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THE
BOOK REVIEW DIGEST
SIXTEENTH
ANNUAL CUMULATION
REVIEWS OF 1920 BOOKS

EDITED BY

MARY KATHARINE REELY

AND

PAULINE H. RICH

DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY

EMMA HELLER SCHUMM

AND OTHERS

THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY

NEW YORK

1921

Contents

[Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made]

[Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1920 Books]

[List of Documents for Use in the Smaller Libraries]

[Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books]

[Subject, Title and Pseudonym Index To Author Entries, March, 1920—February, 1921]

[Directory of Publishers]

THE BOOK REVIEW DIGEST

Vol. XVI      February, 1921      No. 12

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY

New York City      958–964 University Avenue

Entered as second class matter, November 13, 1917 at the Post Office at New York, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Terms of Subscription

Terms of Advertising

Combined rate for Book Review Digest, Cumulative Book Index and Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature $60 per page per month; two of these publications $50; one of these publications $40 per page per month. Smaller space and contract rates furnished upon request.

The editorial staff for the year has consisted of Mary Katharine Reely, Pauline H. Rich, Emma Heller Schumm, Elsie Jacobi, Wilma Adams and Selma Sandler. Acknowledgments are also due to Miss Corinne Bacon who contributed the classification numbers for the first months of the year, and to Miss Eleanor Hawkins who succeeded her; to Miss Mary E. Furbeck of the New York Public Library for the list of documents for small libraries; and to the Applied Science reference department of Pratt Institute Library for the quarterly list of technical books.

In addition to the periodicals listed on the reverse side of this page the following magazines have been drawn on for occasional reviews: Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Social Hygiene, Mental Hygiene, Socialist Review, Nation [London], Theatre Arts Magazine, Drama, World Tomorrow, Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering, and a few other technical journals. The literary supplement to the New York Evening Post, now issued under the editorship of Professor Henry Seidel Canby of Yale University, is an important permanent addition to the list of periodicals. During the year the magazine which began its career as the Review, changing later to Weekly Review, has been listed under its original name.

The year just past has been notable for a number of novels of unusual quality. Among them is a group of books by and about women: Clemence Dane’s “Legend,” Catherine Carswell’s “Open the Door,” Miss de la Pasture’s “Tension,” and Mrs Holding’s “Invincible Minnie.” Three others are novels of the Middle West: Sherwood Anderson’s “Poor White,” Floyd Dell’s “Moon-calf,” and Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street.” Zona Gale’s “Miss Lulu Bett” might be named in either class.

“George Santayana has recently spoken of the barbarian realities of America. ‘The luckless American who is born a conservative, or who is drawn to poetic subtlety, pious retreats, or gay passions, nevertheless has the categorical excellence of work, growth, enterprise, reform and prosperity dinned into his ears: every door is open in this direction and shut in the other; so that he either folds up his heart and withers in a corner—in remote places you sometimes find such a solitary gaunt idealist—or else he flies to Oxford or Florence or Montmartre to save his soul—or perhaps not to save it.’ That is and has been the traditional conception of aesthetic fate in barbaric America, especially in the hinterland beyond the Hudson. But the past ten years, and particularly the years since the war, have shown new possibilities to the present literary generation. The Bohemian immigrant in Nebraska, the local dentist in Wisconsin, the doctor’s wife in a small Minnesota town, the young newspaper man in Iowa, the co-educated farmer’s daughter in Ohio—all these figures can be seen with the same meditative zeal, the same creative preoccupation, as the ripened spiritual personalities of Europe.”—New Republic.

We now have anthologies and year books for the short story, for the best plays, for magazine and even for newspaper verse. The annual volume of the Digest might be added to the list as the year book for book reviews. Without entering into elaborate summaries and statistics we may say that the two most reviewed books of the year are Keynes’s “Economic Consequences of the Peace” and Wells’s “Outline of History.” And without attempting to create a new category of “best” reviews we may suggest that the following will be found well worthy of reading: Richard Burton’s review of “The Ordeal of Mark Twain” by Van Wyck Brooks in the Bookman of January, 1921; W. S. Braithwaite’s review of “Smoke and Steel” by Carl Sandburg in the Boston Transcript of October 16, 1920; the reviews of Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street” by Carl Van Doren in the New York Evening Post, Nov. 20, 1920, and by Francis Hackett, in the New Republic, Dec. 1, 1920; and J. Saywyn Shapiro’s review (with footnotes) of Wells’s “Outline of History” in the Nation of Feb. 9, 1921.

Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made

Am. Econ. R.—American Economic Review. $5. American Economic Association, New Haven, Conn.

Am. Hist. R.—American Historical Review. $4. Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., New York.

Am. J. Soc.—American Journal of Sociology. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Am. J. Theol.—American Journal of Theology. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Am. Pol. Sci. R.—American Political Science Review. $4. Frederic A. Ogg, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Ann. Am. Acad.—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. $5. 39th St. and Woodland Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.

Astrophys. J.—Astrophysical Journal. $6. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Ath.—Athenæum. $5.60. 10 Adelphi Terrace, London, W. C. 2.

Bib. World—Biblical World. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Booklist—Booklist. $2. A. L. A. Publishing Board, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, Ill.

Bookm.—Bookman. $4. G. H. Doran Co., 244 Madison Ave., New York.

Boston Transcript—Boston Evening Transcript. $5.50. (Wednesday and Saturday). Boston Transcript Co., 324 Washington St., Boston, Mass.

Bot. Gaz.—Botanical Gazette. $9. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Cath. World—Catholic World. $4. 120–122 W. 60th St., New York.

Class J.—Classical Journal. $2.50. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Class Philol.—Classical Philology. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Dial—Dial. $5. 152 W 13th St., New York.

Educ. R.—Educational Review. $3. Educational Review Pub. Co., care of G. H. Doran Pub. Co.

Elec. World—Electrical World. $5. McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 10th Ave. at 36th St., New York.

El. School J.—Elementary School Journal (continuing Elementary School Teacher). $2.50. Dept. of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Engin. News-Rec.—Engineering News-Record. $5. McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 10th Ave. at 36th St., New York.

Eng. Hist. R.—English Historical Review. $6. Longmans, Green & Co., 4th Ave. and 30th St., New York.

Freeman—Freeman. $6. The Freeman, Inc., 116 W. 13th St., New York.

Hibbert J.—Hibbert Journal. $3. LeRoy Phillips, 124 Chestnut St., Boston, Mass.

Ind.—Independent. $5. 311 Sixth Av., New York.

Int. J. Ethics—International Journal of Ethics. $3. Prof. James H. Tufts, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Int. Studio—International Studio. $6. John Lane Co., 786 Sixth Av., near 45th St., New York.

J. Geol.—Journal of Geology. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

J. Home Econ.—Journal of Home Economics. $2. American Home Economics Assn., 1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Md.

J. Philos.—Journal of Philosophy. $4. Sub-Station 84, New York.

J. Pol. Econ.—Journal of Political Economy. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

J. Religion (Bib. World and Am. J. Theol. merged under this title Ja ’21) $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Lit. D.—Literary Digest. $4. Funk & Wagnalls Co., 354–360 Fourth Ave., New York.

Modern Philol.—Modern Philology. $5. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Nation—Nation. $5. Nation Press. 20 Vesey St., New York.

Nature—Nature. $14. Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., New York.

New Repub.—New Republic. $5. Republic Publishing Co., Inc., 421 W 21st St., New York.

N. Y. Times—New York Times Book Review. $1. N. Y. Times Co., Times Square, New York.

No. Am.—North American Review. $5. North American Review, 9 East 37th St., New York.

Outlook—Outlook. $5. Outlook Co., 381 Fourth Ave., New York.

Pol. Sci. Q.—Political Science Quarterly. $5. (including supplement). Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, New York.

Pub. W.—Publishers’ Weekly. Zones 1–5, $6; 6–8, $6.50. R. R. Bowker Co., 62 W. 45th St., New York.

Review—Weekly Review. $5. National Weekly Corporation, 140 Nassau St., New York.

R. of Rs.—American Review of Reviews. $4. Review of Reviews Co., 30 Irving Place, New York.

Sat. R.—Saturday Review. $5.60. 9 King St., Covent Garden, London. W. C. 2.

School Arts Magazine—School-Arts Magazine. $3. Davis Press, Inc., 25 Foster St., Worcester, Mass.

School R.—School Review. $2.50. Dept. of Education, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago. Ill.

Science, n.s.—Science (new series). $6. Science Press, Garrison. N. Y.

Spec.—Spectator. $7.80. 13 York St., Covent Garden, London. W. C. 2.

Springf’d Republican—Springfield Republican. $10.50. The Republican, Springfield, Mass.

Survey—Survey. $5. Survey Associates, Inc., 112 E. 19th St., New York.

The Times [London] Lit. Sup.—The Times Literary Supplement. $7.40. The Times, North American Office, 30 Church St., New York.

Yale R., n.s.—Yale Review (new series). $3. Yale Publishing Ass’n., Inc., 120 High St., New Haven, Conn.

In addition to the above list the Book Review Digest frequently quotes from New York Call; New York Evening Post; Bulletin of Brooklyn Public Library; Cleveland Open Shelf; N. Y. Best Books; N. Y. Libraries; N. Y. City Branch Library News; New York Public Library New Technical Books; Pittsburgh Monthly Bulletin; Pratt Institute Quarterly Book List; St. Louis Monthly Bulletin; Wisconsin Library Bulletin (Book Selection Dept.), and the Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books chosen by the Pratt Institute Library.

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations of publishers’ names will be found in the Publishers’ Directory at the end of this number.

An asterisk (*) before the price indicates those books sold at a limited discount and commonly known as net books.

The figures following publisher’s name represent the class number and Library of Congress card number.

The descriptive note is separated from critical notices of a book by a dash.

The plus and minus signs preceding the names of the magazine indicate the degrees of favor or disfavor of the entire review.

An asterisk (*) before the plus or minus sign indicates that the review contains useful information about the book.

In the reference to a magazine, the first number refers to the volume, the next to the page, the letters to the date and the last figures to the number of words in the review.

Book Review Digest
Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature
Reviews of 1920 Books

A

ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE). Happy House, il *$1.60 (2c) Lippincott

20–26557

When Anne Leavitt is invited to spend the summer with some hitherto unknown relatives in Vermont, she is just starting to Russia to teach. But there is another Anne Leavitt in her college class, whom she persuades to take her place. So Nancy comes to Happy House, a misnomer for the gloomy old mansion where Miss Sabrina, Miss Milly and B’lindy spent their embittered lives. The story tells how Nancy brings happiness to them, but how her sense of guilt at the deception she is practising keeps her from perfect contentment herself, until finally unexpected events clear up the situation, and all are happy together. Meanwhile a part of Nancy’s joy has come from friendship with the “hired man” next door, who proves to have been sharing the general deception and to be a very desirable suitor.

+ Ath p731 N 26 ’20 110w

“Girls from twelve to seventeen will like it as well as older women who like a sweet, pretty story.”

+ Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20

“Girls in their higher teens will enjoy this book.”

+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 3 ’20 320w

“We regret that deception plays such an important part in the plot. Nevertheless, and setting this aside, the story is well told and interesting, and will amply repay the reading.”

+ − Cath World 112:258 N ’20 170w

“It is possible that its maple-sugarish, sweet cake flavor may cloy the reader who enjoys more invigorating fare, but, as a sample of the ‘good’—‘goody-goody’ is perhaps a better word—style of story which has taken on added popularity of late, there is nothing to criticise in the offering.”

+ − N Y Times 25:17 Je 27 ’20 530w

Reviewed by Marguerite Fellows

Pub W 97:1289 Ap 17 ’20 280w

ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE). Highacres, il *$1.75 (2½c) Lippincott

20–20318

The author of “Keineth” and “Larkspur,” etc., has written another story for girls. Jerry Travis is the heroine of “Highacres.” She is a little girl of the mountains, who finds John Westley when he has lost his way. He recognizes that she is a child who should have opportunities for education and offers to send her to school with his own nieces and nephew. Then follows an exciting year for Jerry, working and playing with Gyp and Graham and Isobel and Tibby, and going to school at Highacres. Jerry is an unspoiled little girl, and the end of the year does not find all the benefits on her side. There is an element of mystery in the story, which works out to Jerry’s advantage, and she looks forward to another year of school with her new friends.

“This new juvenile by the author of ‘Keineth’ is full as it can hold of the things dear to the heart of normal girlhood.” R. D. Moore

+ Pub W 98:1202 O 16 ’20 350w

ABBOTT, KEENE. Wine o’ the winds. il *$1.75 (1½c) Doubleday

20–10311

A story of the plains in the days of pioneer settlement and Indian warfare. Dr Harry North, because of a professional error, feels himself dishonored and goes West to hide his disgrace. He leaves behind him the girl he loves and is resolved never to practise medicine again. But the new country puts new life into him. He meets a typical daughter of the prairies who attracts him greatly and thereafter there is an unexpressed conflict between this girl and Alice Arden, who, still true to her old love, has come West to be near him. The scene changes from place to place and many glimpses are given of the varied aspects of life along the frontier.

“In subject matter and in treatment it differs from the large numbers of new books. There is a power in the author which allows him to mold his material and to invoke an atmosphere which stirs and interests us.” D. L. M.

+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 10 ’20 1000w

“‘Wine o’ the winds’ possesses the worst of faults—it is dull. This is partly because the plot is neither well presented nor well put together and partly because the characters, with the single exception of the minor one of little Matt, the hunchback, lack that vitality which wins a reader’s interest, his liking or disliking. Now and then, it is true, there comes a moment which seems to hold out promise of better things in future, and the last scene of all is not without a certain degree of impressiveness.”

− + N Y Times 25:27 Jl 25 ’20 350w

“Magic there is in this narrator’s vivid style, above all in the visual quality of his descriptions, which always remain a part of the narrative.” H. W. Boynton

+ Review 3:372 S 29 ’20 560w

ABDULLAH, ACHMED. Man on horseback. *$1.75 McCann

20–363

“A tale of a gold mine taken in exchange for a poker debt, and of results which bring the American cowboy owner of the mine into international complications and make him an actor in the great war.”—Outlook

“The excessive simple-mindedness of the hero, combined with the heroine’s complete failure to win the reader’s liking, does much to injure an otherwise interesting book.”

+ − N Y Times 25:64 F 1 ’20 500w Outlook 124:291 F 18 ’20 40w

ABDULLAH, ACHMED, and others. Ten-foot chain. il *$1.50 Reynolds pub.

20–17407

The sub-title, “Can love survive the shackles? a unique symposium,” indicates the trend of the book. The unnamed editor, in the introduction, states the circumstances of its writing. At a dinner where four distinguished writers were present, the question was raised, “What mental and emotional reaction would a man and a woman undergo, linked together by a ten-foot chain, for three days and nights?” The writers differed in their solution to this problem, according to their individual interpretation of human nature, and the result was that each consented to present his conclusions to the public in fiction form. This book comprises the four stories, which are: An Indian Jataka, by Achmed Abdullah; Out of the dark, by Max Brand; Plumb nauseated, by E. K. Means; and Princess or percheron, by Perley P. Sheehan.

“Interesting as an editorial jeu d’esprit, the experiment has also brought out four short stories of high quality.”

