20 470w
“If the reader may occasionally prefer a different path from the one taken by Mr Brooks, that is in measure a matter of personal predilection. The same may be said of the choice of prints for discussion. However, in the end the book stimulates, and exhibits good common sense.”
+ Review 3:625 D 22 ’20 450w
“On the whole, it is an interesting and instructive book, a little verbose, but full of shrewd observations and sound though unoriginal generalities. It is neither sufficiently concise nor sufficiently ample for very general use; however, the patient reader will be amply repaid for the reading.” R: Bassett
+ Springf’d Republican p7a D 26 ’20 580w
BROOKS, CHARLES STEPHEN. Luca Sarto. il *$1.75 (2c) Century
20–3883
Fourteen hundred and seventy-one is the time of this story of adventure and romance, as told by the hero, Luca Sarto, in the first person. Here is his own outline of the events: “We shall see, when all is done, how a man fled wisely from his enemies, the Orsini; how he came to France; how later, in good time, he wooed and kissed a lady; how, after a night that was candled by stars and danger, the morning sun was witness to their betrothal. I end with priest and blessing. No need of candle then.”
+ Booklist 16:242 Ap ’20
“Remarkable for the fidelity with which the author preserves the atmosphere of the middle ages.”
+ Bookm 52:369 D ’20 60w
“From the confinement and necessary limitations of the essay-form, Mr Brooks has emerged with much credit, to give us a glorious adventure bubbling with spirits, and plausible withal.” R. D. W.
+ Boston Transcript Mr 13 ’20 800w
“Full of intrigue and action, and related in a quaint phraseology full of color and metaphor.”
+ Cleveland p50 My ’20 110w
“It has the sparkle of brightly burnished armour and a pulse-quickening pace. The manner of the telling is not without a touch of swagger, spiced with the salt flavour of the modern point-of-view, humorous and whimsical.”
+ Dial 68:664 My ’20 80w
“The book, a first novel, is an entertaining historical romance cleverly written and contains plenty of intrigue and adventure combined with a pretty love story.”
+ N Y Times 25:1 Mr 7 ’20 320w
“His adventures in France are told with dash, and the style smacks truly of the manner of the fifteenth century.”
+ Outlook 124:563 Mr 31 ’20 60w
“A spirited and amusing if not inspired narrative of adventure-cum-politics.” H. W. Boynton.
+ − Review 2:463 My 1 ’20 640w
“The story is well written, in a fresh and stimulating romantic spirit, and should appeal to those with a weakness for historical novels that do not contain too much history.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 14 ’20 450w
BROOKS, JOHN GRAHAM. Labor’s challenge to the social order; democracy its own critic and educator. *$2.75 (2c) Macmillan 331
20–8263
“The problem here submitted is a study of power rapidly and in part accidentally acquired by labor. More especially it is a study of what labor is to do with its new mastership, what fitness it possesses for the work it would take in hand and how, meantime, other classes are to play their part.” (Chapter 1) The author holds that the war has precipitated this new power of labor, which in normal times would have developed more slowly and carried with it its own discipline, and that now its education will be more costly both for itself and the public. He also holds that for capital the day of “the lone hand” has closed and that the lesson for both capital and labor to learn is to unite their forces in cooperative effort. A partial list of the contents is: “A new society”; World lessons; The struggle at its worst; The Inner revolution; Lessons from the communists; Socialism; Government ownership; Industrial democracy at its best; The employers’ case against the union; The new “profit-sharing”; Syndicalism; The new guild; Index.
“It is a stimulating and penetrating appreciation of the latest developments in the labor field on the background of Mr Brooks’s forty years’ study of the upward movement of wage-earners throughout the world. Like his other books, it is a human document rather than a dogmatic treatise.” H: R. Seager
+ Am Econ R 10:602 S ’20 1000w
“The volume is fully up to the author’s standard of writing, which means that it is accurate, good-tempered and interesting.”
+ Am Pol Sci R 14:739 N ’20 50w
“The very interesting illustrations cited throughout make this book not only earnest but really attractive reading on labor organization questions.”
+ Booklist 16:327 Jl ’20
“A clear account and discriminating criticism of the labor movement.”
+ Ind 103:319 S 11 ’20 30w
Reviewed by G: Soule
+ Nation 111:535 N 10 ’20 480w
“His book is unquestionably the most mature, balanced and far-seeing analysis of recent months.” Ordway Tead
+ New Repub 25:208 Ja 12 ’21 410w
“With some blemishes here and there of involved or slipshod phrase, the book is to be warmly welcomed. No other man in America who deals with this subject draws from so ample a store of learning and experience. No other has at once the exactness and the scope of his information. No other writes with such uniform tolerance and breadth of view.” W. J. Ghent
+ − Review 3:448 N 10 ’20 720w
“His tolerance and his desire to understand and to interpret the world of labor fairly and humanly give distinction to his work.” W. L. C.
+ Survey 45:73 O 9 ’20 300w
BROOKS, VAN WYCK. Ordeal of Mark Twain. *$3 Dutton
20–8431
“This book is primarily a psychological study and yet it is full of biographical detail related to the career of Mark Twain, and supplements the biography written by Mr Paine. It should be stated, however, that Mr Brooks did not undertake this task in the spirit of a chronicler. He started, rather, with the aim of offering a logical explanation of Mark Twain’s well-known tendency to pessimism.” (R of Rs) “The main idea in the book is that Mark Twain’s career was a tragedy—a tragedy for himself and a tragedy for mankind. Everyman who does not live up to his highest possibilities is living in a state of sin. Mark Twain was, therefore, one of the chief of sinners, because his possibilities were so great and he fell so short. There were two villains in Mark Twain’s tragedy—his mother and his wife. His mother was more eager to have him good than to have him great; his wife wanted him to be a gentleman. Between them they tamed the lion and made him perform parlor tricks. This hypothesis is worked out by Mr Brooks.” (N Y Times)
Booklist 16:343 Jl ’20
“Having set up his theory, everything in the humorist’s career is made to contribute to it in the most plausible, ingenious, and stimulating way; the book is so able and interesting that to read it is a delight. Yet, for me, as I strive to realize Mark Twain, remembering the man and reading the author to find the man, the result is not satisfactory, nor do I think Mr Brooks has penetrated to the heart of the secret. He has succumbed to the danger which always confronts the thesis-maker who has to subdue data so that they may buttress his belief.” R: Burton
* + − Bookm 52:333 Ja ’21 2900w
“Not only a subtle psychological study of one of the most prominent figures in the life of the past century, but also a valuable acquisition to the essay realm of American history.”
+ Cath World 112:255 N ’20 700w
Reviewed by R. M. Lovett
Dial 69:293 S ’20 3150w
“This ‘Ordeal’ is so brilliant a book and comes so near the truth in its general outlines that it seems almost an excess of seriousness to point out certain excesses of seriousness into which Mr Brooks has been carried by his ardor for the dignity of the literary profession. But it should be pointed out that his criticism is very far from being disinterested. He means to bring an adequate indictment against the sort of society which discourages and represses a man of genius.” C. V. D.
+ − Nation 111:189 Ag 14 ’20 1350w
“Unfortunately Van Wyck Brooks took Mark Twain’s humorously megalomaniac utterances for serious expressions of a megalomaniac soul, and, as it seems to me, utterly missed the most promising lead in his mountain of ore. But there were riches enough for his purpose, nevertheless.” Alvin Johnson
+ − New Repub 23:201 Jl 14 ’20 2350w
“Many books have been written about Mark Twain; but with the exception of Paine’s biography this work by Mr Van Wyck Brooks is the most important and the most essential. Whether one agrees with Mr Brooks’s thesis or not—and I do not—one must admire and one ought to profit by the noble and splendid purpose animating it. It is a call to every writer and to every man and woman not to sin against their own talents.” W: L. Phelps
+ − N Y Times p1 Je 27 ’20 2200w
“While Mr Brooks is in no sense an artist in words, he is a dramatic expositor, and he owns a thesis which attracts to its defense an inspiritingly large number of crisp facts and observations. His book will interest and serve even the unbeliever.”
+ − Review 3:108 Ag 4 ’20 1150w
“Mr Brooks seems to have adopted a thesis which he feels bound to support by ingenious and plausible argument. As a clever and brilliant application of critical methods to a literary career, the book has few equals in American literature.”
+ R of Rs 62:334 S ’20 120w
“Although it is easy to dissent from Mr Brooks’s interpretation of Clemens’s biography, the book aims to provide something of the serious criticism which is so essential not only to American letters but to American culture. It is somewhat overtheorized and finespun. The ideas would be clearer if the book were more condensed in expression and data.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p6 Jl 5 ’20 490w Wis Lib Bul 16:114 Je ’20 60w
BROWER, HARRIETTE MOORE.[[2]] Self-help in piano study. il *$1.50 Stokes 786
20–17977
The book is in two parts: Practical lessons in piano technic and Plain talks with piano teachers and students. It consists of reprinted matter from the Musical Observer and Musical America in the form of brief essays, many of them written in response to requests from teachers and students. Among the chapters of Part 1 are: The principles of piano playing; The beginner; Use of wrist and arms; Scale playing. Part 2 has talks on: On teaching; Laying the foundation; Points on technical training; Touch and tone, etc.
BROWER, HARRIETTE MOORE. Vocal mastery. il *$3 Stokes 784.9
20–19844
This book is composed of a number of talks with famous singers with a view to obtaining “their personal ideas concerning their art and its mastery, and, when possible, some inkling as to the methods by which they themselves have arrived at the goal.” Among those interviewed are Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, Amelita Galli-Curci, Giuseppe de Luca, Luisa Tetrazzini, Antonio Scotti, Reinald Werrenrath, and Sophie Braslau. A group entitled, With the master teachers, includes David Bispham, Oscar Saenger, Herbert Witherspoon, Yeatman Griffith, and J. H. Duval. Twenty photographs illustrate the book. Miss Brower is author also of “Piano mastery,” a book of similar purpose for pianists, and other books for musicians.
+ Booklist 17:102 D ’20
BROWN, ABBIE FARWELL. Heart of New England. *$1.50 Houghton 811
20–16517
This collection of poems is a tribute in verse to the Pilgrim tercentenary, taking the reader from the Pilgrim’s separation from old England, to the present generation’s reunion thru the war. The first group of poems deals entirely with New England and some of the poems are: Pilgrim mothers; Pirate treasure; Grandmother’s house; Grandmother’s garden; Pine music; The blazed trail. The second group contains war songs, among them: Peace—with a sword; From the canteen; Prayer for America. The book ends with The rock of liberty: a Pilgrim ode, 1620–1920.
“Many who cannot find pleasure in more daring modern poets should find contentment in the work of Miss Brown. When much of today’s poetry is forgotten her verse will wait for him who wishes to know the true New England.” N. J. O’Conor
+ Boston Transcript p6 O 9 ’20 3400w
BROWN, ALICE. Homespun and gold. *$2 Macmillan
20–19504
“‘Homespun and gold’ is an appropriate title for Miss Alice Brown’s new collection of stories, considering the homely material she has used and the glint of hope that persists in an atmosphere of impending tragedy. The people and scenes are all of New England, and the situations deal with the suppressed desires, the thwarted hopes, and the hated sacrifices made lovable, of a people in whom the Puritan tradition is not entirely dead.” (Freeman) Contents: The wedding ring; Mary Felicia; A homespun wizardry; Red poppies; Ann Eliza; The return of father; The deserters; The house of the bride; A question of wills; A brush of paint; The path of stars; The widow’s third; White pebbles; Confessions; Up on the mountain.
“Because they describe life rather than interpret it they fail to move one profoundly. The reader closes the book impressed with its sustained excellence; the sure touch of an experienced craftsman is apparent on every page, but it throws no clear light upon the enigma of human destiny.” L. M. R.
+ − Freeman 2:285 D 1 ’20 240w
“Taken together, they form an interesting picture of New England village life. It is a picture far less grim than some others we have seen.”
+ N Y Times p22 N 21 ’20 850w
“They are humorous, human, and true.”
+ Outlook 126:690 D 15 ’20 60w
“There is very little description in any of the stories—dialog is used almost wholly and this aids in the sharp differentiation of the characters. A homely idiom, fast becoming obsolete, adds to this effect.”
+ Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 170w
BROWN, ALICE. Wind between the worlds. *$2 (2c) Macmillan
20–11071
In various ways the characters of this story are interested in the life hereafter and in communication with the dead; and the reactions on the living, when the quest becomes too ardent, constitute its moral. A bereaved mother, one of whose sons has been killed in the war, pins all her faith to automatic writing, in the hope of getting a message from him. Her relations with her husband become strained, her nerves threaten to give way. Her secretary, who practices the writing, has through it so lost her grip on the higher potentialities of life, that she no longer discriminates between genuine and fraudulent practices. A scientist has taken the matter up from the scientific side and from seeking communication with his dead wife has been led deeper and deeper into his investigations, and becomes almost crazed and totally irresponsible. For love of him his daughter surrounds herself with a fabric of lies from which only the love of an unusual, divining young man and her father’s death, extricate her. For the bereaved mother and her family the situation is saved by the penetrating wisdom of an old woman.
“Written with characteristic deftness and charm.”
+ Booklist 17:30 O ’20
“In ‘The wind between the worlds’ Miss Brown has, despite the intricacy of her theme, sacrificed neither her story to her problem, nor her problem to her story. Devotees of the cult doubtless will not approve of it, for its hints at fraud will seem to them to be unjust, and it suggests little sympathy on the part of the novelist with the cause they have so near at heart. To others, however, it will appear as a sensible and skilfully imaginative exposition of a vital subject.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 21 ’20 1400w Cleveland p105 D ’20 60w Lit D p110 N 6 ’20 2700w
“If one can forget the shoddiness of the material there are several virtues that might be pointed out. The book will undoubtedly please disciples of the formula school of fiction.” H. S. G.
+ − New Repub 25:210 Ja 12 ’21 340w
“The ‘plot portion’ of the story is the weakest part of it. There are times when it seems manufactured. But the character drawing is admirable. That the novel is admirably written and the atmosphere of Boston, where the scene is laid, excellently reproduced, of course goes without saying.” L. M. Field
+ − N Y Times 25:15 Jl 11 ’20 1550w
“The love-plot is singular, but not convincing or quite well managed.”
+ − Outlook 126:111 S 15 ’20 150w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ − Review 3:234 S 15 ’20 360w
“Madame Brooke, the grandmother of the dead boy, is much the most interesting and unconventional character in the book, and in her the author depicts an exclusively American type.”
+ Spec 125:782 D 11 ’20 50w
“The technique is admirable; but the breath of life is rarely present. The characters are intellectually conceived, the story is original, the psychology shows insight; there is capital description, reasonably good dialogue, situations both interesting and dramatic; the tale moves without faltering; and yet, the breath of life being absent for the most part, the story is unreal.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p701 O 28 ’20 340w + Wis Lib Bul 16:193 N ’20 120w
BROWN, SIR ARTHUR WHITTEN, and BOTT, ALAN JOHN. Flying the Atlantic in sixteen hours. il *$1.50 (4c) Stokes 629.1
20–8254
In this account of the prize-winner in the first competitive flight across the Atlantic, in a Vickers-Vimy machine. Sir Arthur Brown says: “We have realized that our flight was but a solitary fingerpost to the air-traffic—safe, comfortable and voluminous—that in a few years will pass above the Atlantic ocean.” The last three chapters of the book are devoted to a discussion of aircraft in commerce and transportation. Contents: Some preliminary events; St John’s; The start; Evening; Night; Morning; The arrival; Aftermath of arrival; The navigation of aircraft; The future of transatlantic flight; The air age; illustrations.
Booklist 16:333 Jl ’20
“One leaves the book with the sensation of having been in the midst of remarkable accomplishment.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 7 ’20 900w + Outlook 125:223 Je 2 ’20 30w + Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 22 ’20 300w
BROWN, DEMETRA (VAKA) (MRS KENNETH BROWN), and PHOUTRIDES, ARISTIDES, trs. Modern Greek stories. (Interpreters’ ser.) *$1.90 (3c) Duffield
20–26756
The book has a foreword by Demetra Vaka describing the emotional and intellectual history of the Greeks from the time they lost their independence to the Turks in 1453 to the present. Modern Greece, she says, owes her independence and inspiration to her poets and other writers and Mount Olympus, by becoming the stronghold of the outlaws and insurgents against Turkish rule, became in a new sense a sacred mountain. Of the authors of the eight stories selected for the volume, all but three are still living. The stories are: Sea; The sin of my mother; The god-father; Mangalos; Forgiveness; Angelica; A man’s death; The frightened soul; She that was homesick.
Booklist 17:31 O ’20 + Boston Transcript p6 S 8 ’20 380w + Lit D p92 N 20 ’20 1450w
“All these stories are pervaded with a fatalism, a sombreness, a prepossession unredeemed by that super-sight that we associate with the Greeks of old. If they are exact transcriptions of the instincts and beliefs of the Greek people of today they have far to go before the heights are reached.” B. D.
− N Y Times p9 Ag 22 ’20 950w + Outlook 126:238 O 6 ’20 50w
“Without awakening at any point intense curiosity or poignant interest they hold the attention by their sincerity, truth, simplicity, and an indefinable democratic and human tone. They are admirably translated in pure idiomatic English.”
+ Review 3:480 N 17 ’20 250w
“Charming tales. The stories are fascinating in their strange beauty.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 270w
“These stories are beautiful as literature; they are fascinating as documents of a people’s inner life.” B. L.
+ Survey 45:334 N 27 ’20 150w
BROWN, EDNA ADELAIDE. That affair at St Peter’s. il *$1.75 (4c) Lothrop
20–7761
This story is told by Preston Perrin, the junior warden of St Peter’s, a church in the suburban town of Hollywood. The tale has to do with the theft of St Peter’s communion plate between two morning services on a June Sunday. Various persons had access to the safe where the silver was kept, including Sophie Dennison, whom no one, least of all, Preston, could connect with such a crime, Thompson, the organist, Anna, a Girl’s friendly girl, and of course the rector. Fred Farrell. A detective is called in, but his conventional methods prove little. Finally, the silver is returned and the affair is explained very naturally and credibly, the whole excitement lasting less than a week.
+ Booklist 16:346 Jl ’20
“The book is old-fashioned, but—its mystery appearing early—will be finished if started.”
+ Bookm 52:174 O ’20 210w
“A very interesting and well written story. All characters are attractive and a spice of love-making, withal, completes the value of the work as a story of human interest.”
+ Boston Transcript p4 Je 2 ’20 130w
BROWN, EVERETT SOMERVILLE. Constitutional history of the Louisiana purchase, 1803–1812. $2.50 Univ. of Cal. 973.4 A20–742
“The purpose of this monograph is to discuss the most important of the constitutional questions which arose as a consequence of the purchase of Louisiana, and to show how the statesmen and legislators in charge of affairs at that time interpreted the constitution in answering those questions. Much has been written on the Louisiana purchase but no connected narrative of its constitutional aspects has hitherto appeared.” (Preface) The author has confined his study principally to the lower part of the province, that organized as Orleans territory and afterwards admitted as the state of Louisiana. He has utilized much hitherto unpublished material. There is a bibliography of thirteen pages, in which this material, together with published works, is cited. An appendix reproduces the Senate debate on the Breckinridge bill in 1804, and the volume is indexed. It is published as volume 10 of the University of California publications in history, of which Herbert E. Bolton is editor.
“Dr Brown has covered a wide range of manuscript and printed material, and handled it with a just sense of proportion and a keen scent for the significant. I do wish, however, that aspirants for the three magic letters would not be so oppressed by the solemnity of their quest as to neglect the light and humorous aspects of their subject.” S. E. Morison
+ − Am Hist R 26:143 O ’20 280w
“A careful and elaborate monograph.” H. E. E.
+ Eng Hist R 35:625 O ’20 80w + Ind 104:249 N 13 ’20 40w
BROWN, GEORGE EDWARD. Book of R. L. S.; works, travels, friends, and commentators. il *$2.50 (3c) Scribner
20–6150
A book of Stevenson miscellany, alphabetically arranged. “The chief aim of this book is to provide a commentary on his works as far as possible from Stevenson’s own standpoint by showing the circumstances in which they were written, their history in his hands, and his judgments on them.... The scheme of the volume also embraces references to members of his family, and to his more or less intimate friends as well as the places directly associated with his wandering life.” (Preface) The comments vary in length from brief paragraphs to several pages. Subjects covered more or less at length include the Appin murder, on which “Kidnapped” was based; “The black arrow”; Alan Breck; “Catriona”; Father Damien; Dedications; “Kidnapped”; Samoa; San Francisco; In the South seas; and “Treasure island”; and there are also notes on Barrie, Meredith, Kipling, Sidney Colvin, and others. The book has eight illustrations and is indexed.
“The arrangement is handy for reference, and the information sufficiently attractive to repay one who dips into the book for pleasure.”
+ Ath p1275 N 28 ’19 50w Boston Transcript p7 Ja 17 ’20 1000w
“Raises the question of how long Stevenson will survive segmentation, mutilation for mottoes, and vivisection in calendars, without impairment of his literary vitality. This volume, fortunately, is a dictionary rather than a dissection.”
+ Dial 68:401 Mr ’20 70w
“Once you have braced yourself and plunged in, an encyclopedia is delightful reading and so is this ‘Book of R. L. S.’”
+ Ind 102:235 My 8 ’20 300w
“Unless some one does the same thing better, the book will stand; it need fear no rivalry, so far as ready reference is concerned, from more brilliant narratives. Minor shortcomings are offset by his general accuracy and good sense.”
+ − Nation 110:436 Ap 3 ’20 180w
“‘A book of R. L. S.’ is a good compendium of everything that is worth knowing in the life of Stevenson.” B: de Casseres
+ N Y Times 25:1 Mr 7 ’20 900w Review 2:436 Ap 24 ’20 120w
“Contains a valuable index.” D. K.
+ St Louis 18:66 Ap ’20 30w
“It seems a little odd to find all sorts of information about Stevenson, his friends, and critics arranged under alphabetical headings, as if he were a cookery book or a postal guide. We have at this date quite enough books about Stevenson, and we hope that this will be the last for some time to come.... While Mr Brown’s industry is remarkable, his criticism is not always of the kind we regard as useful.”
− + Sat R 128:610 D 27 ’19 1350w
“A pleasant and informing study. The arrangement which is so convenient for reference, interferes very little with the book’s readability.”
+ Spec 124:86 Ja 17 ’20 70w
“The reader is made to feel an intimate acquaintance with that very remarkable author and man.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 F 27 ’20 220w
“The book serves also as a bibliography, with notes of the values of first editions.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p698 N 27 ’19 90w
BROWN, IVOR JOHN CARNEGIE.[[2]] Meaning of democracy. *$2 McClurg 321.8
(Eng ed 20–4617)
“The lecturer of Oxford tutorial classes attempts to show what democracy implies. He recognizes that the word has come to mean nothing. Having accepted the principle of equality, as the basis of a division of power, he proceeds to outline representative government. He finds in this inevitable delegation of power, three main problems; the demand for general education to make articulate public opinion, the machinery for translating this public opinion into practice and in the third place, the need of curbing those elected to office, so that they will not forget the source of their power.”—Boston Transcript
“An excellent little book.”
+ Ath p303 Mr 5 ’20 520w
“Ivor Brown’s ‘The meaning of democracy’ warms the heart with the new vision of education—education where teacher and students meet as equals.” A. Yezierska
+ Bookm 52:499 F ’21 190w Boston Transcript p5 D 4 ’20 140w + − Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 360w (Reprinted from The Times [London] Lit Sup p116 F 19 ’20)
“It is more human, more readable, and more thought-provoking than nine out of ten of the treatises on the same general lines with which it has been our rather arduous privilege to grapple. This is because Mr Brown is neither very whole-hearted nor, happily, very consistent about his self-imposed task. The terrible series of definitions by which he is going to fathom the last recesses of the democratic idea loses itself, like certain eastern rivers, in the desert during the course of the first few chapters; and we can bear with the loss.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p116 F 19 ’20 1500w
BROWN, NELSON COURTLANDT. Forest products. il *$3.75 Wiley 674
19–15703
A book by the professor of forest utilization, New York state college of forestry. “Some idea of its scope may be obtained from such chapter headings as the following: Wood pulp and paper; Tanning materials; Veneers; Slack and tight cooperage; Naval stores; Wood distillation; Charcoal; Boxes; Cross ties; Poles and piling; Mine timber; Fuel; Shingles; Maple syrup and sugar; Rubber; Dye woods; Excelsior and cork. Under each topic the character and source of the raw material, the tree species involved, the processes of manufacture, the marketing, the utilization, and values are discussed. Whenever any attempts have been made toward standard specifications and grading of the products, these are given in considerable detail. Statistics of production in the United States or of importation from other lands are arranged in convenient tables, and still more important for the scientist is the bibliography which is appended to each chapter.” (Bot Gaz)
Booklist 16:156 F ’20
“Attractive in appearance, well illustrated, and carefully organized.” G: D. Fuller
+ Bot Gaz 68:479 D ’19 220w
BROWN, ROBERT NEAL RUDMOSE. Spitsbergen. il *$5 Lippincott 919.8
20–7933
“This book, from the pen of a British explorer, meets the new demand for information about the mineral resources of this Arctic archipelago, and at the same time gives a good account of the history, exploration and animal and plant life of the country. The author discusses the three ways suggested for settling the political status of Spitsbergen—partition, international control by two or more nations, and annexation by one or other nation. He rejects the first two propositions as not feasible and concludes that the islands should be annexed by either Great Britain or Norway, the choice to be submitted to the League of nations and decided by a mandate to one or other of these powers.”—R of Rs
“Dr Rudmose Brown is a geographer of repute with considerable scientific attainments, whose work in the Antarctic has won recognition, and in this volume he has given us a valuable, lively and most interesting account of the Spitsbergen archipelago. He writes with a restrained enthusiasm inspired by a genuine love of these wild regions which compels our interest.” L. C.-M.
