Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1920 Books (continued 26)

LUTZ, GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL (MRS FLAVIUS J. LUTZ). Cloudy Jewel. il *$1.90 (2c) Lippincott

20–20648

Julia Cloud, at her mother’s death, is free to choose between living the life of a drudge in her selfish sister’s household, or struggling along alone on insufficient finances. She is trying to make her decision when her niece and nephew from California put in an unexpected appearance, and they have a delightful suggestion for her future. They are coming east to college and propose taking her along to make a home for them and be a real mother to them, for though well-to-do, they are orphans. This plan they carry out and she plays her part wholly to their satisfaction. She feels a keen responsibility for their welfare and at first their lack of any religious ideals grieves her deeply. But they become interested in the Christian Endeavor society in a little church and gradually come to be leaders in it as well as in college life. There they make friendships which finally grow into deeper relations, and the story ends in two romances.

“It may be safely prophesied that Mrs Lutz, if she continues to spin more novels of the type of ‘Cloudy Jewel’ will doubtless lure into her fold a large proportion of the followers of Harold Bell Wright. Within the pages of ‘Cloudy Jewel’ one may find the telling and sure-fire ingredients of an American best seller.”

+ −

N Y Times p26 D 19 ’20 300w

“Mrs Lutz will beguile many hours for those who do not wish to be aroused or excited by what they read, and her books will have a wholesome influence wherever they are read.” K. O.

+

Pub W 98:1194 O 16 ’20 270w

LUTZ, GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL (MRS FLAVIUS J. LUTZ). Exit Betty. il *$1.75 (2c) Lippincott

20–13974

When Betty Stanhope met her bridegroom in the crowded church where the ceremony was to take place, to her horror she found he was not the man she had promised to marry. A timely fainting spell permitted her to escape from the church, and it was fortunate for her that she ran across Jane Carson just outside. Jane took the excited girl to her room where Betty told enough of the story to convince Jane that she was the victim of the cupidity of her scheming stepmother. Jane sent her to her mother in the country where Betty successfully eluded pursuit, until by Jane’s keenness, aided by her friend Jimmie and Jimmie’s employer, Warren Reyburn, Betty slipped forever from the clutches of those who had tried to rob her of her inheritance. Incidentally a double romance developed for her and Jane.

“Melodrama of the crudest kind and religious sentiment equally crude are blended in a whole which, curiously enough, pleases rather than repels.”

+ −

Ath p763 D 3 ’20 40w

“Of course it is a very old plot, this of the cruel step mother, but Mrs Lutz manages to centre our interest entirely in Betty and to arouse our sympathies to the point where we do not greatly care that some of her plot elements are distinctly hackneyed.”

+ −

Boston Transcript p6 Ag 7 ’20 420w

LYNCH, FREDERICK HENRY.^[2] Personal recollections of Andrew Carnegie. il $1.50 Revell

“‘Personal recollections of Andrew Carnegie’ furnishes an intimate picture of the late ironmaster and philanthropist, in which many phases of his character are depicted. In the course of much close association, Dr Lynch, as a member of the executive committee of the New York Peace society, enjoyed opportunities of learning what the canny Scotsman thought concerning many other things than iron and libraries.”—Springf’d Republican

Boston Transcript p6 Ja 8 ’21 250w

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Ind 103:440 D 25 ’20 360w

Springf’d Republican p8 N 6 ’20 70w

LYND, ROBERT. Ireland a nation. *$2 (3c) Dodd 941.5

20–1230

In this thorough sifting of the Irish problem, the author, an Englishman, does not spare England. Of her habit of not taking Ireland seriously he says that if it is persisted in “it will bring ruin not only on Ireland but upon England and on our European civilization generally. If Ireland is not ... given her freedom equally with every other nation in Europe, another great world-war is as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun.... Every nation on the earth that desires to do wrong to another takes fresh heart when it thinks of the example of England in Ireland.” Contents: Why it is important to realize that Ireland is a nation; The historical thread; Sinn Fein; The insurrection of 1916; Ulster: the facts of the case; The hesitating sort of Liberal and Irish self-determination; One man’s views on Dominion home rule; The Irish soldier; Ireland’s record in the war; The soldiers’ sacrifice; The English in Ireland: a scene; Another scene: the drums of Ulster; The witness of the poets; A note on Irish literature; Voices of the new Ireland (from various writers); Common-sense about the little nations; Epilogue.

“Interestingly written though somewhat lacking in unity.”

+ −

Booklist 16:237 Ap ’20

“It is devoid of all appearances of sentimentality, yet the very calmness with which the argument is followed gives a force to the book which passion itself could hardly sustain.”

+

Cath World 112:259 N ’20 500w

+

Cleveland p76 Ag ’20 50w

Reviewed by Preserved Smith

+

Nation 110:768 Je 5 ’20 550w

“‘Ireland a nation’ stands above and apart from the vast majority of books on the subject. It owes this distinction not only to its author’s brilliant handling of a complicated theme, to his sense of selection, and to his gift of distilling the essence of long-drawn-out controversies into a witty phrase, but primarily to the fact that he lifts the issue to a new and higher plane. Where other writers take it for granted that the dispute is one between two nations. Mr Lynd confronts the rulers of Great Britain with their pledges not to Ireland but to the civilized world, and insists that an Irish settlement is to England’s allies, no less than her enemies, the ‘acid test’ of whether these pledges are more than mere empty words.”

+

Nation [London] 27:50 Ap 10 ’20 1250w

N Y Times 25:192 Ap 18 ’20 100w

N Y Times p1 Ag 1 ’20 750w

“He is well informed and presents his views with clearness and force, as befits an editor of the London Daily News. But his book will fail through over-statement to carry conviction to his opponents.”

+ −

Outlook 124:431 Mr 10 ’20 100w

“If his pages have at times the intractable vehemence which belong to his nationality, they are no less lit up with the wit and sparkle that seldom desert a man of his race.” H. L. Stewart

+ −

Review 2:461 My 1 ’20 600w

R of Rs 61:446 Ap ’20 120w

+

Springf’d Republican p8 Mr 30 ’20 280w

LYNDE, FRANCIS. Girl, a horse and a dog. il *$2 (2½c) Scribner

20–14290

When Jaspar Dudley’s will was read, instead of the fortune which his grandson Stanford Broughton expected, he received only a vague legacy which at first he chose to disregard entirely. For it read something as follows: “Your portion ... was worth, at its latest valuation, something like $440,000.... When you find it, you will be able to identify it by the presence of a girl with brown hair and blue eyes and small mole on her left shoulder, a piebald horse ... and a dog with a split face—half black and half white.” With just this information and certain indefinite geographical data, “Stannie” finally starts on the trail of his inheritance. He has less trouble in locating it than might be expected. But then his troubles begin, for he finds it to be a flooded mine, which is nevertheless highly desirable to a certain mining engineer. He determines to pump it out, and ascertain its value. His attempts to do this, and the efforts of his rival to thwart him, and gain possession himself, make the story, with, of course, some rivalry for the blue-eyed girl as well.

“Rather well told and interesting to readers of western stories.”

+

Booklist 17:71 N ’20

“Plenty of dash in this story, and genuinely interesting from beginning to end.”

+

Cath World 112:554 Ja ’21 110w

“‘The girl, a horse and a dog’ is a book built frankly for amusement purposes, but it is more substantial than the usual run of adventure stories. Mr Lynde possesses the power to develop character in a consistent manner, to afford the reader glimpses of types which live, and to do this without halting the steady flow of a narrative that steadily rises in its interest.”

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N Y Times p24 Ag 29 ’20 650w

“A lively tale.”

+

Springf’d Republican p11a S 12 ’20 270w

Wis Lib Bul 16:194 N ’20 60w

LYNDE, FRANCIS. Wreckers. il *$1.75 Scribner

20–5584

“Graham Norcross, whose private stenographer and confidential clerk, Jimmie Dodds, tells the tale of their adventures, was anything but anxious to become general manager of the much-abused Pioneer short line. That unfortunate railroad had for some time been nothing but an instrument for a little group of Wall street speculators to make money with; they juggled its stock about, stinted it in equipment and everything else, and abused it generally. Now, squeezed dry, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. And to make bad matters worse, at its headquarters in Portal City every wellpaid post was filled by some cousin or nephew or brother-in-law of the stock speculators who controlled the road. This was a part of the proposition which faced Graham Norcross when he started out to make the Pioneer short line an honest and a paying concern. By the scheme finally carried out, it was arranged that one section of ‘the country—and the employes—had a railroad of their own,’ a railroad whose stock was controlled by the people most interested in its welfare.”—N Y Times

“A railroad story which will interest men and boys.”

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Booklist 16:282 My ’20

+

N Y Times 25:153 Ap 4 ’20 700w

“The story maintains the author’s reputation as a teller of entertaining tales.”

+ −

Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 18 ’20 140w

LYNN, MARGARET. Free soil. *$2.50 (2c) Macmillan

20–20945

A story of the fight for free soil in Kansas in the fifties. Among the New England recruits to the free soil population are John and Ellen Truman, who give up ease and security and take their two young children into the new and strange land. With them goes Ellen’s cousin Harvey Sayre, young and high-spirited and ripe for adventure. Later another cousin, Phoebe Murray, comes for a visit, and refusing to be sent back to safety, remains to play her part with the other women. Even before reaching Kansas the Trumans have a taste of the tense relations between North and South and they are in the heart of the struggle from the moment of their arrival. Another struggle no less interesting is revealed within the ranks of the free-soilers, between the advocates of violence and those who stand for peaceful methods. The figure of John Brown as he moves through these pages differs somewhat from popular legend. The love story of Phoebe and Lewis Hardie, the high courage of the women, and the author’s very evident love for the prairies lighten the somberness of the story.

“Miss Lynn has not only made her story interesting and her characters alive; she has pictured the country itself as few writers have pictured it. ‘Free soil’ is a noble book, a living book, a book to read and to remember. In its blending of fiction and history it is a notable achievement.”

+

N Y Times p24 D 19 ’20 550w

“As fiction pure and simple the novel has no great art, but it has historical reality and wide human sympathy. As a sketch of western living conditions in early days the book is also satisfying.” E. C. Willcox

+ −

Outlook 127:109 Ja 19 ’21 140w

LYTLE, JOHN HORACE.^[2] Story of Jack. il $1.50 Pettibone-McLean co., Dayton, O.