+ N Y Evening Post p10 O 30 ’20 190w

ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.[^[2]] Inflation and high prices; ed. by Henry Rogers Seager. pa $1.50 The academy 338.5

20–26746

“A series of addresses and papers among which are: Causes and progress of inflation, by E. W. Kemmerer; Treasury methods of financing the war in relation to inflation, by R. C. Leffingwell; The relation of the federal reserve system to inflation, by H. P. Willis; Remedies for inflation with special reference to the French situation, by M. Casenave; Remedies for inflation with special reference to the Italian situation, by B. Attolico; Inflation as a world problem and our relation thereto, by P. M. Warburg.”—Am Econ R

Am Econ R 10:848 D ’20 80w Booklist 17:8 O ’20

ADAM, H. PEARL. Paris sees it through; a diary, 1914–1919. il *$4 (4c) Doran 940.344

(Eng ed 20–4569)

Mrs Adam was an English resident in Paris before and throughout the war. Her book describes her Paris just before and at the outbreak of the war and follows its course in its reactions on the city until the signing of the peace. She gossips intimately about the effect of the war on the daily lives of the people and of the people’s interest or lack of interest in the political events. Among the contents are: The onslaught (1914); Endurance (1915); The distant guns (1916); The long wait (1917); Rationing (1917–1918); Boloism; Some war Parisians; Paris under fire (1918); Armistice; Paris in 1919: the making of peace. The appendix describes the Paris of today: a chapter for visitors. There are illustrations.

+ Ath p127 Ja 23 ’20 70w Booklist 16:272 My ’20

“This book by a lady who spent the period of the war in Paris writing for English newspapers is much better reading than many works of higher authority and greater importance.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p760 D 18 ’19 1000w

ADAM, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS. Whither? a human fragment of contemporary history. (1906–1919). *$5 Dutton 354

(Eng ed 20–6770)

“‘Whither? or, The British Dreyfus case,’ by Maj. W. A. Adam, is the story of a British officer who fancies that his case parallels that of the unfortunate Capt. Dreyfus of the French army. Maj. W. A. Adam, a staff officer of the British army, is practically dismissed from the service on secret evidence, which is not shown to the accused. After vainly seeking to be reinstated the author finally sues various officials of the British war office in a civil court and is awarded damages. In spite of it all, during the great war this ‘British Dreyfus’ is relegated to obscure positions in the army. In his opinion, he should have been leading divisions and army corps. This volume throws light on the circumlocution and red tape of the British bureaucracy—and, it might be added, of most government officialdom the world over.”—Springf’d Republican

“Major Adam’s statements are carefully documented. The book, as Major Adam has framed it, is undoubtedly an absorbing fragment of human history.”

+ Ath p95 Ja 16 ’20 120w + Spec 124:175 F 7 ’20 1650w

“Reading between the lines of his book, one gains the impression, that the gallant major is one of those unfortunate persons who ‘seize the hot end of the poker,’ or, in other words, are their own worst enemies. But this volume is interesting.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a O 24 ’20 210w

ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS; ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS, jr., and ADAMS, HENRY. Cycle of Adams letters: 1861 to 1865; ed by Worthington Chauncey Ford. 2v il *$10 Houghton 973.7

20–21411

The editor of these two volumes of family letters has selected them from many others for their description of social conditions, discussion of public questions and contribution to the social, military and diplomatic history of the War of secession. With the great conflict as a back-ground, they supply “no little new history, much untold detail, much discussion, many rumors and predictions, expressed with individuality and in a literary form.... It is an old story, but the manner of telling it is new, all the more remarkable because unstudied and spontaneous.” (Introd. note) The books are illustrated and indexed.

“The two volumes are not merely interesting, but fascinating. Of their contributions to history, aside from the personal views here quoted or described, there is not space to say anything, but they are important and valuable. No better book about the war of secession has come out in many a year.”

+ N Y Times p6 N 28 ’20 2000w

“The editor of these letters would have enhanced the value of the collection for the general reader if at certain points (not many) he had added a brief note indicating the event out of which the letter grew or to which it referred. The reader gets from these letters a much pleasanter portrait of Henry than from his autobiography.” Lyman Abbott

+ Outlook 127:149 Ja 26 ’21 2150w

“It would be difficult for a master hand at fiction to devise for his own purpose a better stage setting, and a more ingenious relationship of leading characters to the end of developing the intricacies of a big international drama.” F: T. Cooper

+ Pub W 98:1892 D 18 ’20 470w + R of Rs 63:109 Ja ’21 170w

“The ‘Cycle of Adams letters’ is all very interesting, if only as correspondence, and parts of them will add authentic material to the history of the Civil war—all the more so that the letters were probably written without idea of future publication.”

+ Springf’d Republican p8a D 5 ’20 1150w

ADAMS, FRANKLIN PIERCE. Something else again. *$1.50 Doubleday 817

20–7285

“The editor of the Conning Tower, New York Tribune, amuses himself writing verses in the styles of Horace, Longefellow, Amy Lowell and others and by writing desk copy for the tragedies which formed the subjects of some famous old ballads.”—Booklist

“Good fun.”

+ Booklist 16:304 Je ’20

Reviewed by R. M. Weaver

Bookm 51:454 Je ’20 50w

ADAMS, HENRY. Degradation of the democratic dogma. *$2.50 (3½c) Macmillan 901

19–18407

Brooks Adams has edited some of the literary remains of his brother Henry and published them with a long introductory essay on The heritage of Henry Adams. In introducing the work he writes: “I want to make it clear, once for all, that I am not proposing to write anything approaching to a memoir of my brother.... Nor do I suggest any criticism of his essays which are annexed.... I am seeking to tell the story of a movement in thought which has, for the last century, been developing in my family, and which closes with the ‘Essay on phase,’ which ends this volume.” The essay in which this purpose is embodied is devoted to the principle of democracy which John Quincy Adams upheld and which in the estimation of himself and his descendants received its death blow with the triumph of Jackson. The writings of Henry Adams included in the volume are: The tendency of history (1894); A letter to American teachers of history (1910); and The rule of phase applied to history (1909).

“The title seems ill suited to the papers that make the substance of the volume. The degradation of the democratic dogma which is here in question is thus far from being a general movement of thought; it is a movement within the Adams family, exemplified chiefly in Brooks and Henry.” Carl Becker

− Am Hist R 25:480 Ap ’20 1500w

“Readers of this volume are advised to omit the essay at the end, entitled ‘The rule of phase applied to history.’ Henry Adams had all the virtues of the great amateur—penetration, aloofness, style. It is sad to record that in the end he did not escape the pitfall of most amateurs. He began taking himself seriously, and that as a prophet!” E: S. Corwin

+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:507 Ag ’20 1000w Ath p665 My 21 ’20 2000w + Booklist 16:189 Mr ’20

“Whoever takes up this book in the expectation that he has been invited to a sort of second table of the wondrous banquet spread before the readers of ‘The education of Henry Adams’ will soon learn his mistake. Not that it is not as marvellous in its way, but that it is a separate and distinct production of a mind as varied as it was powerful.” L. S.

+ Boston Transcript p6 Ja 28 ’20 2100w

“Of interest to historians, scientists, and educationists.”

+ Brooklyn 12:89 F ’20 50w

Reviewed by C: A. Beard

New Repub 22:162 Mr 31 ’20 1800w

“Why have they been resurrected, and why are they published at the present time, with this preposterous introduction and with a misfit title? The uninitiated will say that the popularity of Henry Adams’s ‘Education’ furnishes the answer.”

− N Y Times 25:323 Je 20 ’20 950w

“We took it up anticipating pleasure if not profit in getting Henry Adams’s views on democracy. We have been disappointed. Whatever views on this subject Henry Adams may have elsewhere expressed, he expresses none here. He discourses on views of the universe in general, and the philosophy of history in particular, but he has nothing to say of the degradation of the democratic dogma, or of the democratic dogma itself. Nor do we find that Mr Brooks Adams increases our knowledge of these subjects.” D. McG. Means

− Review 2:255 Mr 13 ’20 2400w

“A curiously interesting and depressing series of historical papers, which serves to explain some of the author’s pessimism. Henry Adams makes some rather unwarranted historical generalizations. His papers are a remarkable example of the method by which an unscientific mind may apply scientific conclusions to unrelated data.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p6 Ja 15 ’20 600w

“‘A letter to American teachers of history’ is a brilliant achievement. It is single and swift and passionate, as an exclamation or a command. Nervous and mordant in style, it rises often to eloquence and is illuminated by flashes of ironical humor.” C: A. Bennett

+ − Yale R n s 9:890 Jl ’20 2350w

ADAMS, HENRY. Letters to a niece and Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres; with A niece’s memories by Mabel La Farge. *$2.50 Houghton

20–19770

These letters are introduced by “A niece’s memories” which together with the letters, reveals a side of the heart and mind of Henry Adams veiled to the world and to the readers of the “Education,” but poured forth to the young. “To them all he was the generic Uncle, the best friend—to whom they not only could confide their innermost secrets, their perplexities, hopes and aspirations, but also at whose feet they could sit endlessly, listening to the most thrilling talk they had ever heard, or were likely to hear again.” The table of contents is: Henry Adams: a niece’s memories; Letters to a niece; Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres. Under the last heading is included: Prayer to the dynamo.

+ Dial 70:108 Ja ’21 40w

“A book of undeniable savor. The Adams pickle is everywhere. They are very kind letters—lazily, unconcernedly, uncommittedly kind. That he writes very good English will surprise nobody, and his faculty is brought out by a certain waywardness in its exercise.”

+ Review 3:564 D 8 ’20 320w R of Rs 62:670 D ’20 50w

ADAMS, KATHARINE. Mehitable. il *$2.50 Macmillan

20–21185

To Mehitable in her Vermont home comes the opportunity to go to school in Paris. Mehitable has just passed her sixteenth birthday and it all seems to her like a dream, so quickly is she whisked away from familiar scenes to find herself in a strange land. In spite of the little home-made frocks with which Aunt Comfort and the village dressmaker have fitted her out and which make her look old fashioned and quaint to the other girls, she makes a place for herself in the Chateau d’Estes and finds friends. Irish Una is the dearest of them and Mehitable spends a happy vacation at her home. The story ends with the outbreak of the war.

“The book is singularly pleasing, the heroine a living creature good to know, and there are many interesting characters and situations. A book all girls in their late teens will delight in.” Hildegarde Hawthorne

+ N Y Times p9 D 19 ’20 70w

“Her school life near Paris, her trips to other lands, and her fine love story form a superior kind of story for older girls.”

+ Outlook 127:110 Ja 19 ’21 60w

ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS. Wanted: a husband. il *$1.75 (4c) Houghton

20–7140

This story falls into two parts. The first tells of the transformation of Darcy Cole from a peevish, spoiled, unhealthy, unhappy girl into a radiant and captivating bit of womanhood. Physical culture plus grit does the trick. In the old days Darcy had been so unattractive that she had had to invent a fiancé and the second part of the story is taken up with the adventures into which this mythical person leads her. He is a certain Sir Montrose Veyze, selected from Burke’s Peerage. Fortunately he never appears in person and the attractive American lover who acts as his substitute proves perfectly satisfactory as a permanent feature.

Booklist 16:311 Je ’20

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

+ − Bookm 51:585 Jl ’20 110w

“Of course he does the thing well, but it hardly seems worth the doing when the author is capable of so much better things.”

− + Boston Transcript p4 Je 2 ’20 220w + Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 100w

“It is by no means as good an example of its type as his earlier book, ‘The unspeakable Perk,’ but it is entertaining in its way, and presents a fervent plea for athletics.”

+ − N Y Times 25:220 My 2 ’20 480w

“Its humor and gaiety compensate to some extent for the lack of plausibility.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 350w

ADE, GEORGE. Hand-made fables. il *$1.60 (2½c) Doubleday 817

20–4894

“The studies in American vernacular which comprise this volume first appeared in the Cosmopolitan Magazine.... Although the period in which these fables appeared enveloped the great war and lapped over on the great unrest, the author has proceeded upon the theory that old human nature continues to do business, even during a cataclysm.” With this introduction Mr Ade proceeds to his fables, which are in his old manner and are accompanied by John McCutcheon’s pictures.

+ Booklist 16:280 My ’20

“Barring his treatment of this arid topic [prohibition], the rest of the book is sheer delight.” G. M. Purcell

+ − Bookm 51:568 Jl ’20 340w

“Here Mr Ade once more demonstrates that the American slang vernacular has capacities for clearness, force, and (yes!) elegance that quite escape the base-ball reporter.”

+ Dial 68:665 My ’20 80w

“Isolated and perused at the rate of one a month, they yield a sharp and pungent flavour; bunched thus for permanence, they are flat.” L. B.

+ − Freeman 1:526 Ag 11 ’20 230w

“A great deal of it is amusing, poking fun in a way provocative of chuckles, and giving new point to the old saying that there is many a true word spoken in jest.”

+ N Y Times 25:228 My 2 ’20 350w + Review 2:402 Ap 17 ’20 120w + Review 2:461 My 1 ’20 1050w + Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w

ADLAM, GEORGE HENRY JOSEPH. Acids, alkalis and salts. il $1 Pitman 661

20–11164

In this volume of Pitman’s common commodities and industries series, the author has endeavored “to give prominence to the commercial and domestic importance of the substances dealt with.” He has also “included some considerations of a theoretical nature which may well be taken as a first step towards the continuation of the study of chemistry.” (Preface) Contents: Introduction; Sulphuric acid and sulphates; Nitric acid and nitrates; The halogen acids; Carbonic acid and carbonates; Phosphoric, boric, and silicic acids; Organic acids; Mild alkali; Caustic alkalis; Electrolytic methods. There are diagrams and other illustrations and an index.

“This book aims at being not only instructive, but also interesting.” C. S.

+ Nature 105:706 Ag 5 ’20 190w + N Y P L New Tech Bks p47 Jl ’20 60w (Reprinted from Nature 105:706 Ag 5 ’20)

AGATE, JAMES E. Responsibility. *$1.90 (2½c) Doran

20–7651

An English novel in which the author discourses at large on matters of art, morals and life. The scene is laid in one of the northern industrial towns and it follows the hero’s story from childhood on, depicting his escape from business into letters as a profession. In his early manhood he has a love affair with a young dancer, who when she sees that his love is waning writes to tell him she is to bear a child and disappears out of his life. Twenty years later he is confronted by his son, who is on the point of enlisting for the war. Both recognize that the usual parental relation is not to be looked for, but they become friends. The son is totally disabled in the war, the father partially so.

Ath p1304 D 5 ’19 100w

“It is a brave theme, but the author’s treatment of it is a deal too confident to be successful. He cannot resist his hero’s passion for display. And this passion is so ungoverned that we cannot see the stars for the fireworks.” K. M.

− + Ath p79 Ja 16 ’20 750w

“Not for the average reader. Good work but not remarkably good.”

+ − Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20

“The novel as a whole is excessively chaotic and immature, an obvious attempt at a youthful smartness which seems incapable of artistic restraint. Mr Agate has been a wide reader, but he shows at the present moment little power of assimilation.” E. F. E.

− + Boston Transcript p7 My 8 ’20 900w

“A first and promising novel.”

+ − Dial 69:102 Jl ’20 90w

“Undoubtedly Mr Agate has both talent and promise. Today he is not an ageless portent but a beginner with very much to learn.”

− + Nation 110:772 Je 5 ’20 850w New Repub 23:235 Jl 21 ’20 550w

“It is a sober-minded book, this novel of Mr Agate’s. But it is also a very rich book, rich in character, in thought, in understanding, in comment upon life and art, original in style and treatment. We are much mistaken if Mr James E. Agate has not definitely ‘arrived.’”

+ N Y Times 25:252 My 16 ’20 600w

“The book is a hodge-podge.” H. W. Boynton

− Review 2:573 My 29 ’20 370w

“The genius of the book might as well be a grown man’s as a boy’s—it is ageless as genius always is. But the faults—and they are grave—are a young man’s or at any rate a young writer’s, faults. We should plump for Mr Agate being, say, in the early thirties. We profoundly hope that we are right, because we want many more books from him. We do not ask for them to confirm our judgment, but because English literature is starvingly in need of a new and still young first-rate performer.”