+ Ath p1064 O 24 ’19 1250w
“Since the book was finished before the government of the country was settled it is slightly out of date in this, but is chiefly valuable for the details of history and economic resources.”
+ − Booklist 17:26 O ’20
“The book states the problem clearly and contains numerous helpful maps and illustrations.”
+ Outlook 124:291 F 18 ’20 60w R of Rs 61:220 F ’20 120w
“Dr Rudmose Brown gives a map showing the principal mining estates according to nationality, but no map showing the distribution of coal, and no geological map. This last seems a curious omission and certainly is a regrettable one. His book may be recommended to the general inquirer and especially to the tourists and health seekers.”
+ − Sat R 128:612 D 27 ’19 1300w
“An interesting and useful book.”
+ Spec 123:473 O 11 ’19 1450w
“This is one of those commendable volumes which entertains while it informs the reader.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p556 O 16 ’19 1000w
BROWNE, EDWARD GRANVILLE.[[2]] History of Persian literature under Tartar dominion (A. D. 1265–1502). il *$14 Macmillan 891.5
21–509
“The literature of Persia has found a most able and enthusiastic interpreter in Professor Edward G. Browne, of the University of Cambridge, who has already published two exhaustive volumes entitled ‘A literary history of Persia,’ bringing the subject down to the middle of the thirteenth century. Now comes a third, covering the period from 1265 to 1502. It is practically a continuation, if not so in name and form, of the other two standard volumes.” (Nation) “The period dealt with begins immediately after the terrible Mongol invasion under Hulagu, includes the conquests of the redoubtable Tamerlane, and ends with the appearance of the great Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safawi dynasty, as the saviour of his country.” (Spec)
“It must be confessed that it is not easy reading. He could hardly expect it to be a popular piece of literature. But what a glorious feast it provides! He has indeed performed a great and needed work in interpreting this fine people to modern readers.” N. H. D.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 N 20 ’20 780w
“Takes its place by the side of the two earlier volumes as a masterpiece of sound scholarship and critical judgment.” A. V. W. Jackson
+ Nation 111:508 N 3 ’20 560w
“The volume, in short, is worthy of its distinguished author, and sheds a flood of light on an epoch with which even experts are unfamiliar.”
+ Sat R 130:359 O 30 ’20 720w
“His treatment of the subject is so direct and so clear that the general reader would never suspect that the ground traversed is mostly new ground, and that the sources both for the history and for the literature are for the most part contained in unpublished manuscripts.”
+ Spec 125:337 S 11 ’20 2300w
BROWNE, ROBERT T. Mystery of space. *$4 Dutton 114
19–18843
“It is Mr Browne’s belief that mankind has entered upon a new era in the development of intellect and that new powers of perception and understanding are unfolding in the most advanced members of the race. ‘The intellect’, he says, ‘has but one true divining rod, and that is mathematics,’ and he brings forward his mathematical evidence to prove his contention. He discusses also the genesis and nature of space, devotes a chapter to an exposition of the fourth dimension, another to discussion of non-Euclidian geometry and traces the growth of the notion of hyperspace.”—Springf’d Republican
Brooklyn 12:112 Ap ’20 30w
“The greatest of all latter-day books on space. It is written by a mathematician, a mystic and a thinker, one who, endowed with a tremendous metaphysical imagination, never lets go any point of the threads of reality. Lucid and logical, with a pen that never falters, Mr Browne advances steadily from page to page upon the fortresses of science.” B: de Casseres
+ N Y Times 25:119 Mr 14 20 1700w
“It is excessively irritating that writers on this subject either choose or are forced to employ a vocabulary and a style which are repellent to the reader, and to mix the significant and insignificant into an almost inextricable tangle. Careful and prolonged searching brings forth the fact that Mr Browne has a definite and interesting thesis.” L: T. More
+ − Review 2:133 F 7 ’20 950w Springf’d Republican p8 D 20 ’19 100w
“As offering to the reader very intelligible and significant, not to say impressive intimations and conceptions of that larger universe in which we live and move and have our being, and of which we are hardly aware, ‘The mystery of space’ presents an admirable idea, in its clear and well-considered resumé of facts.” Lilian Whiting
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 28 ’20 1150w
BROWNRIGG, SIR DOUGLAS EGREMONT ROBERT. Indiscretions of the naval censor. il *$2.50 (4c) Doran 940.45
20–7998
The author was chief censor at the British admiralty during the war. He writes of: The establishment of the naval censorship; How the news came of the battles of Coronel and the Falkland islands; Problems of publicity and propaganda; The battle of Jutland; The death of Lord Kitchener; Educating the public; Co-operation with other departments; Zeebrugge and the censorship; Authors, publishers and some others; Press men of allied countries; Visitors to the Grand fleet; Artists and the naval war; Censoring naval letters; Wireless and war news; Odds and ends; A censor’s “holidays”; Last days of the censorship. The illustrations are grouped at the end and there is an index.
“Admiral Brownrigg has many amusing stories to tell as well as many momentous topics to discuss.”
+ Ath p226 F 13 ’20 80w Booklist 16:340 Jl ’20 + Dial 69:212 Ag ’20 50w + Ind 103:185 Ag 14 ’20 40w
“Anyone who expects Sir Douglas Brownrigg’s ‘Indiscretions of the naval censor’ to be indiscreet will be disappointed. Where the Admiral does become interesting is in his intimate account of life at that ramshackle building known as the British admiralty.”
+ − Nation 111:51 Jl 10 ’20 260w
“The grave question of the proper relation to be observed in time of war between the truth, the state, the public, and the press scarcely obtrudes its chilly presence into the warm stream of anecdote which courses through these pages.”
+ − Nation [London] 26:868 Mr 20 ’20 1100w
“The book is breezily written and as entertaining as it is genuinely informative.”
+ Review 3:322 O 13 ’20 440w + R Of Rs 61:670 Je ’20 100w
“Admiral Brownrigg has command of a straightforward, telling style. His book is full of humour, good spirits, and the kind of information which only he is in a position to impart.”
+ Sat R 129:334 Ap 3 ’20 1150w Spec 124:181 F 7 ’20 300w Yale R n s 10:437 Ja ’21 220w
BRUNNER, MRS ETHEL (HOUSTON). Celia and her friends. *$1.25 Macmillan
“Seven short sketches of London society fill 150 small pages of ‘Celia and her friends’ in which Ethel Brunner presents a bright and benevolent heiress, attended most of the time by a clever bachelor, who fain would change his state and hers, and assisted in the various chapters by a supporting cast of more or less merit.”—Springf’d Republican
Dial 68:804 Je ’20 50w
“As a picture of one phase of idle London life, there may be some interest, but it has been so much better done by other writers that it fails to impress one.”
− + N Y Times 25:148 Mr 28 ’20 280w + Outlook 124:431 Mr 10 ’20 70w
“The dialog is full of repartee not overdone. The book isn’t meant to be deep; whimsical, frivolous, entertaining, would describe it better.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p12 My 21 ’20 140w
BRUNNER, MRS ETHEL (HOUSTON). Celia once again. *$1.80 Macmillan
(Eng ed 20–5894)
“‘Celia once again’ is a collection of nine short stories—perhaps episodes is the better term, as there is no pretense of a fictional plot in any of them; they all relate to Celia and her interesting friends. According to Peter—Celia’s husband—she was ‘dangerously quick in making friends,’ she was anxious to make every penny she could for charity, and when she stationed herself in Piccadilly with her flag tray and a bundle of tickets for a picture to be raffled for, ‘Love’s awakening,’ it was small matter for wonder that her handsome face and becoming costume won for her a gratifying success. But her philanthropic effort was not without adventures; these the author recounts.”—N Y Times
“The dialogue is often witty and every chapter sparkles with comment and whimsical philosophizing on people and affairs.”
+ N Y Times 25:160 Ap 4 ’20 380w
BRYANT, MRS ALICE ELISABETH (CRANDELL), ed. Treasury of hero tales. (Treasury ser. for children) il *$1 (3½c) Crowell 398.2
20–15175
The stories retold for children in this volume are The Gorgon’s head; The apples of youth; The story of Siegfried; The coming of Sir Galahad; Rinaldo and Bayard; White-headed Zal; Beowulf and Grendel; How Cuchulain got his name; How Robin Hood met Little John.
Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p8 D 19 ’20 50w
BRYANT, MRS SOPHIE (WILLOCK). Moral and religious education. (Modern educator’s lib.) *$1.90 (*6s) Longmans 377
(Eng ed E20–537)
“Some advocates of moral training in the schools believe that morality can best be taught through the development of religious faith and by direct appeal to self-respect, reason, sympathy, and common-sense. A book advocating this idea has just appeared. It deals with such general topics as self-liberation and self-realization, the moral ideal, the religious ideal, and the reasoned presentment of religious truth. A chapter is devoted to each of these topics.” (School R) “In the second division of the volume a large number of attractive examples are given of model lessons on moral topics. There are reviews of the lives and doings of great men and a concrete setting forth of social and personal virtues. The last part of the book attempts to furnish concrete material for religious instruction. The character of this fourth division of the book can be well illustrated by citing the general title of the section and the titles of certain of the chapters. The general title is The reasoned presentment of religious truths. Under this heading there are chapters on The young student’s need of a reasoned doctrine, God and the world, Man and his destiny, etc.” (El School J)
“The book is an interesting and typical contribution to the field of endeavor which is at the present time commanding large attention in American institutions. It will undoubtedly be made use of as a reference book by teachers in the field of moral and religious education.”
+ El School J 20:716 My ’20 260w
“Generally speaking, the discussion is theoretical and abstract. In but a few cases does it touch problems of everyday life. For the American teacher, it seems to have little of value.”
− + School R 28:478 Je ’20 150w
BRYAS, MADELEINE DE, comtesse, and BRYAS, JACQUELINE DE. Frenchwoman’s impressions of America. il *$1.75 Century 917.3
20–9734
The comtesse and her sister came to America in 1918 on a lecture tour to speak in behalf of devastated France. While here their services were also enlisted to help in the third Liberty loan drive. They traveled from coast to coast in this double capacity and have here jointly recorded their experiences in characteristically vivacious French style. The book has an introduction by André Tardieu and the contents are: Paris bombarded; No submarines; New York “en guerre”; “Dry” Washington; American hospitality; Speaking for the third Liberty loan; Experiences in factories; Over the top; American generosity; Touring for devastated France; On a mission for the American government; “Proper” America; In the Middle West; St Louis; Our reception at Camp Dodge; No Indians and no cowboys; A dip in Saltair with Mormons; The Pacific coast; San Francisco; Puget Sound; Vers la France.
+ Booklist 17:26 O ’20 Freeman 1:358 Je 23 ’20 300w + Lit D p105 S 18 ’20 1050w
“Their book is vivacious, sprightly, entertaining, incisive, shrewd, full of wit and humor, especially when the authors tell us about things which struck them as being particularly American.”