20–10081

“The scene of the title story is laid in the Klondike land in the Klondike days. Jack is a real dog, and a great one, who will win straight to the heart of every reader.” (Cath World) “The tragic adventure of Jack is followed by other stories, each directed to a particular foible of the dog-lover—the pioneer dog who spends his life by racing with a message of an Indian uprising, the unwelcome mongrel who rescues a child from drowning and is welcome ever after, the spaniel who is taught to point golf balls and so saves his master in a desperate match, and so on.” (Review)

“These are stories of live people and live dogs told in a live way.”

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Cath World 111:838 S ’20 100w

“They are capital tales, all of them; and if the limits of canine intelligence are overstepped, what harm is done?”

+

Review 3:626 D 22 ’20 190w

M

MCAFEE, CLELAND BOYD. Christian faith and the new day. *90c (4c) Macmillan 230

20–6365

The author’s subject is theology—theology as adapted to the needs of the day. He says in his preface, “Visitors to theological seminaries often tell young men they are not to preach their theology, whereas in any sound way of speaking it is the only thing they are to preach.” The book is addressed “not to technical theologians but to working ministers and thoughtful laymen.” Contents: The call to reconstruction; The Christian theology of God; The Christian theology of salvation; The church; A concluding word. The author is a professor in McCormick theological seminary, Chicago.

Booklist 16:327 Jl ’20

MCARTHUR, PETER.^[2] Affable stranger. *$1.50 (4c) Houghton

20–20446

The author is a Canadian farmer and journalist who visited the United States in the capacity of friendly observer. He was interested particularly in the state of public opinion as it concerns Canada and Great Britain and his method was to keep as quiet as possible and let the other person do the talking. Some of his chapters, which were contributed first to the Toronto Globe, are: Back to the primitive; Registering reform; A burden of farmers; Organized for profit; Old home week; The ward leader; The soul of Canada; A land of upper berths.

+

N Y Evening Post p12 N 27 ’20 80w

MACAULAY, ROSE. Potterism. *$2 Boni & Liveright 20–19045

“‘Potterism’ is a newspaper novel. The idea is Potterism. It is a more inclusive idea than the one which was once covered by the word ‘bromide.’ Potterism also takes in the bromide, but generally speaking it means ‘muddle and cant—second-rate sentimentalism and cheap short-cuts and mediocrity.’ It is personified in Mr Potter (afterward Lord Pinkerton) owner of the Pinkerton Press, and in his wife, ‘Leila Yorke,’ the novelist. But the Potters are such perfect symbols that even their own children, Jane and Johnny, help to form the Anti-Potter league. There are three or four other members of the league, and the book follows their fortunes, which take a slightly melodramatic turn. In the end the president of the league is killed in Russia and the Potter-Pinkerton Press goes on forever.”—New Repub

“In this new novel by Miss Macaulay it is not only her cleverness and wit which are disarming. It is her coolness, her confidence, her determination to say just exactly what she intends to say whether the reader will or no.” K. M.

+

Ath p736 Je 4 ’20 380w

“Shrewd, vigorous and interesting to many readers. Most amusing to those who can appreciate subtle humor.”

+

Booklist 17:117 D ’20

“Even to a confirmed Potterite the keen thrust of Miss Macaulay’s wit must afford a fearful delight. Here is a good antidote for the oversexed novel.”

+

Bookm 52:272 N ’20 220w

“There is no doubt but what Miss Macaulay looks at her day and its state of mind much as Cervantes looked at his, and her result in fiction is in kind if not in degree the same. In degree it is far ahead of its kind beyond anything done by her contemporaries. For all its clever caricature and exhilarating interest the story is downright English.” W. S. B.

+

Boston Transcript p1 N 27 ’20 1150w

“As a sophisticated picture of modern life the book is exceedingly well done; as a solution of the problem it sets before us it fails, chiefly because in the author’s philosophy there is no solution—at least no workable solution.”

+ −

Cath World 112:694 F ’21 300w

“It is cleverly conceived and cleverly written, but it is a little too hasty to be complete.” E. P.

+ −

Dial 70:107 Ja ’21 50w

“In ‘Potterism’ Miss Macaulay has sketched for us a clever, amusing, and, on the whole, convincing picture of the state of the British mind during and immediately after the war. Her book pushes as close to the current hour as it can without lapsing into mere journalism.” Edwin Björkman

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Freeman 2:429 Ja 12 ’21 490w

“Miss Macaulay’s narrative technique shares the keenness and distinction of her intellectual outlook. Each section of the book is told by one of its characters and thus the characterization is of a rare completeness and inwardness. The section written by Lelia Yorke is masterly.” L. L.

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Nation 111:sup428 O 13 ’20 620w

“Miss Macaulay is so competent in reaching her aim that one is forced to wonder why she didn’t make her book a little smoother and more varied in style, and a little less awkward in form.” S. T.

+ −

New Repub 24:280 N 10 ’20 460w

“The story is taken up at different stages by the principal figures, and Miss Macaulay shows real skill in her power of representing the facts as they appear to each, colored by the style and the preoccupations of the individual.” E. A. Boyd

+

N Y Evening Post p5 N 13 ’20 1050w

“Add to this penetrating observation and trenchancy of expression a finished style and good powers of characterization and it is not difficult to understand why Miss Macaulay’s fictional commentary on present day foibles was praisefully acclaimed in London, where it has already run into several editions.”

+

N Y Times p22 O 31 ’20 850w

Reviewed by Caroline Singer

+

Pub W 98:1887 D 18 ’20 340w

“What gives it distinction is the range and flexibility of its idea.” H. W. Boynton

+

Review 3:384 O 27 ’20 550w

“In these days of Potterism, trade-union tyranny, and fiscal oppression, we are not often, as they used to say in the eighteenth century, ‘merry.’ Yet Miss Macaulay’s novel amused and refreshed us. The satire is playful, delicate, and mordant.”

+

Sat R 129:543 Je 12 ’20 800w

“The book is rightly named ‘tragi-farcical,’ and therein lies its weakness, for the abruptness of the alternations are extreme. The greatest tragedies have not excluded comedy, but the introduction of farce produces a confusion of tones.”

+ −

Spec 124:833 Je 19 ’20 640w

“The effect of abstraction is unfortunately heightened by the author’s device of telling part of the story in her own person, part in the persons of the different characters, a proceeding for which we can see no good reason. It would have been better if she had written all in the person of the unworldly Laurence Juke. In his instalment we have the Miss Macaulay whom we knew before, afraid neither of pity nor enthusiasm.”

+ −

The Times [London] Lit Sup p348 Je 3 ’20 950w

MCAULEY, MARY ETHEL, ed. Wanderer; or, Many minds on many subjects; with an introd. by Charles Alexander Rook. *$2.50 Boni & Liveright 040

20–11654

“In the Pittsburgh Dispatch, Miss Mary Ethel McAuley, calling herself the ‘Wanderer,’ showed an extraordinary ingenuity in putting nice questions in casuistry and in eliciting a wide variety of answers to them, many of which now appear in this volume.” (Review) “‘Can a radical be a Christian?’ ‘Is our present marriage system perfect?’ ‘Is it possible for the dead to materialize?’ ‘Should we have birth control?’ ‘Is the mystic a human need?’ ‘Are the ministers more muzzled than the editors?’ ‘Would George Sand be received in genteel society today?’ ‘Was Tolstoi a prophet?’—these are a very few of the many vital or bizarre questions asked by Miss McAuley and tackled by Sir Tom, Doctor Dick, and Plain Harry and Lizzie.” (N Y Call)

Freeman 2:46 S 22 ’20 250w

“Nobody could possibly accept half the opinions in this book, but some of them are enlightening, many are interesting, and the “‘Wanderer’ idea is excellent.” A. W. Welch

+

N Y Call p10 Jl 25 ’20 360w

Review 3:424 N 3 ’20 240w

MCBRIDE, ISAAC. Barbarous soviet Russia. il *$2.50 Seltzer 914.7

20–12209

“Favorable pictures of present-day life in Russia under the Bolshevist régime, as sketched by an American traveler. Mr McBride gave special attention to labor conditions, education, the status of women, and the character of the soviet leadership. Interesting documents, including a report on the financial situation of Russia, are included in an appendix.”—R of Rs

Boston Transcript p6 Jl 7 ’20 500w

“What we have not yet seen is a book which combines a frank confrontation of the point of view of the Soviets with a clear-eyed estimate of its principles and a fair description of the successes or failures resulting in the operation. Mr Isaac McBride has failed to write such a book, but he has at least shown that the materials for it are not lacking.” Jacob Zeitlin

+

Nation 111:566 N 17 ’20 1400w

“Not the least attractive feature of the book is a number of excellent illustrations. A great deal of valuable and interesting information about the labor laws and the industrial condition of soviet Russia is contained in a long appendix.” A. C. Freeman

+

N Y Call p10 Ag 15 ’20 680w

R of Rs 62:221 Ag ’20 50w

MCCABE, JOSEPH. Taint in politics. *$2 Dodd 172.2

“This anonymous attack on the political world of the day deserves attention as a searching and forcible exposure of many undoubted abuses. Lack of principle, lightly disguised corruption, privileged incompetence, a pampered and leisurely civil service, slavish adherence to party, the substitution of oligarchy for any true democracy—these and such like features of public life are trenchantly and often convincingly attacked; and some historical chapters at the beginning trace the evolution of political corruption back to the middle ages. Though the writer has some suggestions at the end as to shorter parliaments, saving of parliamentary time, and, more broadly, the fundamental need of popular education, he is almost solely destructive; he is ‘not so much concerned with the method of purification as the establishment of the disease,’ and it is a real merit that he is absolutely impartial in his onslaught on the two—or three—parties and on the coalition.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“The value of this anonymous criticism of present-day political affairs would be greatly enhanced were the writer able to confirm the hope held out at the commencement, that in spite of his summary dismissal of politics as everywhere and always more or less tainted, his attitude might eventually be something more than negative.”

− +

Ath p50 Jl 9 ’20 200w

“The reader is likely to find, in this volume, additional reasons for congratulation that America has not become a partner in the international gaminghouse. The chapter on American conditions is disappointingly superficial.” C. N.