+ − Sat R 128:535 D 6 ’19 1700w

“A novel which bears clear traces of models so diverse as Wells and James and, perhaps, even the author of ‘Tristram Shandy.’ But such strength as the novel possesses lies in what is simple and straightforward. There are good glimpses of character.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 300w

“The great quality of the book is a manly and vigorous brilliance, which is enough to supply ten ordinary novels; the chief faults are a rhetorical exuberance of style and an inability to see that the reader wants time to appreciate the really good passages, such as the page where Edward’s father sends him to school or the illegitimate son’s explanation of what moved him to join the army.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p629 N 6 ’19 750w

AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER. House of dust; a symphony. *$2 Four seas co. 811

21–968

A series of poems defining the delicate shadings of sense perceptions. They correspond to the so-called “tone poems” of music. Among the titles given to individual pieces are: The fulfilled dream; Interlude; Nightmare; Retrospect; The box with silver handles; Haunted chambers; Porcelain; Clairvoyant. Parts of the book have appeared in the North American Review, Others, Poetry, Youth, Coterie and the Yale Review.

“Mr Aiken possesses many poetical merits. He has a flow of language that is refreshing in this age of meagrely trickling springs. He has vivid sensations and a felicitous ease in exactly expressing them. But he has the defects of his qualities. His facility is his undoing; for he is content to go on pouring out melodious language—content to go on linking image to bright image almost indefinitely. One begins to long for clarity and firmness, for a glimpse of something definite outside this golden haze.” A. L. H.

+ − Ath p235 Ag 20 ’20 440w Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w

“He is not easy to understand, and some minds would doubt whether a drift of phenomena so irrational as this, however delicately and imaginatively it is described, can be worth describing, except from the point of view of scientific interest. That Mr Aiken’s work is both delicate and imaginative, there is no question.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p554 Ag 26 ’20 170w

AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER. Scepticisms; notes on contemporary poetry. *$2 (3c) Knopf 809.1

19–17334

For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.

“Mr Aiken is not quite a good enough talker; his gossip is entertaining, but he has not the knack of telling a story well, of putting an idea into a forcible and convincing form. A certain diffuseness—it is noticeable, but to a lesser degree, in his poetry—takes the edge and point off what he says; a fact that is the more regrettable, since we believe his psychological methods of criticism to be fundamentally sound and fruitful.” A. L. H.

+ − Ath p10 Ja 2 ’20 500w

“At times rather technical for the lay reader but worth while for all interested in contemporary poetry.”

+ − Booklist 16:160 F ’20

“It makes good sedative reading after you have got tired of Mencken, Cabell, Powys and some few others of the real brains of America—in the matter of the essay, I mean.” Mary Terrill

− Bookm 51:194 Ap ’20 600w

“The poets and the books that he makes an intellectual flourish of judging in the re-printed reviews which make up this volume have, for the most part, their fundamental purposes and qualities befogged and perverted by such critical charlatanry, no matter how brilliant the execution may be. Often Mr Aiken makes a most convincing case for or against a poet, but the average reader will be inclined to discount his own agreement because he cannot be sure of the critic’s motives.” W. S. B.

− + Boston Transcript p6 F 11 ’20 1300w

“One’s quarrel with Mr Aiken will be with his limits, not with his accomplishment within his limits. What in most instances he sets out to do, namely, to particularize (he says illuminate) with a careful casualness, he certainly does well. It is because he has done so much carefully that dissatisfaction arises at the incomplete significance of the whole work.” C: K. Trueblood

+ − Dial 68:491 Ap ’20 2250w

“In so far as Mr Aiken’s lucid and discriminating opinions may offset the mawkish and meaningless eulogy of ‘poeteering’ journalists, we may be unqualifiedly grateful to him. He does, however, invite disagreement with his critical principles by announcing them with excessive candor.” G: F. Whicher

+ − Nation 111:509 N 3 ’20 800w

“Mr Aiken’s book shows a nicely adjusted intellect at work, weighing and measuring contemporary achievements, with whatever degree of bias human nature can never escape, as he admits himself, but with some degree of impartiality. He is chiefly interested in aesthetic values. His style is adroit and sharp and restrained.” Marguerite Wilkinson

+ − N Y Times 25:59 F 1 ’20 1050w

ALBERTSON, RALPH. Fighting without a war. il *$1.50 (7c) Harcourt, Brace & Howe 947

20–4690

This “account of military intervention in north Russia” (Sub-title) is given by a Y. M. C. A. secretary assigned to work with the army landing at Murmansk, November 1918. He took part in every phase of the campaign from the northernmost to the southernmost points of the expedition and was the last American to leave. He is scrupulously careful in handling army rumors and most of his matter is based on his own personal observation and knowledge. On the whole he considers intervention as a “bad job” on the part of the governments who undertook it. “We organized civil war in Russia. The Russians were not fighting the Bolsheviki—not our way. They did not want to fight them—in our way. We made them. We conscripted them to fight for their own freedom. It was difficult, but we had our army there and the army made the peasant patriotic—our way.” Contents: The expedition; The Archangel government; Management; The fall campaign; The winter campaign; Kitsa; Fighting without a flag; “America dobra”; America exit; The new British army; The new Russian army; Making Bolsheviki; The white man’s burden; Atrocities; The mutinies; The debâcle; Military intervention finance; Propaganda; Concerning military intervention; Concerning Russian peasants.

“Settles any lingering doubt about military intervention in Russia.”

+ Booklist 16:272 My ’20

“So amazing is the story of British arrogance, tactlessness, and brutality in northern Russia, revealed by Ralph Albertson that it would be well nigh impossible to accept it, if the trustworthiness of the writer was not in a striking manner vouched for by the two citations which he gained from the British.”

+ Nation 110:659 My 15 ’20 650w

Reviewed by A. C. Freeman

N Y Call p11 Ap 18 ’20 550w + R of Rs 61:557 My ’20 120w

“This little book of 140 pages, read at a sitting, but unforgettable for many a day, is full of valuable information, all the most vital of which was from his own personal and careful observation.” W. H. Crook

+ Socialist R 8:380 My ’20 650w

Reviewed by Reed Lewis

+ Survey 44:51 Ap 3 ’20 100w

“The reading of the book helps to an understanding not only of the Russian problem but of what British imperialism—or American—always means in countries where a foreign army is in control.”

+ World Tomorrow 3:157 My ’20 400w

ALDERSON, VICTOR CLIFTON. Oil shale industry. il *$4 Stokes 622

20–14240

The book heralds the birth of a new industry: the extracting of oil from oil shale, which, in the face of our growing demand for oil, the diminishing supply of underground oil, and the almost inexhaustible supply of raw material in the form of oil shale, promises to be one of paramount importance. Contents: The dawn of a new industry; Nature, origin, and distribution of oil shale; The history of oil shale; Mining oil shale; Retorting and reduction; Experimental and research work; Economic factors; Summary; Opinions; The future; Bibliography, index and illustrations.

“Not a finished work as far as statistics are concerned, but a good survey of a comparatively new industry.”

+ Booklist 17:143 Ja ’21

“For a scientific work it is too uncritical and in such remarks as ‘mountains of shale’ it is reminiscent of a promoter’s prospectus. In fact, the whole book is written with too much apparent intention to see all the favorable points and to disregard the at present unfavorable ones.”

− N Y Evening Post p27 O 23 ’20 230w

ALDON, ADAIR. At the sign of the Two Heroes. il *$1.75 (3½c) Century

20–16500

The scene of this story for boys is laid on South Hero island, one of the two islands in Lake Champlain that are named for Ethan and Ira Allen. The old Frenchman, Pierre Lebeau, suggests to the three boy campers, Christopher, Andrew and Howard, that they spend a night in the deserted old inn that commands a view of the bay and surrounding islands. He is under the stress of emotion and obviously has a purpose in making the suggestion. Their curiosity aroused, they take his advice and what they see and hear convinces them that smuggling on a large scale is going on. They also learn the cause of old Pierre’s emotion, for his scapegrace grandson is one of the smugglers. The story tells how the three boys, animated by the spirit of Ethan Allen, put an end to the law breaking.

“Keeps the interest and is not too improbable.”

+ Booklist 17:120 D ’20

“The background is well laid in and the story is full of ‘thrills’ having some really dramatic situations. A good tale of its type.”

+ N Y Evening Post p10 S 25 ’20 50w

Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne

+ N Y Times p9 D 12 ’20 70w + Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 70w Wis Lib Bul 16:197 N ’20 70w

ALDRICH, LILIAN (WOODMAN) (MRS THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH). Crowding memories. il *$5 Houghton

20–19664

These reminiscences of the wife of a poet center about her celebrated husband but are rich in pictures of other great personages that she has intimately known, notably Edwin Booth, William Dean Howells, Samuel L. Clemens, Robert Browning, James McNeill Whistler, Julia Ward Howe, Charles Dickens. The book is well illustrated and has an index.

+ Booklist 17:111 D ’20

“Mrs Aldrich’s memories are of superlative interest because of both their subject matter and the great intimacy of their manner.” E. F. Edgett

+ Boston Transcript p4 O 9 ’20 1500w

“The author’s stilted phrasing, trite similes, and thinly veiled snobbery offer a melancholy contrast to the easy-flowing naturalness and genial democracy of her gifted husband. Nevertheless, ‘Crowding memories’ is a valuable book because of the deep and abiding interest of many of the figures who appear in it.” A. R. H.

+ − Freeman 2:454 Ja 19 ’21 290w

“She has not produced a quite independent volume, for she quotes from Mr Greenslet’s book at considerable length and uses excerpts from Aldrich’s semi-autobiographical writings to complete the structure of her narrative. Nor has she the special gift of the great memoir writer, that easy command of detail which gives its solid reward in social documentations. But as a casual record of certain trivialities ‘Crowding memories’ is something of a social document.” C. M. Rourke

+ − New Repub 25:175 Ja 5 ’21 1300w

Reviewed by Brander Matthews

+ N Y Times p6 O 31 ’20 2300w

“Even in unskillful hands the result would have been useful, and Mrs Aldrich has handled the rich material with good judgment and much insight, making a total that is always interesting, and often enlightening, entitling it to a definite place in our literary chronicles.”

+ Review 3:505 N 24 ’20 1000w + R of Rs 62:669 D ’20 120w + Springf’d Republican p10 O 13 ’20 940w + Wis Lib Bul 16:236 D ’20 80w

ALEICHEM, SHALOM. Jewish children; authorized tr. from the Yiddish by Hannah Berman. *$2 Knopf

20–26870

“Nineteen stories by one of the best known of contemporary Hebrew novelists and journalists, the Russian Shalom Rabinowitz (‘Shalom Aleichem’): picturing with a vividness and intimacy which has gained him the name of ‘the Yiddish Dickens’ the life of Jewish children in the villages and small towns of the Russian pale.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup F 26 ’20

“They are written with a terse, beautiful simplicity. An especial appeal for those who recognize the truth of the picture.”

+ Booklist 17:70 N ’20

“Undoubted power of camera-like observation, the God-given genius for interpretation of the sorrows and sadness of life so surely a heritage of Jew, Irish or Russian, help make this little volume a delight.”

+ Bookm 52:174 O ’20 120w + Cleveland p108 D ’20 40w

“Studies at once tentative and precocious, executed with a rare economy and a vivid understanding. Moods are evoked as if by the striking of a chord; the effect is instantaneous and sharp, yet softened with queer overtones of feeling.”

+ Dial 69:547 N ’20 50w

“‘Shalom Aleichem,’ speaking generally is a humorist, and often broadly so. Instances could be cited in which a verbal audacity, almost a horseplay in phrasing, stands out as his most striking characteristic.” C. K. Scott

+ Freeman 2:45 S 22 ’20 500w

“Perhaps the best quality of these stories is their humor, and such characters as Isshur the Beadle and Boaz the Teacher do, indeed, allowing for less breadth and vigor, justify the comparison of Rabinowitz with Dickens that has been made.”

+ Nation 111:353 S 25 ’20 180w + Spec 124:588 My 1 ’20 50w The Times [London] Lit Sup p142 F 26 ’20 50w

“It is difficult to determine whether without the species of prestige conferred by unfamiliarity of subject and idiom, the spice of strangeness imparted by the mere fact of translation, the book would arouse much more than curiosity. It is a collection of incidents in the lives of Russian Jewish children, told with perhaps too unrestrained a fluency, as the matter is usually of the slightest, but with a pervading kindness, an unshakable good humour, a pleasant if not inspired drollery, that enlist one’s sympathy.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p264 Ap 29 ’20 290w

ALEXANDER, HARTLEY BURR.[^[2]] Latin American [mythology]. (Mythology of all races) il *$7 Jones, Marshall 299

20–16109

“The present volume follows the general plan [of the series]. The author has aimed at a descriptive treatment following regional divisions, directed to essential conceptions rather than exhaustive classification.” (Booklist) “The book includes the Antilles, Mexico, Yucatan, Central America, the Andes (North and South), the tropical forests, the Orinoco and Guiana, the Amazon and Brazil, and finally, the pampas to the Land of fire. The notes and bibliography comprise almost a fifth of the volume. More than forty illustrations add to the interest of a text that really illustrates itself.” (Bookm)

Booklist 17:47 N ’20

“The book is more than a succinct history. It embodies the poetry of ancient days and the cruelty and the splendor of ancient ways, without abandoning the calm attitude that wards the scientist from hasty or sentimental judgments.” I: Goldberg

+ Bookm 52:365 D ’20 560w

ALLEN, ARTHUR WATTS.[^[2]] Handbook of ore dressing, equipment and practice. il *$3 McGraw 622.7

20–6647

“The book aims to supply a handy and practical vade mecum for millmen and engineers, covering in condensed form the various stages in the mechanical handling and preparation of ore for metallurgical treatment. Good drawings and half-tone illustrations. Bibliography of 86 references.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks

+ Booklist 17:96 D ’20 + N Y P L New Tech Bks p62 Jl ’20 40w

ALLEN, FREDERICK JAMES. Advertising as a vocation. *$2 Macmillan 659

19–17750

“This book by Mr Allen of the Bureau of vocational guidance of Harvard university is intended to place the subject of advertising as a vocation especially before that part of the public concerned with the choosing of a vocation. It is an extensive exposition of the field of advertising, the emoluments, the qualities needed for it as a vocation, and a thorough investigation of the various fields. It considers advertising as a business rather than as a profession, since in the main it is connected with the trades, and it aims to show the future of advertising as an important element in the choosing of a life work.”—Boston Transcript

“Sets a high standard. Excellent bibliography.”

+ Booklist 16:191 Mr ’20 Boston Transcript p6 Ja 17 ’20 250w Brooklyn 12:100 Mr ’20 30w

ALLEN, NELLIE BURNHAM. New Europe. (Geographical and industrial studies) il $1 Ginn 914

20–4490

This volume is a revision of the book issued in 1913 with the title “Europe.” It has been revised and partly rewritten to conform to changes growing out of the war. New chapters have been added on: Ireland and the linen industry; The brave little country of Belgium; Finland and Lapland; The country of Poland, and The countries of the Balkan peninsula.

Booklist 17:79 N ’20

ALLEN, STEPHEN HALEY. International relations. *$5 Princeton univ. press 327

20–5637

“The reader will find here in outline the ancient and modern conceptions of a nation, and especially a clear statement of what has been done to regulate international intercourse by conventions, efforts to prevent war by arbitration and mediation and to mitigate the barbarities of war when it does come. Included in the volume are the documents representing the important general conventions that were in force at the outbreak of the great war, and in conclusion the peace treaty itself and the constitution of the League of nations are presented.”—R of Rs

Booklist 17:8 O ’20 + R of Rs 61:669 Je ’20 120w

ALLISON, WILLIAM. My kingdom for a horse! *$8 Dutton

“The recollections of one who has had so varied a career as Mr William Allison cannot fail to be interesting. His pages cover a great variety of ground, life in Yorkshire in the middle of the last century, Rugby in the ‘sixties, Balliol in the ‘seventies, the bar, horse racing, and the selling of blood stock, breeding of fox terriers, political and society journalism, editorship, and special commissionership in the Sportsman—a multitude of memories, in fine, with fluctuations of fortune to give a savour to the whole.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“Well charged with readable gossip.”