+ Outlook 125:542 Jl 21 ’20 110w + Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 19 ’20 370w + Wis Lib Bul 16:122 Je ’20 60w
BRYCE, JAMES BRYCE, viscount.[[2]] World history. (British academy. Annual Raleigh lecture, 1919) pa *90c Oxford 901
20–15226
“Lord Acton chose the idea of liberty as the central line around which to write a world history. In the present lecture Lord Bryce suggests another and perhaps more profitable clue—the notion of the gradual unification of mankind. This process he briefly traces through the centuries of history, showing how language, conquest, trade, religion and thought have helped to draw together the scattered tribes of primitive humanity into large groups. This process of convergence has, however, been accompanied by a process of divergence, for while individuals have been drawn into groups, the groups have tended to become profoundly separated. Lord Bryce concludes his lecture by a speculative prophecy of the future.”—Ath
Ath p355 Mr 12 ’20 110w + Nation 111:251 Ag 28 ’20 450w
BRYHER, WINIFRED. Development; a novel; preface by Amy Lowell. *$2 Macmillan
“‘Development’ is an essay in autobiography, a note-book rather than a novel, the fragmentary jottings of a child’s emotions, a child entirely centred on self and in her recollections deliberately isolating herself from other minds.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) “The record takes its subject from early childhood, beginning at four years old, through much travel around the Mediterranean, with sensuous absorption of the ‘warm South’; into two years of bleak school life, and a succeeding period of vague seeking after an undefined something that shall be life.” (N Y Evening Post)
“This book is described as a novel; we should prefer to call it a warning.” K. M.
− Ath p144 Jl 30 ’20 840w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 52:341 Ja ’21 480w
“There is to be another volume called ‘Adventure,’ to follow this one of ‘Development.’ At least it seems quite certain that those of us who have experienced the spell of Nancy’s early days will not be likely to neglect the later volume.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p5 N 20 ’20 1200w Nation 112:188 F 2 ’21 780w
“The chief complaint leveled against Miss Richardson’s sequence is that Miriam Henderson, however faithfully rendered, is not worth writing about. This cannot be said of Nancy. Inarticulate as she is, here is a personality of complicated power.” C. M. Rourke
+ New Repub 25:270 Ja 26 ’21 950w
“It is patently sincere, and the author has an unusual feeling for words, a highly developed color sense, and intensity of feeling. But even here she is hunting not for the inevitable, right word but for the bizarre, the surprising. Nevertheless, the result is often felicitous and is saved from becoming burlesque, though sometimes by a narrow margin.” H. L. Pangborn
+ − N Y Evening Post p8 Ja 15 ’21 580w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:561 D 8 ’20 250w
“It has the value that truth and sincerity always give, but as a piece of literature it has more promise than achievement. Out of her experience and toil will some day come a notable, perhaps even a memorable book, but we cannot close the present review without a warning against the danger of too close a pre-occupation with the analysis of one’s own emotions. Breadth, stability, and intellectual strength are not to be found in this book; they can be gained only by the assiduous study of the external world.”
+ − Sat R 130:79 Jl 24 ’20 380w + Spec 125:781 D 11 ’20 460w
“The evident truth of much of what Miss Bryher tells us about Nancy does not save a good deal of ‘Development’ from being simply dull. These experiences set down in this way, are no more than the raw material for art, to be turned into something coherent and beautiful when a maturer experience can use them, when egotism has been touched with a tolerant humour, and people have ceased to be ‘baffling.’ They are notes on the artistic mind before it has left the stage of the grub, and grubs are never very pleasant.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p401 Je 24 ’20 640w
BUCK, ALBERT HENRY. Dawn of modern medicine. il *$7 Yale univ. press 610.9
20–15528
“‘The dawn of modern medicine’ gives a concise review of the progress of medical science from the early part of the eighteenth century until about 1860. Among the contents are a discussion of medicine in Germany and other European countries during the eighteenth century, brief biographical sketches of a number of physicians and surgeons who were leaders then, and a somewhat detailed description of workers in special departments of medicine and surgery. Several chapters deal with important European hospitals of that time and other organizations for the teaching of medicine.”—Springf’d Republican
Booklist 17:56 N ’20
“Dr Buck is to be congratulated on his study of the history of medicine in the eighteenth and part of the nineteenth centuries. As a biographical study of the leaders of medicine the book is all too sketchy; in fact, many of these histories have been culled from standard medical histories.” E. P. Boas
+ − Freeman 2:283 D 1 ’20 1050w
“A loose and disorderly arrangement greatly lessens the usefulness of this stately volume. It confuses men of the highest importance and men of no importance at all. It presents a chaotic and unintelligible picture of the progress of the medical sciences during the period under review.” H. L. Mencken
− + Nation 112:87 Ja 19 ’21 700w
“The work is of interest as an addition to general medical literature and because of the manner of treatment it will prove interesting and profitable to the ordinary reader.”
+ Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 210w Survey 45:27 O 2 ’20 130w
BUCK, CHARLES NEVILLE. Tempering. il *1.75 (1c) Doubleday
20–5772
A story of the Kentucky mountains spanning the years between the feud-ridden period of the late nineteenth century and the world war. One of Boone Wellver’s kinsmen is convicted for the murder of Goebel, the democratic nominee for governor, and young Boone swears vengeance to the death on the man whose false testimony convicted him. But Boone has already come under the influence of Victor McCalloway, a professional soldier, and McCalloway persuades him to wait till he is twenty-one. Boone is sent to school, falls in love with Anne Masters, learns a new code of manners and morals, but once comes dangerously near a return to his old gods and to keeping his old vow. He goes into politics and when the war comes enlists. He meets Anne, from whom he had been separated, and there is promise of happiness after the war.
Booklist 16:311 Je ’20
“It is a compliment to Mr Buck’s literary skill that he makes mighty interesting reading of the story of his hero’s symbolical struggle. ‘The tempering’ will not suffer by comparison with any of John Fox’s novels of similar locale.”
+ N Y Times 25:28 Jl 18 ’20 550w
BUCK, HOWARD SWAZEY. Tempering. *$1 Yale univ. press 811
20–1675
This is the first volume in the Yale series of younger poets. This series “is designed to afford a publishing medium for the work of young men and women who have not yet secured a wide public recognition. It will include only such verse as seems to give the fairest promise for the future of American poetry.” Twelve of the war poems printed as part two were in 1918 awarded the annual prize in poetry offered at Yale university. Other poems are reprinted from the Nation, Contemporary Verse, Poetry Journal, Poetry, the Masses, and the Yale Literary Magazine.
+ Boston Transcript p4 My 5 ’20 450w
“A first book of verse wherein jubilant youthfulness, unwearied even in the poems of war experience, marches to gay pipes with a sweeping stride and an idealism unappalled.”
+ Dial 68:667 My ’20 30w
“There is such real artistic restraint and such moving sincerity in most of the battle and exile pieces that it is a pity that the poem of the return should border on vulgarity. Mr Buck has obviously not yet quite found himself, but he certainly has the stuff of real poetry in him.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p427 Jl 1 ’20 150w
BUCK, SOLON JUSTUS. Agrarian crusade: a chronicle of the farmer in politics. (Chronicles of America) il subs per ser of 50v *$250 Yale univ. press 329
20–4901
“The farmer in American politics is the theme treated by Mr Solon J. Buck in ‘The agrarian crusade,’ in which are related the rise and fall of the so-called Granger movement in the West, the greenback propaganda, the Farmers’ alliance, the organization of the Populist party and its surprising success in 1892, the silver issue, and more recently the growth of the Nonpartisan party in North Dakota and other states.”—R of Rs
Reviewed by E. P. Oberholtzer
Am Hist R 26:147 O ’20 600w
“It is obviously a hurried piece of work, well enough written, but with a tendency to triteness and wordiness.”
+ − Cath World 112:390 D ’20 500w + N Y Times p16 O 31 ’20 130w R of Rs 62:110 Jl ’20 70w St Louis 18:106 Je ’20 20w
BUCKLE, GEORGE EARLE. Life of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield. v 5–6 il ea *$6 Macmillan
The author of these two volumes is Monypenny’s successor. The work was extended in order to treat more fully of Disraeli’s management of the eastern question, the most outstanding feature of his administration. This was made possible, says the author, by the Russian revolution. “There can be now no reasons of international delicacy to prevent a full disclosure of Disraeli’s eastern policy.” Contents of volume 5: The Irish church, 1868; Defeat and resignation, 1868; Reserve in opposition, 1868–1871; Lothair, 1869–1870; The turn of the tide, 1872–1873; Bereavement, 1872–1873; Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield, 1873–1875; Power, 1874; Political success and physical failure, 1874; Social reform, 1874–1875; An imperial foreign policy, 1874–1875; Suez canal and royal title, 1875–1876; From the Commons to the Lords, 1876–1877; Appendix—an unfinished novel. Contents of volume 6: Reopening of the eastern question, 1875–1876; The Bulgarian atrocities, 1876; The Constantinople conference, 1876–1877; War and cabinet dissension, 1877; Conditional neutrality, 1877; Derby’s first resignation, 1877–1878; Final parting with Derby, 1878; Agreements with Russia and Turkey, 1878; The Congress of Berlin, 1878; The Afghan war, 1878; The Zulu war, 1879; Beaconsfield and the queen, 1874–1880; Last months of the government, 1879–1880; Dissolution and defeat, 1880; Endymion, 1880; The last year, 1880–1881; The man and his fame; Index to the six volumes.
+ Ath p72 Jl 16 ’20 2000w + Booklist 17:112 D ’20
“The record is as revealing as anything in range of British biography.”
+ Lit D p90 N 20 ’20 1600w
“For, with all respect to the preceding volumes of this monumental biography, none of them, nor all of them together, compare in interest, in the present reviewer’s opinion, with these two. It may be said at the outset that Mr Buckle has done his work well. His narrative is full and free and flowing. It has a nice proportion between his own words and those of his hero, an entertaining alternation between the life and the letters—and not too much of the speeches—of his subject; an agreeable and readable style; a pleasing touch of humour; a sufficiency of anecdote and allusion. It is, in brief, an excellent piece of biographical writing.” W. C. Abbott
+ N Y Evening Post p5 S 18 ’20 2000w
“If nothing is set down in malice, nothing is withheld through a mistaken sense of loyalty. Disraeli is painted in this full length portrait as he was. His faults and follies are revealed, as well as his amiable and outstanding ability.” Rollo Ogden
+ N Y Times p5 S 19 ’20 1900w
“This biography, too large for most American readers, will nevertheless be a necessity in every library, public or private, which aims to possess in completeness any dealing with the history of Europe during the nineteenth century.”
+ Outlook 126:202 S 29 ’20 180w
“Undoubtedly one of the most important compilations for the student of nineteenth century English history.”
+ Pratt p31 O ’20 30w
Reviewed by R. R. Bowker
+ Pub W 98:1883 D 18 ’20 330w
“Mr Buckle’s work will stand comparison with Lord Morley’s ‘Life of Gladstone,’ and that is the greatest possible praise.” Lindsay Rogers
+ Review 3:293 O 6 ’20 2300w R of Rs 62:446 O ’20 150w
“Mr Buckle has concluded his task, and produced one of the greatest political biographies in the language. For the general reader the work is, of course, too long; and even the student of history might have dispensed with some of the letters and some of the extracts from speeches, which nearly always weary.”
+ − Sat R 129:562 Je 19 ’20 1200w + Sat R 129:587 Je 26 ’20 1750w
“Mr Buckle’s detailed narrative of Disraeli’s handling of the eastern question between 1876 and 1878, which is of course the main feature of his closing volumes, is full of interest and instruction for the present generation. Disraeli’s letters abound in good things, access to which is facilitated by an excellent index.”
+ Spec 124:829 Je 19 ’20 1850w
“On the whole, everybody who is not an extreme partisan will recognize the honesty, the lucidity and ability with which Mr Buckle has stated his case.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p373 Je 17 ’20 7000w
BUCKROSE, J. E., pseud. (MRS ANNIE EDITH [FOSTER] JAMESON). Young hearts. *$1.90 (1c) Doran
20–11074
Mr Thompson’s moving away from Wressle came as the direct result of his being dropped from the Urban District Council. Shorn of the privileges of public life, he felt that he couldn’t carry on as of yore, and so decided to take up farming in real earnest. He therefore bought a farm in Muckleby and moved his faintly protesting wife and daughters there. Once settled in the little village, he felt that he should use his influence for good, and so undertook to destroy old superstitions and to revive old country customs which were falling into disuse. His schemes for carrying these purposes out are the foundation of the story, although the romances of his daughters Helen and Maude have a large share in it as well.
“Leisurely, will not be as well liked as some of her others.”
