E
EAST, EDWARD MURRAY, and JONES, DONALD FORSHA. Inbreeding and outbreeding: their genetic and sociological significance. (Monographs on experimental biology) il *$2.50 Lippincott 575
20–352
“Whether close inbreeding causes deterioration of the race and cross-breeding re-invigorates it, is a question that has long been disputed. It was not until the development of the Mendelian theory that a sufficiently powerful method of analyzing the problem was discovered. The book by Professor East and Dr Jones gives an account of the solution of the problem by means of this theory. The data which East and Jones have here brought together have a wide applicability to practical animal and plant breeding. The authors also attempt to apply them to the field of human heredity.”—J Philos
Reviewed by L. L. Bernard
Am J Soc 26:251 S ’20 380w + − Ath p706 My 28 ’20 500w
“One of the most valuable features of the book is the admirable bibliography of 225 titles.” M. C. Coulter
+ Bot Gaz 69:530 Je ’20 1100w
Reviewed by Alexander Weinstein
+ J Philos 17:388 Jl 1 ’20 620w
“The book is marked at once by independence and by scholarship. Of great interest to many will be the application of the biological results to the particular case of man. There is a carefully selected bibliography.”
+ Nature 106:335 N 11 ’20 900w
“From a popular standpoint, ‘Inbreeding and outbreeding’ is by far the most interesting and suggestive book on heredity that has appeared in recent years.” O. E. White
+ New Repub 24:278 N 10 ’20 1400w
“Two biologists of note, both experimental plant breeders, have done a useful work in laying the results of their experiments and their reflections upon the experiments before a semi-popular audience. They are wise in doing so, for no question comes more frequently to the eugenicist than this: Is the marriage of cousins prejudicial to offspring? Or this: What are the biological consequences of race admixture?” C: B. Davenport
+ Survey 44:252 My 15 ’20 450w
EASTON, DOROTHY. Golden bird, and other sketches. *$2 (3c) Knopf
20–11225
These sketches are introduced by a foreword by John Galsworthy and “catch the flying values of life” as he says a good sketch does. They contain pictures from the southern countryside of England with some French sketches. “The golden bird” is an old inn where a paralyzed youth with a poet’s soul has for ten years made the walls of his room transparent and who beguiles the time, when he is not seeing visions of the shifting seasons outside, with his violin. Some of the other titles are: Laughing down; The steam mill; Heart-breaker; Twilight; September in the fields; Causerie; Smoke in the grass; Adversity; It is forbidden to touch the flowers; A Parisian evening; Life.
“The writer gives us the impression of being extremely young—not in the sense of a child taking notes, but in the sense that she seems to be seeing, smelling, drinking, picking hops and blackberries for the first time. For such sketches as ‘An old Indian’ and ‘From an old malt-house’ we have nothing but praise. But while we welcome her warmly, we would beg her, in these uncritical days, to treat herself with the utmost severity.” K. M.
+ − Ath p831 Je 25 ’20 190w
“They have color, dramatic vivacity and interesting characterization. Somewhat depressing.”
+ − Booklist 17:61 N ’20
“Miss Easton writes with a certain graceful precision, an unerring touch for the right word, for the exact effect, and a deeply sympathetic attitude toward nature and toward humanity in its varied aspects.” L. B.
+ Freeman 1:622 S 8 ’20 200w
“They are simple, vivid and effective in their simplicity. There is real insight and real skill in putting down what the author has seen.”
+ Ind 103:440 D 25 ’20 200w
“With a remarkable economy of means she renders the rather drowsy sweetness of her south of England scenes. And occasionally, as in the sketches called Laughing down, her tenderness for her landscape makes her sentimental and callous—the two are never far apart—about people. But her best sketches, of which there are many, have their brief moments of irony and tragedy and so combine beauty and wisdom in uncommon measure.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − Nation 111:161 Ag 7 ’20 360w
“Miss Easton holds almost constantly to this objectivity, except that she relieves, or perhaps one should say illuminates, it sometimes with the suggestion of spiritual significance by means of a delicate, elusive touch that seems less her own than the inescapable implication of that which she is describing.”
+ N Y Times p22 Ag 8 ’20 600w
“An ardent fancy and a delicate yet firm hand have gone to its making; and, thank heaven, it reminds us of nobody! I am not sure, in thinking it over, but the main charm of the book, apart from its beauty of workmanship, lies in its total lack of that ‘humor’ which is the god of the current literary machine.” H. W. Boynton
+ Review 3:502 N 24 ’20 450w
“A book very well worth writing and, what is more, worth reading afterwards.”
+ Spec 125:744 D 4 ’20 50w
“The author has a deep and comprehensive feeling for the transitory values of life which she succeeds in communicating to the emotions of her audience. She writes with a delicacy which would beautify the most sordid subjects.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 D 14 ’20 430w
“The quality of the volume suggests that stronger work may follow. More experience should confirm that individual quality already described, and may help to put a curb on an exuberance of sentiment which is at present Miss Easton’s chief weakness.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p454 Jl 15 ’20 390w
EATON, WALTER PRICHARD. In Berkshire fields. il *$3.50 Harper 917.44
20–18686
Not as a scientist but merely as a lover of nature and the wilds, does the author record his wanderings through fields and woods. As a permanent resident in the hills he knows them in every season of the year and in every elemental mood and loves them “less for their softness than their wildness.” Their wildness, he tells us, is still considerable for in their miles of forest the moose and wildcat still roam and there is even recent evidence of a timberwolf. Seventy-eight illustrations, chiefly of winter scenes, by Walter King Stone, grace the pages and the contents are: Landlord to the birds; Jim Crow; The cheerful chickadee; The menace from above; By inland waters; Poking around for birds’ nests; The queen of the swamp; Forgotten roads; From a Berkshire cabin; Little folks that gnaw; The ways of the woodchuck; Foxes and other neighbors; In praise of trees; Enjoying the influenza; Adventures with an ax; Weeds above the snow.
+ Booklist 17:61 N ’20 + Boston Transcript p7 N 24 ’20 290w + Ind 103:441 D 25 ’20 170w
“He has written of the birds and animals of the Berkshires with an accuracy perfected by long observation and with a sympathy arising from sincere affection.”
+ N Y Times p18 D 26 ’20 500w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
+ Review 3:376 O 27 ’20 50w
“Sympathetic nature study and observation, not burdened with scientific detail, is charmingly set forth.”
+ Review 3:391 O 27 ’20 60w + Springf’d Republican p7a N 21 ’20 390w + Wis Lib Bul 16:234 D ’20 70w
EATON, WALTER PRICHARD. On the edge of the wilderness, il *$1.75 (3c) Wilde 591.5
The first of these “tales of our wild animal neighbors” is the story of a lone timber wolf who strayed into western Massachusetts where his species is supposed to be extinct. The scene of the other stories is also the Berkshire hills, where, on the authority of the author and others, wolves, foxes, deer, moose and other animals still survive, The titles are: “The return of the native”; Big Reddy, strategist; The Odyssey of old Bill; The life and death of Lucy; General Jim; The mating of Brownie; The taming of ol’ Buck; Red slayer and the terror; Rastus earns his sleep; “The last American.” The illustrations are by Charles Livingston Bull.
+ Ind 104:378 D 11 ’20 80w
“Mr Eaton’s art is finished and flowing, a joy to read. Books like this are not only an education in natural history, but in beautiful English, in clarity of description and harmony of phrase.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p4 D 5 ’20 180w
“‘On the edge of the wilderness’ is almost ideal in fulfilling the many demands of the average intelligent boy for an entertaining book of adventure. In the first place it rings true. It has a literary value such as boys unconsciously appreciate.” H. L. Reed
+ Springf’d Republican p7a N 28 ’20 250w
ECKEL, EDWIN CLARENCE. Coal, iron and war; a study in industrialism, past and future. *$3 (2½c) Holt 330
20–13789
Ours is a “machine civilization” and the story of industrial growth and competition since 1775, the author holds, “is chiefly though not entirely the story of coal and iron.” The book attempts to keep the discussion free from any and every preconceived bias, theory or assumption and to arrive at conclusions entirely through the historical study of the industrial developments of different countries. Industrial growth is a matter of natural evolution based on physical environment and inheritance and hardly at all on human and personal control. The form of government is a negligible fact—a strong nationalism still desirable, and war still the simplest solution of many of our industrial problems. The contents are in four parts: The growth of modern industrialism; The material bases of industrial growth: The causes and effects of industrial growth; The future of industrialism. There is an index.
