Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1917 Books (continued 2)
Reading edition
+ — The Times [London] Lit Sup p341 Jl 19 ‘17 1350w
ANDREYEV, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH. Confessions of a little man during great days; tr. from the Russian by R. S. Townsend. *$1.35 Knopf 17-26393
“The book is just the quite shameless confession of a little clerk who gets no nearer the war than Petrograd, a futile, stupid, fussy, egoistic, but affectionate, sensitive, and somehow lovable little man of forty-five, with but one heroic quality, his honesty—at least to himself; he does not spare himself when he writes the diary that no one is to see. ... He wins your sympathy, from a fellow-feeling, and he keeps it, even when he is worrying about himself and his miserable digestion and his neglected state while his fine wife goes nursing, even when the smallness of his life makes him most ridiculous. ... Again when he decides to go to the front and serve with the ambulance you believe that he will go and somehow play his little part.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Registers his revolt against war, his gradual patriotic awakening and finally his desire to help. Will appeal to many Americans now entering upon similar experiences.”
+ A L A Bkl 13:448 Jl ‘17
+ Boston Transcript p7 My 26 ‘17 220w
“Andreyev’s genius for analysis attains an intensity at times that is fairly hypnotic. ... But the analysis is not all. There are moments of great poetic freshness—pages of lyric beauty with accents exultant or despairing, as in the vivid pictures of springtime in Petrograd, or the moonlit city, still and mysterious and fearful, or the scene in the depot where the wounded soldiers arrive.”
+ Dial 62:527 Je 14 ‘17 280w
Pratt p50 O ‘17 20w
“This diary of a non-combatant increasingly touched by war is one of the most remarkable books the war has produced.”
+ Sat R 123:207 Mr 3 ‘17 720w
“There is no purpose or propaganda here. All Andreyeff wants is to be honest, and he leaves you to make what you like of it. ... This honesty is what makes the book so absorbing, that and two other things; first, the extraordinary skill with which, in the simplest words, Andreyeff creates his little man and the splendid wife and the jolly children and the rest; and secondly, the fact that Ilya Petrovitch Dementev is a universal type. Even a brief, terrible description of how some women were tortured by Turks—Andreyeff’s one lapse into the ghastly—cannot altogether dismay you, for even here there is more pity than horror.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p92 F 22 ‘17 950w
ANESAKI, MASAHARU. Nichiren, the Buddhist prophet. il *$1.25 Harvard univ. press 294 16-17131
“This study is a kind of foreword to the author’s forthcoming work on the ‘Religious and moral development of the Japanese.’ The teachings and influence of Nichiren have played a large part in the present religious attitude of the Japanese nation. He has been called the ‘Nietzsche of Japan.’ ... His teachings, which unified religion and ethics, rescued pure Buddhism from the contamination of spurious beliefs and restored it to the purity of its original high ideals and to the worship of one Buddha (Buddha Sakya-muni), the Lord of the universe. To the restored purity of the Buddhist faith can be traced—at least in part—the great vitality of the Japanese nation.”—R of Rs
“This sketch, written under the inspiration of Professor Royce and his own experiences as professor of Japanese literature and life at Harvard, will help to an understanding of Japan.”
+ A L A Bkl 13:196 F ‘17
Dial 63:411 O 25 ‘17 200w
+ Int J Ethics 27:403 Ap ‘17 70w
“Though he never converted the rulers of the land he gathered a considerable following and founded a sect which is to-day enjoying a notable revival. Nichiren, moreover, was not only a preacher, but a writer of real power, and Dr Anesaki has wisely given us many extracts from the ‘prophet’s’ essays and letters.”
+ Nation 104:24 Ja 4 ‘17 400w
“This brief, clear exposition of Nichiren’s personality and teachings is a distinct contribution to the literature of religious psychology and a clearly cut portrait of a man western scholars will indeed be glad to know.”
+ R of Rs 55:105 Ja ‘17 270w
“The author is professor of the science of religion at the Imperial university of Tokio.”
+ St Louis 15:94 Mr ‘17 15w
“Undoubtedly the most complete history of the thoughts and acts of this remarkable man that has ever been published in the English language.”
+ Springf’d Republican p17 Jl 8 ‘17 330w
Annual of new poetry, 1917. *5s Constable & co., London 821.08
“Thirty pages, and more, of this volume are occupied by ‘dramatic reveries’ from Mr Gibson’s ‘Livelihood.’ Seven other poets are included. Two, Mr Davies and Mr Drinkwater, furnish barely twenty pages between them. 15There remain Mr Sturge Moore and Mr R. C. Trevelyan, who contribute each a single long poem, Mr Robert Frost, Mr Gordon Bottomley, and Mr Edward Eastaway.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
Ath p309 Je ‘17 80w
“Perhaps the most interesting contributions to this volume are those by Edward Eastaway [Edward Thomas], whose poetic impulse was stimulated by the example of Robert Frost ... and who now lies dead on a French battlefield.” E: Garnett
Atlan 120:373 S ‘17 210w
“Mr Trevelyan’s drama is pretty enough but has none of the wit and brilliancy of his best work. ... Mr Gordon Bottomley contributes several beautiful little poems, all full of the pressure of life and death and of the greatness of to-day as coming out of yesterday and travelling to to-morrow. ... Mr Frost’s poems are just little bits of fact or incident which he has observed, sometimes more or less interesting, sometimes defiantly commonplace. ... Mr Eastaway is a real poet, with the truth in him. ... He has no instinct of selection. Several of his pieces here are not so much poems as notes out of which poems might have been made. But he has real imagination.”
+ — The Times [London] Lit Sup p151 Mr 29 ‘17 2000w
APUKHTIN, ALEKSIEI NIKOLAEVICH. From death to life; tr. from the original by R. Frank and E: Huybers. il 60c R. Frank, 15 E. 40th st., N.Y. 17-15469
“This first volume in the Gems of Russian literature series is a little book of sixty-odd pages containing a novelette by A. Apukhtin, Russian poet and novelist, who died in middle age a quarter of a century ago. The novelette might be called an essay in reincarnation, for it chronicles in the first person the thoughts and emotions of a man, a member of the Russian nobility, from the moment of his death until, on the day of his funeral, his individuality enters life again in the new-born infant of his wife’s maid. This brief shadow time is filled with intimations of previous existences which waver in and out through the dead man’s consciousness of what is going on around him, and it is ended by a passionate longing for life which fills him as his soul is born again into the body of the infant just entering the world.”—N Y Times
“The extravagance of the central idea in no way detracts from one’s enjoyment of the piece. The prose is simple and direct—and the images are poetic.”
+ Dial 63:282 S 27 ‘17 150w
“Such a trifle might seem memorable if stumbled on or more humbly presented, but for the first of a number of Gems of Russian literature it is scarce more glowing than artful glass.”
– + New Repub 13:192 D 15 ‘17 160w
“The eerie conceit is told with such simplicity and sincerity that it carries the air of absolute truth.”
+ N Y Times 22:260 Jl 8 ‘17 300w
ARCHER, WILLIAM, comp. Gems (?) of German thought. *$1.25 Doubleday 940.91 17-15965
Extracts from over eighty books and pamphlets, of which the full titles and dates of publication are given in every instance, showing, “the dominant characteristics of German mentality,” and arranged under the headings: “Deutschland über alles”; German ambitions; War-worship; Ruthlessness; Machiavelism; England, France, and Belgium—especially England. Mr Archer states in his introduction that the great majority of the quotations are taken direct from the original sources, and adds that “it will be found by anyone who puts the matter to the test that in no case is there any unfairness in taking these brief extracts out of their context. The context is almost always an aggravating rather than an extenuating circumstance.” There is an “Index of books and pamphlets from which quotations are made,” and an “Index of authors,” with brief notes placing the different writers in the public life of Germany.
A L A Bkl 14:17 O ‘17
Ath p411 Ag ‘17 70w
Reviewed by H. M. Kallen
Dial 63:264 S 27 ‘17 1300w
Nation 105:153 Ag 9 ‘17 330w
“Mr Archer has done an important service, as ingenious as it is real, to the cause of truth and of sober realization of the fundamental causes of the great world war by the compilation of this volume.”
+ N Y Times 22:247 Jl 1 ‘17 870w
R of Rs 56:325 S ‘17 140w
“It is unnecessary to insist upon Mr Archer’s qualifications for the task. As a literary and dramatic critic he has always been distinguished for independence, honesty, and a remarkable freedom from all insular bias. ... And his knowledge of continental literature is based upon first-hand acquaintance with the originals. The method he has adopted in this book is what might be expected from so well equipped and conscientious a writer.”
+ Spec 118:672 Je 16 ‘17 1700w
“They are meant to amuse us—as they do, except when we stop to reflect that a certain blindness in the German mind, which they exemplify, and which is much more a lack of humor than of humanity, has been a trait that helped to make the war possible.”
Springf’d Republican p17 Jl 1 ‘17 520w
ARCHER, WILLIAM. God and Mr Wells; a critical examination of “God, the invisible king.” *$1 Knopf (*1s 9d Watts & co., London) 201 17-24674
“Mr Archer is concerned about what the men of the future may think of Mr Wells, and accordingly writes what is certainly a witty and exhilarating, and the publisher calls a ‘complete and crushing,’ rejoinder. ... The critic’s point of view is that of the grave and respectful rationalist, who believes in the tendency of human progress towards good, but declines to be persuaded, by what he regards as ‘a mere system of nomenclature,’ into the belief that Mr Wells has found a new religion, a new God—in other words, the ‘key to the mystery of existence.’”—Ath
“As a literary effort, Mr Archer’s book is clearer, more humorous, and much more convincing than the book that evoked it. We say this without intending any adjudication on the issues at stake.”
Ath p406 Ag ‘17 130w
Reviewed by W: L. Phelps
* Bookm 46:723 F ‘18 950w
“Not much is left of Mr Wells’s glowingly imaginative creation after Mr Archer has devoted a hundred searching pages to its consideration but a large number of brightly colored shreds and tatters. Mr Archer has enjoyed himself very much in the making of them and the reader has equally enjoyed the process. But Mr Archer has not been simply destructive. As he goes along, and in a score or more of pages at the end, he modestly outlines a basis for man’s attitude toward the mystery of the universe and of himself that is austere almost to grimness but is simple, manful, and reasonable.”