+ − Booklist 17:33 O ’20
“As usual with this author, her quiet manner covers and sustains a warm human interest; the environment is graphically pictured; the characters are drawn with an assured, vitalizing touch. That of the father, an unconscious egoist, is somewhat unduly elaborated, introducing matter that is superfluous, almost extraneous; and there is also an unwonted paucity of what Mrs Buckrose has taught us to expect eagerly, her unique, delightful humor.”
+ − Cath World 112:268 N ’20 130w
“Mildly, almost tepidly humorous in its pictures of English country life. The lady who writes under the name of J. E. Buckrose has given us better stories.”
+ − Outlook 126:67 S 8 ’20 50w
BUDISH, JACOB M., and SOULE, GEORGE HENRY. New unionism in the clothing industry. *$3 (4½c) Harcourt 331.87
20–15160
In defining their term “new unionism” the authors give a brief account of the changes that have taken place in unionism both in England and America from as far back as the “one big union” agitation in England in 1830 and point out that the present significant distinction between unions is between those “which are unconscious that their efforts tend toward a new social order and so adapt their strategy to the immediate situation” and those “which are conscious of their desire for a new order, and so base their strategy on more fundamental considerations.” The latter type is best exemplified by the unions of the clothing workers of America which in their breadth of sympathy and vision, their new ideal and new hope throw light both on the aspirations of British labor and on the present flux and unrest in the American labor movement. The book is an account of the struggles and the rise of the unions in the clothing industry. Contents: The new unionism; The clothing industry; The human element; The unions—their beginnings and growth; Decisive victories; Collective agreements; Philosophy, structure, and strategy; Education; Labor press and cooperatives; Textiles; The future; Bibliography, appendix and index.
Booklist 17:50 N ’20
“Although the authors have no doubt tried to be impartial, the book is clearly the product of partisans rather than the work of unbiased observers. No mention is made of any of the short-comings of the newer unions, nor are the difficulties and perplexities of the employer in his contact with them dealt with (except in connection with seasonal idleness). The book is, however, an excellent one; the authors have a thorough knowledge of their subject and a broad outlook over the industrial problem.” A. M. Bing
+ − Survey 45:23 O 2 ’20 1200w
“Should find a place in the public library of every city with an industrial population as it undoubtedly points the way which union developments will take in the future.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:232 D ’20 80w
BUELL, RAYMOND LESLIE. Contemporary French politics. *$3.50 Appleton 944.08
20–20938
The author calls attention to three sterling qualities in the French people which, in the elections of November 1919, steered them, contrary to the predictions of the “storm prophets,” clear of Bolshevism and the extreme socialist left. These qualities are: their attachment to property, their respect for authority, and their civic spirit. In the light of these he interprets the present political situation. The book has an introduction by Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes and the contents are: Party philosophies; Parties and parliament; The “Bloc” and the sacred union; Party realignments; Woman suffrage and the “R. P.”; The 1919 elections; The demand for a new constitution; Syndicalism: program and tactics; The press and the censorship; The bureaucracy and state socialism; A government by interests and experts; Regionalism; What the French peace terms might have been; The French conception of a league of nations; What France thought of American “idealism”; Appendices; Index.
Booklist 17:148 Ja ’21
“Mr Buell’s book affords the beginning of sound knowledge concerning France because it treats of the larger—that is, the political—aspects of French life with some approach to completeness and without the sentiment that blurs outlines.”
+ No Am 213:282 F ’21 950w
BULLARD, ARTHUR (ALBERT EDWARDS, pseud.). Russian pendulum: autocracy—democracy—bolshevism. il *$2 Macmillan 947
19–15627
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
“Though the material is not well organized and the observations not very profound, yet ‘The Russian pendulum’ is one of the very few good books in English on present day Russia.” F. A. Golder
+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:356 My ’20 500w
“His suggestions for allied policy in the future are vague, but his detailed account of actual happenings in Russia makes this a very informative book.”
+ Booklist 16:236 Ap ’20
Reviewed by Harold Kellock
Freeman 1:620 S 8 ’20 300w
“He shows himself well disposed, sympathetic, and fair-minded in every way. But he is not remarkable for the amount of his novel information or for comprehension of the forces at work, nor is he very clear-cut in his view of the means by which the desired readjustment is to be brought about. His best chapter is a survey of the mistakes of allied diplomacy in Russia. To his statement of remedies as well as to his other judgments, Mr Bullard is led more by his wishes than the facts.”
+ − Nation 110:268 F 28 ’20 420w
“In his own recommendations Mr Bullard is modest; he realizes that the problem is too dynamic for any program hard and fast in its details. But, for all that, Mr Bullard is hazy.” C. M.
+ − New Repub 21:361 F 18 ’20 1950w
“Much of it is valuable first-hand material for the student, and some of it, alas, can not be considered as entirely accurate or unbiased. Quite the most valuable feature of the volume is his opening chapter devoted to Lenin. The Siberian part is unworthy of the writer and appears to have been done under pressure to pad out an otherwise admirable book, a pressure which is also indicated by the faulty transliteration of Russian names.”
+ − Review 2:207 F 28 ’20 550w R of Rs 61:107 Ja ’20 80w
“‘The Russian pendulum’ does not reveal any understanding of the forces back of the great change in Russia.” Alexander Trachtenberg
− Socialist R 8:250 Mr ’20 620w Springf’d Republican p8 D 27 ’19 100w
“This is unquestionably one of the ablest books yet written dealing with revolutionary Russia. Not only in his comment on events, but in his treatment of the more fundamental aspects of the situation, he has, with vigorous and imaginative word, written a highly illuminating book.” Reed Lewis
+ Survey 44:47 Ap 3 ’20 580w
BULLARD, ARTHUR (ALBERT EDWARDS, pseud.). Stranger. *$2 (2c) Macmillan
20–7920
The story takes the reader into an intellectual circle of lower New York, among social workers, literati and artists—America’s aspirations at their best. Into this circle is injected a Moslem—son of an American missionary couple in Turkey—born and brought up there, a convinced Mohammedan. This leads to comparisons between eastern and western life and religion, not always flattering to our western civilization. Some flaws are detected in the proud and secure foundations of our science and “efficiency.” The finest exponent of the latter and of feminism, Helen Cash, meets her Waterloo in the calm questioning eyes of this stranger. Frank Lockwood, the artist, sees in him the savior of his soul, and to Eunice Bender, the sick girl, he opens up heaven before she dies, through the spirituality of his love.
Booklist 16:346 Jl ’20
“We do not often happen upon so very good a story as this one, from every point of view.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 14 ’20 1000w + Cleveland p83 S ’20 70w
“In brief, one feels that Mr Bullard, in attempting to be realistic, has achieved only a faithful narrative, based on ideas about which, on the whole, no one would wish to dispute.” L. M. R.
− + Freeman 3:286 D 1 ’20 160w
“As a character and a sympathetic intermediary between East and West, Mr Bullard’s ‘Stranger’ is picturesque and charming; as a guide and philosopher he is amiably sentimental and futile.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − Nation 110:828 Je 19 ’20 320w
“As Mr Bullard has avoided the rocks of mere Menckenesque satire, so has he steered clear of the equally dangerous shallow pools of sentimentalism. He has not achieved a great book—there are few such in the world—but he has penetrated pretty nearly to the core of some of the counterfeits that time will break. His story is interesting, thoughtful, reasoned, suggestive.” S. C. C.
+ New Repub 24:25 S 1 ’20 1000w
“It is an idyll of a rare degree of loveliness, delicate as a flower, but without, one feels quite sure, a flower’s evanescence. Unusual and striking in conception, the book is no less unusual and striking in execution. A really worth-while novel, one which appeals both to the reader’s brains and to his emotions, is this.”
+ N Y Times 25:279 My 30 ’20 1000w
“Both in its originality as to treatment and balance between character interest and suggestion of thought the novel is of substantial value.”
+ Outlook 125:507 Jl 14 ’20 70w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:349 O 20 ’20 600w
“Altogether the special pleading of the book in favour of Morocco versus America should not be too readily believed in by the intelligent reader.”
− Spec 125:820 D 18 ’20 50w
“‘The stranger’ is a very appealing and unusual novel in the delicacy and vividness of its portraiture.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 N 30 ’20 580w The Times [London] Lit Sup p670 O 14 ’20 120w
BULLER, ARTHUR HENRY REGINALD. Essays on wheat. il *$2.50 Macmillan 633.1
20–838
“The book contains chapters on: The early history of wheat-growing in Manitoba; Wheat in western Canada; The origin of Red Bobs and Kitchener; The wild wheat of Palestine. But the most important part of the book is the chapter on The discovery and introduction of Marquis wheat, perhaps the most productive variety of wheat in North America. The style is non-technical.” (Booklist) “The author is professor of botany in the University of Manitoba.” (Brooklyn)
“The book should appeal not only to the student of economic history, and to botanists, but to the general reader who may wish to learn something of the great cereal crops of North America.” I: Lippincott.
+ Am Econ R 10:815 D ’20 450w Booklist 16:225 Ap ’20 Brooklyn 12:99 Mr ’20 40w
“Prof. Buller’s ‘Essays on wheat’ are among the most interesting things we have seen for a long time. He is singularly fortunate in his subject, and he tells his story remarkably well, giving the wealth of detail, the figures, and the references needed by the man of science, without sacrificing interest or literary form.” E. J. Russell
+ Nature 105:224 Ap 22 ’20 1000w + Spec 124:870 Je 26 ’20 450w
“The volume is an excellent and timely addition to works dealing with the resources of North America.”
+ Springf’d Republican p9a Ag 15 ’20 260w
BULLOCK, EDNA DEAN, comp. Selected articles on the employment of women. (Debaters’ handbook ser.) *$1.25 Wilson, H. W. 331.4
20–4722
A second edition of this handbook, first published in 1911, has been prepared by Julia E. Johnsen. New material has been included covering “the new outlook on the employment of women the rapidly changing phases growing out of women’s large part in war work, the larger opportunities, new and fairer standards of protective legislation,” and the bibliography has been revised and brought down to date.
Ann Am Acad 90:172 Jl ’20 20w
“Valuable in presenting the subject from many angles.”
+ Booklist 16:286 My ’20
“Although the articles selected are interesting, well arranged and yield their significance easily to the lay student, they do not give the solid basis of fact which debaters ought to have. They dwell, however, on the most important questions for women workers.” E. K. Wells
+ − Survey 45:168 O 30 ’20 260w
BULMAN, HARRISON FRANCIS. Coal mining and the coal miner. il *$6 Macmillan 622.3
(Eng ed 20–11528)
“A comprehensive survey of the whole industry as it existed in normal times—the figures and statistics being confined for the most part to the period before the war, ending with 1913—by an experienced colliery manager and director of colliery companies. The book was written before the Coal commission, and Mr Bulman hopes that the normal picture he draws ‘may serve as a useful corrective to some erroneous ideas which have arisen from its proceedings.’ A chapter of seventy-nine pages very fully illustrated with plans and photographs is devoted to ‘Miners’ houses.’”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
+ Ath p384 Mr 19 ’20 50w
“We cannot say that his book is attractive in form or style, but it is at any rate an honest book and not misleading propaganda.”
+ − Spec 124:429 Mr 27 ’20 240w
“For those who are interested in the why of industrial troubles, this book can serve as a means of showing the gaps in the thinking of colliery managers and how they do not comprehend the incoherency of the men who work.” Hugh Archibald
− Survey 45:167 O 30 ’20 620w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p157 Mr 4 ’20 90w
“His dispassionate, detailed, documented, and illustrated statement of facts is far more impressive and convincing than mere argument or assertion.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p163 Mr 11 ’20 750w
BULSTRODE, BEATRIX (MRS EDWARD MANICO GULL). Tour in Mongolia. il *$5 (8½c) Stokes 915.1
What led this English lady, after an eighteen months’ stay in China, to travel in Mongolia was “the fascination of the unknown, a deep love of the picturesque and inherent desire to revert awhile to the primitive.” Also Mongolia was an opportunity of meeting with medievalism untouched. The trip took place in 1913 while Mongolia was at war with China and the author’s account is particularly instructive in her analysis of Mongol character. An introduction by David Fraser, Times correspondent in Peking, explains the political situation at the time of the tour. The book is indexed and profusely illustrated.