+ Ath p962 S 26 ’19 50w

“The ordinary reader will wish that his own interest had been a little more consulted by omitting many of these equine records. He will wish, too, that Mr Allison had not been so generous in quoting from his voluminous correspondence. Barring this overplus, we think the author too modest in describing his memoirs as a ‘farrago of insignificant events.’”

+ − Review 3:655 D 29 ’20 450w

“His book shows quite exceptional familiarity with the thoroughbred, set forth in English free—though split infinitives are to be counted against him—from the distressing phraseology common to most men who write about racing.”

+ Sat R 128:365 O 18 ’19 900w

“His digressions are rather bewildering and his arguments not all strictly convincing. When Mr Allison gives himself, as he rarely does, the time to describe something with enthusiasm, William Hickey himself could do no better.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p512 S 25 ’19 1600w

ALLISON, WILLIAM. Secret of the sea. il *$1.75 (2c) Doubleday

20–6428

The story has evidently been suggested by Poe’s “The murders in the rue Morgue.” An American millionaire’s pleasure yacht, touring on the Mediterranean, encounters a derelict yacht, fitted up most luxuriously with every evidence of recent occupancy but not a soul on board. Here’s mystery, and Peter Knight, the millionaire’s secretary and lover of his daughter, Betty, sets himself to unravel it. His rôle as detective proves full of danger but brings to light much past history and romance. An Italian duke of fabulous wealth is discovered to have been the owner of the yacht, and Peter Knight’s father—and thereby hangs a tale of dark plots and poison cups worthy of the middle ages. The outcome of this tale would have been a different one had not a baboon, one of the yacht’s inmates, taken a hand in it to do some of the murdering on his own account. Peter himself barely escapes with his own life, but in doing so is enabled to rescue his beloved Betty who has in the meanwhile fallen into the clutches of the same criminal family.

“A mystery yarn, fantastic and impossible, but quite readable.”

+ − Booklist 16:280 My ’20

“A well-conceived and engaging mystery tale.”

+ Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 1 ’20 280w

ALLISON, WILLIAM. Turnstile of night. il *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday

This tale of mystery begins in India where three white men combine in a successful attempt to gain possession of some priceless diamonds worn as the “breastplate of the seven stars” by an idol in a temple of Buddha. Then the scene shifts to England; two of the treasure seekers are dead, by fair means or foul, and the third is trying to keep for himself the whole treasure, part of which belongs in reality to Honour Brooke, daughter of the one, and Ronald Charteris, nephew of the other adventurer. Loris St Leger, the villain, aided by his wicked old uncle, and using his beautiful cousin as his tool, stops at nothing, and as Honour and Ronald are entirely ignorant of his game or his reasons for playing it, he soon has them completely in his power. But there are some influences at work that he has no knowledge of, which are acting against him, and in the end his evil purposes are defeated, after many harrowing experiences for Honour and Ronald.

“Unfortunately the bright promise of the earlier chapters is not fulfilled. There are thrills and mystery a-plenty, but the author takes too long in expounding them and by the time they are cleared up they have ceased to thrill.”

+ − N Y Evening Post p10 O 30 ’20 70w

“In spite of the story being such a jumble, the writing evidently is that of a trained hand, for the sentences are neatly put together and the author is not devoid of descriptive power. Readers who enjoy hurrying along from one disconnected incident to another and who like a long story will probably find this one to their taste.”

+ − N Y Times p24 D 26 ’20 500w Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 120w

AMERICAN labor year book, 1919–1920; ed. by Alexander Trachtenberg. (v 3) *$2 Rand school of social science 331

“Part I of this book deals with labor in the war, with the organization of many governmental boards of adjustment and policy-making, and with the actual administration of those laws which were drawn to curb ‘seditious activities.’ Part II is a record of organized labor, with historical reviews of different trade union ventures (including such interesting experiments as the work of the United labor education committee) and with records of strikes and lockouts during the last two years. The third section of the book contains a digest of new labor legislation, of court decisions affecting labor, and of the progress of plans for health insurance, pensions and the minimum wage. Part IV is a more general discussion of social and economic conditions. It deals with the cost of living, profiteering, unemployment, woman suffrage, plans for public ownership of the railways, and the history of the Nonpartisan league in North Dakota. Part V is a short record of the recent activities of cooperative, labor and socialist movements in some thirty different countries. And the final section of the book is devoted to the socialist movement in America.”—New Repub

“While the volume bears the imprint of the Socialist, it manifests much less of class or partisan bias than do many articles and volumes prepared and circulated by ultra-conservative organizations.” F. T. Carlton

+ Am Econ R 10:366 Je ’20 220w Booklist 17:82 N ’20

“Unfortunately it is rather an incoherent volume. Though the arrangement could be better and the statistical tables less partial, still the year book contains useful material, much of which is nowhere else easily accessible.” H. J. Laski

+ − Nation 110:594 My 1 ’20 80w + New Repub 22:39 Mr 3 ’20 470w

“The editor should be especially commended for his broad and tolerant attitude towards all phases of the social problem and for his good judgment in collecting within the covers of one volume so many significant documents and statistical tables. The volume is indispensable to teachers, writers, lecturers, and every one else who has an intelligent interest in the facts and problems of the labor movement.” L: Levine

+ Socialist R 9:48 Je ’20 350w

“There is evidence of a purpose to stick to facts. If allowance needs to be made it is for omissions of facts unfavorable to the cause rather than for inclusion of direct propaganda.”

+ Springf’d Republican p13a F 22 ’20 140w

“‘The American labor year book’ preserves much that otherwise is hard to obtain and at the same time offers the best available compendium of current information in its field.”

+ Survey 44:315 My 29 ’20 300w

AMOS, FLORA ROSS. Early theories of translation. (Columbia university studies in English and comparative literature) *$2 Columbia univ. press 808

20–4778

The history of the theory of translation, the author holds, is by no means a record of easily distinguishable, orderly progression. It shows a lack of continuity and is of a tentative quality. “Translation fills too large a place, is too closely connected with the whole course of literary development, to be disposed of easily. As each succeeding period has revealed new fashions in literature, new avenues of approach to the reader, there have been new translations and the theorist has had to reverse or revise the opinions bequeathed to him from a previous period. The theory of translation cannot be reduced to a rule of thumb; it must again and again be modified to include new facts.” (Preface) Contents: The medieval period; The translation of the Bible; The sixteenth century; From Cowley to Pope; Index.

“The greater one’s knowledge of the literature dealt with, the more likely one is to approve the care and reading which she displays.” G: Saintsbury

+ − Ath p271 Ag 27 ’20 780w

ANANDA ACHĀRYA. Snow-birds. *$3 Macmillan 891.4

20–10160

“This volume contains prose-poems or rhapsodies in free verse on nature, Indian mythology, sentimental or ideal themes, in a style analogous to that of Sir Rabindranath Tagore.”—Ath

Ath p429 Mr 26 ’20 30w

“Mr Achārya is not as inspired by any means and he does not get the atmosphere and charm into his lines that Tagore did. But he is interesting, for he presents the thought of the East.”

+ − N Y Times p16 N 7 ’20 70w

“The poems contained in this volume can scarcely be said to uphold his title convincingly as either artist or metaphysician. His vision is neither profound nor vital enough to awake the pulse of verse, nor has it the mentality that makes the muscle of decisive prose.”

− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p762 D 18 ’19 950w

ANDERSON, BENJAMIN MCALESTER. Effects of the war on money, credit and banking in France and the United States. *$1 Oxford; pa gratis Carnegie endowment for international peace 332

19–19929

A volume brought out by the Carnegie endowment for international peace as one of the preliminary economic studies of the war. An introduction sketches in broad outline the effects of the war on money, credit and banking in the countries of Europe and the United States. The author then takes up in detail the various problems involved in the case of France, with a briefer treatment of the United States. Tables, charts, etc., are given in an appendix and there is an index.

“That the work is well documented, well proportioned, and highly wrought, even brilliantly done, is not to be gainsaid.” C. A. Phillips

+ − Am Econ R 10:137 Mr ’20 1450w

“Readers with an interest in finance will appreciate this clear, detailed account.”

+ Booklist 16:259 My ’20

Reviewed by C. C. Plehn

+ Nation 111:379 O 6 ’20 220w

ANDERSON, ISABEL WELD (PERKINS) (MRS LARZ ANDERSON). Presidents and pies; life in Washington, 1897–1919. il *$3 (5c) Houghton 975.3

20–6432

This is a book of inside gossip about social Washington, where “there is always something new under the sun.” The author has met and listened to the “‘senators, honorables, judges, generals, commodores, governors, and the ex’s of all these, as thick as pickpockets at a horse-race, ... ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, lords, counts, barons, chevaliers, and the great and small fry of legations’ who make the life here so varied and fascinating. Some politics, a touch of history, a dash of description, with a flavor of social affairs—such are the ingredients of my ‘pie,’ which, whatever its faults, I hope may not sit heavily on the reader’s digestion.” (Chapter 1) The book is well illustrated and the contents are: Looking back; “A red torch flared above his head”; Rough Rider and buccaneer; Parties and politics; Enter Mr Taft; Sundry visitings and visitations; Cruising and campaigning; Divers democrats; Allied missions; Pies; A topsy-turvy capital; Royalties arrive.

Boston Transcript p6 Ap 28 ’20 900w

“It is regrettable that, owing to the lack of a sufficient background, she has not given us a definitive book on the city of Washington and its society; but, nevertheless, ‘Presidents and pies’ is a pleasant and sometimes a brilliant book. At least, it is easy reading, although its illustrations hardly add to its value.” M. F. Egan

+ − N Y Times p6 Ag 15 ’20 2300w

“A delightful narrative. The style is chatty without being flippant, and there is always a touch of humor.”

+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 3 ’20 280w

ANDERSON, ROBERT GORDON. Leader of men. *$1 (7c) Putnam

20–8245

A tribute of love and devotion to Theodore Roosevelt, opening with a poem by the author reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine. In conclusion Mr Anderson writes: “Theodore Roosevelt was a brave warrior of the body, he was the mightier warrior of the soul. His life was a chord of many notes, blending in noble harmony.... Its music is not mute. It still echoes round the world, sounding the forward march for the souls of men to that nobler warfare—to victory—to peace.”

“The author has avoided equally the danger of sentimentalism and that of over-analysis; his fine sanity of tone gives to his little book the qualities of lasting excellence.” Margaret Ashmun

+ Bookm 52:346 D ’20 50w

“The author tells nothing very new about Roosevelt, but he relates in a charming manner what he knew of him.” J. S. B.

+ Boston Transcript p11 My 15 ’20 300w

ANDERSON, ROBERT GORDON. Seven o’clock stories. il *$3.50 (9½c) Putnam

20–20944

A story in short chapters suitable for bedtime reading. It is a book about three happy children, Jehosophat, Marmaduke, and little Hepzebiah. They live on a farm, and children who read the book will learn all about their three dogs, the other farm animals, the scarecrow and their friend the Toyman. The pictures are by E. Boyd Smith.

ANDERSON, SHERWOOD. Poor white. *$2 (1c) Huebsch

20–27471

In this novel, as in his Winesburg stories, Mr Anderson tells the story of an Ohio town. It is a story of the transition period of the eighties and nineties between an agricultural and an industrial civilization. There was a time in that period, says Mr Anderson, when art and beauty should have awakened. Instead, the giant, Industry, awoke. The hero of the book, however, is not an Ohioan. He is a poor white who wanders up from Missouri, an indolent, dreaming boy, shaken out of his lethargy by a New England woman who tries to train his mind to definite channels. The result is the development of an inventive strain which the awakening giant, Industry, takes and uses to its own ends. The author’s treatment of Hugh is pathologic. He is attracted to women but is afraid of them. On his wedding night he is seized with panic and runs away, to be brought back by his father-in-law the next day. And never, except for fleeting moments, does he find satisfaction, either in his marriage or his work.

“Will undoubtedly be criticised by many readers for its sordidness of detail and its emphasis upon sex, but will be read by those who do not object to this with admiration for the frank truth of portrayal of a certain section of life.”

+ − Booklist 17:155 Ja ’21

Reviewed by R. C. Benchley

Bookm 52:559 F ’21 380w

“Structurally the story is chaotic and badly put together, being obviously the work of an ambitious young writer who has been emboldened to do something imaginatively big, but who has no control of the superabundance of material at his disposal. His ‘Poor white’ is in its way a remarkable piece of work, but it is not the first novel that has been written about the life it depicts or the last word in American fiction.” E. F. Edgett

+ − Boston Transcript p8 D 1 ’20 1700w

“He has made his story a ‘Pilgrim’s’ progress,’ peopled with characters as actual and as full of meaning as those of the immortal allegory.” R. M. Lovett

+ Dial 70:77 Ja ’21 850w

“While as a novel the design, rhythms, texture and synthesis are about as bad as can be, as a book of miracles it is beautiful. The unexpected marvels of understanding, the terrible flashes of accuracy, the strange pity and enfolding passion are all incidental and personal: the epic he sought to write is cumbersome and dead, but the souls born from his soul live and suffer before us.” C. K. Scott

+ − Freeman 2:403 Ja 5 ’21 580w

“In veracity and intellectual honesty Mr Anderson’s book is incomparably superior to most of our novels. But compared to ‘Main street’ it lacks fire and edge, lucidity and fulness.”

+ − Nation 111:536 N 10 ’20 200w

“To deny that ‘Poor white’ is a creation, an organism, with a life of its own, would be to sin against the light: but it is only fair to say that Mr Anderson’s limitations make ‘Poor white’ an incomplete, a maimed, organism.” F. H.

+ − New Repub 24:330 N 24 ’20 1250w

“‘Poor white’ remains a poetic novel in half a dozen broad senses. It has the clarity and concentration as well as some of the music of poetry. In its hold upon certain large pulsations of American life it is close to Whitman. It certainly belongs with Whitman rather than with Howells.” C. M. Rourke

+ N Y Evening Post p4 D 4 ’20 1350w

“The book is a careful, conscientious study of certain phases of the industrial development of America, and especially of the Middle West.”

+ N Y Times p20 D 12 ’20 650w

“Important American novel.” Eric Gershom

+ Pub W 98:1888 D 18 ’20 240w

“The totality of the book gives the effect of a wood carving done with a hatchet by a man who could do well if he had a knife. But its faults are made up for by the dominant fact that Mr Anderson has a story to tell. The book is not great, but it has the seeds of greatness. It is worth while, and its author is worth watching.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 2 ’21 500w

ANDERSON, WILLIAM ASHLEY. South of Suez. il *$3 (6½c) McBride 916

20–18577

The book contains sketches of the author’s wanderings in East Africa during the war. They are not a consecutive series, but they are full of local coloring and echoes of the European war. Three of them give an account of the apostasy of the Abyssinian ruler, Lidj Yassou, from Christianity to don the turban, and the following uprising, of which the author was an eye-witness. The contents, with many illustrations, are: A coin is spun; Soldiers, sand, and sentiment; Aden of Araby; Cross and scimitar in Abyssinia; Es-Sawahil; Zanzibar—the spicy isle; The wilderness patrol; Kwa Heri.

“Delightful reading.”

+ Booklist 17:150 Ja ’21

“His tales of peoples so like us in their passions and ambitions, so different from us in habits and environment, assuredly make for edification as well as pleasure, and we could stand more of them.” C. F. Lavell

+ Grinnell R 15:282 N ’20 150w

“The impressions do not always ‘get across,’ good as the author’s material is.”

+ − Outlook 126:238 O 6 ’20 40w

“His experiences do not form a well-connected story. His impressions are patchy, with much left for inference. But as it is, the interest is absorbing and some passages one will read over and over again.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p10 S 23 ’20 400w

ANDERTON, DAISY.[^[2]] Cousin Sadie. *$1.75 (3c) Stratford co.

20–13144

The scene is a college town in Ohio to which the heroine, Sara Dickinson, descendant of a long line of Calvinistic forebears, returns after a long absence. She thinks she has shaken off the teachings of her childhood, but in a crucial situation, involving love between herself and the husband of a young cousin, the sharp sense of distinction between right and wrong reasserts itself.