“The thesis is carefully developed and well maintained. The striking feature of the book is the openness of mind with which the future is examined. Although the historical portions of the book are sound in the main there are some statements with reference to the eighteenth century that can scarcely be accepted.” A. P. Usher
+ − Am Hist R 26:307 Ja ’21 640w + Booklist 17:140 Ja ’21
“Mr Eckel has long been prominent as a geologist and engineer. In this volume he certainly qualifies also as an economist. His views on labor organization, the corporation, and the influence of legislation are especially significant.” G. P. W.
+ Grinnell R 16:356 F ’21 600w
“The present work is written for the general reader, and through elimination of the less important and by judicious distribution of emphasis he has produced a book which is likely to be widely read with both interest and profit. Though written in a language intelligible to the business man quite as much as the student, it is perhaps most of all important through its judicious criticism of the traditional and orthodox viewpoint of the economist.” W: H. Hobbs
+ N Y Evening Post p4 N 27 ’20 1450w Review 3:351 O 20 ’20 280w
“It is a worth while book and one has difficulty in telling in a few words why; probably it is because it is written with sincerity and because the author is not writing as other engineers have written, to promote a cause but to examine facts critically.” Hugh Archbald
+ Survey 45:287 N 20 ’20 360w
EDDY, SHERWOOD. Everybody’s world. *$1.60 Doran 327
“A discussion, from the standpoint of world Christianity, of post-war conditions in the Near East, Russia, Japan, China, and India, with a chapter on the relations between Great Britain and America and Anglo-Saxon responsibility to the world. The book is the result of a tour around the world in 1919.”—R of Rs
“The author has given an interesting and valuable survey of world conditions.”
+ Boston Transcript p7 Ag 18 ’20 400w R of Rs 62:333 S ’20 100w
“The charm of style lies in the author’s intense human interest which results in much picturesque and personal narrative. Mr Eddy is singularly free of bias.” L. R. Robinson
+ Survey 45:320 N 27 ’20 720w
EDEN, EMILY. Miss Eden’s letters; ed. by her great niece, Violet Dickenson with introd. *$6.50 Macmillan
“To the present generation the name of Miss Eden conveys little or nothing. As the sister of Lord Auckland, who held office in the reform ministries of the early years of last century, and who became governor-general of India in 1835, she was well known in London society under William IV; and during her later life she published some novels and books of travel which were not without merit, but had not sufficient distinction to preserve them from oblivion. But her abiding claim to the notice of posterity was her talent for friendly letterwriting. Her most intimate friend, Pamela, daughter of Lord and Lady Edward FitzGerald, had an equally marked gift for talking with the pen, and perhaps greater vivacity and humour; and the correspondence between these two brilliant women is preserved in the present volume.”—Spec
Ath p1139 O 31 ’19 100w
“If she has no ideas about things in general, she has a perpetually renewed interest in the immediate; it is this, with the firm, easy texture of her style, and a delicate oddity of perception, which makes her letters so eminently readable. It is this, but something more; for of all the qualities named she is perhaps fully conscious; but she appears admirably unconscious of the qualities of heart and character she has.” F. W. S.
+ Ath p335 Mr 12 ’20 1100w
“We think that Miss Dickenson might have suppressed some of the letters as deficient in interest. But we are grateful to her for presenting us with some of the best specimens of the lost art of correspondence.”
+ − Sat R 128:441 N 8 ’19 1100w
“She had the true note of colloquial ease which few people ever achieve in their letters, and still fewer retain. She gossips charmingly; her observations on her friends and acquaintances are not the mere threadbare inanities which can interest only those who know the persons concerned, but real characteristic illuminative things which are nearly as pleasant to read now as they were when they were written eighty or ninety years ago.”
+ Spec 124:179 F 7 ’20 600w
“The judgment of Miss Dickenson’s selections and the unusual excellence of her materials give the book what we so seldom find in biographies—construction and artistic purpose.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p627 N 6 ’19 950w
EDGINTON, HELEN MARION (MAY EDGINTON). Married life; or, The true romance. *$1.75 Small
20–8626
“May Edginton’s novel begins with the marriage of a pretty, bright, charming girl who has been earning her own living and a fine, handsome young man whose salary in an automobile house has been ample to allow him to spend upon himself with some freedom. The action carries them rapidly through the rose-colored days of the first year of married life. By the end of that year they are both beginning to feel the financial pinch resulting from the necessity of making the salary that had been enough for one serve the needs of two. Then the babies begin to arrive and at the end of six years they have three. The salary that had been little more than enough for one has not been much increased and it has to be stretched to cover the needs of five. The husband, under this strain, has grown morose, fault-finding, resentful, and the wife, with her strength taxed far beyond its powers, is weary, irritable and hopeless. The author’s solution she has found solely in the very material one of furnishing them with enough money to enable the husband to spend as he likes and the wife to hire a maid, get her hands manicured and buy some new clothes.”—N Y Times
“Why force an obviously false ending to a tale that rings true up to a certain point?”
− + Boston Transcript p4 Je 9 ’20 250w
“The author tells the first part of her story with much realistic detail and with color and vivacity.... The story is the expression of a purely material and selfish ideal of life.”
+ − N Y Times 25:308 Je 13 ’20 440w
EDIE, LIONEL D., ed. Current social and industrial forces; introd. by James Harvey Robinson. *$2.50 Boni & Liveright 330
20–3781
“Essays from a number of radical and liberal English and American writers, which reveal the fundamental causes of unrest and propose some plans of action. Some of the authors represented are: Veblen, Sidney Webb, Meyer Bloomfield, J. A. Hobson, J. Laurence Laughlin, Bertrand Russell, Helen Marot, Emil Vandervelde, Walter Lippmann, Norman Angell, H. G. Wells and John Dewey. There are also numerous reports from various commissions of both the British and American governments and of organizations of employers and workers.” (Booklist) “The book grew out of the compiler’s need for a textbook in his courses on current historical forces at Colgate university. The selections are grouped under the headings: Forces of disturbance, Potentialities of production, The price system, The direction of industry, The funds of reorganization, The power and policy of organized labor, Proposed plans of action, Industrial doctrines in defense of the status quo, and The possibilities of social service.” (Survey)
Am Econ R 10:571 S ’20 70w
Reviewed by R. F. Clark
+ Am J Soc 26:367 N ’20 240w
“Should be very valuable to the student and to the more thoughtful reader.”
+ Booklist 16:261 My ’20 + − Cath World 111:681 Ag ’20 420w
“The excerpts and reprints are skilfully grouped, so that the reader—for the book can be read as well as consulted—can grasp the material handily. The selections are made without prejudice.”
+ Dial 69:213 Ag ’20 80w
Reviewed by Ordway Tead
+ New Repub 25:210 Ja 12 ’21 60w
“Prof. Edie has rendered a real service by gathering into well-related chapters some of the most illuminating discussions of a large number of modern writers on social topics.” H: P. Fairchild
+ N Y Evening Post p16 Ap 24 ’20 900w
“It is every citizen’s duty to be informed on these subjects, and Professor Edie puts the information within the reach of any who wish it.”
+ N Y Times p29 Ag 22 ’20 340w
“In this symposium one gets many and variously colored and confusing glimpses of industrial and social movements, but no comprehensive view of any single subject and no consistent coördination or interpretation.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ − Review 3:504 N 24 ’20 300w + Survey 44:312 My 29 ’20 280w
“The book gives a useful conspectus of radical thought—but it scarcely deals at all with ‘current social and industrial forces.’” W: E. Walling
+ − Yale R n s 10:218 O ’20 380w
EDMAN, IRWIN. Human traits and their social significance. *$3 Houghton 301
20–17674
Throughout the long process of civilization two factors have remained constant, says the author: nature and human nature. The only change with regard to the one has been in our increasing power of control of nature through increasing knowledge. And the only difference between the man of today and the primitive savage is in the control of the native biological impulses that the civilized man has achieved through education, religion and morals. It is the aim of the book to indicate man’s simple inborn impulses and outstanding human traits and the factors which must be taken into account if they are to be controlled in the interest of human welfare. Accordingly the book falls into two parts: Social psychology; and The career of reason. Types of human behavior and their social significance, basic human activities and crucial traits in social life, and the racial and cultural continuity are among the subjects considered in part one. Part two contains: Religion and the religious experience; Art and æsthetic experience; Science and scientific method; Morals and moral valuation. There is an index.
“There are but few books of only 467 pages that contain so much information as this one. Written as an introduction to contemporary civilization and intended for freshmen, it clarifies questions at whose profundity Plato would have been disheartened. If the freshman of today can digest even a small portion of this book colleges are progressing, while for a man comparatively advanced in years, and with interests as universal as those of Leonardo da Vinci, it would be a handy manual.”
− + N Y Evening Post p10 N 27 ’20 250w
EDWARDS, A. HERBAGE. Paris through an attic. *$3 Dutton 914.4
19–19896
“Paris, ever fascinating and ever fresh, was seen in the days before the war from a new angle, by a delightful young couple, with a thin family purse. An income of 350 dollars a year sufficed their needs. Where they lived, and how they lived is told by the feminine half of this pair of adventurers. The young couple attended the Sorbonne. Sundays and holidays are treated in an account of how Paris amuses itself. All these happenings, and many others, fill the space of two years, and the pages of the book, up to the eventful day when Richard receives his title, ‘Docteur de l’Universite de Paris.’”—Boston Transcript
“The section on the students and the university reveals aspects of French life not ordinarily found in books of travel.”
+ Booklist 17:27 O ’20
“Charming narrative.” C. K. H.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Mr 24 ’20 700w
“This book contains a hundred delightful and delicate reflections, an equal number of personal touches, and some quaint views of life which cannot fail to charm the reader who likes to saunter in the little lanes of the great world.” M. F. Egan
+ N Y Times 25:279 My 30 ’20 1400w
EDWARDS, AUSTIN SOUTHWICK.[[2]] Fundamental principles of learning and study. $1.80 Warwick & York 370.1
20–22148
“The present volume is a rewriting of manuscript which the writer has used for some time as part of his lectures to students in educational psychology. The aim is especially to show how the results of general psychology and experimental psychology and of allied sciences can be put into use by the teacher and the student in the problems of learning and of study.” (Preface) The author takes the point of view that “the forming, modifying and remaking of habits, habitudes, dispositions, tendencies, etc., under the guidance of ideals set up by society, seems to be the fundamental work of education.” Among the chapters are: Fundamental principles of education; Neurology and the basis of education; The fundamental work of education; Learning and habit formation; Acquisition which involves study; Attention and sustained effort; Feeling habits and moral education; Supervised study and the school curriculum. The book is provided with questions, chapter references, select bibliography and index.
“The range of topics treated and the definite nature of the discussions make the book suitable for wide use in courses dealing with a survey of the psychology of the learning process.”
+ El School J 21:392 Ja ’21 600w
“In this comparatively brief and quite readable treatise, one finds less space taken up with academic discussion of pedagogic bugaboos than in most books on similar themes.” C. L. Clarke
+ Survey 45:611 Ja 22 ’21 400w
EDWARDS, CLAYTON. Treasury of heroes and heroines. il *$3 (2½c) Stokes 920
20–19159
“A record of high endeavour and strange adventure; from 500 B.C. to 1920 A.D.” In the book so described in the sub-title the life stories of many famous men and women are given. The “Heroes of reality” include: Buddha; Julius Cæsar; Saint Patrick; King Arthur of Britain; Mohammed; Alfred the Great; Robin Hood; Saint Elizabeth of Hungary; Dante; Robert Bruce; Jeanne d’Arc; Christopher Columbus; William the Silent; Queen Elizabeth of England; Sir Francis Drake; Henry Hudson; Peter the Great; George Washington; John Paul Jones; Molly Pitcher; Napoleon Bonaparte; Giuseppe Garibaldi; Abraham Lincoln; Grace Darling; Florence Nightingale; Father Damien; Catherine Breshkovsky; Theodore Roosevelt; Edith Cavell; King Albert of Belgium; Maria Botchkareva. Four heroes of fiction are included: William Tell; Don Quixote; Robinson Crusoe; and Rip Van Winkle. There are illustrations in color by Florence Choate and Elizabeth Curtis.
“The stories are brief, but they are by no means mere sketches; nor are they ‘written down’ in a way that children dislike. It is a good book and a useful one.”
+ N Y Evening Post p13 N 13 ’20 180w
“The big book is interesting and well done, full of information that reads like wild romance.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 19 ’20 120w
EDWARDS, GEORGE WHARTON.[[2]] Belgium old and new. il *$10 Penn 914.93
20–21326
“The illustrations, numbering forty-one, are full-page and are mostly in color. These reproduce ancient or famous buildings, towers, sections of historic structures and open spaces in Antwerp, Brussels and other cities and towns of the several provinces in the kingdom. Much of the text is historical in character. In the first chapter, Mr Edwards touches upon the natural resources of the little country and its condition at the close of the war, concluding with an optimistic forecast of its quick recovery and future well-being. He then proceeds, in separate chapters, with historical sketches of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Tournai, Couillet, Liège and Mons. This done, the author returns to the present and discusses Belgium’s colonies, characteristics of the country and people and the constitution. The work concludes with chapters devoted to Cardinal Mercier and the king and queen.”—Springf’d Republican
“The text of the book is eminently satisfactory, but chiefly so because it puts us in precisely the right attitude of mind and spirit for enjoying to the full the charm of the book’s generous wealth of illustration.” F: T. Cooper
+ Pub W 98:1893 D 18 ’20 300w + Springf’d Republican p8 D 15 ’20 380w
EELLS, ELSIE SPICER (MRS B. G. EELLS). Tales of enchantment from Spain. il *$2 (6c) Harcourt
20–17754
The author has brought out two earlier collections of South American tales and her studies in this field have led her to an examination of the folk lore of Spain, from which many of the Spanish-American tales are derived. Among the titles of the fifteen stories are: The white parrot; The carnation youth; The wood cutter’s son and the two turtles; The luck fairies; The bird which laid diamonds; The enchanted castle in the sea; The princess who was dumb. The pictures are by Maud and Miska Petersham.
+ Booklist 17:121 D ’20
EGAN, MAURICE FRANCIS, and KENNEDY, JOHN JAMES BRIGHT. Knights of Columbus in peace and war. 2v il *$5.25 Encyclopedia press 267
20–6359
“The first of these two handsome illustrated volumes is devoted to the origin, growth, and constitution of this celebrated Anglican Roman Catholic friendly society, founded by the Rev. M. J. McGivney in Connecticut in 1882; its work in peace time of protecting homes, promoting higher education, allaying religious prejudice, opposing bolshevism, etc.; and its war work during the fighting in France, with the navy, and after the armistice. The Canadian Knights’ war work has a special chapter. The second volume is chiefly taken up with the roll of honour of the Knights.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
N Y Times 25:258 My 16 ’20 1250w The Times [London] Lit Sup p671 O 14 ’20 90w
EGGLESTON, MRS MARGARET W. Use of the story in religious education. *$1.50 Doran 268
20–4125
“In this book the author has brought together some of the recommendations on story-telling that have been current in secular education for some time and has applied these to problems directly connected with the Sunday school.”—El School J
“Will interest all storytellers.”
+ Booklist 16:328 Jl ’20
“The book will be suggestive to Sunday school teachers and will lead to an improvement in the story-telling which is an important part of the Sunday school’s work.”
+ El School J 20:633 Ap ’20 180w Wis Lib Bul 16:110 Je ’20 140w
EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Relativity: the special and general theory. il *$3 Holt 530.1
20–17742
“The present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.” (Preface) The translation is by Professor Robert W. Lawson who has added a biographical note of the author. The contents are in three parts: The special theory of relativity; The general theory of relativity; Considerations on the universe as a whole. There are appendices, a bibliography and an index.
“Although Professor Einstein’s own exposition is as clear and simple as could be expected, the book is of exceptional interest, not as a popular exposition, but as an indication of the mental processes of its author.”
+ Ath p311 S 3 ’20 260w + Booklist 17:98 D ’20
“An excellent translation of Einstein’s book.”
+ Nature 106:336 N 11 ’20 1200w
“Written in an unpretentious, straightforward style. The trend of his exposition can be followed in the main by any attentive reader who is not scared by algebraic formulae.” E. E. Slosson
+ N Y Evening Post p7 O 23 ’20 2400w
“The book is ‘intended to give an exact insight into the theory to those who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.’ In the opinion of the reviewer, in this attempt he has been eminently successful, that is, if an essentially mathematical notion can be made intelligible without algebraic symbols.” A. G. Webster
+ Review 3:384 O 27 ’20 1000w The Times [London] Lit Sup p539 Ag 19 ’20 90w
ELIAS, MRS EDITH L. Abraham Lincoln. (Heroes of all time) il *$1.50 Stokes
20–18583
This story of Lincoln for young people is in seven sections: Years of inexperience; Years of development; Years of self-expression and experience; Years of public recognition; Years of leadership; Years of supremacy; Triumph and death. Each section is prefaced by an extract from Lincoln’s speeches. There are nine illustrations, a list of presidents of the United States up to Abraham Lincoln and a chart showing method of government in the United States.
Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 12 ’20 80w
ELIAS, MRS EDITH L. Periwinkle’s island. il *$1.50 (4c) Lippincott
An English story for children, all about the surprising adventures of Meg, Peg and Topkins, who go to the country with their mother, the queen, Fuzzy Wuzz, their nurse, and Tut-Tut, their tutor. Only good children are allowed to land on Periwinkle’s island and at first attempt Meg, Peg and Topkins can not pass the test, but they improve and after the second trial go ashore to take part in the great chase after the Creepingo, aided by the Top Twins, the Elastic Dog and other queer folk. The pictures in color are by Molly Benatar.
Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ N Y Times p9 D 12 ’20 70w
ELIOT, CHARLES WILLIAM. Road to unity among the Christian churches. *$1 (8½c) Am. Unitar. 280
20–2426
This little volume contains the first lecture delivered under the Arthur Emmons Pearson foundation, established in 1918 with the object of promoting “the advancement of mutual understanding and helpfulness between the people of all denominations and creeds.” Dr Eliot points out the factors that have promoted division in the past and then enumerates the present forces that are encouraging unification. He says, “To the United States the world is indebted for the demonstration that on the principle of federation a strong, stable, and just government can be constructed.... The same principle applied to the divided Christian churches will produce analogous good results; but as in a group of federated states federation will not be fusion.”
+ Ind 103:318 S 11 ’20 50w
ELIOT, SAMUEL ATKINS, ed. Little theater classics, v 2 il *$1.50 Little 808.2
18–19312
This is volume two of “Little theater classics” adapted and edited by Samuel Atkins Eliot, jr. Each one of the four plays has an introduction giving its origin and history, and staging suggestions. The plays are: Patelin, from “Maître Pierre Pathelin” by Guillaume Alécis; Abraham and Isaac, from the Book of Brome and the Chester cycle of miracles; The loathed lover, from “The changeling” of Middleton and Rowley; Sganarelle, or, Imaginary horns, from Molière. Three of the plays have already been produced by little theaters and are illustrated with photographs from the production.
Booklist 16:233 Ap ’20
“Sganarelle is a charming little antique. Abraham and Isaac is a beautiful piece of work.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Ap 14 ’20 520w
“There are some intrepidities in Mr Eliot which rather stagger me, though whether the protest comes from real disapprobation or simply from that unusedness which whimpers at the approach of novelty it is hard for me to say. For instance, I stand agape, if not aghast, at Mr Eliot’s consolidation of the Chester play and the Brome play on Abraham and Isaac into one drama.” O. W. Firkins
+ − Review 2:608 Je 5 ’20 340w
“On the whole, this second volume measures up to the high standard set by the first. The work has been done with fine taste and intelligence and forms a valuable contribution to the dramatic literature available to little theatres.”
+ Theatre Arts Magazine 4:256 Jl ’20 300w
ELIOT, THOMAS STEARNS. Poems. *$1.25 Knopf 811
20–4200
Mr Eliot is a poet of American birth who lives in London. “He published ‘Prufrock’ in 1917 and ‘Poems’ in 1919—this volume assembles the contents of the two, together with a number of other poems, and is the first volume to be published in America, where heretofore it has been exceedingly difficult to obtain his poems.” (Publisher’s announcement) Some of the poems have appeared in Poetry, Others, the Little Review, and other periodicals.
“Mr Eliot is always quite consciously ‘trying for’ something, and something which has grown out of and developed beyond all the poems of all the dead poets. Poetry to him seems to be not so much an art as a science.”
+ − Ath p491 Je 20 ’19 600w Booklist 16:305 Je ’20
“The ‘Poems’—ironically so-called—of T. S. Eliot, if not heavy and pedantic parodies of the ‘new poetry,’ are documents that would find sympathetic readers in the waiting-room of a private sanatorium. As a parodist, Mr Eliot is lacking in good taste, invention, and wit.” R. M. Weaver
− Bookm 52:57 S ’20 1400w
“Reading these poems (?) is like being in a closed room full of foul air; not a room in an empty house that is sanctified with mould and dust, but a room in which the stale perfume of exotics is poisoned with the memory of lusts.” W. S. B.
− Boston Transcript p6 Ap 14 ’20 500w
Reviewed by E. E. Cummings
+ Dial 68:781 Je ’20 1400w
“At least two-thirds of Eliot’s sixty-three pages attain no higher eminence than extraordinarily clever—and eminently uncomfortable—verse. The exaltation which is the very breath of poetry—that combination of tenderness and toughness—is scarcely ever present in Eliot’s lines. Scarcely ever, I reiterate, for a certain perverse exultation takes its place; an unearthly light without warmth which has the sparkle if not the strength of fire. It flickers mockingly through certain of the unrhymed pictures and shines with a bright pallor out of the two major poems.” L: Untermeyer
+ − Freeman 1:381 Je 30 ’20 2000w
“He is the most proficient satirist now writing in verse, the uncanniest clown, the devoutest monkey, the most picturesque ironist; and aesthetically considered, he is one of the profoundest symbolists.” M. V. D.
+ Nation 110:856 Je 26 ’20 300w
“In such poems as ‘Gerontion,’ the ‘Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ ‘Portrait of a lady,’ ‘Cooking egg,’ we get a glimpse of the visions and tragedies that are in the soul—it does not matter that the soul in these situations has to look out on restaurants instead of on temples.” Padraic Colum
+ New Repub 25:52 D 8 ’20 980w
“His is a book to gaze upon worshipfully and humbly. We shall always cherish it, for its shrieking modernity—though we are one of the Philistines who still ask for poetry and sanity in lines presented as poetry.” Clement Wood
− + N Y Call p10 Je 20 ’20 270w
“Mr Eliot, like Browning, likes to display out-of-the-way learning, he likes to surprise you by every trick he can think of. He has forgotten his emotions, his values, his sense of beauty, even his common-sense, in that one desire to surprise, to get farther away from the obvious than any writer on record.”
− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p322 Je 12 ’19 550w
ELLIOT, HUGH SAMUEL ROGER. Modern science and materialism. *$3 (*7s 6d) Longmans 146
20–4021
“The philosophy expounded by Hugh Elliot in ‘Modern science and materialism’ is the complete materialism which not only makes mind dependent upon matter but identifies mind with matter. The world is thus conceived as consisting of one substance. Not all of those who agree with the materialistic hypothesis will accept this extreme simplification of it. To many Mr Elliot’s view will seem as metaphysical as the opposite view which regards matter as a form of mind. Mr Elliot’s book, however, is not merely an argument against the commonly accepted dualism in the conception of matter and mind. It is also a survey of the creation of man and the universe, as interpreted by a method which reduces all processes to the working of blind, but immutable, laws. In all respects, Mr Elliot’s view of the universe is rigidly mechanistic.”—Springf’d Republican
“It is difficult not to be unjust to ‘Modern science and materialism.’ Its science is above reproach and occupies the center of the author’s interest and the bulk of the book. But it is impossible to say more of the author’s ‘materialism’ than that it is what physical science always is when it attempts to substitute itself for life.” C. E. Ayres
+ − Am J Soc 26:249 S ’20 280w
“A good bird’s-eye view, not unduly technical, for the interested layman or student.”
+ Booklist 16:257 My ’20 + N Y Times p18 O 17 ’20 140w
“Mr Elliot is one of the most intolerant of materialists, but those who read his book are likely to see that he frequently falls into the sin he castigates, that of accepting ideas as true which are merely speculative. Mr Elliot also falls into the familiar error of claiming to be an agnostic and, from this negative doctrine, he immediately and cheerfully builds up a most positive philosophy.”
+ − Review 3:45 Jl 14 ’20 850w Sat R 128:613 D 27 ’19 1150w
“Mr Elliot writes with refreshing clearness and vigour; he is always entertaining, and he never leaves his readers in doubt about his meaning. But while admiring Mr Elliot’s gifts of exposition and assertion, we would urge upon him, with some diffidence, the advantages of a larger share in his own writing of that agnosticism whose value he so strenuously upholds.”
+ − Spec 124:214 F 14 ’20 480w
“Unquestionably able book. Mr Elliot states his stern ideas with the utmost simplicity and clarity.”