“She can handle a pen to excellent effect.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p596 S 16 ’20 960w
BUNAU-VARILLA, PHILIPPE. Great adventure of Panama. *$1.75 Doubleday 986
20–5904
The object of the book is to show how the Panama canal enterprise was hedged about by criminal conspiracies on the part of Germany, both financially and politically, linking it intimately with the great war. The author claims to expose the mysterious threads of “the always-menacing ‘occult power of Germany’” which have long been visible to himself alone. Among the contents are: The occult power of Germany; The Boche conspiracy in Mexico (1861–63) preparing the provocation of 1870; The Boche conspiracy in France, (1888–92), to wreck the Panama canal, in order to create the depressed state of mind necessary for the premeditated aggression; Various traces of Boche intrigue in Bogota for defeating in 1903 the adoption of the Panama canal by the United States, etc.
Booklist 16:298 Je ’20
“The trouble with M. Bunau-Varilla’s method of argument in seeking to prove his contentions is that he considers a mere uncorroborated statement quite sufficient to prove anything that he wishes to prove.” T: R. Ybarra
− + N Y Times 25:158 Ap 4 ’20 1100w
“There is perhaps more rhetoric than evidence in certain parts of this narrative; yet it would not be surprising if evidence as yet uncovered should sometime confirm nearly all of the author’s opinions. Few fact stories, it may be said, tell so clearly as does this of M. Bunau-Varilla’s just how things were done and what motives actuated the doers.”
+ − No Am 212:285 Ag ’20 900w Outlook 126:768 D 29 ’20 300w
“It is not lightly to be dismissed because of the ebullient egotism with which it is written. The testimony of the chief actor in the drama is worth listening to.”
+ − Review 3:649 D 29 ’20 1000w
BUNKER, JOHN JOSEPH LEO. Shining fields and dark towers. *$1.25 Lane 811
19–15769
This is the first volume of a poet from the Middle West who looks down from philosophic heights upon the din of battle, of traffic and travail with a sweet and mellow wisdom and an encompassing faith in a divine love. The contents in part are: Earth-music; The flute-player; To harsh judgment thinking itself wisdom; The splendid stranger; New York sketches; Ballade of faces fair; Love’s intendment; The great refusal; Quest and haven.
“Though the section entitled ‘New York sketches,’ and the study called ‘Complainte d’amour,’ contain some of the cleverest and most interesting vers libre that the present reviewer has ever seen, Mr Bunker is no disciple of the new school. He is essentially in the great tradition, and it is in the familiar forms, the recognized types of English verse, that he does his most ample and satisfying work.” H: A. Lappin
+ Bookm 50:373 N ’19 850w
“Not always with the same perfection of expression does he sing, but at the same time never does he fail to give, whatever the mood or theme may be, a significance to it that comes from his spiritual manner of approach and understanding. This peculiarly individual quality is as apparent in the four poems of the ‘New York sketches’ with their realistic background and outlines, as in the ‘Quest and haven,’ the memorial poem to Francis Thompson.” W. S. B.
+ Boston Transcript p11 F 7 ’20 1300w
“Mr Bunker has enjoyed and experimented with a wide range of poetry. Not the less for this has he remained captain of his poetic soul. His is a highly personal muse, tender and chastened, yet capable of merriment, with the far vision of the pure in heart. Lyrics such as ‘Revolution,’ ‘To harsh judgment thinking itself wisdom,’ or, in more playful vein, ‘Boons,’ are distinct additions to the sum of modern poetry.”
+ Cath World 110:403 D ’19 350w
“Mr Bunker is direct, fluent, enthusiastic, and harmless, with good impulses and ordinary vision.” M. V. D.
− + Nation 110:76 Ja 17 ’20 180w
“The book shows much promise, and nearly all of it has the real singing quality, although now and then, as happens sometimes with even the best of poets, either the author’s ear has failed him or his command of the technique of poetical expression has not been up to the mark. But these lapses are rare.”
+ − N Y Times 25:62 F 1 ’20 360w
“Some day if this writer keeps on and has a real experience in life, he may become a poet. If all his work were as musical as the four stanzas on ‘Twilight’ criticism of his work would even now have to be modified.”
− + Springf’d Republican p13a Ja 25 ’20 260w
“Mr Bunker is said to be ‘a modern of the moderns,’ but we prefer him in the more old-fashioned mood which inspires ‘Twilight’ and some of the other pieces in his book.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p406 Je 24 ’20 180w
BURGESS, THORNTON WALDO. Burgess animal book for children. il *$3 (4½c) Little 590
20–21007
A companion volume to the Burgess bird book. In the story Peter Rabbit goes to school to Mother Nature. He learns first about his own cousins, the marsh rabbit, the arctic hare, and others, and then about his friends the squirrels, and so on up through the animal kingdom to the deer, elk, bears and other large mammals. “There has been no attempt to describe or classify sub-species.... The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with the larger groups—orders, families, and divisions of the latter, so that typical representatives may readily be recognized and their habits understood.” The pictures are by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and there is an index.
“‘The Burgess animal book’ ought to be given to every child in America as an introduction to the animal life of our continent. And there is not one of those children who won’t like it and absorb an untold amount of information from it.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p4 D 5 ’20 420w + N Y Evening Post p11 D 31 ’20 50w
“This book affords further evidence that Mr Burgess is doing a great deal toward making the boys and girls of today a generation of naturalists.”
+ Springf’d Republican p72 N 21 ’20 170w
BURGESS, WALTER H. Pastor of the Pilgrims: a biography of John Robinson. il *$4 Harcourt
20–20311
This study of the life and times of John Robinson is based on original research. “Besides the identification of the early home and the parentage of John Robinson, these pages throw a little fresh light upon the Southworths and Carvers and others connected with the Pilgrim Father movement. Gervase Neville is identified, and the anonymous opponent of Robinson in one of his earliest controversies is named. The history of the obscure church in the western part of England is unfolded, and an attempt made to settle the vexed question of the identity of John Smith.” (Foreword) A partial list of the contents is: The birthplace and parentage of John Robinson; Religion in England in the days of Elizabeth and James; Separation from the Church of England—Robinson and Bernard—Gervase Neville—William Brewster; Religious refugees at Amsterdam; The Pilgrims at Leyden; Robinson’s plea for lay preaching; The sailing—Robinson’s letter of advice—Robert Cushman’s letter—the “Mayflower’s” voyage; The influence of Robinson on the thought and life of his age. There are illustrations, appendices, a chronological table of the writings of John Robinson and an index.
“The volume shows wide study of the whole literature of contemporary separatism and of its opponents, and may be heartily commended not only as a biography of the Pilgrim pastor, but as a most readable and informing account of the separatist movement of his day not only for the specialist but for the general reader.”
+ Am Hist R 26:338 Ja ’21 400w + Outlook 126:238 O 6 ’20 120w
“Here is brave stuff, no doubt; unhappily nothing organic or even articulate has been made of it. With a little artistic sympathy, with even a touch or two of the quality which marks a man of letters, he might have made the portrait memorable.”
+ − Review 3:380 O 27 ’20 460w
“Taken as a whole, the volume is a good example of what can be accomplished, well-directed historical scholarship applied to a definite object.”
+ R of Rs 62:447 O ’20 100w
“We could wish that the biography was less interrupted by digressions on side-issues, but Mr Burgess’s enthusiasm for his subject is wholly commendable.”
+ − Spec 124:872 Je 26 ’20 220w
“It does not treat all phases of the separatist movement with equal thoroughness. It is deficient at times in method and proportion. But it is an earnest, honest work, in which, in spite of the author’s sympathy with Robinson, and a desire to claim for him as large a personal influence as possible little is written with any other object than telling the truth. Its deductions are moderate.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a S 26 ’20 1400w The Times [London] Lit Sup p369 Je 10 ’20 90w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p432 Jl 8 ’20 1150w
BURGESS, WARREN RANDOLPH. Trends of school costs. (Education monographs) il $1 Russell Sage foundation 379
20–17519
“The study is based upon data included in the reports of the United States Commissioner of education, and covers the period from 1870 to 1918. By means of the ‘line of trends’ the writer presents a striking picture of the drift of annual expenditures for public education in the United States during the period noted, comparing this with a similar representation of the growth in pupil attendance. Noting the fact that teachers’ salaries and new buildings absorb four-fifths of all school expenditures for the year 1917–18, an analysis is made of the trends of teachers’ salaries since 1840, the salaries of rural and city teachers, both men and women, being considered separately. Interesting comparisons of these with the lines representing the trends of the cost of living and of the salaries of other workers are presented. Likewise, the tendencies with reference to costs of buildings are similarly shown. A special set of tables and graphs indicates the trends of such costs during the period from 1915–20. From the data presented the writer concludes that ‘to buy the same amount of educational service in 1920 as in 1915 it will be necessary to double the school budget.’ The closing chapter deals with the sources of income for school support.”—School R
“Aside from the content, the method employed in the study will be of interest to students of education.”
+ El School J 21:235 N ’20 250w N Y P L Munic Ref Lib Notes 7:39 O 20 ’20 70w School R 28:710 N ’20 680w
BURKE, KATHLEEN. Little heroes of France. il *$1.75 (4c) Doubleday 940.344
20–17608
Twelve stories of deeds of heroism performed by French children during the war. The author was engaged in relief work and some of the children she knew personally. “Others she knew because all France loved and honored them. One of the stories, that of the Denisot children, was found in the diary of a German soldier.” (Introd.) Contents: André Lange and his wheelbarrow; Madeleine and André Daniau; Denise Cartier; Robert Felix; Louise Haumont; Louis and Marcelle Denisot; Baby Pierre; Gustave Daret; René Chautier; Etienne Chevrille; Emile Depres; Henriette Maubert. The book is illustrated by Paul Verrees and has an introduction by Alfred Holman.
“Heroic, really true and full of action these will prove stirring tales and bring home the horrors of war to all boys and most girls.”
+ Booklist 17:121 D ’20 Ind 104:379 D 11 ’20 40w
“It is an incredibly stirring, beautiful little book, and it is one that every generous child will love. It is not alone for children, however.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 12 ’20 90w Springf’d Republican p6 D 4 ’20 50w
BURKE, THOMAS.[[2]] Song book of Quong Lee of Limehouse. *$1.25 Holt 811
20–22856
A book of poems in free verse viewing life through the oriental eyes of Quong Lee, shopkeeper in Limehouse, London’s Chinatown. Humor and philosophy mingle in the poems. Titles are: Of buying and selling; A nightpiece; Of a national cash register; Under a shining window; A song of little girls; At the feast of lanterns; Of worship and conduct.
“Occasionally a banality, but light and poignant sentiment in abundance, with here and there a poem that sets vibrating the cords of sensibility.”
+ − Bookm 52:551 F ’21 100w
“Mr Burke triumphs so splendidly in these verses, as he did in his prose stories, that he deserves all the praise we can give him.” W: S. Braithwaite
+ Boston Transcript p4 D 22 ’20 1450w
“These vers libre pieces of ‘song’ present the personality of Chinatown, the quaint phrase and the cool temper with a reality which grows more and more vivid as one reads them through.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p782 N 25 ’20 60w
BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE. Tarzan the untamed. il *$1.90 McClurg
20–7515
“This new story tells what happened to Tarzan and his wife and the home he had made in British East Africa when war broke out in 1914 and a small detachment of black soldiers, commanded by German officers, marched past his farm and on to German headquarters. Tarzan was hurrying home from Nairobi, where he had heard of the outbreak of war when this happened, and when he reaches his farm he finds a scene of desolation, no one left alive upon his place. In grief and rage and hate he casts off the veneer of civilization and becomes the ape-man once more, while he ranges the country to find those who have killed his mate and mete to them the justice of the jungle. He finds them, but the result makes only the beginning of the story, which goes swiftly on through many complications.”—N Y Times
“It runs on for some four hundred pages with no visible trace of style, little or no atmosphere or local color, and about as slim a foundation plot as has graced a novel for many a day.”
− Boston Transcript p4 S 4 ’20 300w
“The story shows the same qualities that have marked the previous Tarzan stories—ingenuity and fertility of invention, combined with those crude and garish features that make the success of a popular moving picture play.”
+ − N Y Times 25:302 Je 6 ’20 430w
“Will doubtless thrill the crowd which loves the cinematograph, and cares nothing for common-sense, or coherence, compared with violent sensation and frequent killing.”
− Sat R 130:141 Ag 14 ’20 360w Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 120w
BURROUGHS, JOHN. Accepting the universe. il *$2 (2c) Houghton 210
20–18062
“A series of sallies, excursions, into the world of semi-philosophical speculation,” the author calls this collection of essays, whose burden is “that this is the best possible world, and these people in it are the best possible people,” that “the universe is good,” and “the heart of nature is sound.” Among the longer essays are: Shall we accept the universe? The universal beneficence; The faith of a naturalist; The price of development; The problem of evil. Then follow two groups of short pieces under the headings: Horizon lines; and Soundings. The poet of the cosmos, in the last essay, is Walt Whitman.
