Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1920 Books (continued 27)
Reading edition
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Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 470w
“Mr Compton Mackenzie will receive praise for this new novel from those to whom it was chiefly intended to appeal; it will receive adverse criticism from those whose judgment Mr Mackenzie has by now, perhaps, ceased to take into account. It will have earned the one and thoroughly deserved the other. Deliberately he has written a story of a snob for snobs.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p283 My 6 ’20 720w
MCKENZIE, FREDERICK ARTHUR. Korea’s fight for freedom. *$2 (2c) Revell 951.9
20–2360
Instead of a new edition of the author’s “Tragedy of Korea,” this is a new book including some of the old matter and bringing the story of Korea up-to-date. It is the story of the injustice and the cruelty practised by Japan against Korea in its policy of imperial expansion. “In this book I describe the struggle of an ancient people towards liberty. I tell of a Mongol nation, roughly awakened from its long sleep, under conditions of tragic terror, that has seized hold of and is clinging fast to, things vital to civilization as we see it, freedom and free faith, the honor of their women, the development of their own souls.” (Preface) A partial list of the contents is: Opening the oyster; Japan makes a false move; The Independence club; The new era; The rule of Prince Ito; With the rebels; The last days of the Korean empire; The missionaries; Torture à la mode; The people speak—the tyrants answer; Girl martyrs for liberty; World reactions; What can we do?
“This book deserves a wide reading. It breathes a real humanitarian interest in the present unhappy fate of over ten million people; and on its constructive side suggests a way out of a far eastern situation full of dangers for the American people.” W. W. McLaren
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Am Pol Sci R 14:518 Ag ’20 200w
“A well written account.”
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Booklist 16:238 Ap ’20
Reviewed by W. W. Willoughby
Review 2:545 My 22 ’20 1400w
R of Rs 61:335 Mr ’20 20w
“It is impossible not to feel admiration for the Koreans in reading the history of its people as written by an author who understands and sympathizes with them.”
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Springf’d Republican p10 My 20 ’20 250w
“A few minor statements are incorrect. But none acquainted with the situation can deny the accuracy of its statements of fact, or the propriety of its positions.” A missionary
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Survey 43:657 F 28 ’20 300w
“Of Mr McKenzie’s trustworthiness as a witness there can be no question.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p528 Ag 19 ’20 1150w
Reviewed by W. R. Wheeler
Yale R n s 10:431 Ja ’21 340w
MCKENZIE, FREDERICK ARTHUR. Pussyfoot Johnson. il *$1.50 Revell
20–20628
“William E. Johnson, familiarly called ‘Pussyfoot,’ as special agent of the government is said to have put more saloons out of business in a given time than any other man on earth. At one time he and his assistants secured convictions for the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors at the rate of 100 a month, month after month. How he did this and other points in his career are set forth in a book entitled ‘Pussyfoot Johnson, crusader—reformer, a man among men,’ by F. A. McKenzie, with introduction by Dr Wilfred T. Grenfell.”—Springf’d Republican
“Lovers of adventure will enjoy this book.” F. W. C.
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Boston Transcript p6 Ag 4 ’20 560w
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Outlook 125:714 Ag 25 ’20 900w
R of Rs 62:334 S ’20 70w
Springf’d Republican p6 S 7 ’20 240w
“The book sets forth the chief facts of Johnson’s life but fails to give an idea of the man’s mind and how it works.” A. P. Kellogg
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Survey 44:732 S 15 ’20 460w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p602 S 16 ’20 250w
MACKENZIE, SIR JAMES. Future of medicine. (Oxford medical publications) *$5 Oxford 610
26–26322
“‘The future of medicine’ is a plea for the simplification of medicine, a reaction from the over-elaboration of ‘laboratoryism’—i.e., the instrumental and other laboratory aids to diagnosis. Not that Sir James denies the usefulness of these methods in research work, but he maintains that, while in some conditions it may be necessary even in ordinary clinical work to use elaborate instruments, it should be the constant aim of the medical man to learn how to discard such instrumental aids, and claims that he is now able to do so in much of his clinical work on diseases of the heart. What the author is so strongly opposed to are the laboratory ideals outlined in the syllabus for students recommended by the professor of clinical medicine at the world-famous Johns Hopkins university, Baltimore, reprinted in this book, and occupying more than four closely printed pages.”—Spec
Booklist 16:227 Ap ’20
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Sat R 128:466 N 15 ’19 1200w
“One lays aside the book with a feeling of great respect and admiration for this great and honest physician. All the same, one cannot help feeling that the disadvantages of the present system of teaching in the medical schools is exaggerated by the writer, and that, were the attempt made so to alter it as to meet the demands of a man of so keen an intellect as Sir James Mackenzie, a few giants might be reared, but that the work of the average man would suffer.”