“The atmosphere of an Ohio college town is well done.”

+ Cleveland p105 D ’20 30w

ANDREA, MRS A. LOUISE. Dehydrating foods. il *$1.75 Cornhill co. 641.4

20–11679

“‘Dehydrating foods’ tells of a method recently perfected, which will effect a revolution in the means and methods of food preservation. As distinguished from drying, it reduces the bulk of foods without destroying the flavoring, coloring or nutritive properties. The process used in America is far superior to the European methods. All this and much more of lively interest may be gleaned from this volume by Mrs Andrea, lecturer on food, cookery and canning at the Panama-Pacific exposition, San Francisco, and the New York International exposition. The book contains detailed instructions for home dehydration as well as numerous recipes.”—Cath World

Booklist 17:143 Ja ’21 Boston Transcript p5 S 29 ’20 310w + Cath World 112:269 N ’20 180w

ANDREIEFF, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH. Satan’s diary; authorized tr. *$2.25 (4c) Boni & Liveright

Satan has assumed human form in the person of a Chicago billionaire, Henry Wondergood and gives an account of his mundane exploits in the form of a diary. He finds that, with the body of Wondergood, he has also acquired some of his human qualities and is no longer proof against human emotions. Thus, when in Rome he meets one Magnus and his daughter Maria, a madonna-like woman, he falls in love with her and allows Magnus to out-satan him to the extent of robbing him of all his money and finally to blow him up in his palace after revealing to him that Maria the madonna, is not his daughter but his mistress. The story is a bitter satire on human life. In a long preface Herman Bernstein gives a brief sketch of Andreieff’s life.

“This is not only caustic comment on the conditions and problems of today on this world, it is a denunciation of all life, a renunciation of illusions and hopes. Without a doubt this latest and last work of Andreyev is for the time the last word in iconoclastic criticism.” W. T. R.

+ Boston Transcript p3 N 27 ’20 700w

“Many of the ideas are brought out in long, rambling conversations dealing in the characteristic Russian manner with the purely abstract phases of life, and tending to mystify rather than clarify. At other times the satire is quick and amusing in its unexpected turns of keen humour. Sometimes Andreyev shows a gentler side, one might almost say a romantic strain.” L. R. Sayler

+ − Freeman 2:381 D 29 ’20 460w

“A theme, this, to tempt one of the ‘masters of free irony and laughter,’ a Voltaire, an Anatole France. Its development in Andreyev’s hands is disappointing. We have too great a respect for the Satan of Job and of Milton to believe that he could have been so easily gulled. But the source of disappointment in the handling of the theme lies deeper. In this book, as in most of his other writings, Andreyev shrinks back appalled before the torturing riddle of human destiny. He hurls his vain questions against the blank wall.” Dorothy Brewster

− Nation 112:46 Ja 12 ’21 850w

“Marie Corelli is so far below Andreyev that it may excite derision to compare them, and yet in one of her bombastic novels, ‘The sorrows of Satan,’ she actually succeeded in making a more probable Satan than this one of the great Russian’s. This book is too savage either for satire or burlesque—and too inconsistent. Besides, even a good fairy tale should be plausible. Nevertheless, as a story the book is interesting.”

− + N Y Times p6 O 10 ’20 2050w

ANDREIEFF, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH. When the king loses his head, and other stories. (Russian authors’ lib.) $2 International bk.

“The half-dozen ‘other stories’ intimated in the title of this volume are ‘Judas Iscariot,’ ‘Lazarus,’ ‘Life of Father Vassily,’ ‘Ben-Tobith,’ ‘The Marseillaise’ and ‘Dies irae.’ The last two are poems in prose. The title-story is a high-strung imaginative picture of the French revolution; ‘Judas Iscariot’ might be interpreted as an attempt to corporealize an arch-fiend compelled to bring about the final tragedy of Jesus’ life in order that prophecy might be fulfilled.”—Boston Transcript

“It is to be hoped that out of Russia’s chaos, when once more life becomes normal, there will be an end to such masterpieces of outrageous dissection. They may represent an epoch, but they are unwholesome and smack of the deadly amanita. Mr Wolfe’s translation has some good passages, but there are many infelicities.”

− + Boston Transcript p6 Jl 24 ’20 370w

“This art has passion and humanity and a strange fervor. But to many its glow will seem the glow of phosphorescence and decay.”

− + Nation 111:48 Jl 10 ’20 400w Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 10 ’20 600w

ANNESLEY, CHARLES, pseud. (CHARLES TITTMANN and ANNA TITTMANN). Standard operaglass. *$3 Brentano’s 782

20–6561

This new edition, revised and brought up to date, includes “detailed plots of two hundred and thirty-five celebrated operas with critical and biographical remarks, dates, etc.” (Title page) There is a “prelude” by James Huneker. and an index to operas and one to composers. The work was originally published in 1899 and was revised in 1904 and again in 1910.

Booklist 16:286 My ’20

“Well told, with the chief points brought out with admirable directness. The arrangement is simple and the indices ample.”

+ Cath World 112:549 Ja ’21 130w

“One of the best existent guides to opera librettos.” H: T. Finck

+ N Y Evening Post p13 My 8 ’20 180w

ANNIN, ROBERT EDWARDS. Ocean shipping; elements of practical steamship operation. il *$3 (2½c) Century 656

20–11077

This is the first volume in the Century foreign trade series, edited by William E. Aughinbaugh. The author, who is lecturer on economics in New York university, says in his preface: “Within the limits of a volume like the present it is possible only to touch upon even the fundamentals of ship management and operation.... The aim has been to exclude, as far as possible, the academic and legalistic, and to make the book what its title implies—a practical, if elementary, guide, based on experience, rather than a theoretical treatise based on maxims.” The book is divided into three parts. Part I, The ship, has chapters on An American merchant marine; Range of the business: Freight rates; The labor problem; Officering and manning; The cargo carrier, etc. Part II is devoted to The office, with discussions of Machinery of foreign trade; Foreign exchange; Traffic manager; General cargo, etc. Part III devotes thirteen chapters to Charters. There are six illustrations, appendices and index.

“Although the book cannot be described as having a scholarly style and although the author’s ideas on economics seem to be a bit unorthodox at times, the reader will find this volume far more useful than many written in a more literary vein. The author seems to be thoroughly familiar with his subject-matter.” M. J. S.

+ Am Econ R 10:818 D ’20 160w Booklist 17:56 N ’20

“The language is simple and direct and free from technical terms. It has evidently been the aim of the writer to produce a book of thorough practical value to those engaged in ocean shipping.”

+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 31 ’20 460w

“Excellent manual.”

+ R of Rs 62:224 Ag ’20 50w

ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE D’. Tales of my native town. *$1.75 (2½c) Doubleday

20–6708

This collection of short stories is translated from the Italian by Professor Rafael Mantellini and has an introduction by Joseph Hergesheimer. This is an appreciative comparison between our Anglo-Saxon short story and that of the great Italian. Mr Hergesheimer calls attention to the intense realism of D’Annunzio, which knows no reservations and no shrinking. The tales are: The hero; The countess of Amalfi; The return of Turlendana; Turlendana drunk; The gold pieces; Sorcery; The idolaters; Mungia; The downfall of Candia; The death of the duke of Ofena; The war of the bridge; The virgin Anna.

“Here writing is done with the big stick. They are tales of the noisier passions, executed with meticulous consideration for the formidable detail, since D’Annunzio writes with all the heat and strength of pulse that is supposed to belong to the southern temperament. The translation, with the possible exception of parts of the conversation, is very smoothly done.”

+ Dial 68:804 Je ’20 120w

“It takes, as Joseph Hergesheimer points out in his exceedingly interesting preface, a rather carefully prepared attitude of mind to thoroly enjoy them. They are written with art and skill but with a lack of reticence in description which is likely to disturb the Anglo-Saxon. If you enjoy Russian short stories you will probably enjoy these.”

+ Ind 104:70 O 9 ’20 160w

“The stories are of course arresting and at times brilliant. D’Annunzio’s powerful gifts are beyond question today.” L. L.

+ − Nation 110:sup488 Ap 10 ’20 240w

Reviewed by Rebecca West

New Repub 23:156 Je 30 ’20 500w

“In their English dress, certainly, they are not overwhelming. One can with a fairly good conscience own to the impression that, with all their marvel of detail, several of them are oppressively squalid and even tedious; squalor and tedium having, of course, their part, a relative part, in the spectacle of living.” H. W. Boynton

− Review 2:435 Ap 24 ’20 520w

“These tales neither convince nor move the reader. There is a quickness of action in these sketches, foreign to D’Annunzio’s novels; his writing has lost a great deal of that sensuality and voluptuousness so cloying to the American mind. But it has also lost in beauty and harmonious detail.”

− + Springf’d Republican p6 Ap 26 ’20 420w

ANSTRUTHER, EILEEN H. A. (MRS JOHN COLLINGS SQUIRE). Husband. *$1.75 Lane

20–8450

“The story of a very modern young lady, Penelope Brooke, befriended in the early chapters by a cousin. Later on the heroine embarks on the adventure of earning her bread in London, during which time her relations with her cousin’s husband become involved. In the end the inconvenient Mrs Dennithorne dies, and the reader is led to anticipate a happy sequel.”—Spec

“The author has good powers of description and characterization.”

+ Ath p1411 D 26 ’19 60w

“A pleasant tale of English life. Never very exciting, it yet holds the reader’s interest sufficiently for an evening’s enjoyment.”

+ − Boston Transcript p4 Je 2 ’20 200w Dial 69:433 O ’20 80w

“This book is well written—the characters clearly drawn; but that is the whole measure of commendation that can be bestowed upon it. It is an exceedingly dull story of contemporary English life. It seems a pity that such good writing and so much print paper should be wasted upon a dead level of mediocrity.”

− + N Y Times 25:25 Jl 11 ’20 250w Spec 124:215 F 14 ’20 60w

“Well written with the principal characters clearly portrayed, ‘The husband’ lacks vitality. A certain stiffness and awkwardness make the tale in numerous places ‘heavy going.’ Penelope, with a mild, Quakerish manner, is the most human and attractive principal.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 25 ’20 220w

“Her choice of the moment for a description and her choice of the scene to be described show psychological understanding as well as good craftsmanship. The story is anything but ‘didactic,’ but it is none the worse for having an ethical direction.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p780 D 25 ’19 580w

ANSWER to John Robinson of Leyden; ed. by Champlin Burrage. (Harvard theological studies) pa *$2 Harvard univ. press 274.2

20–12134

“John Robinson is considered by some to be the real father of American democracy with its emphasis upon the separation of church and state. The answer to Robinson by a Puritan friend is against his advocacy of separation from the Church of England. In this answer practically the entire argument of Robinson, the Pilgrim pastor at Leyden, for the separation of church and state is given. The manuscript is of the date 1609, eleven years before the Pilgrims left Leyden for their ultimate destiny, America. It is now published for the first time.”—Boston Transcript

Reviewed by Williston Walker

Am Hist R 26:339 Ja ’21 200w + Ath p242 Ag 20 ’20 300w + Boston Transcript p8 S 15 ’20 300w

ANTHONY, KATHARINE SUSAN. Margaret Fuller; a psychological biography. il *$2.25 (4c) Harcourt

20–18959

A study of Margaret Fuller from the standpoint of modern psychology, analyzing the hysteria of her childhood and the neurotic element in her later life. Her contribution to the feminist movement and her relation to the revolutionary struggle in Europe are also dealt with from a modern point of view. Incidentally there are brief and searching criticisms of Emerson, Hawthorne, Horace Greeley and others. Contents: Family patterns; A precocious child; Narcissa; Miranda; A woman’s woman; The transcendentalist: The journalist; Contacts; Her debt to nature; The revolutionist; 1850. There is a bibliography of four pages and the book is indexed.

“Written in a straightforward, interesting literary style.”

+ Booklist 17:151 Ja ’21 Boston Transcript p4 O 9 ’20 530w + Dial 70:108 Ja ’21 160w

“Taken as a whole the book opens up wide intellectual and imaginative horizons.”

+ Nation 112:46 Ja 12 ’21 400w

“The book is like some fine-grained granite rock of solid psychological and historical scholarship, all sun-flicked with glinting humor and warm-hearted common sense.” E. F. Wyatt

+ New Repub 25:22 D 1 ’20 1250w

“Margaret Fuller’s genius was akin to madness, and how far such an analysis of so abnormal a character is of real value is questionable. It is, however, unquestionably well done.”

+ − Outlook 126:575 N 17 ’20 80w

“To explain Margaret’s hysteria by a purely Freudian hypothesis is folly, and something a good deal worse than folly.”

− Review 3:388 O 27 ’20 400w R of Rs 62:669 D ’20 120w

“Katharine Anthony’s ‘Margaret Fuller,’ a ‘psychological biography’ is infested with preconceptions and is unpleasantly provocative in tone.”

− + Springf’d Republican p6 O 11 ’20 520w

ANTONELLI, ÉTIENNE. Bolshevik Russia. *$2 (3c) Knopf 947

20–650

This book, translated from the French by Charles A. Carroll, is from the pen of a former professor of the College de France, an economist and sociologist, who as military attaché to the French embassy studied the Russian situation with its historical background and the character of the Russian ever in view. The conclusion he arrives at is that Bolshevist Russia, “if not crushed by a new ‘Holy alliance,’ will prepare for humanity the spectacle of a singular democracy, such as the world will not have known until then, a democracy which will not be made up of gradual conquests plucked by shreds from a plutocratic bourgeoisie, but which will build itself up out of the very stuff of the people, a democracy which will not descend from the powerful ones to the people, as in all present forms of society, but which will rise voluntarily and surely from the unorganized and uncultivated folk to an organizing intelligence.” (Conclusion) The contents are in two parts: Bolshevism and politics; and Bolshevism and society.

“The detailed recital of events in chronological order is straightforward and clear but for the confusion of names of individuals and of parties and factions which are almost meaningless to an ordinary reader in this country. The psychological analysis of the Russian is interesting, but its over-simplification makes one feel that it is inadequate.” V: E. Helleberg

+ − Am J Soc 26:113 Jl ’20 170w + Ath p355 Mr 12 ’20 80w Booklist 16:236 Ap ’20

“His record, covering almost the same period as that of Robins in point of experience, has a much broader historic background and a more carefully scientific sociological basis.” O. M. Sayler

+ Bookm 51:312 My ’20 1000w Cleveland p27 Mr ’20 40w

Reviewed by Harold Kellock

Freeman 1:620 S 8 ’20 550w

“He has not only produced the most authentic record that has yet appeared of the opening months of the second revolution, but has written some of the clearest and wisest words which have thus far been uttered about it.” Jacob Zeitlin

+ Nation 110:399 Mr 27 ’20 600w

“It is distinctly a relief to read one book about Russia that is not written by a journalist, amateur or professional. M. Antonelli does not describe a tremendous historical upheaval in the manner of a reporter describing a street fight. Some of M. Antonelli’s statements and conclusions are contradictory; but this circumstance merely confirms his general reliability as a witness. Every revolution carries within itself the seeds of many contradictions. It is only the conscious or unconscious propagandist who smooths out all difficulties and represents the acts of his own party as uniformly righteous, correct and consistent.” W. H. C.

+ − New Repub 22:384 My 19 ’20 950w

“Valuable as well as interesting. The calm, broad view taken and the absence of anything like passion or partisanship are not the least appealing elements in this volume.”

+ N Y Times 25:325 Je 20 ’20 800w

“A colorless but informative historical narrative.”

+ − Outlook 124:291 F 18 ’20 40w

“Although not himself a believer in Bolshevism, he is capable of judging fairly the administrative aims of the Lenin-Trotsky régime. At any rate his contribution contains more fact and less hysteria than most current publications dealing with Russia.”