“The philosophizings will please many not too radical thinkers. Most people will prefer his bits on nature.”
+ Booklist 17:97 D ’20 Bookm 52:367 D ’20 180w Lit D p101 N 6 ’20 1200w
“He is a naturalist; his vision is as broad as terrestrial time; he leads us over much geological and biological ground to the mind of man. But once confronted with that phenomenon, he is, like many a scientist, evasive; he is reduced to the merest academic platitudes.”
+ − Nation 112:89 Ja 19 ’21 840w
“Spirited and eloquent pages.” H. W. Boynton
+ N Y Evening Post p4 D 31 ’20 1050w
“There will be many who will take issue with Mr Burroughs’s philosophy of God and nature, good and evil, life and death, but this will not disturb him. He has unquestionably brought the inexorable facts of existence to bear upon theories, creeds and beliefs, and has applied their lesson with unsparing frankness. The result is not in line with so-called orthodoxy, but none the less he has coined into words the unspoken expressions of many hearts.” H: L. West
+ − N Y Times p16 O 24 ’20 950w
“His philosophy is a mass of contradictions. Mr Burroughs in accepting the universe drops out from it its most important phenomena.”
− Outlook 126:515 N 17 ’20 300w
“Of flowers and birds and the simple life Mr Burroughs has something to say, his divagations on the universe leave us doubting. It would in fact be easy to point out a series of shocking inconsistencies into which he has been thrown by his ambitious attempt to combine a wise and wholesome life in nature with a metaphysical theory of natural evolution.”
− + Review 3:392 O 27 ’20 470w
BURT, KATHARINE (NEWLIN) (MRS MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT). Hidden Creek. il *$2 (2½c) Houghton
20–15343
When Sheila Arundel’s artist father dies and leaves her penniless, she counts herself fortunate to be befriended by Sylvester Hudson, who has come into her life thru a painting of her father’s he has just bought to decorate his western hotel. He takes her back with him to Millings, but the reception his family give her makes her eager to be independent and in gratitude to Hudson she consents to become a bar maid in his saloon. The only member of his family who treats her with respect is Dickie, the despised half-drunken son, in whom she discovers a soul akin to her own poetic nature. Her success in the saloon brings her popularity of a kind, but one particularly trying day, culminating in a brutal insult from her employer, determines her to get away and she seeks refuge with Miss Blake, a recluse living on Hidden Creek alone with her dogs and her peculiarities. From the horror that this experience brings, Cosme Hilliard, a hot-blooded young half-Spaniard, rescues her, and for a time it seems that he is to be her hero, but Dickie, whose character has been developing along with hers, altho in a different way, at length comes into his own.
“‘Hidden Creek’ follows no beaten path; its plot is skillfully developed and the story is told with realism and with a sparkling wit.”
+ N Y Times p30 S 12 ’20 200w
“Will be welcomed by the reader with fondness for romance staged apart from the trodden paths of every day life.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a S 26 ’20 200w
BURT, KATHARINE (NEWLIN) (MRS MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT). Red lady. *$1.75 (3c) Houghton
20–6709
A unique feature of this mystery story is that its principal characters, including both hero and villain, are women. Men play secondary parts. Three housekeepers have fled from the Pines when Janice Gale accepts the position. Her first intimation of something wrong comes with the signs of terror exhibited by her mistress’s young son at sight of her red hair. Then there are indications that the house is haunted. The child Robbie is frightened into convulsions and dies with a strand of red hair in his fingers. Janice next comes face to face with the ghost and finds her the counterpart of herself. Convinced that this is a real woman she sets herself to trace the mystery, braves great dangers, all but loses her life, escapes and wins the love of the young detective who has been regarding her as a criminal.
“An exceptionally fine specimen, American in origin, of that popular genus colloquially known as the ‘shocker.’”
+ Ath p867 D 24 ’20 80w
“The mystery of it all is hard to penetrate but Mrs Burt at last finds a way out of the strange tangle and altogether writes a very good and very unusual story.”
+ Boston Transcript p7 My 8 ’20 200w
“This story would be more attractive if the author were to make, say, her present ninth chapter her first. She could condense in that one chapter about all she has told us in the eight preceding and would thus spare the reader much boredom. And yet, considering how good are the final chapters, there is reason to believe that we have in Mrs Burt one of the well worth while writers of real mystery stories of the immediate future.”
+ − N Y Times 25:27 Je 27 ’20 650w
BURT, MAXWELL STRUTHERS. Songs and portraits. *$1.50 Scribner 811
20–8428
“A nature modestly reflective as well as emotionally alert is revealed in ‘Songs and portraits’ by Maxwell Struthers Burt. The poems reminiscent of the dead, in form and spirit not unlike those of Rupert Brooke, express the belief that ‘the dead know all.’ In ‘Fishing’ and ‘Marchen’ this Princeton poet paints gay and naive little small-boy pictures. He reasons rather bitterly against frantic fanatics and pudgy-fingered plutocrats.”—Springf’d Republican
+ Booklist 17:60 N ’20
“Mr Burt’s ear and his learning are much indebted to Rupert Brooke—but it is a sorrowful thing to see anyone assume so easily all the palpable qualities of another. There are the same studied irrelevancies, the same feminine endings, the same delight in names. Mr Burt has imitated most of the many things we would like to forget in Rupert Brooke, including his glorification of war and death.” G. T.
− + Freeman 1:526 Ag 11 ’20 250w
“When at last he shall speak thoughts all his own, it is hoped that he will not have lost his really very lovely gift of expression, his round, elegant, springtime pregnancy and shapeliness of phrase.” Mark Van Doren
+ − Nation 111:sup414 O 13 ’20 100w
“Although many of the poems seem unfinished, as if their maker had had the right poetic impulse but scant leisure, nevertheless there is a warmth and naturalness of utterance In all of them that will rejoice the hearts of those who are weary of strident or vapid artificialities.” Margaret Wilkinson
+ N Y Times p18 Ag 8 ’20 370w
“Mr Burt’s ‘Songs and portraits’ has real delicacies of a kind neither very usual nor very extraordinary. There are phrases of drooping grace; there are straying, sinuous rhythms; there is a desultory and hovering tenderness. Mr Burt’s very picturesqueness is rather mellow than picturesque.” O. W. Firkins
+ Review 3:171 Ag 25 ’20 100w + Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 11 ’20 160w
BURTON, ALEXANDER. Public speaking made easy. (Made easy ser.) $1.25 (3c) Clode, E. J. 808.5
20–16872
In the introduction the author calls attention to the present-day tendency in the art of oratory which distinguishes it from the oratory of the past. “This is the cultivation of simplicity in form as opposed to that ornateness of phraseology which has been so characteristic of the most esteemed public utterances in former times.” The chapters following the Introduction are: Breathing; Pronunciation; The voice; Accessories of the voice; Direct training; Preparing a speech; The deeper training; Beecher’s Liverpool address; Lincoln’s oratory; A southern orator; The American system; Conclusion.
BURTON, THEODORE ELIJAH. Modern political tendencies and the effect of the war thereon. (Stafford Little lectures for 1919) *$1.25 Princeton univ. press 320.1
19–25948
“The president of the Merchants national bank of New York, former United States senator from Ohio, sees four dominant phases in the changing ideas of peoples and governments: the relation of governments to the governed; the relation of the governed each to the other; the relation of the central government to its constituent parts; and international relations.”—Booklist
Booklist 16:112 Ja ’20 Boston Transcript p6 F 11 ’20 650w
“‘Modern political tendencies’ by Theodore E. Burton possibly sets the Stafford Little lectures at a higher level of open-mindedness than was reached by such earlier contributors as Grover Cleveland and Elihu Root; in fact it is marked by that tone of restrained liberalism which is coming to be a mark of our more important bank presidents, to the great amazement and confusion, no doubt, of their editorial satellites.”
+ Dial 67:498 N 29 ’19 60w
BURY, GEORGE WYMAN. Pan-Islam. *$2.25 Macmillan 297
20–5812
“‘“Pan-Islam” is an elementary handbook,’ explains the author, ‘not a text-book, still less an exhaustive treatise.’ It is a study of the Pan-Islamic problem on the political, social, religious, and many other sides, by one who served in the Hedjaz and Arabia during the war, but has also had a quarter of a century’s experience of Mohammedan countries and peoples. As a rule he abstains from political criticism.”—Ath
“His remarks on aggressive missionary enterprise are sensible and illustrated by plenty of facts.”
+ Ath p61 Ja 9 ’20 80w
“The book is well written and full of interesting and valuable information. The long experience of the author and his manifest fairness make his opinions of more than ordinary importance.”
+ Bib World 54:429 Jl ’20 230w + Booklist 17:48 N ’20
“The Carnegie peace commission should send the last chapter, A plea for tolerance, to every missionary organization.”
+ Dial 68:668 My ’20 60w + Spec 124:18 Ja 3 ’20 1250w
“He writes in a progressive spirit and very sympathetically toward the Moslem world. It is far better that his sentiments were expressed by an Englishman than by an American. The last chapter, a plea for toleration, is really a most admirable piece of writing.” I. C. Hannah
+ Survey 44:310 My 29 ’20 280w The Times [London] Lit Sup p770 D 18 ’19 60w
“Mr Bury presents a fairly impartial view of Christian missions in the Near East, with their effect on Islam. It is a problem which he has studied at first hand, and he is studiously careful to express his views courteously. He is best when he is away from religious discussion, describing the Arab and the Turk as he knows them. Altogether Mr Bury’s book contains much that is entertaining; and although he has chosen too resonant a title for what might more reasonably be called essays, his expressed opinions are sensible and his matter readable.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p776 D 25 ’19 1000w
BURY, JOHN BAGNELL. Idea of progress. *$5.50 Macmillan 901
20–9233
“Prof. J. B. Bury’s new work is ‘The idea of progress: an inquiry into its origin and growth.’ The theme is developed under such chapter headings as: Some interpretations of universal history: Bodin and Leroy; Utility the end of knowledge: Bacon; The progress of knowledge: Fontenelle; The general progress of man: Abbe de Saint-Pierre; New conceptions of history: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Turgot; The French revolution: Condorcet; The theory of progress in England; German speculation on progress; The search for a law of progress: Saint-Simon and Comte; and Progress in the light of evolution.”—Springf’d Republican
“This is just the chief merit of Professor Bury’s book, that it discriminates with fine precision between what is essential to the modern conception of progress and what only superficially resembles it. His exposition of the significance of the idea of progress in the history of European civilization is so lucid that it leaves nothing to be desired.” Carl Becker
+ Am Hist R 26:77 O ’20 800w Ath p791 Je 18 ’20 630w
“It is hardly necessary to say that the author carries out the historical inquiry with great width of learning and with a scrupulous desire to make a reasonable case even for those writers whose presentation has its weak or even its ridiculous points. His remarks are eminently judicious wherever they can be tested.” P. V. M. Benecke
+ − |Eng Hist R 35:581 O ’20 1650w
“An exceedingly clear and interesting account of the origin and growth of the idea of progress.” S. B. Fay
+ |Review 3:478 N 17 ’20 520w
“Professor Bury’s work in clarity, accuracy, and fairness attains the high standard set by his previous historical volumes.”
+ Spec 124:795 Je 12 ’20 950w Springf’d Republican p8 Ap 17 ’20 90w
“It is a work of profound scholarship, sedate in tone and rational in spirit. It is unfortunate that Professor Bury did not carry his study beyond his self-imposed limitation which ended it with the time when progress became a current creed.” A. J. Todd
+ Survey 45:322 N 27 ’20 730w
“A sound piece of pioneer work, with its merits and limitations. Only his knowledge of the subject and its intrinsic interest have saved his book from falling into the class of those which are less often read than consulted. Professor Bury has condensed the results of his work with remarkable ease and brevity and always with fairness.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p357 Je 10 ’20 1700w
BUSH, COLEMAN HALL. Applied business law. *$1.28 Holt 347.7
20–5200
As the ordinary empirical methods of acquiring the essentials of business law and practice are “entirely too slow ... the purpose of this book is to eliminate the long term of apprenticeship, to give a wide range of experience to all who seek it, by presenting material, both law and facts, for application in constructive work.” (Statement of purpose) The book is in two parts: 1, Fundamental principles: Essentials of contracts; Agency; Service; Deposits, loans, and hiring of things; Carriage; Sales of goods; Partnership; Insurance; Negotiable paper; Real property; Business corporations. 2, How to write business papers: Simple contracts; Articles of agreement; Negotiable contracts; Contracts concerning land; Miscellaneous forms; Index.
