“Nine-tenths of the book is made up of quotations taken chiefly from the hostile press. It is worthy of note that Mr Walling seems to have found one of the clues of bolshevist philosophy: he emphasizes the militarization of industry which took place in some parts of Russia and which is incompatible with the principle of industrial democracy. It is really a strong point, and one should begin with it; but unfortunately Mr Walling mentions it only accidentally and then again dives into the characteristic anti-bolshevist hysteria.” Gregory Zilboorg
− Nation 111:sup424 O 13 ’20 190w
“We do not know of any book from which the American reader can get a better photograph of Russian Bolshevism as portrayed and interpreted by the Bolshevists themselves.”
+ Outlook 126:111 S 15 ’20 220w
“The conclusions reached are irrefutable. Mr Walling is entirely fair in his selections and it is unnecessary for him to indulge in an argumentative attack.”
+ Review 3:270 S 29 ’20 1550w R of Rs 62:221 Ag ’20 90w The Times [London] Lit Sup p430 Jl 8 ’20 900w
WALPOLE, HUGH SEYMOUR. Captives. *$2 (1c) Doran
20–20321
Captives of their inheritance and environment are the two leading figures of this psychological novel. Maggie Cardinal’s youth had been loveless and her father’s, the miserly, sordid, unlovable vicar’s, religion repellent to her. His death, when Maggie was nineteen, was a liberation; now she would lead her own life. But she only escapes to more fanatical religion, in the house of her aunts, and her natural truthfulness and the absence of early training in conventional forms, make her both a religious and social rebel. Martin Warlock’s early fetters had been different. His intense love for his father, preacher of the Kingscote Brethren, had included the father’s religion. Long years of wandering over the earth had preserved the love but dimmed the religion. The love becomes Martin’s chain. It also becomes his conscience when Maggie’s trust confronts him with his past life. To save Maggie from himself he goes away. The story resolves itself into Maggie’s courageous struggles to remain true to her self and to her love for Martin in spite of her marriage to an unloved clergyman and of the demands of conventional society.