+ −

Freeman 2:454 Ja 19 ’21 280w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

Review 3:229 S 15 ’20 80w

Sat R 129:565 Je 19 ’20 700w

“The thoughtful reader will not, of course, forget that there is another side to the question.”

+ −

The Times [London] Lit Sup p286 My 6 ’20 280w

MCCALEB, WALTER FLAVIUS. Present and past banking in Mexico. *$2 (3c) Harper 332.15

20–4614

On the ground that the degree of banking development of a country measures the degree of civilization, comfort, and economic development, the book attempts “to trace the history of the credit institutions of the country from their initial stages down to the present time. Effort has been made to stress the salient facts in the extraordinary story of the rise and fall of banking in our neighboring republic.” (Preface) The book is published under the auspices of the Doheny foundation and a partial list of the contents is: Early stages of banking and finance; Through the crisis of 1884; Origin of the Banco nacional; High tide of bank concessions; General law for institutions of credit; The transition period; Adoption of the gold standard; Eve of the Madero revolution; Huerta and the banks; Regime of the Constitucionalistas. There is a bibliography and an index.

“Dr McCaleb has succeeded in furnishing the only comprehensive account of banking developments in Mexico. It is not easy for American readers to understand the statements of Mexican banks because of the differences in the terminology used, which grow largely out of differences in banking practice. Dr McCaleb has done much to make understandable the statements which he cites.” A. N. Young

+

Am Econ R 10:844 D ’20 940w

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Booklist 16:330 Jl ’20

Cleveland p75 Ag ’20 30w

R of Rs 62:448 O ’20 50w

MCCARTHY, JUSTIN HUNTLY. Henry Elizabeth. *$2 (1½c) Lane

20–13543

Henry Elizabeth’s mother had wanted a girl and her name was to have been Elizabeth. When he was born a boy the Elizabeth stood with the addition of Henry, Young Braginton, for he was the master of the manor-house, grew up a country bumpkin much given to drinking, eating and women. He was a young giant. One day, after a drunken bout, he encounters a most beautiful woman, such as he had never seen. It changes his career. He resolves to give up his old life, go up to London, become one of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers, and make himself worthy of his beauty. He falls in with a former court jester who takes his education in hand, and little by little makes himself master of all the gallant practices, including swordsmanship. He has many adventures, serves Elizabeth and is granted favors, and has the opportunity, most coveted, to champion the cause of his lady love and rid her of her enemies. Although he had not won her at the end of the story the reader hopes that he will yet succeed. The picture of London in Elizabeth’s time is one of the quaint features of the story.

+

Ath p307 S 8 ’20 160w

“It is characteristic of Mr McCarthy that it has all the excitement and rapidity of a good swashbuckling tale with a most polished workmanship and better style than is the case of most books of the kind.”

+

Boston Transcript p6 O 13 ’20 420w

“The story is written in that leisurely way that enables the author to reproduce in fine detail much of the social background of the time with which it deals and also to accentuate the feeling of its unhurrying pace. But this is all done without apparent effort and as an integral part of the story, which moves swiftly enough when the time for action comes.”

+

N Y Times p26 Ag 22 ’20 650w

“A capital tale of the days of Queen Bess. It is just historical enough and not too much so. A tale which has incident, action, humor, and character depiction.”

+

Outlook 126:238 O 6 ’20 80w

“Mr McCarthy is one of our most acceptable historical novelists. His people are real; and neither they nor he drop into the mannerisms of style or the pat dialogue too common among his rivals.”

+

The Times [London] Lit Sup p426 Jl 1 ’20 140w

Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 90w

MACCLINTOCK, LANDER. Contemporary drama of Italy. *$1.50 (2c) Little 852

20–1987

The book is one of the Contemporary drama series edited by Richard Burton. Comparatively little is known to the English-speaking public of modern Italian dramatists. The object of the book is to fill the gap. The author holds that the Italian is realistic rather than romantic and his modern literature is characterized by fidelity to life and the intellectualization of its themes rather than by emotionalism. Even romanticism contained the germs of the modern movement and an increasingly intelligent public demands more and more discussion and solution of vital questions and urgent problems. The contents are: The foundations; Giuseppe Giacosa; The early realists; Gabriele D’Annunzio; The later realists; Roberto Bracco; Actors and acting, the popular theatre, the dialect theatre; The younger generation; Futurism and other isms; Bibliographical appendix; Index.

“Without that special charm which transforms such a book into one of popular appeal, but still interesting and useful in its suggestiveness to the drama student and general reader.”

+ −

Booklist 16:195 Mr ’20

Cleveland p42 Ap ’20 70w

“Mr MacClintock is very agile, very well-informed, his touch is light and his taste is catholic.”

+

Freeman 1:70 Mr 31 ’20 200w

“His book is excellent in every way, a model for the other contributors to the Contemporary drama series. It is founded upon indefatigable investigation, at once broad and deep. It is informed with a fine critical spirit. It is logically planned and proportioned. It is written in clear English. And it is as unfailingly interesting as it is unhesitatingly instructive.” Brander Matthews

+

N Y Times 25:226 My 2 ’20 2100w

“In spite of occasional infelicities of expression and errors of fact or of judgment, it is a distinctly valuable contribution to the study of modern Italian literature. Dr MacClintock’s first chapter, and his last, ‘Futurism and other isms,’ are the least satisfactory part of his book, since they involve broad generalizations based on a profound knowledge of the background. This knowledge he does not yet sufficiently possess, if one may judge from his tendency to accept and incorporate the views of previous writers.” K. McKenzie

+ −

Review 3:452 N 10 ’20 1000w

MCCONN, MAX. Mollie’s substitute husband, il *$1.75 (2c) Dodd

20–14216

“Professor” John Merriam, principal of the Riceville high school, on account of his startling likeness to the “Boy senator,” George Norman, was induced to represent that gentleman under rather amazing circumstances. The Reform league of Chicago was trying to secure better traction conditions in that city and upon Senator Norman rested the decision, and it was his intention to veto the measure. Then what was simpler than for the enterprising Reform league to kidnap the senator and substitute his double—John Merriam, who would put the thing thru for them in short order. He agreed to play the part, which involved playing husband to Mollie June, with whom he had been in love since she was a school girl. The situation naturally led to complications both public and private, and all the people concerned were led a merry chase escaping detection. A happy outcome at times seemed impossible—but at length it is achieved for all except the unfortunate Senator Norman himself—and perhaps he deserved his fate.

“The story is brisk and brilliant, if complicated in plot.”

+

Boston Transcript p6 S 8 ’20 290w

“A certain levity of style with which he writes disarms criticism and adds to the entertainment he has provided.”

+

N Y Times p29 Ag 15 ’20 550w

Springf’d Republican p9a O 24 ’20 120w

MCCORD, JAMES NEWTON. Textbook of filing. il *$2 Appleton 651

20–4539

“Based on our experience in training thousands of girls and women for filing positions no matter what methods were involved, or what particular manufacturer’s system was employed, this book has been compiled.... Its purpose is to instruct in the different methods of filing, which are limited, while the different systems are numerous and must be reduced to a possible four methods.... Office routine, short cuts, cross reference and different refinements and ramifications all come in for proper consideration and the volume is equally as valuable as a reference book as a textbook.” (Preface) Contents: Filing equipment; Routing; Alphabetic methods; Numeric filing; Geographic methods; Subject and decimal methods; Automatic system; Card indexing; Transferring; Legal filing; Insurance; Real estate; Follow-up methods; Banking; Sales; Manufacturing; Stocks and bonds; Card ledgers; Appendix; Index. The author is director of the New York school of filing.

“A clear, simple presentation.”

+

Booklist 16:334 Jl ’20

+

Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 18 ’20 120w

MCCORMICK, ROBERT RUTHERFORD. Army of 1918. *$2 Harcourt 940.373

20–19162

A work by a member of General Pershing’s staff, with chapters on: The background of the army; The inspired ambassador; Early days of the A.E.F.; The great division; Germany’s last offensive; A few technical points; The pursuit from the Marne; The American offensives; Some elements of national defense; New weapons and their use; The general staff; The crime of silence; The only solution. The solution offered in the concluding chapter is a strong military establishment with a trained army based on European, preferably French, models.

“It should be read by everyone who is interested in our future military policy.”

+

R of Rs 62:671 D ’20 100w

MACCRACKEN, JOHN HENRY. College and commonwealth, and other educational papers and addresses. *$3 Century 378

21–159

The collection consists largely of college addresses delivered at opening or commencement exercises, including, as the title essay of the book, the author’s inaugural address as president of Lafayette college. One of the leading ideas in this collection is the superiority of individualism to conformity, communism or state control. Even the desirability of cooperation is set forth with certain reservations. The war with its problems furnishes some of the topics. Among the titles are: The college and the individual; Liberty and cooperation; War and education; The college and the shadow of war; Federal leadership in education; Why the trust idea is not applicable to education; The college man and freedom; The education of women; Broader education of engineers; Scientific method and therapeutic impulse; Religion and education.

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N Y Evening Post p10 D 31 ’20 240w

MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR. Anderson Crow, detective. il *$2 (3½c) Dodd

20–4957

Anderson Crow, besides being the detective of the title, held a number of important municipal offices in the town of Tinkletown, including those of deputy marshal, deputy superintendent of the fire department, commissioner of water-works and others. His zeal on the trail of crime was therefore keen, and he rarely was outwitted, whether he was capturing German spies, or solving the mystery of a suicide or following up the effects of hard cider in the Foreign missionary society. His understudy was Alf Reesling, the village drunkard, who had been sober for twenty-five years, but who was living on the reputation of one hilarious week of his youth. Harry Squires, the editor of the weekly Banner, was a thorn in the side of the detective, although but for him some of his successes would have been failures.

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Booklist 16:313 Je ’20

“The tales are written in a farcical, extravagant style which, when applied to characters obviously intended to represent everyday human beings, needs a strong dash of humor to make it palatable. Mr McCutcheon has not made them funny enough. The illustrations, by the author’s famous brother, are full of ‘pep’ as one would expect them to be.”

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N Y Times 25:199 Ap 18 ’20 300w

“Good fun.”

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Outlook 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 50w

“While sketchy and episodical, the narrative is well knit. It is, perhaps, not far from the truth to say that Mr McCutcheon’s story is a satire on the detective creation of the fiction writers.”