School R 28:476 Je ’20 250w
BUTCHER, ALICE MARY (BRANDRETH) lady. Memories of George Meredith. il *$1.60 (6c) Scribner
(Eng ed 20–6151)
This book of reminiscences begins delightfully, when the author was a girl of thirteen, with pebbles tossed against a bedroom window and an invitation to walk to the top of Box Hill to see the sun rise. It continues in the same vein of intimate, personal reminiscence to the day of Meredith’s death. There are pleasant glimpses of Shakespeare readings, of picnics, of Meredith’s family life, and of his friendships with young people, with quotations from letters and conversations.
“Her reminiscences have a girlish naïveté which is far from unattractive. Her anecdotes and some of the letters he wrote to her and his whimsical and witty talk help to fill out pleasantly our mental portrait of Meredith.”
+ Ath p1354 D 12 ’19 100w
“She is to be congratulated on her heroic self-restraint. We enjoy here, we are made to feel, the cream of several volumes.” J. J. Daly
+ − Bookm 51:351 My ’20 820w
“Many details of Meredith’s family life are given by Lady Butcher in a wholly informal and fragmentary manner. Her style is frequently cloudy and repetitious, and she often spoils a good story by her clumsy way of telling it.” E. F. E.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 Ja 17 ’20 1250w Cleveland p51 My ’20 80w
“After reading Lady Butcher one needs to draw back a little with half-closed eyes to fit the various fragments together; but in a moment or two it will be seen that they merge quite rightly into the figure of the great man.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p765 D 18 ’19 900w
BUTLER, ELLIS PARKER. How it feels to be fifty. *75c (18c) Houghton 814
20–8224
A genial essay reprinted from the American Magazine of December, 1919. Its substance is summed up in the concluding paragraph: “At twenty my life was a feverish adventure, at thirty it was a problem, at forty it was a labor, at fifty it is a joyful journey well begun.”
+ − Boston Transcript p6 Jl 17 ’20 480w
BUTLER, ELLIS PARKER. Swatty; a story of real boys. il *$1.90 (2c) Houghton
20–5587
Mr Butler goes back to his own boyhood for these stories. They are stories of boy life on the banks of the Mississippi and the book opens with a tale of the mighty river on one of its spring rampages. Swatty, Bony and George are “real boys” of the Huck Finn and Plupy Shute type. Altho the episodes are loosely woven together to make a continuous narrative, many of them are in effect short stories and some have been published as such in the American Magazine. Among the titles are: The big river; Mamie’s father; Scratch-cat; The haunted house; The red avengers; The ice goes out.
“Better if read in parts, a few adventures at a time.”
+ Booklist 16:311 Je ’20
“Were it not for a lamentable lapse into sentimentality out of keeping with the rest of the book, ‘Swatty’ would be a worthy successor [to Huck Finn]. A boy like George would never in this wide world possess a grandmother addressed as ‘Ladylove,’ and if he did, he would be cut into small pieces before he would use so soft an appellation.” G. M. Purcell
+ − Bookm 51:473 Je ’20 470w
“Although the situations are somewhat hackneyed, the author has the knack of seeing things from a boy’s point of view and expressing them in a boy’s language.”
+ Cleveland p50 My ’20 60w
“The humor of the book is broad and obvious rather than whimsical, but Mr Butler’s admirers will probably enjoy it.”
+ − N Y Times 25:253 My 16 ’20 380w
“There will doubtless be a stampede for ‘Swatty’ in the children’s room of many a public library, altho Ellis Parker Butler in his subtitle does not commit himself as to whether this is a story for real boys, or merely about them. There is a choice morsel, for the girls, too, in the incident of the tailor’s fashion sheet.” R. D. Moore
+ Pub W 97:1001 Mr 20 ’20 140w
BUTLER, SIR GEOFFREY GILBERT. Handbook to the league of nations; with an introd. by Robert Cecil. *$1.75 Longmans 341.1
20–5652
“Sir Geoffrey has presented in skeleton outline the development of the league idea from the day of Grotius to the framing of the Paris covenant, passing over rapidly its earlier history and laying stress on the attempts at international organization represented by the Holy alliance and the Hague conferences. He has throughout emphasized the fact that on a concert and not on a balance of the Powers rested the best hope of realization of the ideals of the statesmen and thinkers who strove for the elimination of war, and he bases his faith in the efficacy of the newly formed league on its conformity to that principle. In addition to general discussion of the provisions of the covenant, Sir Geoffrey has added the text of the document with commentary upon its specific features.”—N Y Evening Post
Reviewed by J. R. Towse
+ N Y Evening Post p7 Mr 6 ’20 200w Spec 124:215 F 14 ’20 50w
“Sir Geoffrey Butler’s book is of modest scope and plan, but it provides what has until now been lacking—a sober and succinct statement of historic process which we date from Grotius, and of which the covenant is but the latest phase.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p780 D 25 ’19 240w
BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY. Is America worth saving? *$2 (3c) Scribner 304
20–5743
These addresses on national problems and party policies have for their common theme the exposition and interpretation of the fundamental principles upon which the American government and American civil society is built. The real difficulty in solving all our present day problems by the light of these fundamental principles, the author claims, lies in their extreme simplicity. He looks upon socialism and similar movements as subversive of these principles, as the real enemies of the people, and as entirely destructive, and places his faith upon a “stalwart and patriotic Americanism.” Among the contents are: Is America worth saving? A programme of constructive progress; The real labor problem; A league of nations; Elihu Root, statesman; Problems of peace and after-peace; The making of a written constitution; Theodore Roosevelt, American; Faith and the war; Is American higher education improving? The colleges and the nation; Index.
Reviewed by Everett Kimball
Am Pol Sci R 14:512 Ag ’20 490w Booklist 16:298 Je ’20
“Failing entirely to understand the play of actual economic forces in the production and distribution of income, it is natural that Dr Butler should conclude that strikes and industrial wars are simply the result of an ignorance of the true and complete harmony of interests between capital and labor. Dr Butler pleads for ‘cooperative individualism into a moral purpose.’ But we cannot help feeling that he has not got any intelligible grip upon this moral purpose, and therefore shows a feeble hold upon the very principle of individual liberty whose championship he assumes.” O. O.
− Nation 110:728 My 29 ’20 1350w
“There are no compromises of principles in this book, and the author makes no concessions to those demands made through the cries of the herd. To all Americans who need a mental tonic today, and to all who feel that their confidence in law and the application of law to life needs strengthening, and to all who believe that this republic is not to drift at the mercy of every wind of doctrine, this very seminal volume belongs of right.” M. F. Egan
+ N Y Times 25:203 Ap 25 ’20 3450w + R of Rs 61:556 My ’20 60w
“Read aright, the book is a masterly and no doubt timely defence of American institutions and the principles underlying them.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p363 Je 10 ’20 1150w The Times [London] Lit Sup p671 O 14 ’20 40w
BUXTON, NOEL EDWARD, and LEESE, C. LEONARD. Balkan problems and European peace. *$1.75 Scribner 949.6
19–19084
“This book on Balkan political problems falls into three parts: (1) a history of pre-war European politics in the Balkans; (2) the policies pursued during the war by the Entente and Allied powers, with particular reference to Bulgaria; and (3) the probable future of the Balkans.”—Ath
Reviewed by Ferdinand Schevill
+ Am Hist R 25:747 Jl ’20 360w
“Clear and interesting little book. It displays considerable knowledge and the matter is well arranged.”
+ Ath p258 F 20 ’20 60w
Reviewed by B. U. Burke
Nation 111:218 Ag 21 ’20 750w N Y Times p19 O 10 ’20 70w
“Its value depends on the light it sheds on Bulgarian aspirations rather than on any impartial discussion of new material.” H. F. Armstrong
+ − Review 2:395 Ap 17 ’20 1200w The Times [London] Lit Sup p699 N 27 ’19 160w
BYNNER, WITTER (EMANUEL MORGAN, pseud.). Canticle of Pan and other poems. *$2 Knopf 811
20–9070
Among the poems of this book are the Canticle of praise, written in celebration of the ending of the war and presented at the Greek theater in Berkeley, California, in December, 1918, and the Canticle of Pan, delivered as the Phi Beta Kappa poem at the University of California in June, 1917, and the Canticle of Bacchus, also presented in California. Among the shorter poems are a number of translations from the Chinese. Titles of others are: Youth sings to the sea; The wild star; Vintage; Gipsying; Pittsburgh; A song in the grass; The swimmer; The desert; On leaving California; Away from California; Rain; Night; News of a soldier.
Booklist 17:60 N ’20
“Witter Bynner, in his ‘A canticle of Pan,’ is more of a ventriloquist than a poet. He speaks in too many voices, and on too wide a range of topics to have achieved mastery in any manner or distinction in any style. Mr Bynner’s volume is singularly unauthentic: it is an anthology of imitations (none of them particularly effective) of most of the known manners of prosody.” R. M. Weaver
− Bookm 52:62 S ’20 700w + Boston Transcript p8 F 12 ’19 500w
“In these canticles Mr Bynner has evolved a medium admirably suited for community expression, dealing with the large events of the world. In a sense these are experimental, and Mr Bynner, while giving them a certain poetic merit, has not made them distill his finest poetic spirit. His lyric note is, at its best, one of the purest among present-day poets.” W. S. B.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 Jl 3 ’20 1150w
“What one has here in the end is Bynner, the man, rather than Bynner, the poet. He is a delightful man, clever and keen and kind. But he is too full of his message to be truly moving.” E. P.
+ − Dial 70:109 Ja ’21 120w
“Witter Bynner forfeits our respect at the outset by writing a canticle wherein he imagines Pan and the Christ child as friends; he continues to forfeit it by a vein of breezy, Vachel Lindsay-Stephen Graham optimism that runs through his book.” J: G. Fletcher
− Freeman 1:476 Jl 28 ’20 230w
“These canticles as well as some of the less ambitious poems are marred by an ethical idealism that is too self-conscious. Pan and Bacchus especially must not moralize. Their magic is their waywardness. The best poems in the book are the slighter ones, including the bits of translation from the Chinese, Japanese and Russian and the original poems in their spirit.” C. M. S.
+ − Grinnell R 15:283 N ’20 300w + Ind 104:246 N 13 ’20 110w
“Mr Bynner’s latest volume proves, among other things, that there are limits beyond which Mr Bynner cannot be said to gain by experimentation. Not that he has a still, small voice; not that he is a little poet; but he is most himself and most happy when he is working in established, or at least in well knit, rhythms and moods. His publisher has produced him in a form that does both American poetry and American publishing handsome credit.” M. V. D.
+ − Nation 110:856 Je 26 ’20 230w
“Witter Bynner’s new volume, ‘A canticle of Pan’ leaves one disturbed and aggrieved. He is undeniably such a really talented poet that one wonders why so much of his book leaps out of the mind much faster than it leaps in. It is apparent that the community masque idea is not a happy choice for Mr Bynner. It is in the shorter pieces in this book that Mr Bynner is at his best.” H. S. Gorman
+ − N Y Times 25:18 Jl 25 ’20 450w
“A rather poorly balanced miscellany of poems. The volume is by no means representative of Mr Bynner’s excellence as a lyric poet. In comparatively few pieces in the present collection does he approach his highest standard of workmanship. A number of them are trivial in conception and detract substantially from the merit of the others.”
− + Springf’d Republican p11a S 5 ’20 430w
BYRNE, DONN. Foolish matrons. *$1.90 (2c) Harper
20–18252
The heroines of the story are four: one wise and three foolish. The wise one was a great actress who married the big uncouth surgeon whom she loved, gave up her career and became his guardian angel and mother of his children. Georgia, pretty and frivolous, craved the excitement of gay New York. Married she was a vampire and finally drifted to the underworld. Sheila, the college graduate and newspaper woman, clever and heartless, dreamt of a career, married a poet for the glamor of it and drove him to drink with her coldness. Sappho, the model, frankly married for money, and posed as patroness of amateur artists. She became ashamed of her plain millionaire husband and thought to do better for herself but lost in the game.
“There is enough material in ‘The foolish matrons’ for four novels; any one of the biographies which are told simultaneously would have made a book by itself—a book representing with true artistry a segment of life.”
+ N Y Times p24 O 10 ’20 600w
“The tale has vivid elements: it is overdrawn, but possesses dramatic intensity.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p9a N 14 ’20 150w