+ N Y Times 22:368 S 30 ‘17 750w
Pittsburgh 22:769 N ‘17 80w
“In the latter part of his book Mr Archer extends his criticism from Mr Wells’s theology to Christian theology, and then he strikes us as no less ineffectual, because no less ignorant, and considerably less amusing, than Mr Wells when similarly engaged.”
— Spec 118:92 Jl 28 ‘17 550w
“Mr Archer is, it seems, an agnostic, and the destructive force of his Scottish intellect makes havoc with Mr Wells’s confident and bustling attempt to discover a God in the universe.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 O 1 ‘17 910w
16ARMSTRONG, HAMILTON FISH, ed.[2] Book of New York verse. il *$2.50 Putnam 811.08
An anthology of New York verse, fittingly introduced and concluded with selections from Walt Whitman and celebrating both the ancient glories and the modern beauties of the city. The early poems in the collection are arranged in order of events. We have: Verrazano in New York harbour; Hudson’s last voyage; Epitaph for Peter Stuyvesant; When Broadway was a country road, etc. The later poems are arranged loosely by locality: Central park; Brooklyn bridge; Washington square; Broadway. Among the modern poets represented are Sara Teasdale, Chester Firkins, Dana Burnet, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, James Oppenheim, and Edward Arlington Robinson. There are over sixty illustrations, many of them from interesting old prints.
+ — New Repub 13:322 Ja 12 ‘18 210w
“In spite of its considerable bulk, this book of New York verse is hardly ever monotonous. The whole possession of the city’s past is suggested in the earlier pages, and no reader will leave them without a keen appreciation of Manhattan nomenclature.”
+ N Y Times 23:6 Ja 6 ‘18 620w
ARNDT, WALTER TALLMADGE. Emancipation of the American city. *$1.50 (2½c) Duffield 352 17-18177
“Home rule appears to the author to be the first step toward a solution of the many problems of the modern city. Not only is the achievement of this step necessary to enable the city to direct its affairs in its own interest, but it is indispensable to the training of its citizens in moral self-direction. Concentration of business and political responsibility through commission government (or its equivalent), the short ballot, separation of local from national political issues, the substitution of independent for partisan tickets, an adequate and irreproachable civil service, the regulation and curtailment of public-utility franchises, the rationalization and standardization of the finance methods of the city within the limits at least of solvency—these are some of the most important reforms explained and urged.” (Dial) There are seven appendices dealing with city charters, preferential voting, etc., and a two page bibliography.
“In not a few paragraphs the language, whether of criticism or of praise, is stronger than a dispassionate analysis of the facts would support. Nevertheless the book will make an effective appeal to those who like to drink their potions of reform propaganda with some ginger mixed in it.”
+ — Am Pol Sci R 11:789 N ‘17 150w
“Careful and illuminating study of the principles underlying home rule.”
+ Boston Transcript p9 N 3 ‘17 130w
“The viewpoint of the author is decidedly sane and progressive, and the book may be trusted to hold the interest of the average reader.”
+ Dial 63:276 S 27 ‘17 200w
“One of the best recent studies and discussions of American municipal government in the present age of reform.”
+ Ind 92:108 O 13 ‘17 100w
“It might be said that Mr Arndt has made available in the most readable way all the best thought of the intelligent business class and their unconscious academic allies on municipal government reform. ... Here, it seems to me, lies the value of the book for us. It is a compact and handy guide to recent useful political inventions, some of which it will pay us well to appropriate for our own purpose. There is, however, abundant evidence in this work of an utter failure to understand the heaviest burdens to which our cities have fallen heir.” Evans Clark
+ — N Y Call p15 O 14 ‘17 1150w
“One would have welcomed a more detailed account of the beginnings of municipal reform in this country, with some comment on the pioneers of the movement.”
+ — R of Rs 56:327 S ‘17 160w
“The best field for the book is probably among those newly enfranchised women who desire a simple, straightforward account of current reform efforts as an aid in understanding public questions.” R. S. Childs
+ Survey 39:370 D 29 ‘17 180w
ARNOLD, SARAH LOUISE. Story of the Sargent industrial school at Beacon, New York, 1891-1916. il Sarah L. Arnold, Simmons college, Boston 640.7 A17-1514
An intimate account of the founding, growth and success of the Sargent industrial school at Beacon-on-Hudson. To establish a home school for girls, without an institutional aspect, where culture and refinement abound, where house-keeping and home-making are efficiently taught, where the community spirit is nourished—this was the original hope of the founder. She began her work in 1878 and from that time to the present has trained more than ten thousand girls. The program provides courses in sewing, dressmaking, embroidery, cooking, house-keeping, laundry work, physical training, singing and drawing. The influence of the school upon the community is a valuable aspect of Mrs Sargent’s success.
ARNOLD, THOMAS JACKSON. Early life and letters of General Thomas J. Jackson, “Stonewall” Jackson. il *$2 Revell 17-241
“From earliest childhood, Mr Arnold (who is a nephew of General Jackson) tells us, his memory is very clear as to the personal appearance of General Jackson, ‘and from that time forward I knew him quite well as a boy would know a man.’ ... In later years, Mr Arnold knew intimately General Jackson’s boyhood companions, and from them gathered much unpublished interesting information. In addition, he recently came into possession of more than one hundred letters from General Jackson’s private correspondence. Of all this material he has made good, judicious use, producing what seems to the reader to be a new, and certainly a true portrait of the famous Confederate chieftain.”—Lit D
“These evidences of Jackson’s growth and inner life are both enlightening and characteristic, although it must be said that they do not materially qualify the picture we have in Dabney’s ‘Life and campaigns’ or Henderson’s remarkable portrait of more recent years. Mr Arnold has done his part of the work well and acceptably, without parade or undue hero-worship.” W: E. Dodd
+ — Am Hist R 23:413 Ja ‘18 1150w
A L A Bkl 13:398 Je ‘17
Boston Transcript p8 Ja 31 ‘17 470w
“The domestic qualities of Stonewall Jackson are traced in a biography by his widow, the military qualities, in the standard biography by Henderson. Neither Mrs Jackson nor Henderson, however, was fully or accurately informed about the early life of the great soldier. Information regarding these formative years has been gathered carefully by Mr Thomas J. Arnold, Jackson’s nephew, and is now published. ... For those who would become thoroughly acquainted with either the exact details of Jackson’s life, or the fulness of his character, an acquaintance with Mr Arnold’s work is indispensable.”
+ Dial 62:250 Mr 22 ‘17 250w
“A somewhat new and very personal view of the Confederate leader.”
+ Ind 89:421 Mr 5 ‘17 160w
+ Lit D 54:260 F 3 ‘17 850w
R of Rs 55:216 F ‘17 80w
ARONOVICI, CAROL. Social survey. (Bu. for social research of the Seybert inst. of Philadelphia) il $1.25 (2½c) Harper press, 1012 Chancellor st., Philadelphia 309.1 16-17518
This work has been developed from a pamphlet that was published as Bulletin no. 20 of the department of social and public service of the American Unitarian association. Parts of the book have also appeared in newspapers and magazines. Its purpose is to suggest lines of inquiry for those contemplating a local survey. 17Contents: The meaning of the survey; General considerations; Character of the community; The city plan; Local government; Suffrage; Industry; Health; Leisure; Education; Welfare agencies; Crime; Statistical facts and the survey; Social legislation and the survey; The facts and the people; A social program. A list of Social agencies of national scope is given in an appendix and there is a bibliography of thirty-six pages.
“The volume gives evidence of rather hasty composition. Its workmanship is distinctly inferior to the grade which the writer has maintained in special articles. Current platitudes too frequently appear as substitutes for clear thinking. ... The book gives little or no evidence of any utilization of the numerous reports of social surveys. A noticeable deficiency is the absence of even a brief résumé of the social survey movement. The merits, rather than the deficiencies, of the book are likely to impress the majority of its readers. The section on housing is an exceptionally good piece of work. Well-selected charts provide striking illustrations. ... The bibliography is of service not only for its representative enumeration of surveys, but also for the classified selection of books. There is, however, no acknowledgment of the author’s evident indebtedness to the ‘Bibliography of the social survey,’ published by the Department of surveys and exhibits of the Russell Sage foundation.” E. W. Burgess
Am Econ R 7:424 Je ‘17 420w
“Based on the author’s wide experience as director of the Bureau for social research, Philadelphia, this book furnishes a good, usable text for civic clubs and classes or communities which are contemplating a survey.”
+ A L A Bkl 13:243 Mr ‘17
“Closes with an excellent bibliography.”
+ Cleveland p37 Mr ‘17 60w
“A useful introduction to the subject for the general reader, as well as a convenient manual of reference in regard to the important surveys already completed. The work is characterized thruout by an active appreciation of the value of facts as a guide to conduct, and of the value of vision in guiding research.”
+ Ind 90:217 Ap 28 ‘17 120w
“It is not a handbook for social surveyors, but it is a first-rate introduction for the average citizen to the problems of his community.” R. E. Park
+ — J Pol Econ 25:752 Jl ‘17 270w
N Y Br Lib News 4:8 Ja ‘17 50w
Pittsburgh 22:131 F ‘17 90w
St Louis 14:428 D ‘16
ARTSYBASHEV, MIKHAIL PETROVICH. Tales of the revolution; tr. by Percy Pinkerton. *$1.50 (1½c) Huebsch 17-26653
There are five stories in this book: Sheviriof; The blood-stain; Morning shadows; Pasha Tumanof; The doctor. All are stories of men and women who sacrificed themselves for the revolution. It appears a hopeless cause, in which a few helpless individuals hurl themselves in futile rebellion against an invincible power, but the stories, dark as they are, will be read with a different feeling now, when it is known that the sacrifice was not in vain.
A L A Bkl 14:25 O ‘17
“Characterized for the most part by a grim realism.”
Ath p253 My ‘17 10w
“This writer never lays himself open to criticism on the ground of inconsistency or of producing horror merely for horror’s sake. The emotions that he describes are justified by the situations which produce them, and these in turn by his characters, who are undoubtedly real to his experience. ... Personally we read him with mingled feelings—a deep admiration for his power and a feeling of the futility of its expenditure.” R. M.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 11 ‘17 400w
“Artzibashef was a very young man when he wrote some of the stories in ‘Tales of the revolution,’ but they show little sign of immaturity. ... We may not like the Russia he shows us, we may even profess to disbelieve in its existence, yet he himself is the best proof that it does exist. It is a Russia that we must take into account in the present crisis, and in spite of Artzibashef’s black pessimism, by no means as a factor altogether evil. For it is an honest and a straightforward and an unsentimental Russia, and even in its hopelessness it keeps on striving.”