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Springf’d Republican p11a My 9 ’20 280w

MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR. West wind drift. *$2 (2c) Dodd

20–18655

The Doraine, in the treacherous days of the war, sailed one day from a South American port carrying a thousand souls. And from that day she was never seen again, and was eventually reported lost with all on board. But two German spies might have given a fuller report if they had told of their work before they dropped off onto the launch that was awaiting them in the middle of the South Atlantic. The Doraine was left to helplessly drift, at the mercy of wind and tide. So finally she was borne to the shores of an uninhabited island. And there the six hundred or so human beings who had survived the rigors and exposure of the trip, landed and made a settlement. All the elements in human nature which men are familiar with in normal circumstances made themselves felt here, capacity for leadership, love, jealousy, temptation, treachery, justice, but strongest of all, hope in the future. Algernon Adonis Percival, in spite of his name and the fact that he was a stowaway on the doomed ship, is the strongest character of all, and his career is the most interesting as he rises to the governorship in quite Admirable Crichton style.

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Booklist 17:117 D ’20

Boston Transcript p8 D 11 ’20 210w

“George Barr McCutcheon, the facile creator of mythical kingdoms, has invented a new ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ quite stupendous enough for production by Mr Griffith.”

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N Y Evening Post p10 N 6 ’20 150w

“There is a straightaway yarn, which, if not particularly original or strikingly dramatic, at least leads one logically from the first chapter to the last with the feeling that one has been in company of a good-humored entertainer. Brightly written throughout, Mr McCutcheon’s latest novel is worthy of his reputation.”

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N Y Times p25 D 26 ’20 480w

“The book is worth reading for itself and also because it brings saliently to mind some of the things which are essential to liberty and combined effort in civilized countries, as well as in desert islands.”

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Outlook 126:600 D 1 ’20 90w

“The book was not written to prove anything for which many will be thankful.” Caroline Singer

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Pub W 98:1190 O 16 ’20 180w

“It is an entertaining tale which holds the reader enthralled through its various stages.”

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Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 200w

MACDONALD, GREVILLE. North door. *$2 (1½c) Houghton

20–26987

This romance, whose scene is the coast of Cornwall more than a century ago, has a historic background. It shows us the dawn of modern industrialism and how a country’s prosperity may be paid for with the blood of a once prosperous peasantry. The central figure is a saintly but rather unorthodox priest who puts his faith in the good to the supreme test by himself crossing the threshold of the accursed “North door” of the church in search of the reality of sin and evil. He finds both only to see it vanish before the higher reality of a divine goodness. A two-fold romance runs through the story, that of a peasant girl’s heroic love for a giant fisherman and smuggler and the highly spiritualized romance between the priest and Lady Evangeline.

“In this attempt to reproduce the life of a Cornish parish during the first decade of the nineteenth century some faults of construction are redeemed by much charm and sincerity.”

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Ath p815 Je 18 ’20 130w

“Something of Hawthorne’s moral sense, his superstitious awe, his sternness, his artistry, and, to a certain extent, his power of construction are more than noticeable—they are outstanding. George Brandes once declared that literature’s task is to give a ‘condensed representation of a people and an age.’ If this is true, then ‘The north door’ is surely entitled to consideration as literature.”

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N Y Times p24 Ag 29 ’20 640w

“The book has a marked character of its own, it is unusual and arresting.”

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Sat R 130:262 S 25 ’20 90w

“The portrait of Christopher Trevenna is a real, if slightly sentimental, piece of character drawing. The author’s rather verbose and involved style places an unnecessary obstacle in the way of the reader’s enjoyment.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p370 Je 10 ’20 150w

MACDONALD, JAMES RAMSAY. Government of India. *$1.50 Huebsch 354

(Eng ed 20–509)

“The appearance of this informative book is stated by the author to have been delayed by the war. He reviews the origin and evolution of the links which connect India with ourselves, and reminds readers that the needs of that empire cannot be met by an adjustment here and an adjustment there: ‘they have to be viewed in their wide sweep.’ Mr Macdonald discusses with considerable fullness the Montagu-Chelmsford report, deals with the religious problems in India, and remarks that a very common opinion of both Indians and English is that the Christian missions in India thwart the nationalist movement—partly by implanting in the minds of the people thoughts which lead them away from Indian leadership and ideas. In the author’s judgment, the Legislative councils should have more authority, especially in finance, and the Viceroy’s council be made more representative.”—Ath

Ath p1272 N 28 ’19 200w

Booklist 17:66 N ’20

“This new volume has been produced in an international milieu which is characterized by at least two sets of conditions. The first are those generated by the talk of a league of nations, and the second is the fait accompli of a socialist state in bolshevik Russia. And it is because the author seeks to harmonize his theories with these novel phenomena that his book acquires an importance such as is hardly indicated by the limitations of its title.” B. K. Sarkar

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Freeman 1:476 Jl 28 ’20 1200w

“The trouble about Mr Ramsay Macdonald’s book on India is that portions of it are obsolete. He describes a form of government which is about to undergo great modifications. Little further need be said by the way of criticism. Mr Macdonald writes with a practised hand, sometimes even with charm. He has handled his theme with moderation and restraint. It is a pleasure to pick up a book about India which contains no word of bitterness, no trace of violent controversy, no exaggeration or over-statement.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p723 D 11 ’19 950w

MACDONALD, JAMES RAMSAY. Parliament and revolution. (New library of social science) *$1.50 Seltzer 335

20–26685

“‘Parliament and revolution’ is a careful comparison between the existing government in England and the aims and projects of the Bolshevists. While the book is antibolshevist, Mr Macdonald is quick to recognize any sound reasoning in the bolshevist theories to denounce the flaws in the rule of Parliament. He includes a description of the working of the soviet system in Russia, and a discussion of ‘direct action,’ the name under which bolshevism is discussed and advocated by the British labor party.”—Springf’d Republican

“Not in any sense an objective scientific study, but an assertion of principles that deserves attention.”

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Booklist 17:54 N ’20

Reviewed by Ordway Tead

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Dial 69:412 O ’20 640w

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Ind 104:247 N 13 ’20 60w

“As a piece of argumentation ‘Parliament and revolution’ leaves a good deal to be desired. Its logical texture is not of the finest; too often it gives us assertion where we want demonstration; and as for ‘scientific’ and ‘unbiased,’ these adjectives, by which the book is described in the publishers’ advertisement on the paper cover, have no more to do with the case than the flowers that bloom in the spring.” R. L. Schuyler

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Nation 110:826 Je 19 ’20 850w

“In a measure, Mr Macdonald’s book is a salutary corrective to a good deal of loose vituperation. But there is another aspect to the matter with which he has failed to deal. Granted the ignorance and inertia of the modern electorate what, at bottom, are its causes?... The trade unions have an importance which Mr Macdonald altogether fails to give them in this study.” H. J. L.

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New Repub 22:383 My 19 ’20 1800w

“The book is one that, we warrant, will not fully satisfy any single Socialist. One feels himself at times tantalized between enjoyment of some excellent statement of principle or fact or analysis of some particular question, only to draw a conclusion here and there that appears to be a concession to conventional opinion. Yet the book will appeal to all but the romanticists and those of fixed opinions.” James Oneal

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N Y Call p10 Jl 25 ’20 1000w

“The first volume of the New library of social science seems to me the most straightforward treatise on government which has come out since the beginning of the war.” M. H. Anderson

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Pub W 97:998 Mr 20 ’20 320w

“It is to be hoped that this contribution may stimulate a further discussion on these important questions of the technique of revolution.”

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Socialist R 10:28 Ja ’21 920w

“It is forceful in logic and classic in clearness.”

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Springf’d Republican p11a Je 27 ’20 100w

“The whole book is a careful study of dangerous political tendencies of the times and well worth reading by adherents and opponents of socialism alike.” B. L.

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Survey 44:417 Je 19 ’20 450w

The Times [London] Lit Sup p615 O 30 ’19 240w

MACDONALD, ZILLAH K. Eileen’s adventures in Wordland. il *$2.25 (5c) Stokes

20–17532

“This is the story of a little girl who visited the land behind the dictionary and found out for herself that words are alive.” Eileen was sitting in the schoolroom writing out the words she had misspelled and trying to remember that syntax doesn’t end in tacks, when the letter X suddenly jumped out of her inkwell and confronted her. Under his guidance she visited Dictionary Town and there met the words who live in English Wordland, “plain strong Anglo-Saxon words, French aristocrat words who came over with William the Conqueror, the old giant Greek and Latin words, foreign words from every land who have been adopted by Mother English Language, and the happy-go-lucky slang words who live in a gipsy camp outside of Dictionary Town.” The whimsical illustrations are by Stuart Hay.

“A very clever little idea, this. With all her fun, the author tries to be soundly etymological, which will please the educators, without annoying the children. The illustrator, Stuart Hay, adds much with his line-drawings to a book which is bound to give its readers a good time.”

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Lit D p90 D 4 ’20 270w

“It will be an excellent book for supplementary reading in the elementary grades. The story moves with much briskness and variety.”

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N Y Evening Post p14 N 13 ’20 220w

MACDONNELL, JAMES FRANCIS CARLIN (FRANCIS CARLIN, pseud.). Cairn of stars. *$1.50 Holt 821

20–9075

A second volume of poems by the author of “My Ireland.” As in the previous volume lyric verse predominates and the themes are drawn from Irish landscape and custom and fairy lore. A few of the titles are: The cairn of stars; A girl’s song; The black swans; The market town; The seventh son; A Munster marriage; An Irish madonna; For a god-child; The queen of Kerry; The coming of the fairies; The herdsman’s son; The beggar’s blessing.

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Booklist 16:337 Jl ’20

“There is more pure poetry to the square inch of expression on the printed page of Francis Carlin than there is on the whole leaves of printed pages by any Irish-American poet of today. ‘The cairn of stars’ is far better than the earlier book. In the nearly three years since ‘My Ireland,’ Mr Carlin has added a deliberately finished technique to the instinctive technique that was his original gift. He has learned to manage his metres in a way to bring out all the finer shades of his moods and without impairing the spontaneity of feeling. At the same time he has greatly broadened the scope of his interests.” W. S. B.

