The line of argument is so plain that all can follow it, and the style is wondrously charming.—Index (Boston).
Mr. John Fiske is a devoted student of Dante. The review of Mr. Longfellow's work is an admirable essay upon translating Dante,—an essay showing a very fine critical feeling and thorough knowledge of the subject.—Transcript (Boston).
He is a scholar profoundly versed in ancient and modern lore, a thinker familiar with all shades of thought, an observer who studies men as well as books, and withal a writer of the purest and most graphic English.—Inter-Ocean (Chicago).
He finely exposes the materialistic character of the book called the "Unseen Universe," which has been so highly extolled by the "Southern Cross" and other papers.—Advertiser (Maryborough, Australia).
The book has a unity and charm in the clearness of the thought and the beauty of such a style as was perhaps never before brought to the illustration of the topics with which Mr. Fiske habitually deals. There is something better still in the admirable spirit of his writing; it is of all writing of its sort, probably, the most humane.... He has already achieved a place as wholly his own as it is eminent.—Atlantic Monthly.
EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST. 12mo, pp. 379, $2.00.
Contents: Europe before the Arrival of Man; The Arrival of Man in Europe; Our Aryan Forefathers; What we learn from Old Aryan Words; Was there a Primeval Mother-Tongue? Sociology and Hero-Worship; Heroes of Industry; The Causes of Persecution; The Origins of Protestantism; The True Lesson of Protestantism; Evolution and Religion; The Meaning of Infancy; A Universe of Mind-Stuff; In Memoriam: Charles Darwin.
Among our thoughtful essayists there are none more brilliant than Mr. John Fiske. His pure style suits his clear thought. He does not write unless he has something to say; and when he does write he shows not only that he has thoroughly acquainted himself with the subject, but that he has to a rare degree the art of so massing his matter as to bring out the true value of the leading points in artistic relief. It is this perspective which makes his work such agreeable reading even on abstruse subjects, and has enabled him to play the same part in popularizing Spencer in this country that Littré performed for Comte in France, and Dumont for Bentham in England. The same qualities appear to good advantage in his new volume, which contains his later essays on his favorite subject of evolution.... They are well worth reperusal.—The Nation (New York).
These essays are all full of thought and worthy of preservation, while several of them are entitled to rank among the very best essays of American writers. For depth of thought, scholarship, literary taste, critical ability, and the power of clear and vigorous exposition combined, Mr. Fiske has no equal in this country and but few equals among European writers. He does not write on a subject until he has acquainted himself with it; and then he presents his thought, which often has the merit of originality, with a lucidness and attractiveness of style which make it easy to follow him in his treatment of even difficult topics. It is a pleasure to turn from our merely literary writers to the essays of Mr. Fiske, whose clear thought, discriminating judgment, and philosophic spirit, together with his fine taste and perspicuity of style, make his writings both instructive and entertaining.—Index (Boston).