+ N Y Times 22:249 Jl 1 ‘17 800w
ASH, SHOLOM.[2] Mottke, the vagabond (Mottke ganef); tr. and ed. by Isaac Goldberg. *$1.50 (1½c) Luce, J: W. 17-30731
This novel, translated from the Yiddish, is a story of life in a Jewish village in Russian Poland and in the underworld of Warsaw. Mottke is born into an overcrowded household. His mother, who gave birth to a child each year, earned her living and that of her family by nursing other people’s children, her own being left to survive or die, as it happened. Mottke, who early shows a tenacious grasp on life, survives, to grow up an unkempt, unlettered lad, the terror of his village. At fourteen he had experienced all the sensations of life—except murder. And that follows not long after. In turn Mottke is a blower in a glass factory, a member of a troupe of wandering acrobats, and keeper of a brothel. He is torn between his love for two women, is moved to reform himself for the sake of one of them, is betrayed by her, and in the face of the other’s efforts to save him, gives himself up to defeat.
“The story has the usual characteristic of Russian literature, frankness, but also a certain wide humanity which makes it distinctive. In the great conflict of passions running through the book decency inevitably triumphs. The descriptions of Jewish life, told in nervous, vivid style are arresting.” I. W. L.
+ Boston Transcript p7 D 22 ‘17 780w
“The people throughout are well drawn, and the realism with which the life of the underworld is given makes it at once more pitiful and less alluring than most authors dare to present it. It is a sordid enough story, as far as its scenes go. Thieves, vagabonds, outcasts figure in it very largely. But they are not stereotyped, and therefore they have those moving qualities which belong to life in all its confusion of beauty and misery.”
+ N Y Times 22:570 D 23 ‘17 1000w
ASHBEE, CHARLES ROBERT. American league to enforce peace; with an introd. by G. Lowes Dickinson. *2s 6d Allen & Unwin, London 341.1 17-24821
“Mr Ashbee, who was one of the few Englishmen present at the inauguration of the American League to enforce peace, interprets in this book the tendencies of modern American opinion; and emphasizes the significance of that movement, which passed almost unnoticed in England until President Wilson’s speech in June, 1916. Like Mr Brailsford and others, he considers the adhesion of America to a League of nations would bring this project into the sphere of practical politics; and he is alive to the value of the United States as a counter-weight in the European league; for the United States, within its own borders, is solving by fusion some problems of nationality.”—Int J Ethics
+ Ath p256 My ‘17 90w
Int J Ethics 27:539 Jl ‘17 100w
“If Mr Ashbee does not later prove a true prophet, he has at any rate written a stimulating and incisive analysis of recent American public opinion towards international problems.”
+ New Repub 13:sup16 N 17 ‘17 170w
Spec 118:568 My 19 ‘17 80w
ASHLEY, ROSCOE LEWIS. New civics; a textbook for secondary schools. il *$1.20 Macmillan 353 17-11359
“Part 1 is devoted to the topic, ‘The citizen and society,’ and contains chapters on citizenship, the education of the citizen, the American nation, civic organization, and the American 18home and family. Part 2 deals with ‘Government and the citizen’ and is made up of a chapter on each of the following topics: suffrage and elections, other means of popular control, civil liberty and public welfare, public finance, city government, state and country government, the national constitution, and the national government. Part 3 is on the general topic, ‘Some public activities.’ Public health and welfare, labor and industry, commerce, other business activities, territories and public land, and foreign relations are the subjects considered. The appendix contains an outline of a course on civic problems. ... At the end of each chapter there is a list of general references on the material considered in the chapter, a series of topics for special consideration with exact references on each, a group of studies which contain material for brief daily reports, and, finally, a number of questions based, for the most part, on the text. Besides the foregoing aids the book contains some sixty-four well-selected illustrations and eight maps and charts.”—School R
“Equipped with excellent notes and teaching aids. The book has been recommended to teachers of citizenship for adults in the extension department of the Cleveland schools.”
+ Cleveland p135 D ‘17 90w
“If books like this could be placed in every school it is no rash prediction that the electorate of the next generation would view political issues more sanely and thoughtfully than this.”
+ Ind 91:235 Ag 11 ‘17 70w
“Singularly free from any partisanship. Written as a text for high schools, it may well serve as a handy reference to the general reader.” A. D.
+ St Louis 15:322 S ‘17 24w
“From the standpoint of teaching aids the book has much to commend it. ... There is also an abundance of marginal notes as well as footnotes. On the whole the book is a decided improvement over the traditional text on civics.”
+ School R 25:532 S ‘17 280w
ASHLEY, W. B., comp. Church advertising; its why and how; papers delivered before the Church advertising section of the twelfth annual convention of the Associated advertising clubs of the world. il *$1 (4c) Lippincott 260 17-19521
“A series of lively discussions of church advertising and publicity methods by authorities on the subject, who presented their views at the first national conference on church advertising held in Philadelphia in June, 1916. Seemingly nothing has been omitted in the way of church advertising, from the out-of-door devices, steeples, bulletins, etc., to moving pictures and newspaper publicity.”—R of Rs
+ Ind 91:293 Ag 25 ‘17 100w
N Y Br Lib News 4:125 Ag ‘17
+ R of Rs 56:331 S ‘17 90w
“This volume gives many useful suggestions for the church which is looking for ideas. Hesitating churches will likewise get inspiration. Tell the world about the gospel and do it in the 20th century way—advertising. That seems to be the burden of these exhortations.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 1 ‘17 250w
ASHMUN, MARGARET ELIZA. Heart of Isabel Carleton. il *$1.25 (2c) Macmillan 17-25745
A sequel to “Isabel Carleton’s year,” one of last season’s popular books for girls. The early scenes of the story are laid in London in the fall of 1914. Isabel and her cousin, Mrs Everard, who have been traveling on the continent, reach England just as war is declared. The second part of the story takes her back to Jefferson. She is joyfully received by her family and enters the state university with every promise for a bright future. But there is a dark cloud in her sky, for between herself and Rodney Fox, always her best and most understanding friend, there seems to be a barrier. But this situation is adjusted and Isabel is further made happy by the opportunity to do a service in memory of her friend, Molly Ramsay, whose death had been the tragic incident of the year before.
“Distinguished by its wholesome simplicity and its emphasis on natural interests and companionships. Not as sentimental as its title.”
+ A L A Bkl 14:135 Ja ‘18
+ N Y Times 22:547 D 9 ‘17 70w
“An agreeable story for girls.”
+ Outlook 117:432 N 14 ‘17 20w
+ Springf’d Republican p13 D 16 ‘17 140w
ASHTON, HELEN. Marshdikes. *$1.40 Brentano’s
“Marshdikes is the house on the coast of England where Michael and Celia Dittany have made their home, and where they each do their writing. In different ways each has a sincere fondness for Francis Harland and a deep desire to bring more happiness into his life, as well as to give him some real interest in existence. For this reason they invite him to Marshdikes, hoping that this intimate glimpse of their own happiness may bring him nearer to falling in love with Michael’s young half-sister Letty, who imagines herself tremendously in love with Harland. Through a series of clever chapters, Francis evades their efforts, always fearful of where they may lead him and always content with his rather superficial life. The way in which Celia gains her end, only to discover at last that she has made a mistake, is cleverly managed.”—Boston Transcript
“A certain gift of brilliant dialogue is the largest attraction of this novel by a new writer.”
+ — Boston Transcript p6 Jl 18 ‘17 320w
“The story, which begins simply as a gay and sparkling tale, becomes more serious as it proceeds.”
+ N Y Times 22:137 Ap 15 ‘17 250w
ATHERTON, MRS GERTRUDE FRANKLIN (HORN). Living present. il *$1.50 (2½c) Stokes 940.91 17-18157
Mrs Atherton spent several months in France in 1916 studying the work of French women. She devotes the major part of her book to the work they are doing to help win the war and to the changes that the war seems to be making in French life, especially in the re-action of the French woman to life. The last five chapters, under the caption “Feminism in peace and war,” discuss the present and probable future status of woman in the United States as well as in Europe.
A L A Bkl 14:17 O ‘17
“One gets a feeling of impressions caught at lightning speed and given out all the more personally for not having been mulled over and reasoned out.” Edna Kenton
+ Bookm 46:343 N ‘17 830w
“A distinctly valuable sociological contribution as well as a vivid record of contemporary women.” D. F. G.
+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 11 ‘17 920w
“The second part of the present volume is worthless; but the first part where the author states facts, and does not attempt to philosophize, is interesting and even inspiring.”
+ — Cath World 106:124 O ‘17 570w
“Strongly tinged with Mrs Atherton’s personality and feministic views, the book is readable and provocative of thought.”
+ Cleveland p118 N ‘17 50w
“Mrs Atherton’s book, we believe, would have been more delightful, had she confined herself to portraiture and narrative, instead of undertaking, rather superficially, an abstract discussion of values.”
+ — Dial 63:166 Ag 30 ‘17 400w
Ind 91:352 S 1 ‘17 60w
+ Lit D 55:48 D 1 ‘17 200w
“Her book is a curious although intriguing jumble of prejudice, keen, swift insight, merciless 19observation and a good deal of perhaps unconscious snobbery. Only Mrs Atherton could have written it without misgivings.”
+ — New Repub 12:310 O 13 ‘17 450w
“She writes with frank and astonishing one-sidedness.” C. W.
— N Y Call p14 Ag 26 ‘17 180w
+ N Y Times 22:254 Jl 8 ‘17 950w
“Of some of the ideas she strikes out, one can say only that they show ability, not that they are inherently sound. The notion, for example, that there is among woman an instinctive tendency toward a return to the primeval matriarchate, though none too seriously advanced, is yet advanced with more seriousness than it probably deserves. Inherently sound ideas are, however, not lacking.”
+ — No Am 206:635 O ‘17 950w
+ Outlook 116:592 Ag 15 ‘17 90w
+ Pittsburgh 22:679 O ‘17 40w
“Her speculations as to the bearing of the war on the future course of feminism in France are also provocatively stimulating.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p579 N 29 ‘17 770w.
ATKINSON, ELEANOR (STACKHOUSE) (MRS FRANCIS BLAKE ATKINSON). Hearts undaunted; a romance of four frontiers. il *$1.30 (2c) Harper 17-31031
This story follows the forward movement of the frontier from northern New York to Chicago. The heroine, Eleanor Lytle, spends her childhood as a captive among the Indians. As a little girl of three, she attracts the attention of Chief Cornplanter, who kidnaps her and makes her an honored member of his tribe. She is grown to young womanhood before she is returned to her sorrowing mother. To make up to her for the years of suffering, Eleanor marries the man who is her mother’s choice, but later, after his death, she marries one she loves and goes westward with him, as a pioneer to the new frontier.
“Of limited appeal.”
+ — A L A Bkl 14:168 F ‘18
“Despite its interest, and the fact that it is based on historic truth, the book does lack the element of realism. It is glossed over with sentimentality; heroism and nobility are unrelieved by any mere human failing. It is, however, much more entertaining than the average romance, and the stressed historic note gives it an added interest.”
+ — N Y Times 22:500 N 25 ‘17 400w
ATWOOD, ALBERT WILLIAM. How to get ahead; saving money and making it work. *$1.25 (2c) Bobbs 331.84 17-6557
“The purpose of this book is to help young men and women of moderate earning capacity to save and invest money. Incidentally its aim is to show the advantages of thrift. The main purpose is the practical one of explaining actual, workable methods of saving and investment.” (Introd.) The author writes on: Money—its use and abuse; Real and unreal wants; Personal finance; Family finance; Saving on small wages; Making money work; Owning a home; Different kinds of desirable investments, etc.
“Author is a lecturer on finance at New York university.”
+ A L A Bkl 13:329 My ‘17
“There is not much in recognition of those ideals of life which are higher than money making and money saving. But there are a few reminders that many wage-earners are failing to make the most of their opportunities.”
Boston Transcript p6 Je 27 ‘17 350w
+ Ind 90:517 Je 16 ‘17 40w
N Y Br Lib News 4:43 Mr ‘17
Pittsburgh 22:689 O ‘17 40w
+ St Louis 15:135 My ‘17 30w
St Louis 15:347 S ‘17
AUMONIER, STACY. Friends, and other stories. *$1 (2½c) Century 17-23334
“Stacy Aumonier, author of ‘Olga Bardel,’ is an Englishman well known in London as a landscape painter as well as a writer. This book contains three of his short stories, of which ‘The friends,’ which gives title to the volume, appeared in the Century Magazine. ... The other two, ‘The packet’ and ‘In the way of business,’ are similar in theme and treatment. ... All three deal with business men in London, salesmen and department managers of furniture or dry goods houses, and the central theme of all of them is the immense amount of alcohol these men consume by way of facilitating the conduct of their affairs. ... One of the stories, ‘In the way of business,’ deals with the business career of a hard-working, upright, morally fastidious man who does not like alcoholic drinks and to whom they are physically ruinous. The story tells how, notwithstanding his struggles, he cannot make a living for his family until, little by little, he comes round to the methods of the others, and what happened to him afterward.”—N Y Times
“The initial story is by far the best of the three. ... There is no air of preaching about it, no attempt to draw a moral. It is just a story told with such fine realism, such artistic and impressive selection and arrangement of incidents that it becomes wholly convincing.”
+ N Y Times 22:336 S 9 ‘17 470w
AUSTIN, FRANK EUGENE. Examples in battery engineering. il $1.25 Austin, F. E., Hanover, N.H. 621.3 17-20028
“‘Battery engineering’ is quite distinct from the subject of the chemistry, or chemical reactions accompanying the operation of batteries. The latter subject is not given extensive consideration in this book; it being deemed expedient to devote the discussion to those features that are of importance in the efficient industrial operation of any and all types or kinds of cells and batteries. ... The arrangement of the subject matter in lessons under important subject headings adapts the book for use as a textbook, while the discussion of the application of theory to practice renders the book useful to electricians, operators of submarines, and of automobiles.” (Preface) The author is a professor in the Thayer school of civil engineering connected with Dartmouth college.
AUSTIN, FRANK EUGENE. Preliminary mathematics. $1.20 Austin, F. E., Hanover, N.H. 512 17-11117
“This book is designed by its author, a professor in the Thayer school of civil engineering connected with Dartmouth college, to serve as a connecting link between the study of arithmetic and the study of algebra. The subject matter up to page 77 is suitable for pupils in the eighth grade and below, while the remaining portion of the text will prove of assistance to pupils in the high schools. ... Many points are explained herein that are passed over in ordinary text books. The chief object of this book is to show how to solve problems.” (Preface)
“Useful to one who has not had the advantages of school and wishes to take up arithmetic and algebra by himself.”
+ Pittsburgh 22:443 My ‘17 100w (Reprinted from Telephony p46 Ap 7 ‘17)
Railway Mechanical Engineer p175 Ap ‘17
AUSTIN, MARY (HUNTER) (MRS STAFFORD W. AUSTIN). The ford. il *$1.50 (1c) Houghton 17-11466
California is at once the scene and the theme of this novel. Steven Brent, one of those men who have an instinctive feeling for the soil, who are meant to be its tillers, has nurtured his ranch, Las Palomitas, till it is on the point of paying, when he yields to the persuasions of his wife and the promises held out by the speculators and goes into oil. But men of his calibre are not built for speculation. Financial failure and the wife’s death come together. The story thereafter is concerned with the two 20Brent children, Anne and Kenneth, whose dream it is to buy back Las Palomitas. In the end it is Anne who accomplishes it, for Anne proves to have the business sense that those two lovers of the soil for its own sake, Kenneth and his father, lack. Anne is the new woman at her best.
“Well written and more interesting for its atmosphere and character drawing than for its plot.”
+ A L A Bkl 13:448 Jl ‘17
“A story of fine feeling and (to use a wooden term) exceptional workmanship. Its four women might be taken as a microcosm of the modern world of women.” H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 45:412 Je ‘17 550w
“The great social and commercial plot behind these children is strongly handled and conveys more than any other American fiction since Frank Norris of what Mrs Austin calls the ‘epic quality of the west.’” J: Macy
+ Dial 63:112 Ag 16 ‘17 380w
“The story is interesting, and yet it disappoints us in some way not easy to describe. There is a vagueness which allows the mind of the reader to wander and his interest to flag. ... Words cloud the plot and befog the issue.”
+ — Lit D 54:1858 Je 16 ‘17 180w
“In this book is a substance worthy of Mrs Austin’s rich and finished style.”
+ Nation 104:601 My 17 ‘17 680w
“Brooding deep beneath the ferocious animosities of capitalist and homesteader, Mary Austin has wrought in her still pastoral something of almost Biblical beauty. Some few novels of the year may offer as good construction; fewer as clear, racy diction; none a more satisfying picture than little dripping Kenneth with the drowned lamb in his arms.” T. D. Mygatt
+ N Y Call p14 Jl 1 ‘17 600w
+ N Y Times 22:157 Ap 22 ‘17 650w
“Industrial conditions, business intrigue, social reactions, and the temperaments of individuals are all constantly involved among the motives of this remarkable tale, and all are treated with knowledge, with insight, and with feeling. It is one’s final impression, however, that the story as a whole fails to attain a quite sufficient unity and strength. ... The reader is roused as by an impassioned plea; he is stimulated to the point of being ready to change his whole outlook upon life and yet in the end he cannot tell whether the thing that has so impressed him is Providence or the brute forces of life or the spirit of California. ... One must marvel at the degree of success which Mrs Austin has attained in treating a broad and complex theme both comprehensively and minutely, both psychologically and epically.”
+ No Am 206:132 Jl ‘17 1050w
“The description is clear and strong in its picture of industrial conditions. There are also charm and romance in the life of the young people. The plot and development are not as closely woven as one could wish.”
+ — Outlook 116:32 My 2 ‘17 50w
“Stands without a peer among recent books of fiction as a thoroughly characteristic portrayal of a typically American community of the West.”
+ R of Rs 55:663 Je ‘17 470w
+ Springf’d Republican p15 Jl 22 ‘17 500w
AYDELOTTE, FRANK, ed. English and engineering. *$1.50 McGraw 620.7 17-4324
A collection of essays for the use of English classes in engineering colleges. “A quotation from the introduction is the fullest explanation of Professor Aydelotte’s endeavor, and an index of the pedagogic value of his work: ‘To train the student to write by first training him to think—to stimulate his thought by directing his attention to problems of his own profession and of his own education and to the illumination of them which he can find in literature: these two tasks may be performed together—better together than separately—and with that double aim in view this collection has been made.’” (Engin Rec)
A L A Bkl 13:340 My ‘17
“An admirable collection of essays with a breadth and keenness of selection that certifies the right of its compiler to occupy the chair of English in one of our greatest engineering schools. Also a most commendable introduction whose ideas are unassailable and remarkably illustrated. ... In no sense can it be taken as a handbook. It needs the attrition of the class to make its somewhat hidden gold to glisten. To any except those who know writing and its methods, the collection of essays would prove a bewilderment.”
+ Engin Rec 75:275 F 17 ‘17 450w
“If this book is designed for use in a course in freshman composition, it has too limited a scope, if it is to be used for the specific purpose indicated above, as a part of a broader programme, it is an admirable volume.”
Nation 104:547 My 3 ‘17 400w
N Y Br Lib News 4:61 Ap ‘17
Pittsburgh 22:204 Mr ‘17
“‘Collection of selected essays, some by famous authors and some by others of lesser note. ... A most interesting collection of good writings that any man will profit by reading, and it should find a welcome on the shelf of every technical man who aspires, as he should, to evaluate the place that his profession occupies in the affairs of the world.’” D. S. Kimball
+ Pittsburgh 22:332 Ap ‘17 60w (Reprinted from American Machinist p440 Mr 8 ‘17)
“The author is professor of English in the Massachusetts institute of technology.”
St Louis 15:117 Ap ‘17 12w
AYDELOTTE, FRANK.[2] Oxford stamp, and other essays. *$1.20 Oxford 378 18-390
“A group of essays forming the ‘educational creed of an American Oxonian’ is brought together in this volume whose writer is Professor Frank Aydelotte of the Massachusetts Institute of technology, and they are the fruits of his residence and study at the English university as a Rhodes scholar. ‘The holder of one of these appointments,’ he says, ‘who on his return from Oxford engages in university teaching in this country, inevitably makes comparisons, and looks at many of our educational problems from a new point of view. Much in the work and atmosphere of an English university is strikingly different from the adaptations of German university methods which have prevailed in our higher education for half a century. In the hope that this point of view may interest students of our educational problems, these essays are put together.’ Among their titles are ‘The Oxford stamp,’ ‘Spectators and sport,’ ‘The religion of punch,’ ‘A challenge to Rhodes scholars,’ ‘English as humane letters,’ and ‘Robert Louis Stevenson darkening counsel.’”—Boston Transcript
“Rarely before has the complex English college system and the unique English college life been described so clearly and so briefly.” E. F. E.
+ Boston Transcript p7 D 29 ‘17 950w
AYSCOUGH, JOHN, pseud. (BP. FRANCIS BROWNING DREW BICKERSTAFFE-DREW). French windows. *$1.50 Longmans 940.91 17-24699
The author of this book, the chapters of which originally appeared in the Month, an English periodical, was for the first eighteen months of the war attached to the British expeditionary force as chaplain to a field ambulance. The book does not describe military operations, but consists mainly of conversations with various French and British soldiers. Though John Ayscough is known as a writer of highly imaginative fiction, he assures us that every character and episode in these pages is taken from life, and that his first-hand impressions have not been retouched.
21“It sounds like a contradiction of terms to speak of a charming war book; yet this is exactly what John Ayscough’s new volume is—a book of the war, written in the very heat of the war and out of its turbulent heart, throbbing with its deepest feelings, and yet charming beyond words. Whatever of self-revelation the soldier himself in this war may write, we can never again quite so penetratingly see into it as John Ayscough makes us see.”
+ Cath World 106:683 F ‘18 210w
Cleveland p85 Jl ‘17 60w
“The book is always sympathetic, often heart-breaking, almost always tender, and not easy to forget.”
+ N Y Times 22:558 D 16 ‘17 430w
“Episodes and characters are drawn from reality and each conversation is a portrait and a history.”
+ Pittsburgh 22:679 O ‘17 70w
“Some of the conversations are of so intimate a character that it almost seems indecent to have recorded them. Humour and pathos jostle one another in these fugitive pages. John Ayscough seems to realize that if things are tragic enough they are funny. Insight and understanding are in this book, and, in spite of a tendency to occasional gush and rhapsody, it has a value of its own. It reveals the simple greatness of the English soldier.”
+ — Sat R 123:sup6 My 19 ‘17 100w
“The point of view is that of a man of fifty-six, a Roman Catholic priest singularly devoid of any sectarian bias; one who, though not French, loves every field of France as if he had been born on it, and speaks her language fluently, if not idiomatically; a lover of his kind, ‘half priest and half poet’; and above all a thinker who looks at everything ‘sub specie æternitatis’, and even in the darkest hours remains undismayed and unshaken in his faith. ... This is a book which differs from most war books by reason of its aim. It shows that amid all that makes for brutalization and misery and despair in modern warfare, there are exultations as well as agonies, and that man’s soul remains unconquerable.”
+ Spec 118:61 Jl 21 ‘17 1650w
“Mr Ayscough evidently inspires affection in the young soldiers with whom he lives; he betrays his natural pleasure thereat, with undeniable egotism and he records far too categorically the terms in which that affection is conveyed.”
+ — The Times [London] Lit Sup p197 Ap 26 ‘17 320w
AZAN, PAUL JEAN LOUIS. War of positions; with a preface by Brigadier General Joseph E. Kuhn, U.S.A.; tr. at Harvard university. *$1.25 Harvard univ. press 355 17-22880
“The author of this little book is one of the group of officers sent over here by the French government to assist in the training of officers for our new American army. As chief of the military mission which was sent to the Officers’ reserve training camp at Harvard, he worked there all spring and summer, arousing the greatest of enthusiasm among the hundreds of men who were in training under him. ... The same principles of warfare which he expounded to his pupils there he has explained in this book. ... In part one the author considers the present war, its general characteristics, the different forms of warfare it has developed, the fronts, attrition, principles of offensive and defensive, the rôle of a high command in an offensive, the functions of the different arms of the service. The second part deals with ‘Positions,’ their organization, trench duties and relief, while the third and fourth parts develop the principles of attack on a position and defense of a position.”—N Y Times
A L A Bkl 14:75 D ‘17
“While written primarily for the instruction of American officers who are going abroad it is full of interest for the student of military history or for any intelligent reader.”
+ Am Pol Sci R 11:789 N ‘17 170w
“The book ought to be of the greatest value to all officers and non-coms of the new American armies and of their privates as well. In his capacity as director of officers’ schools in France, Colonel Azan has trained a large part of the French officers up to and including the rank of major. He has, therefore, learned how to teach.”
+ N Y Times 22:453 N 4 ‘17 450w
St Louis 15:417 D ‘17 20w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p571 N 22 ‘17 50w
B
BACHELLER, IRVING ADDISON. Light in the clearing; a tale of the north country in the time of Silas Wright. il *$1.50 (1c) Bobbs 17-11215
A story of northern New York state in the first half of the nineteenth century. Much of it is woven about the career of Silas Wright, an early governor of the state. It is told in the first person, however, by Barton Baynes, a boy who came under Wright’s protection early in his career and who was inspired by the older man’s encouragement and example. The early chapters, telling of Barton’s boyhood, spent with stern-faced Aunt Deel and big-hearted Uncle Peabody, give a good picture of the life of the times.
+ A L A Bkl 13:401 Je ‘17
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 45:408 Je ‘17 650w
“Readers Mr Bacheller will have for his latest novel, and plenty of them, but it will not be long in passing into the dim obscurity of contemporary fiction. It is thoroughly out of date. It is not even a good example of the desirable things of the past, of those departed forms of fiction whose death we sometimes regret. It is distinctly the survival of the unfittest. Yet it is entertaining in its way.” E. F. E.
– + Boston Transcript p8 Ap 14 ‘17 1350w
+ Cath World 105:554 Jl ‘17 100w
“Told with simplicity, kindly humor, and genuine understanding.”
+ Dial 62:483 My 31 ‘17 200w
“Excellent as are Mr Bacheller’s other works—‘Eben Holden,’ ‘D’ri and I,’ and the ever-popular ‘Keeping up with Lizzie’—none of them equals this story of the forties, either in artistic finish or in breadth of spirit. It is a book we would like every American girl and boy to read.”
+ Ind 90:380 My 26 ‘17 150w
“The book is amusing and certainly uplifting in its influence, but sometimes a trifle artificial.”
+ Lit D 54:1856 Je 16 ‘17 210w
“‘The light in the clearing’ takes us, yet again, upon a sentimental journey, in a very good sense of the term, into the past. ... Mr Bacheller has the knack of making one’s throat swell with simple, homefelt emotion for the golden rule and other tritenesses which, for the most part, we are ready enough to abandon to the movies, literary and other.”
+ Nation 104:581 My 10 ‘17 560w
“Very different in method and purpose from any of his previous stories, Mr Bacheller’s new novel must be accounted, at the outset, as quite the most important piece of fiction he has put forth.”
+ N Y Times 22:125 Ap 8 ‘17 850w
“‘The light in the clearing’ is an exact complement to ‘Eben Holden,’ as unmistakably good, less idyllic, but stronger. The two together would seem in themselves to assure their author a considerable and permanent place in American literature.”
+ No Am 205:947 Je ‘17 1200w
“Sturdy American ideals are wholesomely offered to admiration and emulation.”
+ Outlook 116:32 My 2 ‘17 50w
22“It is a story of simple, homespun life, full of wide, out-door freedom, and the healing, balsamic breath of a cleaner, younger world.” F: T. Cooper
+ Pub W 91:1316 Ap 21 ‘17 550w
“While the story is episodical, it is skilfully knit, and the reader’s attention never relaxes until the final page is turned. The book will have a host of contented readers.”
+ Springf’d Republican p19 My 13 ‘17 650w
“The continual exaltation of commonplace virtues makes it a wholesome but somewhat tiresome story.”
+ — Wis Lib Bul 13:221 Jl ‘17 40w
BACON, CORINNE, comp. Children’s catalog of thirty-five hundred books; a guide to the best reading for boys and girls. (Standard catalog ser.) *$6 Wilson, H. W. 028.5 17-17986
The first edition of the Children’s catalog, a 1,000-title list, was noted in the Digest in 1916. The 3,500-title list includes a few books in French and German; also a few 1916 books published too late for inclusion in the 2,000-title list. 700 volumes have been analyzed. “The editor has been fortunate in securing the advice and cooperation of Miss Agnes Cowing, of the Pratt institute free library; Miss Alice I. Hazeltine, of the St Louis public library; Miss Hatch, of the Cleveland public library, and of the staff of the Carnegie library of Pittsburgh. ... The numbers in parentheses after titles indicate approximately the grades for which the books are suitable, and have been taken for the most part from various library lists. Two of the collaborators also made suggestions as to grading.” (Preface) The 1,000 list, buckram bound, sells for $2; the 2,000 list, for $4; the 3,500 list for $6. These catalogs are also issued in paper covers printed on light-weight paper for quantity use. These are for sale exclusively to those who have previously purchased at least one bound copy. They are sold in lots of ten or more at 15c, 25c, and 40c per copy.
A L A Bkl 13:272 Mr ‘17
“This compilation, by one whose work in other lines gives assurance of more than usual merit, is based on many selected lists, and is the result of the advice and co-operation of children’s librarians and others familiar with literature for children.”
Bul of Bibliography 9:112 Ja ‘17 170w
“All workers with boys and girls, and especially those who have to do with school and public libraries will be grateful to the compiler for the infinite pains she has taken to make sure of a wise selection of really good, wholesome books for young people. Parents will do well to consult the catalog in the public library which they patronize. It goes without saying that every public library will make available this unsurpassed list, without which no library can be said to be properly equipped.” F. H. P.
+ Education 36:660 Je ‘17 140w
“The author and publisher of this important book has done a great service to teachers in every grade of the elementary school. As the title indicates, the list is large enough to include the best in all of the more important fields of knowledge.”
+ El School J 18:77 S ‘17 350w
“A most valuable bibliography of elementary-school children’s books and books about such books.”
+ English Journal (Chicago) 6:207 Mr ‘17 20w
“It is needless to say the advice is trustworthy and of immense value to librarians, teachers and book purchasers.”
+ Ind 91:297 Ag 25 ‘17 60w
“Every school and every home needs it in order to buy books intelligently.”
+ Journal of Education 85:702 Je 21 ‘17 120w
“The catalog containing 2,000 titles and analyticals for 447 volumes has been practically tested in our children’s room and found to answer most of the demands, although for large collections the 3,500 list now [April, 1917] in preparation will of course be more satisfactory. ... The questions now asked by school children demand indexes that will lead directly to up-to-date reliable facts. How well this demand has been met may be judged by a few titles taken at random from the 2,000 catalog. ... The profession owes a debt of gratitude to Miss Bacon for supplying so indispensable a tool that will lessen the present duplication of effort and promote greater efficiency.” N. M. De Laughter
+ Public Libraries 22:148 Ap ‘17 400w
“The list will be useful to librarians for selection and for cataloging. The subject headings conform in the main to Miss Mann’s ‘Subject headings for use in dictionary catalogs of juvenile books.’ It will be useful at the librarian’s desk if checked with books in the library and used as a printed catalog. ... Extra copies would be useful for the public, for special use of teachers, or for catalogers.”
+ Wis Lib Bul 13:18 Ja ‘17 270w
BACON, CORINNE, comp. Prison reform. *$1.25 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 365 17-4496
This volume in the Handbook series is designed to give the reader a general knowledge of prison reform in the United States. The material of the book, a selection of the best articles from the literature on the subject, is arranged under nine headings: History of prison reform; Conditions and methods in prisons and reformatories; Sing Sing and Warden Osborne; Psychopathic clinics and classification of prisoners; Convict labor; Indeterminate sentence; Probation and parole; Jails; Centralized control of penal institutions. The bibliography, which is unusually full, follows a similar arrangement. A paper on “The prison of the future” has been written for the volume by Thomas Mott Osborne.
A L A Bkl 13:288 Ap ‘17
Cath World 105:835 S ‘17 140w
“There is an excellent bibliography.”
+ Cleveland p39 Mr ‘17 80w
“A timely and much-needed work.”
+ Ind 89:362 F 26 ‘17 20w
“It is a compilation of over 90 articles by students and experts covering almost the entire field of penology. ... In addition to the 300 pages devoted to the various aspects of reform within the walls, there is a valuable bibliography of 24 pages, listing books, pamphlets, reports, periodicals and many articles dealing with the general subject. ... We take pleasure in commending this book to all students and readers of penological problems.”
Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy n s 56:43 Mr ‘17 140w
Springf’d Republican p15 Jl 15 ‘17 180w
Reviewed by Philip Klein
Survey 38:46 Ap 14 ‘17 120w
+ Wis Lib Bul 13:59 F ‘17 60w
BACON, GEORGE WASHINGTON. Keeping young and well; annotated by W: T: Fernie. *$1 (3c) Clode, E: J. 613 17-24683
The author of “Health and longevity” packs these new chapters full of valuable matter which aims at a maximum of utility with a minimum of words. A long study of personal hygiene and a life-long practice of what the writer preaches give authority to his undertaking. Contents: Health hints for the home; Bodily organs and their functions; Our food, and errors in diet; The drink habit; Light, pure air and ventilation; Respiration and deep breathing; Cheerfulness and happiness; Exercise and rest; Sound sleep and its benefits; Vital energy—conserved or wasted; A long and healthy life; Fifty maxims and rules for the aged; Colds: causes, prevention, remedies; One hundred ailments—cause, prevention and home remedies; Our foods and their medicinal values; Medical glossary.
23BADLEY, JOHN HADEN. Education after the war. *$1.25 Longmans 375 (Eng ed E17-671)
“The author has been for many years a leader in British education, especially in the Workers’ educational association, but he is best known for the demonstration school which he has maintained for twenty-four years at Petersfield in Hampshire. ... Mr J. H. Badley was trained at Rugby, at Cambridge and in Germany. He was interested with Cecil Reddie and Edward Carpenter in the opening of Abbotsholme, but turned from this work to the establishment of his old experimental school primarily because of his interest in coeducation. ... The book contains a careful consideration of the needs of each stage of life from the nursery up. The differentiation of workers and professional groups is well thought out. The plan for training for national service gives consideration to the claims of militarism.”—Springf’d Republican
“Mr Badley rightly says that all subjects will be equally narrowing in their influence if the value of any kind of work be judged by the direct help it will give to the earning of an income. He proposes that special work required for professional training should be begun during the last two years of the suggested longer school course, with the object of relieving the university of much of the preliminary work which now usually occupies the first year of its course. Stress is laid upon the value of research to university students.”
+ Ath p355 Jl ‘17 200w
“Of especial interest to Americans are the plans for training for national service. A positive program is given in detail but possibly of equal importance is the very clear showing of what is not essential to this training.” F. A. Manny
+ Educ R 54:191 S ‘17 600w
“America has much to learn from what he offers.”
+ Ind 91:296 Ag 25 ‘17 100w
“Those who have followed the author’s work will not be surprised to find the outline and details of this post-war program suggestive at many points for American needs.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 22 ‘17 400w
BAGWELL, RICHARD. Ireland under the Stuarts and during the interregnum. 3v v 3 *$5 Longmans 941.5
v 3 1660-1690.
“There are now six stately volumes written by Mr Bagwell, and in them he narrates the fortunes of his native land from the days of the Tudors to the fall of the Stuarts at the battle of the Boyne. ... In the larger part of the present book he has no other historian to fear, for he is the first to describe the reign of Charles II at any length or with any proper sense of the importance of its opening years. ... From measures to men there is an easy transition. The historian is quite at home in drawing the characters of men like Lord Robartes, Lord Berkeley, Essex, and Clarendon, who were the real governors of the country. ... Another prominent man is Tyrconnel, and a consideration of his strange career introduces quite naturally the revolution in Ireland. ... In the concluding chapters Mr Bagwell has a short account of the three churches and the social state of the country from the restoration to the revolution.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) For volumes 1 and 2 of this history, consult Digest annual volume for 1909.
“The first adequate account of Ireland during the restoration. That, in a sense, is the chief contribution of this present volume. ... From his pages are eliminated that passion which has made most Irish history all politics, and that memory of wrongs which has made most Irish politics all history.” W. C. Abbott
+ Am Hist R 22:645 Ap ‘17 1000w (Review of v 3)
“Though Irish by birth, Mr Bagwell is probably of Anglo-Irish stock. In politics he is a Unionist of the more positive type. This fact is, of course, sufficient to render his work unacceptable to a large part of the reading public in Ireland; for in spite of his almost painful effort to do justice to both sides in the controversies of Britain, it is quite clear that Mr Bagwell regards the union of Ireland with England as one that is necessary to both countries. Critics generally have, however, found much to praise in Mr Bagwell’s histories. His evident fairness, his judicial attitude, his restraint in drawing conclusions and in framing statements have been remarked upon by many reviewers. For his literary style there is very little to be said: it is clear but prosy and bald.” L. M. Larson
+ Dial 62:354 Ap 19 ‘17 1600w (Review of v 3)
“The first two volumes of ‘Ireland under the Tudors’ appeared in 1885. It was hailed in this Review as inaugurating ‘a new departure in Irish historiography,’ by its ‘judicial tone’ and its unprejudiced method of treating the political and ecclesiastical controversies of the sixteenth century. At the same time the complaint was made that ‘he crowded his canvas with too many facts to enable the student to realize quite distinctly the salient features of his subject.’ The present volume deserves the same praise, but is not open to similar criticism. Mr Bagwell’s six volumes (including in the total the three on ‘Ireland under the Tudors’) are a monument of well-directed industry, and he has gained in mastery of his materials as his work proceeded.” C. H. Firth
* + Eng Hist R 32:296 Ap ‘17 500w (Review of v 3)
“Ireland, more, almost, than any other land, demands the candor of impartiality in those who would narrate its history. To have achieved this with such splendid thoroughness is Mr Bagwell’s peculiar triumph. The period under consideration is one of the most crucial in all Irish history. ... To read intelligently the history of the nineteenth century in Ireland one must understand and appreciate the results of this distribution of territory in the seventeenth. ... The book is provided with helpful notes and a useful index.”
* + + Nation 105:128 Ag 2 ‘17 330w (Review of v 3)
“He does not describe the war after the Boyne, perhaps because Dr Murray has done this so thoroughly in his recent book. The chapters on social conditions and the churches are excellent but very brief. Dr Bagwell is reserved to a fault, but his history—the work of a whole generation—is the best and almost the only impartial account of Tudor and Stuart Ireland.”
+ Spec 117:sup533 N 4 ‘16 130w (Review of v 3)
“Since the death of W. E. H. Lecky, Mr Richard Bagwell is the foremost Irish historian. ... No one could adequately review a book like that lying before us, and hope to do full justice to its many-sidedness. All we can say is that we have been steadily using its two predecessors in the course of our work on the Stuart period and that the more we use them the more we admire them.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p496 O 19 ‘16 1700w (Review of v 3)
BAILEY, EDGAR HENRY SUMMERFIELD. Text-book of sanitary and applied chemistry; or, The chemistry of water, air and food. 4th ed rev *$1.60 Macmillan 660 17-13814
“Prof. E. H. S. Bailey’s ‘Sanitary and applied chemistry’ appears this year—the eleventh since its first publication—in a fourth, revised edition. Its persistence in recurring editions is testimony to the place it has won for itself in our colleges. Designed for students who have already had a course in general chemistry, it deals with the most important applications of chemistry to the life of the household, without attempting to cover the whole field of what may be called ‘chemistry in daily life.’ An important feature of the book is the introduction of directions for performing many well-chosen illustrative experiments. In this latest edition, the text has been corrected and much of it rewritten and brought down to date; and chapters on Textiles and on Poison and their antidotes 24have been added, increasing the contents by about sixty pages over the last previous edition of 1913. A good index enhances the working value of the text.”—Nation
“The chapters on the Purification of water and Sewerage have been revised and brought up to date. ... There is no bibliography in this edition.”
A L A Bkl 13:455 Jl ‘17
“It is not only an excellent textbook, but is written in such a clear style that it should prove valuable to housewives wishing a work of general information and reference on their everyday problems.”
+ Ind 91:264 Ag 18 ‘17 50w
+ Nation 105:275 S 6 ‘17 160w
St Louis 15:393 N ‘17 20w
“Throughout the text there are distributed 197 well selected experiments which will greatly help to fix important facts in the student’s mind.” W. P. Mason
+ Science n s 46:540 N 30 ‘17 100w
BAILEY, HENRY CHRISTOPHER. Highwayman. *$1.50 Dutton (Eng ed 15-19412)
“The hero of ‘The highwayman’ is of the type that the Baroness Orczy delights in drawing—imperturbable, expressionless, of an ironical turn of mind, and possessed of depths which a woman’s charm alone can stir. In the generation of Harry Boyce these qualities cried out for adventure and romance, for it was also the generation of the ‘good’ Queen Anne, of the Pretender, and of the great Duke of Marlborough. With all these did our hero have dealings, but more especially was he lured by the charms of the wayward Alison, whom fate and the impulse of a moment had given him to wife.”—Dial
“We should have been glad to see more of the historical characters introduced by Mr Bailey, for he succeeded in creating a fascinating illusion of their presence and speech. Praise is due to the excellent style of the novel, which is undoubtedly the work of an accomplished and conscientious draftsman.”
+ Ath 1915, 2:174 S 11 200w
“His wit is more after the manner of Fielding or of Wycherley than of the later and the modern historical sentimentalists. ‘The highwayman’ is a good brisk story for those not too squeamish.”
Dial 62:403 My 3 ‘17 120w
“Piquancy is the chosen note, and the performer thoroughly enjoys being piquant. ... There is great play of wit in these pages, as well as the play of swords; the author especially loves, and liberally presents, the naughtiness of polite humor in the reign of Queen Anne.”
Nation 104:460 Ap 19 ‘17 200w
+ N Y Times 22:136 Ap 15 ‘17 250w
“An over-mannered and not altogether agreeable tale of Queen Anne’s time.”
— Outlook 115:622 Ap 4 ‘17 10w
“A story most spirited, as is always Mr Bailey’s work, of the open road.”
+ Spec 115:513 O 16 ‘15 20w
BAILEY, LIBERTY HYDE. Standard cyclopedia of horticulture. 6v v 6 il *$6 Macmillan 634 (14-6168)
v 6 “The last volume extends from S through Z. In addition there is a complete index to the six volumes, a finding list of binomials, a cultivator’s guide and a supplement of additional species which have been introduced to cultivation in this country since the first volumes were prepared. The list of collaborators contains the names of the most prominent men in horticulture and allied sciences in this country.”—Springf’d Republican
“It is to be expected that the nomenclature of this work will be adopted so far as possible by all nurserymen and landscape architects, so that there will be some uniformity. A finding-list is intended to accompany volume six, giving the various more important common and botanical names of plants, with a reference to the name under which the plant appears in the cyclopedia. A committee of the American society of landscape architects, the Ornamental growers association, and other bodies interested, is now working upon the subject of the standardization of the names of plants, and the finding-list will have the benefit of their labors to the date of its publication.”
Landscape Architecture 7:100 Ja ‘17 230w
N Y Times 22:165 Ap 29 ‘17 80w
“The sixth volume in every way upholds the high standard set by the preceding volumes. ... The cyclopedia is a work containing items of interest to the practical man as well as the scientist. Every group of plants is treated from both the practical side and the botanical viewpoint. ... It is of interest to the florist, market gardener, nurseryman, botanist, landscapist and all lovers of plant life. ... While there are many changes in nomenclature, they are such as have been recommended by the highest authorities in the country.”
+ + Springf’d Republican p15 Jl 22 ‘17 220w
BAILEY, TEMPLE. Mistress Anne. il *$1.35 (2c) Penn 17-11213
“Mistress” Anne Warfield was a young Maryland school-teacher with clear ideals and a belief in the dignity of work. She was also the granddaughter of Cynthia Warfield, an aristocrat of the older South. So when the quiet of the little southern village was invaded by a popular novelist, a New York doctor and his mother (who, however, were of the South), and some brilliant society women, Anne’s innate good breeding overcame her inexperience and comparative poverty and she found her place among them. The scene changes from the quiet Maryland riverside to fashionable New York and three love-stories run to a comfortable conclusion.
+ A L A Bkl 13:448 Jl ‘17
“It is written in the same vein as its successful predecessor, ‘Contrary Mary,’ but is neither so quaint nor so touching nor so piquant as the earlier book.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 Je 9 ‘17 170w
N J Lib Bul p7 Ap ‘17 20w
+ N Y Times 22:250 Jl 1 ‘17 250w
+ Ontario Library Review 1:116 My ‘17 150w
+ Outlook 116:116 My 16 ‘17 20w
“Even more praiseworthy than the story itself is the atmosphere of the book. Avoiding the flippant optimism, which has of late been so heavily exploited, Miss Bailey employs a more sane and convincing treatment.” Joseph Mosher
+ Pub W 91:1319 Ap 21 ‘17 420w
“While it is primarily a wholesome love story, beneath the surface is a call to service in the great army that work for public weal. Anne Warfield is one of the most delightful heroines of the year’s novels.”
+ R of Rs 56:102 Jl ‘17 70w
“The author pictures the loyalty of southern folk to their ancestral homes and their spirit of noblesse oblige.”
+ Springf’d Republican p19 Je 10 ‘17 330w
BAIN, FRANCIS WILLIAM. Livery of Eve. il *$1.50 (5½c) Putnam 17-14951
Another fairy tale in imitation of the Hindu. The tale is told by the Moony-crested god to the Daughter of the Snow, and at the end of it he propounds a conundrum. The tale is of Aparájitá, whose beauty was such that the only rival she had to fear was her own reflection in the pool, and of Kámarúpa, the barber, who was unrivaled for ugliness, and of Keshawa, the king, who cared nothing for women, altho he unfailingly attracted their love. To gain her own ends, Aparájitá makes use of the spell by means of which the soul may enter another body. The soul of the handsome king takes on the ugly body of the barber, and the ugly one finds himself enshrined in the body of the king. The conundrum at the end has to do with the old problem of women’s wiles.
25“No other European writer gives us such a sense of being absolutely at home with the Pundits. Kipling, in comparison with the author of ‘A digit of the moon’ or ‘A draught of the blue’ or ‘Ashes of a god,’ seems to be a Cockney interloper.”
+ Dial 63:163 Ag 30 ‘17 370w
N Y Br Lib News 4:123 Ag ‘17
“We assure those who have read ‘A digit of the moon’ and ‘The ashes of a god’ with amusement and joy, that they will find equal pleasure in ‘The livery of Eve.’”
+ R of Rs 56:102 Jl ‘17 150w
“Mr Bain shows us, with all his wonted mastery of picturesque simile and phrase, that the old Hindu spirit and imagination survive, after countless generations of foreign rule. He displays a Hindu literature, subtly blended with and purified by western poetic sentiment and western ethics. ... He has been more successful than most in creating in western minds the atmosphere of Indian romance.”
+ Spec 118:567 My 19 ‘17 1250w
“While rich in local color, the book is not by a great deal so rich as ‘A digit of the moon.’ One looks almost in vain for the telling phrases, the subtly cultivated rhythms which in the first work brought the exotic beauty of tropic nights and days home to us.”
Springf’d Republican p15 Jl 15 ‘17 250w
“We do less than justice to this book if we do not read it aloud, for each syllable has been hammered into place and is taking thrust and strain as in poetry.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p223 My 10 ‘17 1450w
BAINVILLE, JACQUES. Italy and the war; tr. by Bernard Miall. *$1 (1½c) Doran 945 (Eng ed 17-26484)
The author’s purpose is “to show Italy as the war has revealed her.” He says, “The Italian state is one of the most original and one of the most vigorous elements of modern Europe, and one of the richest in future promise. The war came at one of the most favourable moments of its growth and evolution. Italy was able to seize upon this moment, and to-morrow, we believe, she will count in the world for more than she counted yesterday.” He writes of: Italian opinions and intentions; The adaptations of the House of Savoy; The nationalist tradition; Italy is no longer the country of the dead; The Quirinal and the Vatican; From the Triple alliance to the Quadruple entente; The historic month in Italy; The future. The author is a Frenchman who has seen long service as a correspondent in Italy.
A L A Bkl 13:442 Jl ‘17
“M. Bainville’s work is of peculiar interest, and gives some idea of inner Italy, as well as of the motives which led to her intervention in the war.”
+ Ath p36 Ja ‘17 100w
Boston Transcript p6 My 29 ‘17 300w
Reviewed by H. J. Laski
+ Dial 63:15 Je 28 ‘17 30w
+ Lit D 55:36 S 15 ‘17 450w
“For us, his book is admirably informative.”
+ N Y Times 22:179 My 6 ‘17 750w
Pratt p44 O ‘17 20w
R of Rs 55:551 My ‘17 70w
Springf’d Republican p6 Ag 24 ‘17 430w
BAIRNSFATHER, BRUCE. Bullets and billets. il *$1.50 (3c) Putnam 940.91 17-3729
Bruce Bairnsfather is a cartoonist whose drawings picture the humor of trench life. In this book he has written of the early days of the war, illustrating the account with some of his own sketches. Modern warfare appears to be a muddy business, but the good humor of the author-artist and his pals seemed to be proof against all physical discomforts.
+ A L A Bkl 13:393 Je ‘17
“Among the trivial books growing out of the war, this one found its place abroad and it will amuse a certain (or uncertain) number here.”
Boston Transcript p8 Mr 14 ‘17 70w
Reviewed by P. F. Bicknell
+ Dial 62:306 Ap 5 ‘17 170w
“Unfortunately for us our officer-author gets him a man servant shortly after the book begins and moves out of the picturesque mud—had he seen less of his own class and more of his men this might indeed have been a book to rival ‘Kitchener’s mob.’” Robert Lynd
+ Pub W 91:213 Ja 20 ‘17 200w
“This volume is not in the least literary, but it bubbles over with laughter and a very human enjoyment of rare comforts. ... It is well illustrated, too.”
+ Sat R 122:580 D 16 ‘16 450w
“The drawings of Captain Bairnsfather have become so much of an institution in the army that they scarcely need an introduction. Personally we are not convinced that some type might not have been found equally comic yet standing less questionably for all that the war means to a democracy that goes forth to fight. ... The book before us shows how much Captain Bairnsfather has in him. His jokes are spontaneous, and, when he tries, they fit the drawings perfectly. He has, moreover, firmness and a power to charm when he pleases.”
+ — Spec 118:239 F 24 ‘17 150w
+ Springf’d Republican p19 Mr 25 ‘17 300w
“Here we have an army officer who invariably depicts his men (to whom his book is dedicated) as the very type which the army is anxious to suppress. ... It is not with Captain Bairnsfather’s humour that we quarrel, for his situations are invariably amusing. It is because he standardizes—almost idealizes—a degraded type of face.”
– + The Times [London] Lit Sup p621 D 21 ‘16 450w
Wis Lib Bul 13:123 Ap ‘17 80w
BAKER, HARRY TORSEY. Contemporary short story; a practical manual. $1.25 Heath 808.3 17-1356
“In the course of six chapters the author outlines in a lively manner the essentials of the American short story from both the editor’s and the reader’s point of view, drawing largely for his material upon his own personal editorial experience. ... ‘This volume,’ he says, ‘accordingly aims to teach promiscuous young authors, whether in or out of college, how to write stories that shall be marketable as well as artistic. It attempts to state succinctly, and as clearly as may be, some fundamental principles of short-story writing. ... Each chapter is followed by a series of suggestive questions for beginners in fiction, and at the end of his book are printed lists of American fiction magazines, books on the short story, and titles of representative short stories by English and American writers.’”—Boston Transcript
“The chief criticism has been that he forgets the ideals of the masters and preaches ‘popularity and financial success at all hazards.’”
A L A Bkl 13:301 Ap ‘17
“Its author’s qualifications for his task are set forth after his name in these words: ‘Instructor in English in the University of Illinois, formerly special reader of fiction manuscripts, International magazine company, publishers of Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazar, etc.’ ... It is obvious again and again, as we turn the pages of Mr Baker’s book, that his knowledge of what sort of short story will be profitable runs far in advance of his critical faculty.” E. F. E.
– + Boston Transcript p6 Ja 20 ‘17 650w
“Mr Baker’s drawback is that he has only one market in mind—the market represented by the American magazines that pay highest. ‘It pays, therefore,’ he writes ‘to find out in advance what American editors dislike’ ... But what is required is another standard altogether, not the raising of the commercial standard. A few editors might be induced to consider what discriminating minds approve of.” M. M. Colum
Dial 62:347 Ap 19 ‘17 500w
26“Brief and ‘snappy’ book on manuscript salesmanship. ... If the author had only refrained from occasional references to art and artistry his little volume would have been wholly justifiable. For there is no reason in the world why short-story writers should not ply their trade for money. ... Only, when they do so, they should stop talking about art.”
Nation 104:548 My 3 ‘17 420w
— New Repub 10:108 F 24 ‘17 1350w
“There is a really illuminating chapter on ‘How magazines differ,’ followed by a description of a magazine office from the inside.”
+ N Y Times 22:162 Ap 22 ‘17 500w
“A commonsense little volume that should find an audience despite the fact that it is an addition to a long list of books whose excellence varies with their number.”
+ Springf’d Republican p6 Ap 16 ‘17 260w
BAKER, ORIN CLARKSON. Travelers’ aid society in America; principles and methods. *$1 (6½c) Funk 910.2 17-14808
This little book, published under the auspices of the Travelers’ aid society of New York city at the close of the thirtieth anniversary of active travelers’ aid work there, deals with the “protection from danger and prevention of crime for travelers, especially young women, girls and boys traveling alone.” (Sub-title) The appendix gives Instructions to agents.
BAKER, RAY STANNARD (DAVID GRAYSON, pseud.). Great possessions. il *$1.30 (3c) Doubleday 17-28078
A slender volume which nevertheless can lure one for a brief respite away from the strident noises of a care-troubled world into a realm where loafing with one’s soul is encouraged. It is another adventure in contentment, Grayson leading the way this time to the country where he points out the well-flavored things of garden and field—the smells, sights, sounds, touches and tastes, two of which, the sense of taste and the sense of smell, having been shabbily treated, he thinks, in the amiable rivalry of the senses. Other essays in the group delve down to the wealth of love to be found in the hearts of humble men.
“Pleasant essays in the author’s familiar vein.”
+ A L A Bkl 14:84 D ‘17
Reviewed by A. M. Chase
+ Bookm 46:336 N ‘17 250w
+ Cleveland p132 D ‘17 40w
“A fitting successor to ‘The friendly road’ and ‘Adventures in contentment.’ A word should be said for Thomas Fogarty’s delightful drawings, which are entirely in harmony with the text.”
+ Lit D 55:43 D 8 ‘17 110w
“What we dislike chiefly, perhaps, is the complacency of his mellow hieratic chant, with its double appeal to those who incline to go ‘back to the land,’ and to those who are determined to be ‘glad,’ according to the current fashion (in fiction).”
– + Nation 106:118 Ja 31 ‘18 510w
Outlook 117:387 N 7 ‘17 40w
+ Pittsburgh 22:804 D ‘17 20w
“It is a privilege to come in contact with the type of mind here represented. He is eminently restful, and his attitude promotes a readjustment of values.” F: T. Cooper
+ Pub W 92:1379 O 20 ‘17 450w
“It is a delightful book; rich in its wisdom, redolent of nature, and bespeaking a love for humble things and men of gentle will.”
+ Springf’d Republican p17 N 18 ‘17 370w
BAKSHY, ALEKSANDR. Path of the modern Russian stage, and other essays. il *7s 6d Palmer & Hayward, London 792 (Eng ed 17-17074)
“In these essays the author is largely concerned with the problem of representational versus presentational stage performances. Should illusion be carried to its furthest limits? Should the play be represented, as at the Moscow art theatre, as ‘an independent entity existing side by side with’ the observing audience? Or should it be presented through the medium of the stage? Other matters dealt with are the advantages and disadvantages of ensemble-acting, and long-run plays. The concluding essay treats of ‘The kinematograph as art.’”—Ath
Ath p541 N ‘16 70w
“Valuable is the author’s essay on living space and the theatre, and his criticism of Mr Gordon Craig’s theories. But abstraction seems pushed to the point where words become abstracted from meaning in the essay on a poet-philosopher of modern Russia, the whole sustained in the Nietzschean jargon of the mythic opposition between Dionysus and Apollo. In more than one sentence the old opposition of the classic and romantic spirit is all that is implied.”
+ — Int Studio 61:99 Ap ‘17 250w
“The impression left by Mr Bakshy’s very interesting book, which is full of suggestive remarks and illuminating criticism, is that there is very little future for naturalism.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p487 O 12 ‘16 1300w
BANCROFT, GRIFFING. Interlopers. il *$1.50 Bancroft co., 156 5th av., N.Y. 17-20421
“A study of the ‘yellow peril,’ as the subtle and irresistible absorption of California by the Japanese, whom the law has excluded from citizenship, but has failed to keep off the land. ... The central figure of the story is that of a young eastern-bred doctor, who makes himself an outcast among the ranchers in Eden valley by being friendly with the Japanese. In the event, he wins his lady and reëstablishes himself in the world by discovering a serum for Asiatic cholera. But he does not solve, or even help to solve, the problem of the Californian and his Japanese rival. Not all the white man’s law and gospel can dislodge the yellow man when he has once set foot in Eden valley—an interloper destined in no long time to be acknowledged as master of the premises. The Jap, in fact, is the lustier pioneer, and with a backing of oriental gold and oriental cunning more than a match for the western-born.”—Nation
“Though as a novelist Mr Bancroft still has something to acquire in coördinating the scenes of a story and in making his characters appealing, the book takes on a certain reality from the author’s extensive and affectionate knowledge of the country, and from his not altogether unsuccessful attempt to weave an interesting tale around his comment on the conditions introduced by the Japanese settlements. It is this last element that will make the book worth reading as evidence in a problem that is not without its possibilities as an international question.” F. I.
+ — Boston Transcript p6 S 8 ‘17 750w
“The matter of the story is better than its manner: the characters have an air of struggling against the language the author puts into their mouths; for he makes them all talk like a book. The action is impeded by various dissertations on fruit-ranching, Japanese customs, or Asiatic cholera—very interesting in themselves.”
Nation 105:247 S 6 ‘17 320w
“The plot is merely a thread on which the author has hung a rather interesting essay on the Japanese in California.”
+ N Y Times 22:303 Ag 19 ‘17 350w
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. In these latter days. $2 Blakely-Oswald co., 124 Polk st., Chicago 304 17-25254
Mr Bancroft is a historian with a long list of volumes to his credit. He has for some time made his home in California, so it is natural that many of the papers in this new book should deal with the problems of the Pacific coast, notably with questions of Asiatic immigration. “Contents: A problem in evolution; Apocalyptic; Infelicities of possession; Germany and Japan; The still small voice; Life’s complex ways; The psychology of lying; China 27and the United States; The autocracy of labor; Municipal rule and misrule; The declination of law; Fallacies and fantasies; The economics of education; The mysterious history of the spirit creation; Spiritual and rational development; Ab ovo; As others see us; Spirit worship of today; The new religion; The war in Europe; Crystallized civilization; Why a world industrial centre at San Francisco bay? Revival of citizenship; The initiative; Assurances for the future.” (Pittsburgh)
Boston Transcript p9 O 20 ‘17 400w
N Y Times 22:581 D 30 ‘17 60w
Pittsburgh 22:687 O ‘17 90w
“This work of Mr Bancroft’s reveals the author’s pungency and individuality of mind, but reveals also signs of age. Mr Bancroft is eighty-five. Considering this fact, it is easy to understand his overwrought denunciations of current American life.”
– + Springf’d Republican p6 O 2 ‘17 270w
BANG, JACOB PETER. Hurrah and hallelujah; a documentation; from the Danish by Jessie Bröchner; with an introd. by Ralph Connor. *$1 (2c) Doran 940.91 17-10428
Dr Bang, of the University of Copenhagen, has collected excerpts from German poems, sermons, etc. His title is taken from a book of poems issued by a German pastor. His purpose is “to show, on the one hand, to what a pitch the contempt and hatred for things foreign has been carried, and, on the other hand, how widely the overestimation, not to say the worship, of things German has spread in Germany.” There are chapters on German prophets, German war poetry, The war in sermons, Speeches by German professors, etc. The book was prepared for publication in 1915.
A L A Bkl 13:393 Je ‘17
Dial 62:256 Mr 22 ‘17 130w
Reviewed by H. M. Kallen
Dial 63:263 S 27 ‘17 1100w
“We do not know among modern books any one volume which will give to the English reader in so brief a form so clear a reflection of the militaristic spirit which seems to possess, not only the military leaders, but the teachers of every description in Germany.”
Outlook 116:305 Je 20 ‘17 100w
“Those who have any lingering doubts as to the wisdom of the present course taken by the government will find in ‘Hurrah and hallelujah,’ a collection of documents edited by Dr J. P. Bang, of the University of Copenhagen, a terrific arraignment of Germany out of the mouths of her own poets, prophets, professors, and teachers.”