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Boston Transcript p11 My 22 ’20 1450w

“Very tuneful and pleasurable and wholesome even if the more rare and mysterious promise of certain earlier poems is not entirely fulfilled.”

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Cath World 112:397 D ’20 190w

Reviewed by Mark Van Doren

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Nation 111:sup414 O 13 ’20 140w

“A book that is delightful to read from beginning to end. Mr Carlin will never be a great poet, but he will always be a sincere and honest poet of indubitable talent.”

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N Y Times p16 N 7 ’20 490w

MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM. Group mind. *$5 Putnam 301

20–13131

“A sketch of the principles of collective psychology with some attempt to apply them to the interpretation of national life and character.” (Sub-title) The author holds that “a society, when it enjoys a long life and becomes highly organized, acquires a structure and qualities which are largely independent of the qualities of the individuals who enter into its composition and take part for a brief time in its life.” Thus a collective mental life is not merely the sum of the mental lives of its units but is a “collective mind” or, if one prefers, “a collective soul.” The book is a sequel to the author’s “Introduction to social psychology” and assumes the reader’s acquaintance with it. The contents fall into three parts: General principles of collective psychology; The national mind and character; The development of national mind and character. There is an index.

“Soundly empirical as his methods are, Mr McDougall may well fail to convince the ardent humanitarian of the error of his ways.... Nevertheless, the problem of a national eugenics must be faced and solved, not simply burked on sentimental grounds. Meanwhile, whatever moral be drawn from them, the facts must first be reviewed impartially; and Mr McDougall’s book is the model of a treatment conceived and executed in the dispassionate spirit of science.” R. R. M.

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Ath p834 Je 25 ’20 1000w

“The rule which prevents a physician from operating upon a member of his own family because his emotion would interfere with his judgment is one that no scientist can afford to ignore. Mr McDougall has ignored it. That is to say he has not searched his heart to free himself from his own group affiliations sufficiently to approach his subject with a clean and clear mind.” Walter Lippmann

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New Repub 25:82 D 15 ’20 1600w

“There are one or two of Mr McDougall’s statements to which we might take exception; but they are few in number and of no importance to his main argument. He is invariably impartial, lucid, and candid, making use of no theory, however plausible, unless it will bear the strictest scrutiny, and advancing no conclusions as proved so long as any reasonable doubt may be entertained of their soundness.”

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Spec 125:214 Ag 14 ’20 1050w

“The book is well worth reading, but the student will look in vain for any considerable contribution or stimulating suggestion.” J. K. Hart

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Survey 45:547 Ja 8 ’21 470w

“The three chapters on ‘The race-making period’ and the following one on ‘Racial changes during the historic period’ form a singularly illuminating study of race problems.... The defence made on page 174 of the maxim ‘My country right or wrong’ suggests that his enthusiasm for the virtue of group loyalty is a little in danger of obscuring to his eyes the rights of the individual conscience. A Treitschke might with a little sophistry subscribe it.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p730 N 11 ’20 2000w

MCDOWALL, ARTHUR SYDNEY. Realism; a study in art and thought. *$4 Dutton 701

(Eng ed 19–12352)

“Mr McDowall makes his position clear. The material world has, he believes, a real existence apart from man. At the point of consciousness its circle and our apprehension intersect, but they remain separate circles. The problem of realism is to represent this world that our senses claim for us, not, as Zola supposed, by a literary photograph, not scientifically, but by ‘truth of impression in which feeling and imagination play the essential part.’ ‘Truth for the realist artist can never consist in ... a simple correspondence with facts. He is an observer, but he is not a reporter. He does not copy, but he creates a world which refers us back to our own world and shows it to us more truly.’”—N Y Evening Post

Boston Transcript p8 S 15 ’20 980w

“Often the book is murky with the philosophical abstractions, crystallizing into dogma. He has the caution of the scholar, and not the audacity of the artist. He avoids the impertinences of brilliance, but also its decision.”

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Dial 69:547 N ’20 130w

New Repub 24:150 O 6 ’20 430w

“Mr McDowall’s book should be read. It has the awareness, the keen interest in living problems, of the work of William James.”

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N Y Evening Post p3 O 23 ’20 700w

“Mr McDowall approaches his topic from many angles and cites a wealth of relevant illustration, but finally leaves the impression that he has failed to get at the heart of it. One reason of his inadequacy is the ease with which he dismisses as obsolete the older uses of the term realism.”

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Review 4:58 Ja 19 ’21 1200w

MCEVILLY, MARY A. Meslom’s messages from the life beyond. *$1.50 (6c) Brentano’s 134

20–6732

The book is a record of automatic writing executed by the author and bearing messages from the beyond by Meslom, an ancient Hindu, and, with the aid of Meslom, by “L,” a victim of the war, to his mother. In the introduction the author relates how she developed her gift. The messages are chiefly confined to spiritual problems, to God’s creative force and love and the growth in spiritual power and peace of both “L” and his mother.

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Booklist 16:327 Jl ’20

“The ‘messages’ have no evidential value whatever—there is not a single test of ‘identity.’ There are vastly more verbal expressions than thoughts expressed. Is it not safe to assume that the central element in the treatise, the love of God, is part of the author’s conception of Christianity, and that the ‘messages’ simply are subconscious elaborations of her mind? Everything points in that direction.”

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Cath World 111:552 Jl ’20 550w

Reviewed by Joseph Jastrow

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Dial 69:208 Ag ’20 290w

“The messages are expressed with simplicity and clarity and reveal ardent spiritual aspiration.”

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N Y Times 25:18 Jl 4 ’20 200w

MCFADDEN, GERTRUDE VIOLET. Preventive man. *$1.75 Lane

20–8449

A story of smuggling on the Dorset coast a century ago. The “preventive man,” in the vernacular of the time, is a government agent, who comes into the neighborhood to run down the law breakers. In truth however, he is less interested in the smuggling than in his own more weighty private concerns, for he has reason to believe that his loved brother has met foul play in this very community. By a trick he gains admittance into the house of Simeon Coffin, the miser, and begins to gather the evidence that confirms his suspicions. At first he associates Simeon’s niece, Horatia, with the crime and attributes her confusion—which is really due to the possession of a piece of smuggled silk—to her guilt. She is cleared in his eyes however and he is ready enough to atone for her suffering and his cruelty.

“In spite of improbabilities, the book is well worth reading.”

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Ath p226 F 13 ’20 100w

“Miss McFadden is quite successful in developing her atmosphere of mystery, and her characters, although all of them are severely shaped into well-known types, manage to convey a certain sense of reality. The action of the story is swift enough to sustain the interest and it rises at times to several thrilling scenes.”

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N Y Times 25:273 My 23 ’20 220w

“The story has everything that is necessary to make it fine, except that touch of ability which turns a credible narrative into a romantic one. The landscape writing is recognisably good.”

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Sat R 129:478 My 22 ’20 70w

“The work is not without merit, but would benefit greatly by pruning the description and adding to the action.”

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Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 200w

“A capital adventure tale of the days when smuggling was a respectable pursuit.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p126 F 19 ’20 40w

MACFARLAN, ALEXANDER. Inscrutable lovers; a tragic comedy. *$1.75 (4c) Dodd

(Eng ed 20–5589)

Margaret, the daughter of Count Kettle, Irish patriot and champion of lost causes, has been nourished on romance. As Count Kettle’s daughter she is pointed out as the most picturesque and romantic figure in Ireland. But she hates her position and she marries Charlie Macaig to escape it. “I could have loved a grocer,” says Margaret in extenuation, “just any grocer.” Charlie Macaig is the youngest member of a firm of shipowners. He is steady, he is practical, he is reliable, he is everything that Margaret’s familiar associates are not. But, as it turns out, his own dreams for all his practical business years have been of romance and adventure, and Margaret is the fulfillment of his dreams. There is mutual shock of discovery when the truth comes out, and then love, abetted by the Catholic church—which is practical or romantic as you happen to look at it—triumphs.

“To crispness of visualization, the author adds crispness in dialogue. Novelists cannot eschew some description; here Mr MacFarlan is little gifted.”

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Boston Transcript p11 Ap 17 ’20 430w

“‘The inscrutable lovers’ is Mr MacFarlan’s second book and he is said to be very young. It is a very modern sort of youth that is his. His perceptions are very sharp, but his nature seems wintry. The book is a study in contrasting temperaments. The contrasts are very clear. They are indeed too clear and their edges are too glittering. People are not as simply made as all that.”

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Nation 110:305 Mr 6 ’20 240w

“It has not only brilliancy but a delicate completeness comparable to (not like) that of Mr Hewlett’s earlier bits of romantic comedy. A delightful piece of literary comedy.” H. W. Boynton

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Review 2:334 Ap 3 ’20 700w

“This charming little tale must be classified rather as an essay in pure comedy than as a reproduction of actual life.”

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Sat R 128:229 S 6 ’19 450w

MCFEE, MRS INEZ NELLIE (CANFIELD). Boy heroes in fiction. il *$1.75 (2c) Crowell

20–17319

The stories of seven boy heroes in fiction are here presented in condensed form. The foreword says, “Some of these boy heroes of yesterday may not be known to boys of today, partly because their stories are imbedded in extra large volumes, which do not stop with boy life, but include many other things. It has been the happy task, therefore, of the present editor to disentangle and condense these stories, presenting only the portions which pertain to the boy life of each hero.” Contents: Little Gavroche (from “Les misérables”); David Balfour (from “Kidnapped”); Oliver Twist; Jim Davis (from Masefield’s “Jim Davis”); David Copperfield; Jim Hawkins (from “Treasure island”); and John Halifax.

Lit D p90 D 4 ’20 50w

“Her volumes would have gained as much in effect as they would have lost in length had she limited herself to quotations instead of supplementing them with paraphrases.”

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N Y Evening Post p25 O 23 ’20 70w

MCFEE, MRS INEZ NELLIE (CANFIELD). Girl heroines in fiction. il *$1.75 (2c) Crowell

20–17320

The six girls chosen for this volume are Little Dorrit, Maggie Tulliver, Ellen (from “The wide wide world”), Little Nell, Eppie (from “Silas Marner”), and Cosette (from “Les misérables”). “Each girl is introduced in very nearly her author’s own words, and thus preserves her own individuality.” As in the book of boy heroes, the editor expresses the hope that the stories as presented here may serve as an introduction to the full-length versions.