+ Springf’d Republican p13 F 1 ’20 1400w The Times [London] Lit Sup p634 N 6 ’19 40w
ELLIOTT, LILIAN ELWYN.[[2]] Black gold. *$2.25 Macmillan
20–19915
“The ‘black gold’ which gives its title to L. E. Elliott’s novel is rubber. Though it opens in England, the greater part of the scene is laid in Brazil. The heroine is an English girl, Margarita Channing, whose elder sister, Francina, is the wife of a musician, Salvatore. Both Margarita and her sister sing nicely, and with the help of some rich Brazilians Salvatore organizes an opera company and takes it up the Amazon as far as Manaos. The voyage and the people they meet on board the steamer afford opportunities for the discussion of Brazilian affairs, of which the author makes full use. Presently they reach Manaos, are taken to see all its sights and especially the operations of the rubber industry, and have some experiences with South American politics. Of course there is a love story for Margarita, with a young Englishman, an inventor and the owner of a rubber plantation, as its hero.”—N Y Times
“I have felt nowhere else so keenly the spell of South America, the power of the golden blood of the ‘rio das Amazonas,’ and the power of the forest.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p1 D 4 ’20 1300w
“The novel is neither good nor bad; merely mediocre. Those who enjoy swift moving tales will find it slow. Those who like style, characterization, will find it uninteresting. As it is, it exemplifies the immortal (and overworked) ‘words, words, words.’”
− + N Y Evening Post p18 D 4 ’20 90w
“It is in this descriptive portion of the volume that the author has done her best work, for, though her style is usually good, she lacks dramatic and character sense, and is essentially an article rather than a fiction writer.”
+ − N Y Times p28 Ja 2 ’21 350w
“Not only the physical beauty of Brazilian scenes, but the industries, social conditions and political upheavals are set forth interestingly.”
+ Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 170w
ELLIS, JULIAN. Fame and failure. il *$3.75 Lippincott 920
(Eng ed 20–8729)
“Short biographies of a number of famous people who ended as failures. Amongst the characters discussed are Edwin James the lawyer, Wainewright the murderer, Lady Hamilton, King Ludwig of Bavaria and Beau Brummel. In all there are eighteen biographies.”—Ath
Ath p1412 D 26 ’19 40w Ath p174 F 6 ’20 390w
“A better selection to illustrate his thesis that fame and success are not alway marriageable ideas could not have been made.” B: de Casseres
+ N Y Times 25:12 Jl 4 ’20 2300w
“Notwithstanding his rather absurd classification, Mr Julian Ellis has written a very amusing book. His style is clear and lively; and he doesn’t bore us with footnotes or authorities, which so often spoil the pleasure of reading biographies.”
+ − Sat R 128:587 D 20 ’19 640w The Times [London] Lit Sup p753 D 11 ’19 80w
“If we must decline to take Mr Ellis too seriously as a biographer, this need not prevent us from wiling away some pleasant time in his company. If he has the faults of the journalist, he has also no small measure of his virtues.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p5 Ja 1 ’20 2550w
ELLIS, STEWART MARSH. George Meredith. il $6 Dodd
20–26976
“This book follows the lines of articles which Mr Ellis contributed to the Fortnightly Review and the Saturday Review. His primary object was to use his information about the early life of Meredith, who was his father’s first cousin, and to reconsider in connexion with it the inner history of some of the novels, particularly ‘Evan Harrington,’ ‘Beauchamp’s career,’ ‘Vittoria,’ and ‘Diana of the crossways.’ There are numerous portraits and other illustrations.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Mr Ellis makes an absorbingly interesting volume out of his revelations.”
+ Ath p62 F ’19 2100w Booklist 17:112 D ’20
“All the details in this volume are of surpassing interest, and it contains not a little acute criticism of Meredith’s novels. The work as a whole is an exceptional pen portraiture of a literary personality who was as great and influential as he was interesting.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p6 S 25 ’20 1350w
“Written without any distinction of style, Mr Ellis’s contribution belongs to that class of biographical work which owes its existence to the fact that some one or other has known, or been connected with, a famous man and is able to satisfy, by the composition of a book of this kind, the promptings of his own personal egotism.” Llewelyn Powys
− Freeman 2:189 N 3 ’20 740w
“That Meredith, in Evan Harrington, misinterpreted and, as the biographer holds, maligned the character of Mr Ellis’s grandparents may, or may not, have been a contributing cause of the publication of this rather shallow and rather malicious book. Certain it is that George Meredith was on no very friendly terms with his Ellis cousins, and the reader must be warned of the evident animus on the part of the biographer.” S. C. C.
− + New Repub 25:267 Ja 26 ’21 1200w
“Mr Ellis’s book on Meredith is to be welcomed, though it appears to be in no sense an ‘official’ biography and though it is not written in a manner which could have pleased Meredith himself. It is neither an ‘inspired’ exposition of his career nor a book which could be counted excellent on its own independent merits. But it is the only biography in existence.”
+ − New Statesman 12:378 F 1 ’19 2050w
“What should have been a great portrait is only a rather ordinary photograph. He is painstaking and accurate enough. Any one who is interested in Meredith can gather from this book much which he will be glad to know. But he will seek in vain and with growing exasperation for the things which are really needful.” W. H. Durham
+ − N Y Evening Post p9 D 31 ’20 600w
“Extremely interesting and well-written book.” R: Le Gallienne
+ N Y Times p6 N 21 ’20 2350w + Sat R 127:157 F 15 ’19 700w Sat R 130:182 Ag 28 ’20 340w The Times [London] Lit Sup p46 Ja 23 ’19 70w
ELWELL, AMBROSE. At the sign of the Red swan, il *$1.75 Small
19–19053
“A rollicking old-fashioned story of the sea with romance, murder and suicide generously interwoven is told by Ambrose Elwell in ‘At the sign of the Red swan.’ From a quiet, simple fisherman’s home on the rockbound Maine coast, Elwell, who tells the story in the first person, sails forth over the horizon to seek a living and money with which to support his widowed mother and younger brother. His quest, teeming with adventure, leads him into strange paths and foreign waters—Liverpool, the south seas, and, finally, back to the old home. At the Red swan inn, sailors’ dive on a South Sea island, he becomes entangled in the law, charged with deserting his ship and murder of a wealthy Jewish trader. All looks black for him with a gibbet as the closing chapter of his adventurous career. But the devotion of a settlement physician and a chaplain aids him to escape in the nick of time. Later, the sensational suicide of the guilty one, while at sea on the same ship, clears the name of our hero.”—Springf’d Republican
“The fact that this story is ‘different’ from most of the large grist of fiction turned out so steadily and voluminously since the armistice will probably cause it to attract more than ordinary attention.”
+ N Y Times 25:33 Ja 18 ’20 500w Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 160w
EMERSON, GUY. New frontier. *$2 (3c) Holt 304
20–12285
A series of papers on Americanism. The new frontier is the present social and industrial situation and the author’s plea is that it be faced with the spirit that conquered the old geographical frontier of the expanding west. This spirit is for him typified by Theodore Roosevelt. The introduction says, “In this book two main points are emphasized; first, that the spirit of that portion of our people which has actually shaped the destinies of America has been liberal, rather than radical or conservative.... Second, it is claimed that our national spirit has taken its essential liberal flavor from the frontier, from the generations of tireless, self-reliant effort which won this continent for the men and women of our own day and which stamped them with its indelible character.” Contents: The frontier of American character; The leadership that made America; What is a liberal? The politics of the middle of the road; Public opinion and the industrial problem; The need for fifty million capitalists; An American federation of brains; Human resources; The weapons of truth; The American spirit in world affairs; The new frontier. There is a bibliographical appendix, also an index.
“Written by a layman for laymen, with a limited and somewhat uneven bibliography appended for the use of readers not especially familiar with the development of the United States, the book is interesting and valuable as an illustration of one type of thought which has to be taken into consideration by the student of forces making American history today.” L. B. Shippee
+ Am Hist R 26:370 Ja ’21 400w + Am Pol Sci R 11:738 N ’20 40w Booklist 17:11 O ’20
“Excellent book. He sees clearly and writes as clearly, giving no handy panaceas as such, on a topic where the temptation is great.” R. D. W.
+ Boston Transcript p7 Jl 17 ’20 450w
“Mr Emerson knows his American history thoroughly. He is also a student of American psychology, as is shown by his success in directing the publicity of the Liberty loan drives. These two characteristics probably account for much of his ability to strike out a new path in the already overcrowded field of ‘Americanization.’ For that there is novelty and freshness in his attack on an old problem, no one can deny. Nor should it be held against him that he has achieved this novelty through a distinctly original and forceful use of another man’s idea. He has developed Professor Turner’s profound conception of the influence of the frontier in a new field; for the purpose of his argument he has made it his own.” Lincoln MacVeagh
+ Dial 69:303 S ’20 1800w
“The best chapter, we think, is the one on ‘The industrial problem,’ but the whole book is vital and invigorating.” C. F. L.