+ R of Rs 61:335 Mr ’20 100w

“This book inspires confidence in the author’s impartiality and freedom from bias. This is the best book on the subject we know of.”

+ Sat R 130:380 N 6 ’20 170w

“A sane and helpful account of his subject.” Reed Lewis

+ Survey 44:48 Ap 3 ’20 150w

“Written with the clarity and quick intelligence one expects from a well known French sociologist and professor.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p158 Mr 4 ’20 60w

“M. Antonelli describes his work as a ‘philosophical survey’; but the philosophical or rather psychological study of Bolshevism stands out less prominently than the very full and interesting account of the methods by which the Bolshevist leaders grasped and held power during the first few months after their coup d’etat.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p264 Ap 29 ’20 950w

ARMFIELD, CONSTANCE (SMEDLEY) (MRS MAXWELL ARMFIELD). Wonder tales of the world. il *$2.50 Harcourt 398.2

20–18948

Seventeen folk tales from as many countries compose this collection. Among them are: The food that belonged to all (America); The birds who befriended a king (Arabia); The cattle that came (Bulgaria); Lazy Taro (Japan); The prince and the eagle (Greece); The seven sheepfolds (Hungary); The clever companions (India); Tom of the goatskin (Ireland); Cap o’ rushes (England); The little cabin boy (Norway); The chess players (Wales).

+ Booklist 17:120 D ’20 20w + Lit D p96 D 4 ’20 40w

ARMSTRONG, DAVID MAITLAND. Day before yesterday. il *$6 (5c) Scribner

20–18941

These “reminiscences of a varied life” (Subtitle) are edited by the author’s daughter, Margaret Armstrong. Mr Armstrong was born in 1836 at Danskammer near Newburgh, lived an interesting life as artist, government official and traveler until his death in 1918. The contents are: Danskammer; New York when I was a boy; My brothers; The South before the war; At college; Travels and a shipwreck; New York when I was a young man; Rome—church and state; Some Roman friends; The Campagna; Venice; Saint Gaudens and others; Some pleasant summers; The Century club; My farm at Danskammer.

“It is singular that so sweet and amiable a book should be so interesting, so amusing. So much of the charm of the man seems to me to have got into the book that I expect for it a marked success, and, what is better, a long life in the future.” E. S. Nadal

+ N Y Evening Post p5 D 4 ’20 2900w + R of Rs 62:670 D ’20 90w

“A delightful narrative of one phase of American life at its best.”

+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ja 11 ’21 370w

ARMY and religion; an inquiry and its bearing upon the religious life of the nation. *$2 (2c) Assn. press 261

This inquiry had its origin in the desire of certain British Y. M. C. A. workers “to consider and interpret what was being revealed under war conditions as to the religious life of the nation and to bring the result before the churches.” The first step in the inquiry was the preparation of a questionnaire to be submitted to various classes of persons, including officers, privates and war workers of all classes. This questionnaire covered three topics: What the men are thinking about religion, morality, and society; The changes made by the war; The relation of the men to the churches. The report is in two parts, Part 1 dealing with the facts, Part 2 with religion and the army. The report is edited by D. S. Cairns and has a preface by the Bishop of Winchester.

Dial 68:670 My ’20 100w

“The really disappointing section of this volume is that which deals with the remedies. One confesses to some occasional irritation in reading ‘The army and religion,’ due to a certain complacent assumption that the traditional religious synthesis with its dogmatic superstructure is still valid.”

− + Nation 109:766 D 13 ’19 950w Sat R 128:sup14 N 29 ’19 800w

“The witnesses do not always see eye to eye with one another, or report the same thing. The result is a certain impression or spontaneousness and of the actual. The writers do not say what they feel under an obligation to say; or tell us what they, or those behind them, wish us to believe. They give us the facts, as they have come to their knowledge. The compiler, Professor D. S. Cairns, sums up, and he has done so admirably.”

+ Spec 123:896 D 27 ’19 1750w

“A document of much importance both in its enlightening disclosure of a state of things in many ways disquieting, and in the suggestions of future policy which arise out of it.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p503 S 18 ’19 200w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p508 S 25 ’19 1550w

ARNOLD, JULIAN B. School of sympathy. *$1.60 Jones, Marshall 824

“Several essays and poems are presented by Julian B. Arnold in a volume entitled ‘The school of sympathy.’ The author is the son of Sir Edwin Arnold, author of ‘The light of Asia,’ and is himself favorably known in England as a traveler, archaeologist and lecturer.”—N Y Times

+ N Y Times p17 O 3 ’20 50w

“The reminiscent portions of the book are doubtless the best.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p6 Jl 20 ’20 450w

ARONOVICI, CAROL. Housing and the housing problem. (National social science ser.) *75c McClurg 331.83

20–2757

“Mr Aronovici’s definition of housing reform is: ‘The furnishing of healthful accommodations adequately provided with facilities for privacy and comfort, easily accessible to centers of employment, culture and amusement, accessible from the centers of distribution of the food supply, rentable at reasonable rates and yielding a fair return on the investment.’ Nor does he overlook the close connection of housing policy with larger aspects of industrial development, distribution and growth of population and national economy. Following the lines of previous studies of social survey methods, he suggests a plan of inquiry for the housing reformer who wishes to arrive at an accurate view of the housing situation in his community and for the legislator who is concerned with improvement of the law. He has no easy panacea for stimulating housing activity or supplanting private by state enterprise, but rather lays down some fundamental considerations without which either must fail.”—Survey

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

“The book is good history but not light reading for hero-worshippers.”

+ Dial 69:435 O ’20 100w Lit D p86 O 9 ’20 2100w

“We have a genuine respect for the workmanship of this long-expected and interesting book, but it would be a mistake, we think, to ‘place’ it in the line of great biographies. And for a double reason. Kitchener was admittedly a two-sided man. Wanting the highest military talent, he was still the most conspicuous example since Wellington of the handy-man-soldier.... At the same time, he was capable of thinking and acting for her as a political and a moral force. But Sir George Arthur is the soldier pure and simple, and if politics talks to him at all, it speaks to him in the unsophisticated accents of the Guards’ mess. He is also an assiduous, if an extremely competent, hero-worshipper. There was no need for over-reverence about Kitchener. His character, built in the main on lines of simplicity, crossed with shrewd rather than subtle calculation, would well have borne a more detached view even of its excellencies than Sir George Arthur maintains.” H. W. M.

+ − Nation [London] 27:74 Ap 17 ’20 2400w

“The biography is presented with such vividness that the careful reader can discern the man apart from his work.”

+ Nature 105:319 My 13 ’20 1450w

“That Lord Kitchener served to the very limit of his powers is amply and nobly proved by these volumes. But they do not solve the deeper problem of the quality of his powers.” H. J. L.

+ − New Repub 25:174 Ja 5 ’21 1500w

“It is a plain, straightforward story of absorbing interest, told without hysteria, without malice, without criticism of others—differing so widely in this respect from the books of Lord French and Sir Ian Hamilton—but with sound judgment.” F. V. Greene

+ N Y Times 25:5 Je 27 ’20 2500w No Am 212:567 O ’20 1400w

Reviewed by Archibald MacMechan

Review 3:68 Jl 21 ’20 1900w + R of Rs 62:111 Jl ’20 220w

“Furnished as he is with a keen sense of proportion and a wide knowledge of men and things, possessor of a literary style which is at once graceful and trenchant, and having at his disposal much documentary matter which few besides himself have seen, he was equipped with special qualifications for undertaking this memoir of one of the foremost figures of our time when he accepted the task. But the very fact of his intimate association with his late chief has in certain directions proved a handicap.”

+ − Sat R 129:390 Ap 24 ’20 1650w Spec 124:552 Ap 24 ’20 1850w + Spec 124:583 My 1 ’20 1800w

“Sir George is no doubt better fitted than any other to weigh without undue bias the character and achievements of this outstanding British military figure. His devotion to his chief is revealed throughout, but at the same time he exercises calmness in weighing his strength and weaknesses.”

+ Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 1550w

“Here, with its element of mystery, is a great theme for a master-biography. Sir George Arthur’s three volumes are not that. He is an easy writer with a simple, unaffected style, who for the most part contents himself with a plain narrative of concrete facts. He has, too, something of the reserve of his subject, and when one gets to the difficult and contentious passages in the life he is apt to become general and elusive, a bad fault in a biographer. But Sir George Arthur has the great virtue of honesty with his subject.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p245 Ap 22 ’20 4500w

ASH, EDWIN LANCELOT. Problem of nervous breakdown. *$3.50 (4c) Macmillan 616.8

(Eng ed SG20–45)

In writing this book on nervous disorders the author has had in mind “the family doctor, the trained nurse, and the anxious relative,” and his main purpose has been “to review the problem as it affects the individual and as it concerns the state; to discuss the origin of the more common disorders, and to indicate in what direction it is possible for us to redress the balance in favour of nerve and efficiency.” (Foreword) The four parts of the book are: The origins of nervous breakdown; the varieties of nervous breakdown: The hygiene of nerve; and The breakdowns of war. There is an index.

“The subjects are discussed temperately and sanely. He has no fads and attacks none, though the field is large.”

+ Review 3:562 D 8 ’20 840w

“Dr Ash’s book is a timely warning of the dangers of emotionalism as well as an important contribution to the subject of neurasthenia, and it is so free from medical terms that it can be understood by all.”

+ Spec 124:351 Mr 13 ’20 1400w

“This is a commonsense work on a subject which is of universal interest.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p22 Ja 8 ’20 70w

ASHFORD, DAISY (MRS JAMES DEVLIN). Daisy Ashford: her book. *$2 (2c) Doran

20–9783

A volume containing the remaining novels of the author of “The young visiters” together with “The jealous governes,” by Angela Ashford. Daisy Ashford’s works are: A short story of love and marriage; The true history of Leslie Woodcock; Where love lies deepest; The hangman’s daughter. They were all written before the author was fourteen. Angela Ashford’s offering, “The jealous governes, or The granted wish” was written by that young person at the age of eight. Irvin Cobb contributes an introduction to the American edition.

“We think that the author of ‘The young visiters’ has been unwise to respond to the greedy public’s desire for more. Her new book was bound to invite comparison with the other; it is not a patch on it.” K. M.

− Ath p111 Jl 23 ’20 600w

“Quite a tome in quantity compared to ‘The young visiters’ but except in the most childish efforts, not so happily naïve in quality.”

+ − Booklist 17:30 O ’20

“Nothing is to be found either in Sir James Barrie’s introduction to ‘The young visiters,’ or in Mr Cobb’s tribute to the author of these tales, to show us that they believe in the identity of Daisy Ashford or in the claim that their humor is a juvenile product. In fact, at times both seem to be writing in jest more than earnest, or with a superficial seriousness that scarcely attempts to cover up the jest. Sex is the basis of the humor in all these stories, as it was in ‘The young visiters.’” E. F. E.

− Boston Transcript p6 Jl 14 ’20 1150w Cath World 111:836 S ’20 120w + Ind 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 160w

“None is in the same class with ‘The young visiters,’ though each has here and there a touch worthy of her best year, her tenth, her annus mirabilis.” Silas

+ New Repub 23:258 Jl 28 ’20 100w + N Y Times p14 Je 27 ’20 1850w

“We doubt whether the book will repeat the success of its predecessor. It is hard to say why one doesn’t get as much out of it, but probably it is because a little of this sort of thing is amusing while a good deal palls.”

+ − Outlook 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 110w

“These five stories, with their deeply romantic titles, contain enough to give the admirers of the earlier book many of the same thrills of pleasure and amusement.”

+ Review 3:711 Jl 7 ’20 160w

“The present writer would unhesitatingly say that it is upon the subjects of meals and packing and costume that ‘Daisy Ashford’ shines pre-eminently.”

+ Spec 124:50 Jl 10 ’20 1100w

“‘A short story of love and marriage’ and ‘The jealous governes’ have the truly original ring of the book that made Daisy Ashford’s name famous and her identity wondered at. But the longer efforts of the new volume are merely uninteresting stories amateurishly told. The charm of the precocious but still unsophisticated mind is gone.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 8 ’20 250w

“None of the surviving products of Miss Daisy Ashford’s pen is quite up to the standard of ‘The young visiters.’ The longest, ‘The hangman’s daughter,’ contains some amusing passages, but it is a more ambitious work, written at a later age, and gives the effect of a burlesque of a ‘grown-up’s’ novel more than of a spontaneous efflorescence of childhood.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p426 Jl 1 ’20 140w Wis Lib Bul 16:237 D ’20 50w

ASHMUN, MARGARET ELIZA. Marian Frear’s summer. *$1.75 (3c) Macmillan

20–10729

Marian Frear and her mother live together on an isolated little farm on the lake shore. They have been very happy together and keep busily occupied with the vegetable garden that supplies their living. But Marian misses the companionship of other girls and the lack of educational opportunities troubles both mother and daughter. Then a happy family of young people comes to spend a summer on the lake. Marian learns to play with other young people and in the fall finds the desired way to education open to her.

Booklist 17:120 D ’20

“A cheerful, wholesome, natural story for girls.”

+ Outlook 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 20w

“The young people are simple and natural and the incidents are never strained to produce dramatic effects, but those who have lived in the country may feel that the absolute superiority of Marian and her mother to all their neighbors is exaggerated.”

+ − Wis Lib Bul 16:197 N ’20 100w

ASLAN, KEVORK. Armenia and the Armenians from the earliest times until the great war (1914). *$1.25 Macmillan 956.6

20–1701

“In this little volume an Armenian historian gives a concise account of the rise and progress of his people, including the formation of Armenian royalty, the early religious ideas and customs, the conversion to Christianity, the dawn of Armenian literature, and finally the four centuries of bondage to the Turk. Many little-known facts have been gleaned from the somewhat obscure records of this long ill-treated people.” (R of Rs) “The work is translated from the original French by Pierre Crabites, whose introduction is an impassioned plea for Armenian independence.” (Dial)

“While at times the author seeks to present his nation in the most favorable light, as in the omission of any mention of the outrages perpetrated by the revolutionary societies at the close of the nineteenth century, his book is free from any attempt at propaganda. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of the preface written by M. Crabites.” D: Magie

+ − Am Hist R 25:748 Jl ’20 500w

“It is a concise and readable outline, giving not only the main currents of political development but also some information concerning economic and social organization.”

+ Am Pol Sci R 14:363 My ’20 60w

“Unlike most writings on the subject the history is stated in a matter of fact way free from propaganda.”

+ Booklist 17:23 O ’20 Dial 68:668 My ’20 40w

“There is grievous need of a map and almost equally of an index. But the book is good and solid, sober with historical sense and conscience.”

+ Review 2:604 Je 5 ’20 450w R of Rs 61:446 Ap ’20 120w

“A carefully prepared, though naturally sympathetic, history.”

+ Springf’d Republican p10 My 20 ’20 200w The Times [London] Lit Sup p242 Ap 15 ’20 80w

ASQUITH, MRS MARGOT (TENNANT). Margot Asquith, an autobiography. 2v il *$7.50 Doran

20–20995

With astonishing frankness Mrs Asquith tells the story of her life and when she says in her preface that she has taken the responsibility of the telling entirely upon herself, one can easily believe her. Her dash and courage and unconventionality, her affectionate nature and clever wit, her social position and close association with events and people of prominence make the book unusual. In her own words, she has related of her “manners, morals, talents, defects, temptations and appearance” as faithfully as she could. Her reminiscences are all of a personal nature without reference to politics and public affairs. Both books are indexed and illustrated.

“Mrs Asquith is a sentimentalist, and a sentimentalist of the worst kind, one who keeps it all for herself. She imagines that she is a very rare, very misunderstood person. She has made a serious mistake in writing this book; in it she delivers up her secret to the first-comer. Her book is really a very dull one unless it is regarded as an unconscious self-revelation. From that aspect it is quite interesting though the type it reveals is not very intriguing.” J. M. M.