Lit D p90 D 4 ’20 50w

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N Y Evening Post p25 O 23 ’20 70w

MCFEE, WILLIAM. Captain Macedoine’s daughter. *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday

20–26979

The story of Captain Macedoine’s daughter is told by the “quiet and occasionally garrulous” Chief of H. M. S. Sycorax, detailed to escort convoys through the Ægean in war time. The Chief had known the Mediterranean in the days of peace and this is a peace-time story of plotting and intrigue, involving Captain Macedoine’s great international bubble, the Anglo-Hellenic development company, in which his daughter is used as a tool. From her mother the girl had a mixture of dark blood. Mr Spenlove, the chief, who had been one of those who fell under her spell, tells all that he knew of her tragic life and death, drawing from it his own conclusions on the nature of love.

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Booklist 17:117 D ’20

“A tale of strange people, strange places, strange motifs, strange morals told with brilliant effect and satisfying completeness.” S. M. R.

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Bookm 52:370 D ’20 360w

“This well-written novel, broader in its scope than Mr McFee’s previous books is strong not only in its character portrayal but in the philosophy interspersed throughout its pages.”

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Bookm 52:367 Ja ’21 90w

“While ‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ is not so good a story as either ‘Casuals of the sea’ or ‘Aliens,’ it has in it all the original qualities of unconventional fiction that long ago established Joseph Conrad and that is placing Mr McFee in the same rank of novelists.” E. F. E.

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Boston Transcript p6 N 3 ’20 1200w

“William McFee’s new novel has the same elusive perfume as Conrad’s ‘Arrow of gold.’” A. W. Welch

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N Y Call p7 Ja 9 ’21 380w

“‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ gladdens the heart of the serious lover of English prose, for it proves that in Mr McFee we have no mere casual of the pen, no fortunate adventurer upon ink who triumphed by chance, but a soberly devoted novelist from whom many years of fine work may confidently be expected.”

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N Y Evening Post p5 N 13 ’20 1100w

“‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ is, first of all, a masterful portrayal of two colorful personalities.... But it is far more than that; it is, too, a contrast between occidental and eastern civilizations and philosophies, a commentary on human nature, particularly an analysis of love, and an achievement in beautiful prose.”

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N Y Times p18 N 7 ’20 1000w

“There is less sea and more siren in this novel than Mr McFee’s readers would perhaps expect. Few readers will resist the charm of the style; some will think the dénouement unsatisfying.”

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Outlook 126:515 N 17 ’20 80w

“Unmistakably a big, compelling, haunting book.” F: T. Cooper

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Pub. W 98:1190 O 16 ’20 420w

“The outstanding impression is the sense of atmosphere which the narrative imparts to the reader. The narrative has many curious ramifications, but each is an important part of the whole, and the reader will find himself enthralled from the first to the last scene.”

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Springf’d Republican p7a N 28 ’20 640w

MCGIBENY, DONALD.^[2] 32 caliber. *$1.75 Bobbs

20–18770

“Although the author is unusually progressive in having his villain operate with the aid of airplane and machine gun, the general plot and the situations created are such as might be encountered in every-day life and modern crime. An attorney and his wife, on the way to keep an appointment that involves the domestic happiness and honor of both, are found at a lonely spot, the car wrecked, the man dead from a bullet wound, the wife unconscious in the tonneau. Was it another automobile accident, was the man murdered by the wife or did an outsider have a part in the tragedy? These are questions that perplexed the authorities and will perplex and mystify the reader.”—Springf’d Republican

“The basis and material used in the tale is excellent and would make a capital short story.”

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Boston Transcript p9 Ja 26 ’21 150w

“A not too lurid mystery interestingly built up and broken down, in a rapid, easy narrative style.”

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Ind 104:383 D 11 ’20 20w

“The only marked defect is the author’s attempt to force the reader’s suspicions on characters whose guilt, if ultimately proved by the story, would shock any decent sense of plausibility.”

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N Y Evening Post p11 N 27 ’20 70w

“He has written so well, made his people so living and so pleasant, handled his subject so surely, that it is difficult to think of this book as a maiden essay.”

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N Y Times p25 D 19 ’20 580w

“Among the better of the new detective tales, ’32 calibre,’ early arouses the interest of the reader and holds it through a series of adventures, with the solution of the mystery not even indicated until the close.”

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Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 150w

MACGILL, PATRICK. Maureen. *$2 (1½c) McBride

20–13698

Mr MacGill’s new story of Donegal is a mingling of pathos and humor, hard toil and grim poverty, beauty and stark tragedy. Maureen, the daughter of Kathleen O’Malley, tastes all the sorrow and loneliness of an illegitimate child and after her mother’s death leaves the parish. She has won the love of young Cathal Cassidy and he would have her stay, but long before her mother had warned her that her only happiness would lie in marrying a man outside the parish who would not have to suffer for her shame in the eyes of his neighbors, and to spare Cathal this she leaves him. She meets experiences that are bitterly cruel, but after them finds a haven with kind people and at the end of two years returns. Cathal has been faithful and it seems that their love is to bring them happiness, but tragedy overwhelms them. The war and Sinn Fein have a place in the background of the story.

“The characters in general are well drawn, and have that tragic intensity which Synge and others have made us believe to be in the Celtic blood.”

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Ath p1242 N 21 ’19 120w

“Unmitigated truth and sincerity produce a strong reality of characters and atmosphere though not a pleasant story.”

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Booklist 17:72 N ’20

“Such a thing to be done at all must be done exceptionally well, and Mr MacGill, with a good style at his command, has achieved a triumph.” G. M. H.

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Boston Transcript p6 Ag 7 ’20 520w

“The minor characters are admirably drawn; the chief ones are less vivid and convincing. The weaknesses of the story are glaring: it is poor both in structure and in motivation. Keeran, in the final chapters, is drawn on the lines of Dickens at his worst, and the tragic conclusion brings the reader up with the jolt of an express train coming to a violent halt.”

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Cath World 112:547 Ja ’21 220w

“The chief and tragic emphasis falls upon youth, in spite of which the best of the story lies in the penetrating, vivid, and thoroughly human presentation of the old people.” E. P.

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Dial 70:107 Ja ’21 50w

“Much of the power of the story lies in the intermingling of quite Russian realism, with an idealism which bursts flamelike through the recital of brutal details. ‘Decent’ is the salutation of the people of Dungarrow for the strangers they meet, and decent is the epithet uppermost in the mind of the reader, in spite of Mr MacGill’s frank exposure of the vices of his own people.” E. L.

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Grinnell R 15:283 N ’20 240w

“‘Maureen’ is the story of a peasant girl in Donegal, a terrible story in many ways and a curiously fascinating one. Mr MacGill knows how to flash a scene so vividly before your mind that it haunts your visual memory for days afterward.”

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Ind 104:242 N 13 ’20 120w

“In ‘Maureen’ there is considerable alloy, yet much good metal and some precious. But the whole thing needs fusing.” J. C. L.

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New Repub 23:261 Jl 28 ’20 400w

“‘Maureen’ is not up to ‘Children of the dead end’ or ‘Rat pit,’ but it is well worth reading, especially to Irish folk and the legion that love the Irish.” S. C. Daljord

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N Y Call p11 Ag 1 ’20 600w

“There are very few figures in the story that evoke admiration; most of them, to be quite frank, suggest the opposite. But their vitality is amazing, and because of this authentic possession of the power to make his characters live and breathe, Mr MacGill takes a prominent place with those other admirable Irish fictioneers, St John Ervine, Shaw Desmond, James Joyce and James Stephens.”

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N Y Times 25:279 My 30 ’20 1150w

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

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Review 2:679 Je 30 ’20 500w

“Mr MacGill’s story is a stern presentation not only of characters, but of racial characteristics and psychology. It is always real and alive. The book unrolls before the reader’s eyes a segment of life from rural Ireland with all the reality of a picture film.”

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Springf’d Republican p11a Je 13 ’20 650w

“Nothing farther removed from the individualist English novel could be imagined. It is not that the characters are in any way lacking in individuality. They are creatures of flesh and blood right enough, terrible in their humanity. But it is as social rather than as personal values that they count. There is little joy in Mr MacGill’s book—one feels that the sun seldom shines in Donegal—but it has creative richness and the supreme quality of truth.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p712 D 4 ’19 400w

MCGILVARY, MARGARET. Dawn of a new era in Syria. il *$2.50 Revell 940.356

20–20216

“Miss McGilvary during the progress of the war was the secretary of the Beirut chapter of the Red cross and hence had unusual opportunities for following the trend of events. The story which she tells, and of which she herself was a part, is of deep interest; how an American printing house was converted into a relief bureau; how American philanthrophy did its part in ameliorating the condition of the unhappy people; how difficulties were thrown in the way by the Turks; culminating presently in the arrest of the entire American mission. She tells in thrilling language of a year of horror, and toward the end, of the collapse of the Central powers, the decline of German prestige, and lastly of the end of Turkey.”—Boston Transcript

“Hers is a story very well worth the reading, for it is the story of one who was upon the spot and was a witness of all of which she writes.”

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Boston Transcript p4 O 27 ’20 330w

“Her book contains vivid notes on the personalities of Enver, Talaat, and Jemal.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p638 S 30 ’20 140w

MCGOVERN, WILLIAM MONTGOMERY. Modern Japan; its political, military and industrial organization; with a preface by Sir E. Denison Ross. *$5 Scribner 915.2

(Eng ed 20–9379)

“Dr McGovern spent ten years in the Far East, ‘six of which were devoted to school and college studies in Japan.’ He is, therefore, eminently qualified as an interpreter of Japanese thought and Japanese ideas. He begins with an ethnographical, geographical and historical introduction. Having discussed the early history of the Yamato race, he proceeds to give a summary of the evolution of the country since it was opened up by Commodore Perry’s famous visit. He tells of its constitution and political parties, of its organization and government, of its finances, of its efficient bureaucracy (as compared with the cumbrous British form), its imperial socialism (as he calls the centralization of all economic activity), of its military efficiency (based on German models), of its naval menace, of its industrial and commercial development, its banking system, its agriculture, its foreign trade. The concluding section is a very brief statement of the language and literature, the arts of sculpture, painting, the drama, poetry and religion in its three-fold phase.”—Boston Transcript

“His book is distinctly illuminating, although we may complain that too much space is devoted to the dry bones of political and military matters, and not enough to the psychology of the people and its expression in literature and the other arts.”