+ Grinnell R 15:258 O ’20 500w
Reviewed by G: Soule
Nation 111:478 O 27 ’20 1700w
“A book of timely consequence, whose pages deserve wide and careful reading.”
+ N Y Times p21 Ag 15 ’20 1900w
“An interpretation of America which is thoughtful and scholarly, which is simply and forcibly written, and which is well worth anybody’s reading.”
+ Review 3:421 N 3 ’20 900w R of Rs 62:333 S ’20 90w
ENGLAND, GEORGE ALLAN. Flying legion. *$1.90 McClurg
20–12813
“In a lofty tower at the summit of the palisades of the Hudson is the eyrie of the master where he dwells with his Arabian servants. Mysteriously he summons a company of thirty veterans of the war, all longing for excitement, a battalion is formed and a new, giant aeroplane, just ready for service on the Jersey shore is seized and the party take to flight for the Arabian desert. Mysteriously they went away, mysteriously they returned after scores of adventures.” (Boston Transcript) “One of the thirty with the master had been an uninvited member—a ‘Captain Alden,’ who is a mysterious personage altogether and whose identity, ultimately discovered, furnishes the story’s principal romantic interest.” (N Y Times)
“A tale of romance and adventure in which improbability is obscured by thrills. The style is awkward.”
+ − Booklist 17:70 N ’20
“Well-told tale.”
+ Boston Transcript p4 Ag 28 ’20 220w
“The story is told in a casual, rather than an inspired, way. But when the action once really starts, the reader forgets the critical attitude in a breathless absorption in the vigor of the narrative.”
+ − N Y Times p25 S 5 ’20 470w + Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 150w
ENOCK, C. REGINALD. Spanish America: its romance, reality and future. 2v il *$8 Scribner 918
20–26989
“The scheme of Mr Enock’s book is what Stowe would have called a perambulation. Beginning with Central America and Mexico, he takes us right along the Pacific coast through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, with an excursion into Bolivia: the remaining two chapters of the first volume are devoted to the Cordillera of the Andes. In the second volume we are taken down the Atlantic coast, with its rich and still imperfectly explored hinterlands, from the ‘lands of the Spanish Main’—Colombia, Venezuela and Guiana—through the Amazon valley and Brazil to the River Plate and the pampas, the go-ahead countries of Argentina and Uruguay and the secluded pastures of Paraguay. The historical associations, natural resources, and present industrial life of each district are uniformly described in passing.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
+ Booklist 17:150 Ja ’21
“He has prepared what might quite accurately be called a primer of Latin America. It contains much valuable information, of course, but so does an ordinary primer. He expects practically nothing of his readers.” D. J. M.
+ − Boston Transcript p4 D 31 ’20 600w
“Such comprehensive, birdseye-view books as Mr Enock’s are of value as a starting point for more detailed study.”
+ N Y Times p4 N 7 ’20 2350w + Outlook 126:654 D 8 ’20 70w
“In spite of an occasional tendency to slipshod writing Mr Enock has given us a readable and informing work.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p643 O 7 ’20 900w
EQUIPMENT of the workers. $4 Sunwise turn (*10s 6d Allen & Unwin) 331.8
“There have already been exhaustive surveys of the physical and economic condition of the workers; and the findings of Booth and Rowntree have almost become classical. It was plainly necessary, however, to have these surveys supplemented by an inquiry far more inward and intimate into the mind and the outlook of the workers. What are they thinking? What are they living for? Do they read? If so, what? ‘The equipment of the workers’ gives us the answer to these and the like questions. The inquiry was planned and carried out by a group of workers at a Y. M. C. A. settlement in Sheffield; and it deals exclusively with Sheffield conditions. The finding of the group is that 25 per cent of the workers are well equipped, 60 per cent inadequately equipped, and 15 per cent ill equipped. The body of the book consists of a detailed record of the results of the inquiry in 408 typical cases.”—Nation
“An extraordinarily interesting inquiry. The results are very illuminating and important.”
+ Ath p894 S 12 ’19 60w Ath p975 O 3 ’19 1500w
“In the main the tests applied and the judgment passed upon the reaction of the investigated persons to the tests seem sound. We have in this volume an important datum for our thought upon reconstruction and the problems of the new world.”
+ Nation 109:766 D 13 ’19 550w
“This book combines the exactness of scientific inquiry with the vivid appeal of art. A picture such as this of American life would be one of the most revealing documents in our time.” H. J. L.
+ New Repub 21:322 F 11 ’20 1600w
“It is an exceedingly interesting and valuable study of certain elements in the standard of living about which there is too little trustworthy information.” L. B.
+ Survey 43:554 F 7 ’20 1400w
“A close and systematic investigation, with abundant particulars of individual cases.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p487 S 11 ’19 200w
ERSKINE, JOHN. Democracy and ideals: a definition. *$1.50 (3c) Doran 304
20–11647
The author’s preface states: “These chapters, with the exception of the first and the last, were written while I was serving as chairman of the Army education commission with the American forces in France in 1918 and 1919, and as educational director of the American expeditionary force university at Beaune, 1919.... I have tried to express here from several angles a central conviction that we in the United States are detached from the past, and that this detachment is the striking fact in all our problems; that if in the future we are to become and to remain a nation, we must collaborate for common ends.” The six essays are: Democracy and ideals; American character; French ideals and American; Society as a university; Universal training for national service; University leadership. The author is professor of English in Columbia university.
“A pleasing clarification of ideas not particularly new or startling.”
+ Booklist 17:11 O ’20
“Among the best of the recent books dealing with the problems of citizenship and Americanization. It is written in a style so simple that anyone with but an elementary knowledge of English can enjoy it.” A. Yezierska
+ Bookm 52:497 F ’21 720w
“Scattered here and there through the volume are observations showing a thoughtful understanding of American problems, but the generalizations suitable to public addresses seem somewhat commonplace in their published form, when the inspiration of the occasion is past.”
+ − Cath World 112:400 D ’20 200w
“The author has looked about him with sympathy and understanding; and he has pondered in his heart over the things he has seen. Curious intolerances stand out the more abruptly by reason of the general temper of liberality and discrimination which marks the book as a whole. The book has it in it to do for its readers the most fruitful service possible in these bewildering times. It might and should start them thinking.” R: Roberts
+ − Freeman 2:91 O 6 ’20 1000w + Ind 104:69 O 9 ’20 80w
“One may share his vision without subscribing to his specific educational program.”
+ Nation 111:277 S 4 ’20 390w
“He seems to assume, as is usual nowadays, that democracy, as distinguished from aristocracy and monarchy, can somehow be made immortal, and that education can of course succeed where religion has failed. Granting these assumptions, the only fault to find with his work is that it appears, here and there, sometimes hasty and again fatigued. To wake it into literary life would have required an interval of repose. For that very reason, it is the more valuable as a document.”
+ − Review 3:94 Jl 28 ’20 170w + School R 28:637 O ’20 170w
“By an accurate understanding of the French character as well as of our own, Prof. Erskine is able to make this study of Americanism very illuminating.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 20 ’20 250w
“They are happily written and are frequently stimulating, but their neglect of social undercurrents—economic and psychological, which determine the application of intelligence, and are not deflected by it—mars their value.” N. W. Wilensky
+ − Survey 45:546 Ja 8 ’21 200w
ERSKINE, JOHN. Kinds of poetry, and other essays. *$1.50 Duffield 808.1
20–12047
Poetry, the author holds, is not subject to evolution in its essence but is an unchanging function of an unchanging life and its three genres, the lyrical, the dramatic and the epic, are comparable to the three eternal ways of meeting experience: “as simply a present moment, or as a present moment in which the past is reaped, or as a present moment in which the future is promised.” The other essays of the volume are: The teaching of poetry; The new poetry; Scholarship and poetry.
+ Booklist 17:21 O ’20
“Of great value to all lovers of poetry is Mr Erskine’s book. His criticism is keen and trenchant and happily expressed in a style peculiarly his own.” C. K. H.
+ Boston Transcript p4 O 27 ’20 490w
“When his moral prejudices are not in the way, Mr Erskine is a sound writer.” Llewellyn Jones
+ − Freeman 2:405 Ja 5 ’21 800w + Ind 104:248 N 13 ’20 20w
Reviewed by W: McFee
+ N Y Evening Post p2 D 31 ’20 1700w
“One will find great pleasure in his book, but it will hardly take its place as an important document.”
+ N Y Times p10 O 3 ’20 1050w
“They are characterized by a fine mingling of discrimination and common sense. His breadth of view, his refusal to rest content with mere special scholarship, gives value to his advice about the teaching of poetry.”
+ No Am 212:572 O ’20 850w
Reviewed by L. R. Morris
+ Outlook 126:377 O 27 ’20 720w
“An uneven book in which the critical elements are decidedly superior to the constructive ones.”
+ − Review 3:321 O 13 ’20 410w
“There is somewhat too much of that intellectual writing around a subject which is common with persons who are afraid of the obvious, but, on the whole, the book will awaken thought; it will not do this the less because some of its reasoning will arouse criticism.”
+ Springf’d Republican p9a Ag 15 ’20 1100w
ERVINE, ST JOHN GREER. Foolish lovers. *$2 (1c) Macmillan
20–8447
Mr Ervine’s new book is dedicated to his mother, who asked him to write a story without any “bad words” in it, and to Mrs J. O. Hanny, who asked him to write a story without any “sex” in it. It is the story of a charmingly conceited young Irishman who goes to London to write novels and plays and comes home again to be a grocer. John’s boyhood is spent in the home over the shop where three generations of MacDermotts had preceded him. He grows up under the care of his mother, his Uncle Matthew, the dreamer whose dreams come to nothing, and his Uncle William, who supports the family. He goes to London where he meets Eleanor. He asks her to marry him almost at first meeting, dogs her steps and finally persuades her to marry him, only to find that she has leagued herself with his mother to persuade him back to Ballyards and the shop.
“‘The foolish lovers’ has nothing to commend it but a good beginning. Why did he write it? Or, rather, why did he give up writing it? Perhaps he would reply that what is not worth doing is not worth doing well. It is a possible explanation.” K. M.
− + Ath p78 Jl 16 ’20 600w + Booklist 17:31 O ’20
“It is regrettable that so good a story as this bears so poor a title. ‘The foolish lovers’ is neither an exact nor an appealing designation for a novel that is so full of the commonsense of life.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p10 My 22 ’20 1950w
“Mr Ervine, in spite of his obvious determination to fix securely the ‘local coloring,’ has failed to evoke the fine, harsh, sincere reality of the Black Northerners with whom his story deals. Prose drama is, after all, this author’s true medium.”
+ − Cath World 112:696 F ’21 100w Lit D p97 O 23 ’20 1850w
“John McDermott himself is not altogether credible. His exploits, especially his wooing of Eleanor—the central thing in the book—have none of the homely vigor and quiet truth of the Irish scenes and incidents. Here and there Mr Ervine gives us glimpses of a more searching novel he might write about the people of Ulster. But he deliberately cut himself off from that possibility here by the kindly promises to be harmless which he records in his dedication.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − Nation 111:74 Jl 17 ’20 500w
“To put it all as briefly as possible, ‘The foolish lovers,’ while not so remarkable a book as ‘Changing winds,’ is worthy of its author—and to say that a book is worthy of St John Ervine is to give it high praise.”
+ N Y Times 25:264 My 23 ’20 1200w
“Modern taste hardly asks for anything really better than such a suave and frank, sympathetically critical and wisely humorous treatment of life as is found in this book. Its tone just suits the mood of the cultivated man or woman of today who has outgrown youthful tastes but has retained a certain independence of view-point. In charm and in acuteness—the two qualities generally most worth commending in the fiction of the day, in which hysteria is so apt to take the place of power—‘The foolish lovers’ is preeminent.”
+ No Am 212:287 Ag ’20 660w
“‘The foolish lovers’ exemplifies to a very high degree the special gifts which have made its author’s novels notable among recent fiction. Mr Ervine has something of Dickens’s love for people. No more delightfully tender description of a courtship is contained in recent fiction, nor any which so finely sets forth as that in ‘The foolish lovers’ the unconscious humor of young love.” L. R. Morris
+ Outlook 125:388 Je 23 ’20 2950w
“Mr Ervine’s tale is in the new-British mode, the post-Wellsian, somewhat diffuse, somewhat overburdened with scenes and ‘characters,’ if not, in this instance, with ‘ideas.’” H. W. Boynton
+ − Review 3:91 Jl 28 ’20 350w
“The portraits of his family are excellent, and the way he imposes himself on Eleanor is ably studied.”
+ Sat R 130:164 Ag 21 ’20 110w
“Mr St John Ervine has chosen an old theme, but he has invested it with the freshness and vigour which we have come to expect from his work.”
+ Spec 124:22 Jl 3 ’20 550w
“The story is rich in whimsical observations on personal characteristics and political trends, and engages the reader’s close interest in all its phases.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 25 ’20 600w
“By far the most attractive part of his story takes place in Ballyards. The characters of Uncle William and Uncle Matthew are delightful. The success with which Mr Ervine brings out their simplicity and nobility of character is a convincing proof of his gifts as a novelist.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p399 Je 24 ’20 800w
ESCOUFLAIRE, RODOLPHE C. Ireland an enemy of the allies? tr. from the French. *$2.50 Dutton 941.5
20–5757
“M. Escouflaire’s thesis in this volume is that the Irish question so-called is ‘an international imposture.’ In years past this French writer had accepted anti-British propaganda from Ireland at its face value, but his contact with British statesmen during the war led him to question his earlier conclusions, and in the present volume after an independent study of Ireland’s relations with England he declares categorically that the whole Irish claim of oppression by England, so far as the present generation is concerned, is a myth.”—R of Rs
“The egotism of his attitude is bewildering, but it is the key to a treatment of Irish affairs which would otherwise be merely stupidly unfair and ungenerous.”
− Ath p1275 N 28 ’19 80w
“The book is a grotesque perversion of all Irish history, ancient and modern. The author’s gross ignorance is never corrected by the translator.” E. A. Boyd
− Ath p1397 D 26 ’19 200w
“Lovers of England must trust that she will not listen to such counsels as these.” Preserved Smith
− Nation 110:769 Je 5 ’20 360w N Y Times pl Ag 1 ’20 750w
“His book is well written, but without the wise judgment that comes through the sympathetic understanding that such men as Lloyd George bring to the problem.”
+ − Outlook 125:29 My 5 ’20 100w
“M. Escouflaire’s book must be laid down with a sigh of disappointment. It is the sort of work which can help no one, a perfect specimen of how Irish matters should not be discussed, and those most anxious for the object he sets before himself should be the first to repudiate the methods by which he is seeking it. The present critic hates Sinn Fein and all its works as much as M. Escouflaire can hate them, but he would wish to see it attacked with artillery not so far out of range.” H. L. Stewart
− + Review 2:676 Je 30 ’20 2000w R of Rs 61:556 My ’20 80w
“Accurate and spirited little book.”
+ Spec 123:732 N 29 ’19 440w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p699 N 27 ’19 30w
ESSEN, LÉON VAN DER. Short history of Belgium. il *$1.50 (3c) Univ. of Chicago press 949.3
20–2285
This second and enlarged edition of the original book contains a special chapter on Belgium during the war. The book is illustrated and has a bibliography and an index. The first edition was published in 1916.
“Dr Van der Essen has succeeded admirably in confining a record of monumental size within the compass of a small volume. Yet, in doing so, he has not sacrificed clearness for brevity nor interest for compactness.”
+ Cath World 112:117 O ’20 210w + Outlook 126:767 D 29 ’20 40w
“Professor van der Essen has treated this difficult and often intricate subject with admirable skill; though writing with a scholar’s intimate knowledge of his country’s history, he has succeeded in steering clear from the shoal of ponderosity and dulness. Here and there the Roman Catholic has led the historian astray.”
+ − Review 2:335 Ap 3 ’20 750w
“It is a fascinating story told by a master of the facts who writes with a fine sense of proportion.”
+ R of Rs 61:445 Ap ’20 200w + Springf’d Republican p11a Je 27 ’20 140w
EVANS, CARADOC. My neighbors. *$1.75 (5c) Harcourt
20–5187
More stories of a Welsh rural neighborhood by the author of “My people” and “Capel Sion.” In a prologue entitled “The Welsh people” the author offers some explanation of the ugly and distorted aspects of human nature that he presents. The stories are: Love and hate; According to the pattern; The two apostles; Earthbred; For better; Treasure and trouble; Saint David and the prophets; Joseph’s house; Like brothers; A widow woman; Unanswered prayers; Lost treasure; Profit and glory.