− Ath p610 N 5 ’20 1850w Booklist 17:152 Ja ’21

“The self-revelations of Margot Asquith and those of Benvenuto Cellini present more than one parallel. Margot Asquith’s autobiography is essentially human. She has painted a portrait of herself that will live, and she has filled in the background with pictures of many who are sure of a permanent place in the history of English literature and of the politics of England.” J. C. Grey

+ Bookm 52:356 D ’20 1250w

“Few writers have at once the intimate acquaintance and the analytic tendency to put forward such keen and living figures. We can hope to possess very few such living documents as is this record of the last forty years.” D. L. Mann

+ Boston Transcript p4 N 27 ’20 1400w

Reviewed by H: W. Nevinson

+ − Nation 111:sup657 D 8 ’20 1900w

“Being a woman born into a society where her game was to be charming, and where she had no chance to be seriously educated, we find her at the age of fifty-six publishing idiocies that Marie Bashkirtseff was too sophisticated to utter at fourteen, and never once attaining Marie Bashkirtseff’s noble realization that ‘if this book is not the exact, the absolute, the strict truth, it has no raison d’être.’” F. H.

− + New Repub 25:77 D 15 ’20 2600w

“Her lack of reticence is, plainly, offensive to good taste. It is not the less offensive because it is apparently entirely unconscious. The surprising thing is, however, that with all the material for interesting memoirs that Mrs Asquith should have stored away in her mind, she has given us relatively so little that is of any permanent value.” Stanley Went

− + N Y Evening Post p8 D 4 ’20 1700w

“The book is fascinating from the first page to the last.”

+ N Y Times p3 N 14 ’20 1650w

Reviewed by R. R. Bowker

+ Pub W 98:1883 D 18 ’20 150w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

Review 3:531 D 1 ’20 500w

“It is after a fashion moral in tone, even religious, as is apparently, the writer’s character; it is reticent in political matters; and it is undeniably clever. With a little more pruning Mrs Asquith’s ‘Autobiography’ might have been a valuable and innocent record of a memorable society and an interesting period; as it stands, it is a scandal. Not, as we have said, for moral reasons in the narrower sense of the word, but for its wanton disregard of reticence and decorum.”

+ − Review 3:623 D 22 ’20 1000w

“The fascination of the book lies in its bold defiance of British literary and social tradition, and its studied departure from the conventional.”

+ R of Rs 63:109 Ja ’21 90w

“A book, particularly one written on some of the first figures in the country, should have some solid worth, and represent some substantial judgment. Mrs Asquith prides herself on saying exactly what she likes, on writing exactly what she thinks; but the result is not often judicious, nor of any importance, except as a tribute to the taste of the age.”

− Sat R 130:418 N 20 ’20 880w

“In spite of the errors in taste, and of certain occasional breaks in a style quite admirable when its purpose is considered, the book justifies those who have declared it to be ‘a true piece of literature’ with all that such words import.”

+ − Spec 125:598 N 6 ’20 3000w

“This autobiography is a revealing as well as an amazing book. The toes on which it treads are all English. Americans may not approve entirely of its material and its bumptious method, but they still find in it much significance and a great deal of entertainment.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p8a D 5 ’20 1350w

“Mrs Asquith has moved through great scenes; but the motion is a flitting, rather than an act of spiritual observation, and therefore when she sits down to recall her impression, it is apt to lack both sharpness and refinement.”

− Springf’d Republican p8 D 18 ’20 650w (Reprinted from London Nation)

“She is not well equipped for the panoramic display of the outer world, and the remarkable fulness of her opportunity in that direction is largely wasted. Mrs Asquith is no story-teller, it is not her line; she lacks the seeing eye and the vivifying phrase. And yet she elects to write a book that is all storytelling, all an attempt to reproduce the brilliant phantasmagoria in which she has lived.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p716 N 4 ’20 2200w

ASTON, SIR GEORGE GREY. Memories of a marine, an amphibiography. il *$5 Dutton

(Eng ed 20–8797)

“This volume is in autobiographic form and while it does not pretend to be a complete story of the author’s life it is written along autobiographic lines. The writer gives us some account of his subaltern days, when he was a student and then a budding naval officer. Then he recalls the period of the disturbances in Ireland and the Phœnix park murders. But he soon leaves this region for the East. It is the pleasant side of naval service that he shows us. After this sea experience, the writer tells of his transfer to the admiralty office in London and his experiences. He gives an agreeable account of Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in 1887, at which the German Crown Prince Frederick, father of the recent Kaiser, was a conspicuous figure. Then, in 1889, Sir George though not then knighted—had an experience at the staff college. Then, later, there were some vigorous experiences to record in connection with the war in South Africa.”—Boston Transcript

“The book is one to be read with enjoyment and interest.”

+ Ath p1243 N 21 ’19 120w

“Sir George throughout his narrative is chatty, never tedious or prolix and intersperses his story with frequent anecdotes, which are always fresh and well told.”

+ Boston Transcript p4 S 4 ’20 450w + Brooklyn 12:132 My ’20 40w + Sat R 128:563 D 13 ’19 1200w

“Altogether, he has given us an exceedingly attractive addition to the literature of reminiscence.”

+ Spec 124:460 Ap 3 ’20 1650w + The Times [London] Lit Sup p638 N 13 ’19 750w

ATHEARN, WALTER SCOTT. National system of education. (Merrick lectures) *$1.50 Doran 377

20–4029

“Professor Athearn frankly states that the church cannot ask the state to teach religion, but the church can teach religion at odd hours during the week and on Sunday. The church can and must organize and administrate a national system of religious education that will parallel and correlate with the national secular system which is in process of formation at the present time. He regards the Smith-Towner bill as a large step in the direction of a unified, national, secular system of education, and accepts it as a challenge to the educational leadership of the church to produce a program which will be equally scientific, equally democratic, and equally prophetic. His discussion of national control, or direction, of a system of secular and religious education is extremely worth while at this, the most critical, time in the history of education in the United States.” (School R) “Bibliography on educational organization and administration.” (Booklist)

Reviewed by J. A. Artman

+ Am J Soc 26:240 S ’20 220w + Booklist 16:260 My ’20 + El School J 20:633 Ap ’20 180w St Louis 18:217 S ’20 70w

“Timely and vital book.”

+ School R 28:392 My ’20 400w

ATTLEE, CLEMENT RICHARD. Social worker. *$2.50 Macmillan 360

20–19448

“‘The social service library,’ of which this is the first volume, is issued under the ægis of the University of London Ratan Tata department of social science and administration. The subjects dealt with in order, each subject being treated under certain general sub-headings, are Social service and citizenship, Charities (these are classified, and one section discusses Waste and over-lapping), Organization, Social service in conjunction with central and governing authorities, the Qualifications and training of the social worker (a talk on the subject which would be of great value to all entering on social work), Religious agencies, The settlement movement (one of the subheads is, The school mission), Varieties of social worker; and there is an instructive chapter at the end on The social service of the working classes (The friendly society—The trade union—The cooperative society—The working men’s club—self-education).”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

Ath p428 Mr 26 ’20 90w Cleveland p92 O ’20 20w

“It is written in a philosophical spirit and with close-hand knowledge of the subject. Although its descriptions of the various agencies is based on British material, the book as a whole is bound to be useful for the American social worker and student of social problems.” J. H. T.

+ Int J Ethics 31:117 O ’20 90w

“The book is full, racily written, and made alive with interesting first-hand illustration.”

+ Nature 106:498 D 16 ’20 350w

“To an American social worker possibly the chief interest of the book is the philosophy of the author. He reflects a modern faith in the power of the community as such to deal with the conditions that menace social welfare.” P. R. Lee

+ Survey 44:731 S 15 ’20 1200w

“The book is a singularly thoughtful and instructive study of a subject in which a widely interested public really needs well-considered guidance.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p175 Mr 11 ’20 320w

AUDOUX, MARGUERITE. Marie Claire’s workshop; tr. by F. S. Flint. *$2 (3½c) Seltzer

21–759

“Marie-Claire,” to which “Marie Claire’s workshop” is a sequel, was published in 1911. Marie Claire is now employed as a seamstress in a workshop in Paris, and the book describes her life and work there, with character studies of her shopmates. Monsieur and Madame Dalignac are the kindly proprietors and they are portrayed vividly as are Sandrine and Bouledogue and Duretour and her lover and Gabielle and the others. There is also Clement, Madame Dalignac’s nephew, who wishes to make Marie Claire his wife. The strain of working against time to fill a promised order, the monotony of the dull season when there is no work, the everyday contact of the girls, all enter into the picture.

“Very simple and very real, told with sympathy, grace and a fine, sure artistry, this picture of ‘Marie Claire’s workshop’ is a most appealing book.”

+ N Y Times p20 N 21 ’20 640w

“In short, this is a special type of realism, and the cumulative effect of it ... recalls as its nearest parallel, not prose but verse, Hood’s ‘Song of the shirt.’” Calvin Winter

+ Pub W 98:1195 O 16 ’20 280w

“This is a book for gentle souls; although it is too deeply human for the ingenuous.” A. G. H. Spiers

+ Review 4:59 Ja 19 ’21 1100w

“Possesses all the qualities of its forerunner, truth, serenity, freshness, keen observation, united with a deeper understanding of human nature and an even wider sympathy.”

+ Spec 125:708 N 27 ’20 540w The Times [London] Lit Sup p685 O 21 ’20 30w

AULT, NORMAN. Dreamland shores. il *$3 Dodd 821

Poems for children with such titles as My dog, Clouds, Ducks, Pirate gold, The wind, The weathercock, The magic garden, Seasons, Noah’s ark, The moon’s adventure, The clock-man, Travels, A castle in the air, Tree-top. There are six colored plates and other illustrations by the author.

AUMONIER, STACY. One after another. *$2 Macmillan

20–15345

“Success jostles failure in the pages of Mr Aumonier’s latest novel. His hero is his own biographer, and we follow him through a picturesque childhood, along a divergent manhood, and into a more or less ebullient middleage. When the end of the story, but not the end of his life, is reached, we find that after adverse beginnings he has become a prosperous business man, whose temperamental sister has caused him more trouble than any of his own emotions, that he has been twice a happily wedded husband, that he is the loving father of a very desirable daughter, and the expectant grandfather of a child whose father has sacrificed himself to the god of battle in the great war. Except for that single episode near the end of the story, the chronicle has to do with the ways of national, if not individual peace.”—Boston Transcript

“It is rich and poor, cold and hot, dull and deeply interesting. But the impression of the whole is of something which has just not succeeded.” K. M.

+ − Ath p702 My 28 ’20 470w

“Readers who care for presentation of character rather than for plot, will like this, though some describe it as tedious. Not for the small library.”

+ − Booklist 17:156 Ja ’21

“Although his theme and the form of his story are conventional, Mr Aumonier has written in ‘One after another’ an unusual novel.” E. F. E.

+ Boston Transcript p6 S 8 ’20 1400w

“‘One after another,’ though reminiscent of Butler and Bennett, is of the very recent type, the vegetable school, that deals pleasantly with mediocrity at its best.”

+ − Dial 59:663 D ’20 70w

“By this sharp definition of the generations blended with his brooding sense of life’s fundamental continuance, Mr Aumonier has made his book as suggestive as it is entertaining and as philosophical as it is concrete.” L. L.

+ Nation 111:sup428 O 13 ’20 320w

“The novel is one whose appeal will be to those who care for style and thought rather than for plot and incident. It is a better book than ‘The Querrils.’”

+ N Y Times p23 S 19 ’20 650w

“Naturally the interest is of the quiet rather than of the exciting order, but the situations are well thought out and the human interest and humor of sound quality.”

+ Outlook 126:333 O 20 ’20 90w

“Here is something to be read by both the new generation and the old, for it links them together, with a fine understanding of both.” D. W. Webster

+ Pub W 98:661 S 18 ’20 240w

“The development of the narrator’s character is, to our mind, particularly well done—a very difficult task, and taken altogether the author more than justifies the high opinion we hold of his abilities.”

+ Sat R 130:40 Jl 10 ’20 90w

“The book tends more to reflection than to entertainment, and is considerably above the usual run of modern novels.”

+ Spec 125:408 S 25 ’20 280w

“Mr Aumonier in this work, while displaying a good deal of keenness alike of observation and thought, fails in the essential task of creating people that impress us as individual and significant. Mr Aumonier’s touch, however, is incisive and dramatic. And, in intention at least, he is not commonplace.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 240w

“The scenes are described with the ability which ‘The Querrils’ showed Mr Aumonier to possess; but the book is less carefully constructed, and the sense of incomplete finality which marred the effect of the earlier novel in this one is more obtrusive. Mr Aumonier studies situations rather than characters, and in contriving a situation with a climax that is dramatic but not ‘stagey’ he has a particular skill. At the same time, the book has a tendency to fall into vaguely connected episodes, while the characters approximate too closely to collections of impersonal attributes.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p351 Je 3 ’20 430w

AUSTIN, MARY (HUNTER) (MRS STAFFORD W. AUSTIN). No. 26 Jayne street. *$2 (2½c) Houghton

20–9713

The action of the story takes place in the year after America’s entrance into the war. Neith Schuyler, the heroine, has lived abroad with an invalid father for a number of years, and following his death has done relief work in France. She returns home hoping to learn to understand America. To come nearer to the problem she leaves the luxurious home of her two great aunts and takes a modest apartment on Jayne street, just off Washington square. Here she comes into contact with many shades of radical opinion and contrasts it with the “capitalistic” attitude of her own family and friends. Two men fall in love with Neith, Eustace Bittenhouse, an aviator, and Adam Frear, a labor leader. She becomes engaged to Adam and then learns that there has been another woman in his life, Rose Matlock, one of the radical group. The attitude of the two women, who represent the new feminism, puzzles Adam and he leaves for Russia. Eustace is killed in France and Neith is left to grope her way into the future alone.

“Rather obscure and vague in some places, it will not have many readers.”

+ − Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20

“Both in subject and in treatment, Mrs Austin’s work discloses its kinship to the social novel of Wells.”

+ Dial 69:432 O ’20 60w

“Mrs Austin’s is a sincere and intelligent handling of an intricate subject. Owing to her careful consideration and presentation of the attitudes of her characters the book moves slowly, but it is easy to feel the dynamic forces behind it.” H. S. G.

+ Freeman 1:597 S 1 ’20 680w

“Her attempt is original and subtle and its subtlety of presentation is heightened by the fact that, before writing this story, Mrs Austin seems to have steeped herself in Henry James.” Ludwig Lewisohn

+ Nation 110:827 Je 19 ’20 550w

“One should not chide Mrs Austin too much for her somewhat blurred vision of the surface, since the greatness of her work lies in the much rarer faculty, which she possesses, of being able to focus on the inner significances.” J. C. L.

+ − New Repub 24:151 O 6 ’20 900w

“It gives you no more idea of conditions among New York radicals than do the New York newspapers. The story moves slowly and uninterestingly.” Henrietta Malkiel

− N Y Call p11 Jl 25 ’20 1000w

“The novel which is written primarily for some purpose outside itself is a novel which from the beginning is heavily handicapped. Usually the characters tend, in such instances, to become mere mouthpieces to express such divergent views as the author may wish to have uttered, and its situations are likely to descend into the condition of mere obvious illustrations. Mrs Austin’s new novel, ‘No. 26 Jayne street,’ has escaped none of these dangers. The book is very long, more than a little intricate, and at times profound.”