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Ath p528 Ap 16 ’20 100w

“A clear, forceful condensation.”

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Booklist 16:342 Jl ’20

“Much of Dr McGovern’s book is the expression of a full knowledge and an open mind. It is perhaps the fairest exposition of the whole field of Japanese thought and accomplishment to be found in the vast number of books which have been written about Japan. Dr McGovern’s style is not noticeable for grace.” N. H. D.

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Boston Transcript p11 My 1 ’20 900w

“To those who wish to gain an insight into the potentialities of this forward pushing nation Dr McGovern’s book offers information that is well worth having.”

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N Y Times 25:18 Jl 11 ’20 1550w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p159 Mr 4 ’20 80w

“We are grateful to Mr McGovern for this book, but we should have been more so if he had facilitated its use as a work of reference by the addition of an index. We should be still more grateful to him, if, instead of going over old ground that is open to anyone, he used his very peculiar qualifications in a field that is altogether unexplored.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p247 Ap 22 ’20 850w

MACGRATH, HAROLD. Drums of jeopardy. il *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday

20–17960

The heroine of this story is Kitty Conover; it is hard to say whether “Cutty,” war-correspondent and secret service agent, or Johnny Two-Hawks, is the hero. They both aspire to be, but as Cutty is handicapped by an extra score or so of years, he is at some disadvantage. The theme of the story is Cutty’s attempt to capture a band of “Reds” and to get possession of the “Drums of jeopardy,” a pair of enormously valuable emeralds. Johnny Two-Hawks comes into it because he is fleeing from this band of “Reds” and at one time possesses the drums of jeopardy. Kitty tries to help them both, rather blindly at first, succeeds in getting herself kidnapped and held for ransom and is finally rescued by both heroes. The leader of the Reds is killed and the end of the story leaves Cutty in possession of the drums of jeopardy.

Booklist 17:158 Ja ’21

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Springf’d Republican p9a O 3 ’20 180w

MACGRATH, HAROLD. Man with three names. il *$1.75 (3c) Doubleday

20–26106

The man with three names was many things in one, besides his names. He was a novelist, a romantic lover of unusual daring, and a crusader for justice and right. He wrote a book, that went straight to the hearts of sentimental young girls, over a pseudonym. He loved a millionaire’s daughter under his mother’s maiden name, while he flayed her father for the wrongs he had done to the poor. He was the son of a thief who had died in prison for fraudulent business operations and whose fortune he was devoting to expiatory purposes. He achieved all he set out to do: won fame, won the girl, and helped to make over the girl’s father into a good man, expiated his own father’s sins and restored his family name to new honor.

“On the whole, however, his performances are mildly entertaining.”

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Ath p619 N 5 ’20 130w

Booklist 16:172 F ’20

Boston Transcript p6 Mr 31 ’20 480w

“It is a pleasant, readable little story, brightly written and sufficiently rapid in movement.”

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N Y Times 25:22 Ja 18 ’20 500w

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Pub W 96:1692 D 27 ’19 300w

Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 7 ’20 230w

“Here is the same flowing, almost racy style, which we recall in the ‘Private wire to Washington.’ There is no lack of humour.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p670 O 14 ’20 320w

MACHARD, ALFRED. When Tytie came (Popaul et Virginie); tr. by Howard Vincent O’Brien. il *$1.75 Reilly & Lee

20–17171

A story of child life translated from the French. Popaul, a little boy of ten whose father is at the front, adopts Marie, a Belgian refugee and takes her home to Madame Medard. The two have many adventures, humorous and serious, and a deep devotion develops between them. A blinded soldier tells them the tale of Paul and Virginia and they see the parallel to their own story. Deeply in love they go through a marriage ceremony and regard the affair with great seriousness, accepting Tytie, the American doll, as their child. Popaul, following his father’s death, is adopted by a rich countess who, finally moved by his sorrow, sees that the children cannot be separated and takes Marie to live with her also.

MACKAIN, F. E. Buzzy; the story of a little friend of mine. il *$1.50 Jacobs

This story for little children relates the adventures of a teddy bear. In the first of them Peggy, Buzzy’s little mistress, takes him out into the snow and sets him up, back to a tree, while she makes a snow man, and then the tea bell rings and she runs away and forgets all about him. But Buzzy, left alone, enters into an interesting conversation with the snow man and makes the acquaintance of a rabbit who invites him to his home for the night. Buzzy has other adventures, meets a princess and takes an unexpected journey to London in a suit case. There are pictures in color and humorous drawings in black and white by the author.

MACKALL, LAWTON. Scrambled eggs. il *$1.25 Stewart & Kidd 817

20–6377

“A diverting tale of barnyard life. Eustace the duck and his wife, who believes in a communal incubator, Martha the hen who believes that the female’s place is on the nest, and her frivolous husband Clarence, who is always finding an attractive new pullet, have various adventures that parody amusingly the complications of present-day life.”—Cleveland

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Booklist 16:377 Jl ’20

“The skillfully ludicrous is not half plentiful enough in this sad world of printed pages. ‘Scrambled eggs,’ however, is just that.”

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Bookm 52:348 D ’20 40w

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Cleveland p85 S ’20 50w

“The satire is amusingly carried out, and the illustrations by Oliver Herford help a great deal.”

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N Y Times 25:209 Ap 25 ’20 190w

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Review 3:48 Jl 14 ’20 130w

“Lawton Mackall, editor of ‘Judge’ gives visible proof of his qualification to be in charge of a journal of humor by a delicious bit of barnyard satire, ‘Scrambled eggs.’”

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Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 18 ’20 100w

MACKAY, HELEN GANSEVOORT (EDWARDS) (MRS ARCHIBALD K. MACKAY). Chill hours. *$1.50 (5½) Duffield

20–3265

Sketches of France in war-time, of the people who were left behind, at home and in the hospitals, deep, sad, intimate things that grip the reader with their poignancy of pain. The longest of these sketches, Nostalgia, is a review of all the beautiful things that were once upon a time, long ago before the war.

“The writer’s success is very definite in capturing the pensive and romantic atmosphere. The stories are written with a tender, though never sentimental or too slight touch, that gives the suggestion of music heard in the twilight from an old harpsichord, and something of the abiding fragrance.”

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Ath p494 Ap 9 ’20 180w

“Will be liked by those who read for beauty of expression and imagination. Nostalgia is one of the most poignant and revealing sketches that has come from the war.”

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Booklist 16:271 My ’20

“Helen Mackay has successfully performed the seemingly impossible in ‘Chill hours.’ To be able to write with the pathos and restraint used in these sketches is to possess the technique of the skilled artist, and the vision given to a chosen few.” C. K. H.

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Boston Transcript p4 My 5 ’20 500w

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Dial 69:321 S ’20 50w

“Miss Mackay is a poet first of all, and poetical values are contained in all her bits of prose.”

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N Y Times 25:25 Je 27 ’20 230w

Review 2:605 Je 5 ’20 130w

“The author carries the art of selection to a fine point, and there is never a word too much in her terrible little sketches.”

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Spec 124:314 Mr 6 ’20 150w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p22 Ja 8 ’20 80w

MACKAY, WILLIAM MACKINTOSH.^[2] Disease and remedy of sin. *$2.50 Doran 234

20–10742

“The author is pastor of Sherbrooke church, Glasgow. He has been trained in medicine and theology. He approaches the subject from the standpoint of a pastor, whose work has brought him into closest touch with men. He holds that religion is of the very substance of life. He examines the matter of spiritual health with the thoroughness of the physician to the body. He describes his book as ‘an essay in the psychology of sin and salvation from a medicinal standpoint.’”—Bib World

“Preachers especially and all students of the phenomena of Christianity will find this a fresh, stimulating book. It will add a new accent to the usually dismal discussions of sin and salvation.”

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Bib World 54:644 N ’20 190w

“The analogy between physical and spiritual conditions enables the writer to offer counsels for spiritual treatment which are clearly the result of a keen insight into the characters of men and the conditions in which they live. Readers may not be able to accept some of the author’s theories and tabulations, but the book is an important contribution to the study of sin, its origin, its growth, and its remedies.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p11 Ja 2 ’19 340w

MACKAYE, PERCY WALLACE. Rip Van Winkle. il *$1.50 Knopf 782

20–923

This version of the legend is in the form of a folk-opera in three acts for which Reginald DeKoven has written the music. Like Dion Boucicault’s drama, it is based on Washington Irving’s story but, the author tells us, with more differences than resemblances to both. “The differences have developed mainly from the consideration that I was writing—not a story or a play, but an opera; and this constant consideration has resulted in the two main contributions of mine which modify the old legend—the creation of a new character, Peterkee, and the introduction of a new element in the plot, the magic flask.” (Preface)

Booklist 16:195 Mr ’20

“It is fair, however, to warn the reader that he will find here some graceful verse but little poetry, many characters, but little distinct characterization, and hardly anything of either the pathos or the humor of the old story beloved of all readers of English.”

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Theatre Arts Magazine 4:260 Jl ’20 190w

MCKENNA, STEPHEN. Lady Lilith. *$2 (2c) Doran

20–18657

The sobriquet, Lady Lilith, is applied to Lady Barbara Neave, daughter of a viceroy of India. From childhood on she has been a problem to her family and has kept their nerves on edge with her surprising escapades. Early accustomed to social prominence and adulation, her craving for sensations soon seeks wider fields than through conventional channels. Her excessive vanity makes her an adroit actress, and her heartlessness enables her to walk roughshod over everybody in search of new emotions and new rôles to play. She seems vulnerable only in one spot: her superstition. Throughout the story she toys with the sensation of Jack Waring’s blunt criticism of herself and his persistent love-making. The reader is left somewhat in doubt how much of her remorse after her final refusal of him is genuine feeling, how much theatrical pose, and how much superstitious fear.

“If Mr McKenna’s novel were witty, amusing, an aspect of the human comedy, or just nonsense—or even melodrama—we should not protest. But to butcher his gifts to make a snobs’ banquet is surely a very lamentable pastime. It would be interesting to know whether he has—a dozen, say—readers of his own sex.” K. M.