“I happen to know something of Welsh religion, and I have written not a little in criticism of it. But the religion which Mr Evans describes I have never met with. We Welsh have many grievous faults, and we have not been as faithful in self-criticism as we should have been. But Mr Caradoc Evans’s book does not describe us. It describes only Mr Caradoc Evans’s own soul; and it is not a pretty sight.”
− Freeman 1:430 Jl 14 ’20 550w
“Mr Evans’s artistic gift is very genuine but hard and narrow. In its present trend one can see little chance for its development. The stories are like rocks—impressive but barren. The preface is written in a more flexible vein and a more ironic mood. In it the language of the English Bible, from which Mr Evans draws, is transmuted for the uses of his artistic intention. In the stories themselves it is employed merely as a weapon. But his work has fierce honesty, concentration, power. It is sanative and, within its definite limits, completely achieved.”
+ − Nation 110:522 Ap 17 ’20 450w
“But does he really traverse the whole stage? We cannot think so. Where there are Goneril and Regan we cry out for a Cordelia, and Mr Evans would, we think, have made his terrible portraits more effective even than they are already if he had introduced more contrast and relief into them.”
+ − Nation [London] 27:77 Ap 17 ’20 600w
“Mr Evans knows the Welsh intimately and searchingly, and his portrayal of their daily lives, their bickerings, prayings and aspirations is altogether ruthless and incisive.” Pierre Loving
+ N Y Call p10 Ap 18 ’20 800w
“The hardy reader who will persist beyond the almost impenetrable idiom of Caradoc Evans will be richly rewarded. Especially do we recommend the book to reformers, utopists, spinners of millennial dreams.”
+ N Y Times 25:160 Ap 4 ’20 600w N Y Times 25:191 Ap 18 ’20 60w Springf’d Republican p13a My 2 ’20 320w
“He is sometimes difficult to follow, partly because the dialogue is in English literally translated from the Welsh, and partly because the stories are almost excessively condensed; but the subdued irony and false simplicity are delightful, and he knows the sovereign power of the restraint which leaves events to explain themselves without heavy exegesis.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p154 Mr 4 ’20 450w
EVANS, EDWARD RADCLIFFE GARTH RUSSELL. Keeping the seas. il *$3 Warne 940.45
20–2282
“Captain Evans saw a great deal of the Dover patrol and of all it included. He tells his experiences, so to speak, right on end and in a kind of chronological order. He is a witness who was there and records what has remained in his mind of what he saw. And he had notable things to remember; for he commanded the Broke in the action of March, 1917, in the Straits. The war produced few such passages of conflict as the action in the Straits. Captain Evans’ services, like those of other officers, consisted in the main of cruising and watching. At the end he was afforded a change in the direction of Gibraltar and the Portuguese coast.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
+ Booklist 16:307 Je ’20
“His ‘simple sailor volume,’ as he calls it, is full of miscellaneous stories which would have been the better if they had been more carefully digested; but if the whole is rather confusing, not a little good matter is to be found in the heap.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p74 F 5 ’20 1050w
EVANS, MRS ELIDA. Problem of the nervous child. *$2.50 (3c) Dodd 136.7
20–6871
This volume comes with an introduction by Dr C. G. Jung of Zurich who says of the author: “Mrs Evans’ knowledge of her subject matter is based on the solid foundation of practical experience, an experience gained in the difficult and toilsome treatment and education of nervous children.... This book, as the reader can see on almost every page, is the fruit of an extended work in the field of neuroses and abnormal characters.” Its purpose is to aid parents in the training and education of their children, not to add another “to the already long list of textbooks explaining psychoanalytical treatment for nervous troubles.” It does not presuppose scientific training in the laws of human development on the part of those for whom the book is intended and therefore avoids technical terms and abstruse discussions as far as possible, giving only end results of present day research and observation on the subject, with examples of cases. Contents: Statement of the problem; The development of repression; Symbolic thought; The child and the adult; Mental behaviour of the child; Defence reactions; The parent complex; Buried emotions; Child training; Muscle erotism; The tyrant child; Teaching of right and wrong; Self and character; Index.
+ Booklist 16:303 Je ’20
“There are spots in the book where the all-absorbing panacea of psycho-analytic therapy is too powerful, and she over-stresses the environment, losing sight of the medico-psychological fact that many defects are organically directed. The book needs a broader sensing and interpreting of the ever present interplay between the hereditary and environmental forces.” H. F. Coffin, M.D.
+ − Survey 44:494 Jl 3 ’20 270w
EVANS, LAWTON BRYAN. America first. il *$2.50 Bradley, M. 973
20–16082
“Instead of being what the title might imply, the volume contains one hundred stories from the history of America in condensed form and written in a style that will prove interesting to the juvenile reader. The author goes on the supposition that the nearer a story is to the life of the child, the more eagerly it is absorbed. True stories, he says, about our own people, about our neighbors and friends and about our own country at large, are more interesting than true stories of remote people and places. The stories grouped in the volume open with ‘Leif, the lucky,’ and continue down through history to the time when Americans made history over-seas.”—Springf’d Republican
“An excellent piece of work. The book will be a valuable supplement to school study of our national history and it will stimulate a healthy national pride.”
+ Ind 104:378 D 11 ’20 100w Outlook 126:470 N 10 ’20 40w + Springf’d Republican p7a N 21 ’20 180w
EVARTS, HAL GEORGE. Cross pull. *$1.90 (3½c) Knopf
20–4269
The hero of this story is Flash, a cross between wolf, coyote and dog. Clark Moran took him as a puppy and tamed him and the dog in him responded to kindness. To one other Flash gives his allegiance, to Betty, the girl from the East who comes into the mountains. To most other humans he is indifferent, but there is one he hates. The story tells how he served his two loved ones in a crisis, and how in so doing he took his own revenge on his enemy. In the end he settles down as a safe and trusted house dog, but there were times when the wild strain awakened and at those times, on still nights during the mating moon, certain civilized suburbanites would experience a primitive shudder at hearing the lone wolf’s call.
“Not over humanized or sentimentalized; one of the best dog stories.”
+ Booklist 16:243 Ap ’20
“A better novel it might have been, but a better animal study it could scarcely have been.”
+ − Boston Transcript p7 Je 23 ’20 200w
“A story of more than ordinary interest either as an ‘animal story’ or a ‘live’ western romance.”
+ Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 200w
EVARTS, WILLIAM MAXWELL. Arguments and speeches: ed., with an introd., by his son Sherman Evarts. 3v *$15 Macmillan 815
19–16299
“Mr Evarts (1818–1901) as leader of the American bar, orator, and statesman, was one of the most conspicuous of American citizens in the nineteenth century. This substantial collection of his public utterances not only provides a record of his career, but an important document for the social and political events of his day and for the history of American oratory. He was the leading counsel for the defendant in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Jackson in 1868; and in 1872 was counsel for the United States in the Alabama arbitration at Geneva. He was secretary of state during President Hayes’s administration (1877–1881) and one of the senators for New York 1885–1891.”—The Times [London]. Lit Sup
“The editor’s introductions and comments are brief and well chosen throughout. Taken as a whole, the volumes are a worthy memorial to one of the influential leaders of the American bar, and of the Republican party during a difficult period of our history.” W: A. Robinson
+ Am Pol Sci R 14:349 My ’20 360w
“The ‘Springbok’ argument is said by our leading authority on international law to be as good an argument in a prize case as he has ever read. The defense of Andrew Johnson was equally worth reprinting. As to the rest of the three volumes there is much room for doubt.” Zechariah Chafee, jr.
+ − Nation 111:692 D 15 ’20 1100w + N Y Times 25:116 Mr 28 ’20 1650w
“These volumes should find a place in all public libraries, especially those of the higher institutions of learning, and in many private libraries. especially those of persons interested in the political history of the United States.”
+ Outlook 124:161 Ja 28 ’20 300w R of Rs 61:559 My ’20 100w
“We are glad to find, in sampling these volumes, that Evarts’s high reputation for eloquence is fully justified.”
+ Spec 124:316 Mr 6 ’20 180w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p158 Mr 4 ’20 100w
Reviewed by Moorfield Storey
Yale R n s 10:189 O ’20 1200w
EVISON, MILLICENT. Rainbow gold. il *$1.75 Lothrop
While their father is serving a term of imprisonment on a charge of embezzlement three young people, Toni, Basil and Cecily, go to live with their grandfather in a lonely old house in Maine. The grandfather is crabbed and cold and the two aunts have become as dull and drab as the old house. The story tells how the children bring new life into it and how Toni wins her grandfather’s heart and moves him to take steps toward a new hearing of their father’s case which proves his innocence.