− + N Y Times 25:271 My 23 ’20 850w + Outlook 125:431 Je 30 ’20 50w

“Earnestness and background and an adroit hand belong to it, but all its data, its types, its ‘ideas’ are recognizable and timely. Its style may easily be called admirable. But its art conceals nothing. You do not lay down the book with the feeling that it is a big interpretation effortlessly embodied in its predestined form.” H. W. Boynton

− + Review 3:73 Jl 21 ’20 1050w

AUTOBIOGRAPHY of a Winnebago Indian, ed. by Paul Radin. (Publications in American archaeology and ethnology) pa $1 Univ. of Cal. 970.2

A20–741

“‘The autobiography of a Winnebago Indian’ is edited with explanatory notes by Paul Radin. A middle-aged Winnebago called ‘S. B.,’ who belongs to a prominent family of the tribe and has had typical experiences, relates them in considerable detail and with great candor. He tells of his youthful amusements and fasts, of his courting and his many affairs with women, of his various travels, of his time spent with shows and circuses, of his term in prison charged with murder, of his conversion to the peyote rite and of his subsequent visions of Earthmaker (God). The narrative extraordinarily adumbrates customs and sentiments which have almost always been studied from the outside but which here have the most intimate ring of actuality.”—Nation

“A human document of extraordinary value alike for the ethnologist, the psychologist, and the lay reader.” R. H. Lowie

+ Freeman 1:334 Je 16 ’20 880w

“As ethnology the account is of great value, and merely as general reading it is highly delectable.”

+ Nation 111:164 Ag 7 ’20 40w

AYRES, LEONARD PORTER.[^[2]] Index number for state school systems. 75c Russell Sage foundation 379

20–11840

“In ‘An index number for state school systems,’ Dr Ayres finds a single number which expresses the average of ‘ten different measures of the diffusion, the quantity, and the quality of the public education received by the children’ of the several states. The ten measures averaged into the index are: (1) the per cent of school population attending school daily; (2) average days attended by each child of school age: (3) average number of days schools were kept open; (4) per cent that high-school attendance was of total attendance; (5) per cent that boys were of girls in high schools; (6) average annual expenditure per child attending; (7) average annual expenditure per child of school age; (8) average annual expenditure per teacher employed; (9) expenditure per pupil for purposes other than teachers’ salaries: and (10) expenditure per teacher for salaries. The publication includes tables giving the index numbers of the several states for the census years since 1890 and for 1918, the resulting ranks of the states at the several periods, the correlation between the several items and the final index, and the correlation between the average of the five items that are based on attendance and the average of the five that are based on expenditure.”—School R

School R 28:709 N ’20 420w Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 360w + Survey 44:495 Jl 3 ’20 190w

AYRES, RUBY MILDRED. Richard Chatterton, V. C. il *$1.75 Watt

20–1371

“One fails to fathom the reason why handsome, indifferent Richard Chatterton, jilted as a slacker by millionairess Sonia, should extort an iron-clad promise from a nice old gentleman, never to tell of his departure as a private in the Blank brigade to France where he chums with his own valet and performs the double deed of heroism which wins him the most coveted of English decorations. One word of that and Sonia would never have thrown herself into the artful arms of his false friend Montague. When unavoidable evidence jams upon her slow credence the facts about Richard, she sees him in London, invalided home, and insane jealousy of his pretty nurse makes her conduct still more complicated. Later, the mistaken report of the hero’s death, the showing up of the villain in lurid tints and Sonia’s abrupt disappearance, get things into a grand tangle. The lovers show a genius for miscomprehension that keeps the action going strong until the pallid convalescent is accidentally discovered by Sonia in a convenient sitting-room, where fate and the author have to get behind the two and push them into each other’s arms.”—Pub W

“The triteness of the story is unrelieved by any felicity of style; this is the sort of novel dashed off in a hurry to meet an uncritical demand.”

− N Y Times 25:287 My 30 ’20 260w

“There are vivid scenes of departing troops, trench warfare and base hospitals, contrasted with gay glimpses of London society and country life. And pleasant is the mellow romance of the plump chaperone and the ‘God bless my soul’ old family friend—they at least have the saving grace of humor.” Katherine Perry

+ Pub W 97:177 Ja 17 ’20 300w

AYSCOUGH, JOHN, pseud. (BP. FRANCIS BROWNING DREW BICKERSTAFFE-DREW). Abbotscourt. $2 (2c) Kenedy

(Eng ed 20–8732)

This is preeminently a story of human kindness with enough of harshness in it to throw the kindly people and their doings into relief. The two sides of the picture are represented by two branches of the same family: the clerical, younger son side in spiritual and worldly prosperity throughout successive generations; and the baronet side in as steady degeneration. At last there is a reversion to type in Eleanor, the physically and mentally sound and beautiful daughter of the ramshackle Sir Anthony Abbot of Abbotspark, whom the Rev. Thomas Abbot of Abbotscourt heroically resolves to adopt into his family on her father’s death. The story revolves around poor Eleanor’s plight as a misfit both in the vicar’s family, surrounded by kindness, and in her dissolute brother’s house, exposed to his low designs. To escape both she flees into an unknown world and when her trials have reached their climax a veritable conspiracy of kindness and good will bring her back to life and love.

“The story is a vivid picture, drawn with the author’s customary skill, of provincial social life in ecclesiastical circles and interest is well-maintained.”

+ Ath p1168 N 7 ’19 100w

“There is something delicately feminine about John Ayscough’s handling of his theme, his humor, his almost imperceptible irony. ‘Abbotscourt’ cannot be called a great book, nor would its author claim such a distinction for it. But it is worth reading for its style, its purity, and for that fragrance as of lavender and old lace which permeates its pages.”

+ Cath World 112:258 N ’20 220w + Cleveland p105 D ’20 80w Spec 123:819 D 13 ’19 60w

“It is worth dwelling on the method of approach to the characters; it differs so greatly from much that passes for character drawings now. It is open perhaps to a smile here and a shrug there, but it is supported nevertheless upon a basis of thought which though delicate is secure.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p629 N 6 ’19 580w

AYUSAWA, IWAO FREDERICK. International labor legislation. (Columbia univ. studies in history, economics, and public law) pa *$2 Longmans 331

20–18736

“This book traces the origin and development of international labor legislation from the time of Owen (1818), with chapters on progress toward international agreements (1890–1900), labor conferences and treaties (1900–1913) and the labor development of the world war. Part 2 deals with the difficulties in international labor legislation and Part 3 with the Washington conference of 1919 including a summary of the discussion of the eight-hour day and the employment of women and children.”—Am Econ R

Am Econ R 10:839 D ’20 70w

“The assembled material will be useful to the student in the field of labor, even though he may be puzzled by several indefinite references and by some errors (possibly typographical).” Amy Hewes

+ − Am Hist R 26:361 Ja ’21 310w

Reviewed by J: B. Andrews

+ Survey 45:287 N 20 ’20 180w

B

BABSON, ROGER WARD. Central American journey. (Interamerican geographical readers) il $1.20 (3c) World bk. 917.28

20–4903

This is the story of the Carroll family in their travels through Central America—an attempt to combine in the form of a story for children and an account of travel, certain information on our commercial relations with our southern neighbors. Its aim is to teach children that, in the process of linking nation with nation the world over, friendly trade relations contain the romance of the immediate future, that they imply human relations, fair dealing, and honorable business standards. Among the contents are: Castles in New Spain; The gateway of the world; The great waterway; On the trail of Columbus; A plantation in Costa Rica; Mules and mountain trails; The ancient land of Nicaragua; The wonders of a wilderness; The treasure of San Juancito; The small republic of Salvador. The book has an index and many illustrations.

Booklist 17:120 D ’20 + N Y Evening Post p2 My 1 ’20 250w

BABSON, ROGER WARD.[^[2]] Fundamentals of prosperity; what they are and whence they come. *$2 Revell 174

20–20936

“In this book the statistician of Wellesley Hills holds that we must look to religion and not to modern efficiency methods to insure national prosperity. He contends that down to this hour, mankind (or humanity—or the world at large) has lost its way, chiefly because of its refusal to accept the golden rule as the basis of true living.”—Springf’d Republican

“It is a courageous book, inspired by an unshakable faith in the pricelessness of character, filled with wholesome advice to business men, and garnished with anecdotes that would be equally appropriate at a meeting of the stock exchange and a dinner party.”

+ N Y Evening Post p8 N 6 ’20 190w

“It is a business man’s call to business to change its aim, a sermon of a high order of eloquence that if heeded would change the course of civilization.”

+ Springf’d Republican p6 D 13 ’20 200w

BABSON, ROGER WARD. W. B. Wilson and the Department of labor. *$2 Brentano’s 353

20–1493

“The present head of the Department of labor at Washington has had the kind of life history that is often described as ‘typically American,’ but it happens that he was born and passed his childhood days in Scotland. He was taken from school at the age of eight and sent to the mines. As he grew up he worked as a common laborer, iron miner, locomotive fireman, lumber-jack, log-driver, farmer, and union organizer. He was sent to Congress from Pennsylvania for three terms, and when the Department of labor was created he became by President Wilson’s appointment the first Secretary of labor. All this and much more is told in the present volume by Roger W. Babson, the statistician, who was himself formerly chief of the Information service of the Department of labor. Mr Babson’s book describes and analyzes the machinery and policy of the department.”—R of Rs

+ Am Econ R 10:363 Je ’20 80w Booklist 17:28 O ’20 + Cleveland p77 Ag ’20 60w

“A well-constructed and interesting biography.”

+ N Y Times p30 Ag 1 ’20 160w

“It is a little hard to tell where Babson begins and Wilson leaves off, for the biographer has not been quite able to play the part of Boswell to his Johnson.” J. E. Le Rossignol

+ − Review 2:333 Ap 3 ’20 420w R of Rs 61:334 Mr ’20 150w Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 6 ’20 290w

“Mr Babson has both succeeded and failed. He has done effectively what he set out to do. He has failed to do the much greater thing, such for example, as that which Graham Wallas has accomplished in his life of Francis Place. In a word, his book is not a biography insofar as biography is an art.” W. L. C.

+ − Survey 44:89 Ap 10 ’20 600w

BACON, FRANK. Lightnin’; after the play of the same name by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon. il *$1.75 (3c) Harper

20–4438

A novel made from a popular play of the same name in which Mr Bacon has been playing the title part. Lightnin’ Bill Jones, so-called because it doesn’t describe him, is a gentle, genial old humorist who keeps a hotel in Calivada, on the California-Nevada line. In fact the state line runs thru the house, so that divorcees wishing to obtain the advantages of the easy divorce laws of one state might do so and at the same time enjoy the privileges of a California resort. Two land sharks, who for reasons of their own, wish to get control of the property, talk Bill’s wife and adopted daughter into their scheme, and then, unable to win Bill’s consent, persuade the wife to get a divorce. But their plans are foiled, and Bill with his genius for “fixing” things also brings about a happy ending to the love romance of two young people.

Booklist 16:280 My ’20

“The pathos and humor of the play seem dry and forced in the story. Still the charm of old ‘Lightnin’ Bill’ Jones stands to some extent.”

+ − Boston Transcript p4 Ap 21 ’20 220w

“The author continually insists that Jones is a ‘lovable character,’ but to the reader he seems no more than a lazy, shiftless, old drunkard, who looks to his wife and daughter for sustenance. Mr Bacon does not succeed in freeing the narrative from the atmosphere of the footlights.”

− Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w

BACON, SIR REGINALD HUGH SPENCER. Dover patrol, 1915–1917. 2v il *$10 (4½c) Doran 940.45

19–19869

“At Dover during 1915, 1916 and 1917, more operations were initiated and carried out than under any naval command since the wars at the beginning of last century.” (Preface) The author enumerates his reasons for writing the book: to write while memory is still accurate; to fill the need for an adequate account of the work of the Dover patrol; to contradict the untrue statements of the press anent his dismissal. Contents of volume 1: Historical; The ships of the Dover patrol; Matters of strategy; Coastal bombardments; The work of the trawlers and paddle mine-sweepers; The Belgian coast, its patrol and barrages; Landing the guns on the Belgian coast; A proposed attack on Ostend; Preparations for a great landing; Plans for blocking Zeebrugge and Ostend; The control and protection of traffic. Contents of volume 2: The incomparable sixth flotilla; The downs and merchant shipping; The barrages in the channel; The drifters and their tasks; The French coast; C.M.B.’s, M.L.’s, submarines and smoke; Operations; The air services of the Dover patrol; Dover harbour and dockyard; Epilogue; Appendixes; Index. Each volume is abundantly illustrated and supplied with charts and diagrams.

“An important contribution from the standpoint of historical truth.”

+ Booklist 16:273 My ’20

“As a question of strategy one of the most interesting parts of the book is that dealing with the plans drawn for a joint army and navy effort to turn the enemy out of his Belgian bases.” C. C. Gill

+ Bookm 51:477 Je ’20 1700w

“Admiral Bacon’s book has in it much matter for the layman and much for the expert. For that reason it is more shapeless than have been many books written about the war. For that reason also, it is a truer presentment of the conditions obtaining.” Muriel Harris

+ Nation 110:657 My 15 ’20 750w + Outlook 126:768 D 29 ’20 6Ow

“For this lucid and sailor-like account of an essential service Admiral Bacon deserves praise.”

+ Review 3:707 Jl 7 ’20 1400w

“This notable book wavers a little between treatise and narrative, but it is well worth reading all the same. A certain sense of grievance animates Sir Reginald Bacon’s pages. But it only obtrudes itself here and there, for instance, in a tendency to belittle the method of Admiral Keyes’s attack on Zeebrugge.”

+ Sat R 128:sup13 N 29 ’19 1050w

“Sir Reginald Bacon’s detailed narrative of the Dover patrol is a well-written and highly interesting book, which will rank with Lord Jellicoe’s history of the grand fleet among the chief authorities on the naval side of the war.”

+ Spec 123:582 N 1 ’19 1600w

“It is a striking and interesting narrative, gracefully related, with a thousand sidelights on this little-known field of naval operations.”

+ Springf’d Republican p6 Je 21 ’20 720w

“The 633 pages of ‘The Dover patrol’ are crowded with statements of fact, criticisms not indeed of persons (for, apart from his official enemy, and vague indications of contradicting sinners, Admiral Bacon is generous in his tone to his colleagues and subordinates), but of principles and the methods of the art of war at sea. Admiral Bacon sometimes writes expressly for the professional reader, but he remembers the little knowledge of most of us, avoids pedantry, and has a respectable share of the blessed faculty for making things clear.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p599 O 30 ’19 2150w + Yale R n s 10:437 Ja ’21 270w

BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH. Scoutmastership. *$1.50 Putnam 369.4

20–26747

This “handbook for scoutmasters on the theory of scout training” is the American edition of the author’s book on British scout training with a few alterations by way of adaptation. Its arguments are elaborations on the four main principles on which, according to the author, scout training is based, and which require of the scoutmaster that “(1) He must have the boy spirit in him; and must be able to place himself on a right plane with his pupils as a first step; (2) He must realize the psychology of the different ages of boy life; (3) He must deal with the individual pupil rather than with the mass; and (4) He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his individuals to gain the best results.” After the introductory exposition of these principles the contents are: How to train the boy; Character; Health and physical development; Making a career; Service for others; Reconstruction; The education act and the Boy scout; The attitude of labour towards scouting; Be ye prepared; Appendix.

“A readable handbook.”

+ Booklist 17:9 O ’20 + Review 3:215 S 8 ’20 80w

BAFF, WILLIAM E. Inventions, their development, purchase and sale. *$2 Van Nostrand 608

20–6991

“This book is essentially a manual on the marketing of inventions.... In its broader aspect it is a book on business policy and is sent out on its mission of enlightening inventors and others about plans by the aid of which inventions may be profitably exploited.... The problems discussed are the manufacturers’ problems as well as those of the individual inventor.” (Preface) Among the subjects covered are: Value and price of patents; Gauging the merits of an invention; Developing inventions; The market for inventions; Patents as property; Inventor and capitalist; Elementary contract laws. The final chapter consists of Suggestions from the author on every phase of selling inventions. There is an index.

“It should prove of essential service to the inventor who is about to market his ideas.”

+ N Y Evening Post p15 My 8 ’20 250w

BAILEY, CAROLYN SHERWIN. Broad stripes and bright stars. (For the children’s hour ser.) il $1.50 (3½c) Bradley, M. 973

19–13373