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Ath p616 N 5 ’20 420w

“The author gives us a picture of present day social and political life in London, but we sincerely trust that his heroine is not typical of the modern English woman.”

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Cath World 112:553 Ja ’21 190w

“An engrossing picture of English society just before and during the war.”

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Cleveland p105 D ’20 40w

“Two solid volumes of Sonia richly sufficed us and we rather resent having her served up to us again; even under another name. Lady Barbara Neave is just Sonia, only more so.” V. G.

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Freeman 2:358 D 22 ’20 220w

“The most striking thing in this novel is the fact that though we see and know Barbara in all her shallow selfishness, we fall under her spell, even as those who make the story with her fall under it.”

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N Y Times p26 D 19 ’20 1800w

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Spec 125:675 N 20 ’20 150w

“Next to ‘Sonia,’ this is the author’s most finished and interesting work. Indeed, he sometimes attains the high level set in that admirable book.”

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Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 420w

“One cannot fail to recognize that artistically he is at home, conveying always a very fair impression of reality in general detail, writing with ease and often with wit, drawing characters which are all recognizable as types. But the significance is the question, and here, so far, he is not convincing.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p666 O 14 ’20 420w

MCKENNA, STEPHEN. Sheila intervenes. *$1.75 (2c) Doran

20–26313

The outstanding personages of this story are Denys Playfair, an Irishman with a family history that has made resentment towards the English governing classes a part of his inheritance; Sheila Farling, also Irish, slight, black-eyed, clever, full of the joy of life, and on occasion full of mischief, and scorn and a faculty for raillery; and Daphne Grayling, Sheila’s cousin, daughter of an old-fashioned mother who is keeping her in leading strings even to the choice of a husband for her, and who condemns her to a life of boredom and inactivity. Sheila’s exuberant spirit leads her to play providence for her friends. She engineers Denys into a political career, and noticing the blossoming out of Daphne under Denys’s friendship, does violence to her own feelings for him, while she engineers the two into a love compact. Fate intervenes in the form of a serious accident to Daphne’s ex-fiancé, which brings the latter to a realization that duty is stronger than love. It also intervenes to acquaint Denys with Sheila’s true feeling for him for when he collapses before her eyes from the effects of over-work and strain, her assumed indifference likewise collapses.

“Her delightful grandfather is one of the best characters and Sheila herself is irresistible.”

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Booklist 16:245 Ap ’20

“Despite this slightness of plot, the story carries its own sentimental interest and is continually a matter of touch and go. Moreover the characters are delightful.” M. E. Bailey

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Bookm 51:205 Ap ’20 240w

“An earlier work has been resurrected from the obscurity of the novelist’s earlier career to share the success of his later books. In many cases the act is justified. But in Mr McKenna’s case it seems to us decidedly a mistake.”

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Boston Transcript p7 Mr 24 ’20 220w

“Yet in spite of its failings and its extremely weak—at times almost ludicrously weak—motivation, the novel is not without its good points. Sheila herself is attractive, and the dialogue is easy and not infrequently even bright.”

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N Y Times p116 Mr 14 ’20 500w

“Imagine a new ‘Dolly dialogues’ with a serious motive behind it, and you get somewhere near the aim and substance of this earlier work by the author of ‘Sonia.’” F: T. Cooper

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Pub W 97:998 Mr 20 ’20 400w

“It is all very interesting, for Mr McKenna’s people are brilliant, and the dinner parties, social gatherings and political conferences scintillate with wit and sharp exchanges of opinions on public questions of the moment. Meanwhile, the principal romance is handled with skill by the author.”

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Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 600w

MACKENZIE, COMPTON. Poor relations. *$1.90 (2c) Harper

19–19599

A successful playwright, suddenly grown rich, is surrounded by a host of poor relations, brothers and sisters with wives, husbands and offspring, all more or less failures, all tactlessly anxious to drink at the golden fountain. They drive him from his country home, they assail him in his town house, they turn against him their slanderous tongues when their expectations are not fulfilled. He is a good sort and goes the full length of the bearable, but at last, in desperation, elopes with his long-loved secretary on a honeymoon to America after committing one revengeful act. Mindful of the internecine warfare among his relations, he makes a present of one-fifth of his country home to each family group respectively.

“The Touchwood family is one of those detestable, fascinating families that we cannot have enough of.” K. M.

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Ath p1035 O 17 ’19 1000w

Booklist 16:245 Ap ’20

“Mr Mackenzie has here the material for a short story or, let us say, a well-balanced novelette. But instead of selecting, and sorting, and packing it down, he lets it take possession of him. There is of course a lot of amusing stuff in it, no end of satirical material, no end of clever and witty touches. But the book as a book is without form and void.” H. W. Boynton

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Bookm 51:341 My ’20 420w

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Cleveland p83 S ’20 50w

“‘Poor relations’ is a farce. Any number of children and adults pass through its pages, all acting exactly as children and adults act. A plot of quite exceptional banality and incidents of incredible age and vulgarity serve to display these life-like wares. It would be easier to think lightly of Mr Mackenzie’s failure if one did not have to remember what Henry James said of him. Remembering that, and remembering Jenny Pearl, the brief story of Mr Mackenzie’s career takes on some of the proportions of tragedy.” Gilbert Seldes

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Dial 68:611 My ’20 1100w

“‘Poor relations’ shows, moreover, that recognition of how strange people really are which has always been one of Mr Mackenzie’s virtues. He has resisted that persistent underwriting of character and circumstance which has been the curse of refined English literature ever since the days of Gissing, and has not been afraid to allow fantastic people to do fantastic things.” Rebecca West

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New Repub 21:362 F 18 ’20 1200w

“Written in a light ironic manner, with much deftness of phrasing and a thorough understanding of the follies and meannesses and hypocrisies to which his ‘poor relations’ are so exceedingly prone, it yet usually and skilfully contrives to keep the reader in sympathy with its vain, generous, sentimental and self-deceived hero.”

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N Y Times 25:1 Mr 7 ’20 750w

“Though marred toward the end by that longwindedness which is his besetting sin, it is exceptionally amusing.”

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N Y Times 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 60w

“Mr Mackenzie may object to the expression: ‘this well known author writes in an entirely new vein’ but it seems to fit the occasion. He handles his hero with affectionate jocularity bordering on farce. Yet the complete picture of John Touchwood is fine, human and lovable—perhaps just because of its convincing defects.” Doris Webb

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Pub W 97:994 Mr 20 ’20 260w

“It was with some trepidation that we opened ‘Poor relations.’ Our delight was therefore doubly great on finding no taint of the Scarlett novels marring its pages. Quite early in the book the principal character remarks: ‘This passion for realism is everywhere.... Thank goodness, I’ve been through it and got over it and put it behind me for ever.’ Let us pray that he is speaking with the voice of his creator.”

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Sat R 128:319 O 4 ’19 1150w

“This is an ingenious and at times diverting recital, bordering on extravaganza, but not too remotely detached from reality to be incredible, and not too malicious in its satire to be unenjoyable.”

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Spec 123:865 D 20 ’19 400w

“‘Poor relations’ is engagingly light-hearted in all its phases, with a discernible grain of reality beneath the shell of comedy and satire.”

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Springf’d Republican p13a My 2 ’20 600w

“The oppression which has seemed of late to brood over the work of Mr Compton Mackenzie has cleared away, we hope never to return. In ‘Poor relations’ the sun comes out brightly from the clouds, a gentle breeze of humour blows the story along, and the reader from the first page to the last enjoys himself immensely.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p513 S 25 ’19 850w

MACKENZIE, COMPTON. Vanity girl. *$2 (1½c) Harper

20–7724

It is the story of the clever scheming of a vain, selfish, heartless but very beautiful girl. Her first step to use her beauty as an asset was to go on the stage. As “Vanity girl,” opportunities offered to cast her net for a titled husband. She captured the fifth Earl of Clarehaven and was received by the family on equal terms. Her first disappointment came when the fates denied her a son to inherit the earldom, and her second when her foolish husband, with cards and horses, succeeded in losing the family estate. When he is killed in France, and the sixth Earl of Clarehaven at last arrives, the impoverished countess still has one trump card left. She marries the millionaire Jew, who is now owner of Clare, on the condition that he make over the entire estate to her son.

“In whatever contempt Mr Mackenzie may hold his public—how is it possible that he should dare to invite them to partake of such sickly food? We should not waste space upon so pretentious and stupid a book were it not that we have believed in his gifts and desire to protest that he should so betray them.” K. M.

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Ath p639 My 14 ’20 760w

“This writer does have the instinct for action and, once you accept his people as figures in a picaresque novel, you have something to tie to, as you never do with Mr George. The ‘trouble’ here, indeed, is that Mr Mackenzie, not being aware of his true job, deviates into sense, that is, into interpretation, just often enough to queer his real pitch.” H. W. Boynton

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Bookm 52:251 N ’20 300w

Boston Transcript p4 S 22 ’20 1200w

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Dial 70:107 Ja ’21 80w

“As his art approaches its maturity, he adds to his native wit and cleverness a sure mastery of technique which puts him unmistakably in the forefront of the English novelists of the day. So clever and interesting is Mr Mackenzie’s new novel that one regrets the more to find, if anything, an increase in the smart nastiness that occasionally blemishes his writing.” Stanley Went

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N Y Evening Post p3 S 25 ’20 1500w

N Y Times p18 S 19 ’20 700w

“Mr Mackenzie handles it all in exactly the right spirit, never mawkish and never brutal. He is satirical, but not youthfully cynical. Although I think his clock struck twelve with the novel called ‘Sylvia Scarlett,’ I wish that he may live a hundred years and go on writing novels about every one of the Vanity chorus.” E. L. Pearson

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Review 3:269 S 29 ’20 160w

“For the reader, unless he likes flippancy and fireworks for their own sakes, the end of it all is not much better than vanity. Mr Mackenzie, at least, is a story-teller of a sort. However encumbered with facts, his narrative always has the charm of an adventure which, if it never quite gets anywhere, is at least always amusingly on its way.” H. W. Boynton

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Review 3:296 O 6 ’20 450w

“That this plebeian girl should step into her exalted social station and so speedily absorb the new life and arouse love and veneration for the Clarehaven tradition and inheritance is little short of a miracle. But Mr Mackenzie makes it seem natural.”