Booklist 16:260 My ’20
“This small but weighty volume is likely to do a world of good in correcting mistaken view-points and vague programs yet all too current among laymen who tackle housing reform with more enthusiasm than knowledge and wisdom.” B. L.
+ Survey 44:253 My 15 ’20 440w
ARTHUR, SIR GEORGE COMPTON ARCHIBALD. Life of Lord Kitchener. 3v il *$12.50 Macmillan
20–9393
Lord Kitchener’s private secretary has written his life, now issued in three volumes as the official biography. The marquis of Salisbury writes a preface in which he says, “Sir George Arthur has undertaken the difficult task of writing a life of Lord Kitchener within four years of his death. He has, I believe, in so doing been well advised, and he has produced a work of great value. The interest of Lord Kitchener’s career, its extraordinary culmination, the public enthusiasm which in these last critical years centred upon him, and the dramatic end, demand immediate treatment by a friend whose inside knowledge of recent events from Lord Kitchener’s own point of view is second to none.” There is also a brief introductory note by Earl Haig on Lord Kitchener and the new army. The first of the three volumes covers the early years, the Sudan campaign and the period to 1900. Volume 2 completes the account of the Boer war and deals with India and Egypt. Volume 3 is wholly devoted to the world war and closes with a chapter summing up personal traits. Each volume is illustrated with portraits and maps and there is a full index.
“Sir George Arthur, it will be seen, leaves us with no real vision of either Kitchener or his work. But there is one characteristic which the unreality, the romantic haze, and all the clichés of this biography cannot conceal. Kitchener had a real simplicity and honesty of mind.” L. W.
− Ath p571 Ap 30 ’20 1800w + Booklist 16:343 Jl ’20 + Boston Transcript p4 Je 9 ’20 1400w