"'Defenseless America' is a ringing and insistent call, calculated to startle the average American out of his peaceful and complacent sense of security."
New York Press:
"The book is interesting—as interesting as a well-written and absorbing novel, only it deals with vital facts that have a bearing on the lives and fortunes of every one in this country."
The Outlook:
"We wish that we could think that those who are opposed to any preparation against war by this country would read and consider this book of Mr. Hudson Maxim."
Life, N. Y.:
"One of the early lumber-camp tales ended with a stirring scene in which a big, sandy-haired hero, caught in the path of a bursting log jam, hurls his cap defiantly into the advancing wall of destruction, just before it whelms him. Such a gesture, futile yet magnificent, is suggested by Hudson Maxim's fiery appeal to the sleeping intelligence and lulled self-interest of his countrymen, 'Defenseless America.' The book contains a remorseless marshaling of stern facts, fused into prophecy by a sort of incandescent logic. It is the first bold proclaiming of the bitter 'civilization' truths revealed by the vast disillusionment of the war. And these are here flung, as the author feels, into the face of approaching national disaster."
The Scientific American:
"The scope of 'Defenseless America' is so all-embracing, that the author has given a veritable mine of information upon the subject of war and war material. Mr. Maxim is well qualified by his long and successful association, as a practical and successful inventor, with the production of the implements of war, to write upon the technical side of the question; and this he does with a characteristic force and lucidity which will render the subject perfectly understandable and full of fascinating interest for the average layman."
Review of Reviews: