− Review 3:314 O 13 ’20 230w
FRANK, WALDO DAVID. Our America. *$2 (3c) Boni & Liveright 917.3
19–16552
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
“To say that it is without interest would be to say what is not true; to say that it is thoughtlessly written would be a hasty comment on an author whose work everywhere evidences the pale cast of thought. It is, indeed, an interesting, thoughtful book, written in an easy, somewhat emotional style. But it is nothing if not pessimistic in its historical backward glancing and in its view of the present. And it is often lacking in a sense of perspective and proportion.”
+ − Cath World 110:685 F ’20 280w
“Mr Frank does not write with the sustained and rolling cadence of Hebrew poetry. His sentences are swift and staccato like the flash of a whip, sudden and shrill like newspaper headlines. And yet Mr Frank is of the school of the prophets of his race. Other witnesses have arisen against us, W. T. Stead, M. Paul Bourget, Mr H. G. Wells, Mr Arnold Bennett. These, however, have spoken in their separation from us, and, excepting the first, with the tolerant cynicism of detachment. What gives force to Mr Frank’s prophecy is that he is of us, as Jeremiah was of Jerusalem.” R. M. Lovett
+ Dial 68:506 Ap ’20 2800w
“We should like to be appreciative toward a great deal in this book if its author were less rasping, less intent upon antagonizing and irritating at every turn. His tribute to the wistful beauty of the perished culture of our red men and his analysis of the industrial and spiritual genius of the Jew in America would evoke a readier response if the motivation were more disinterested.” Jacob Zeitlin