“It could have been produced nowhere but in America and nowhere so justly as in the Middle West. The epigrammatic compactness of ‘Spoon river anthology’ is lacking in it, but it takes on a huge strength that the former book lacked.” H. S. Gorman
+ N Y Times p18 Ja 16 ’21 840w
“If there be any one who does not clearly realize that life is infinitely complex, that it is in the last analysis practically impossible to assign responsibility for evil, that much good may be where convention sees only evil ... if there be any one who is not convinced of these things already or cannot learn them from his own observations and the daily papers, he may derive great benefit from reading Mr Masters’ book. But those to whom these things are commonplaces will perhaps not care to wade through the poem.”
− + No Am 213:286 F ’21 900w
“The Edgar Lee Masters, whose ‘Spoon river anthology’ blazed a new trail thru American literature, returns with ‘Domesday book.’ Perhaps he is less sardonic now, but the vision of ‘Domesday book’ is broader and it is, happily, gently suffused with a very human tolerance and forgiveness.” G: D. Proctor
+ Pub W 98:1894 D 18 ’20 430w
“The first part is very interesting, and the whole book is readable. Its essence is prosaic, though a back door is left open through which poetry can let herself in in a neighborly fashion, if she chooses. Her visits are infrequent.” O. W. Firkins
+ − Review 4:15 Ja 5 ’21 1350w
MASTERS, EDGAR LEE. Mitch Miller. il *$3.50 Macmillan
20–17009