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Spec 122:476 O 11 ’19 1300w
“The social worker who expects to find in Dr Mackenzie’s book on ‘The future of medicine’ a discussion of the socialization of medicine and the solution of many of the medical problems of the future will be disappointed. The medical and perhaps the lay reader, however, will be amply rewarded by the brilliant and, sometimes, scathing criticism by Dr Mackenzie of the present laboratory research and specialty aspects of medical science.” G: M. Price
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Survey 43:438 Ja 17 ’20 240w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p439 Ag 14 ’19 80w
“Much thought has been devoted to the composition of this attempt to influence the future of medicine. A good deal of this material is highly technical, which is doubtless unavoidable, but has the disadvantages of making the weighing of the evidence exceedingly difficult for any except members of the medical profession.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p493 S 18 ’19 1400w
MACKENZIE, JEAN KENYON.[2] Story of a fortunate youth. $1.25 (7c) Atlantic monthly press
These “chapters from the biography of an elderly gentleman” (Sub-title) are sketchy bits from the career of a minister who began life as a little Scotch boy in the East Highlands. His first fortune was a “bawbee” found in the dust, then came real earnings—beginning with six-pence and the duties of a shepherd—to help eke out the family income—until the great country across the water beckoned him. There the usual course from farm hand and country school-teacher to college and the ministry are gone through, all told lovingly and in whimsical style by the old gentleman’s daughter. The chapters are: The boy and the bawbee; The boy and the half-crown; The boy and the dollar; The wages of youth.
MACKENZIE, JOHN STUART. Arrows of desire; essays on British characteristics. *$3.75 Macmillan 914.2
“The title, borrowed from Blake, and suggesting a romantic novel, is as misleading as Ruskin’s ‘On the construction of sheepfolds.’ Professor Mackenzie’s book consists, in fact, of essays on our [England’s] national character. He discusses ‘Henry V.’ on the assumption that Shakespeare regarded the king as a typical Englishman. He then considers the English character, taking in turn each of the reproaches hurled at us by native and foreign critics. He contrasts the sister-nations with England, and incidentally repeats what we believe to be the fallacious statement that the Scotsman is more democratic than the Englishman. In the end Professor Mackenzie seems to conclude that we are not so bad after all, and that our chief danger lies in a ‘superficial optimism.’”—Spec
“An analysis of British characteristics by a British professor is a difficult task for any fair-minded man, which is probably why Mr J. S. Mackenzie draws upon a consensus of other people’s opinions with which to support his own. This continual reference to authorities is a little wearisome to the flesh, the more so since Mr Mackenzie shows himself a really competent judge of the matter, avoiding self-gratification without the obverse fault of detraction in order to prove himself just.”
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Nation 111:19 Jl 3 ’20 350w
“He is too attentive to detail, too eager to back up what he has to say with chapter and verse. The professor in him is uppermost, to the detriment of the writer. Nevertheless, in spite of these handicaps, there is acute analysis in Professor Mackenzie’s book. In its parts his book is good; as a whole it lacks coherence and smoothness.”
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N Y Times 25:296 Je 6 ’20 1100w
Reviewed by Archibald MacMechan
Review 2:546 My 22 ’20 1300w
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Sat R 130:319 O 16 ’20 820w
“It is an entertaining book.”
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Spec 124:215 F 14 ’20 160w
“With such fair promise it is the more regrettable that we should be compelled, as we are, to admit that the performance is not answerable to the high intent of the author. Not once nor twice, but repeatedly throughout the book, we are confronted with a looseness of thought, a disinclination to get to the heart of his subject which is certainly surprising in an emeritus professor of logic.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p207 Ap 1 ’20 1950w
MACKENZIE, KENNETH JAMES JOSEPH. Cattle and the future of beef-production in England. *$2.50 (3c) Putnam 636.2
Agr20–243
A British work growing out of the necessity of conserving and increasing the food supply. The author is reader in agriculture in the University of Cambridge, and late editor of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and the preface and one of the chapters are contributed by F. H. A. Marshall, lecturer in agricultural physiology, Cambridge. Contents: Introduction; Store cattle; Grass beef; Winter beef; Beeflings; Dual-purpose cattle; Pedigree breeding; Possibilities of the future; Physiological (by F. H. A. Marshall); Breeds of cattle (four chapters); Index.
“There are many signs that the line of reorganisation which Mr Mackenzie indicates is the one which British agriculture is most likely to follow, and it is sincerely to be hoped that his book will circulate widely amongst the leaders of agricultural opinion and the farming community generally.” C. C.
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Nature 105:62 Mr 18 ’20 850w
“Mr Mackenzie’s book is all the more stimulating because he does not profess to deliver a final opinion on any matters.”
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Spec 124:278 F 28 ’20 1200w
“Mr Mackenzie is original and daring in some of his suggestions.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p549 O 9 ’19 200w
MACKIE, RANSOM A. Education during adolescence. *$2 Dutton 373
20–4028
“Basing his arguments very largely on Stanley Hall’s ‘Educational problems,’ the author proceeds to describe what are the essentials of a high school curriculum.” (Cleveland) “In the introduction, Dr Hall states that interest is the very Holy Ghost of education and so-called formal studies and methods of discipline are largely a delusion and a snare. They make degenerate mental tissue. In chapter I the author states that the purpose of education, based not only on the needs of society but also on the needs of the adolescent, are, according to Dr Hall, ‘to train character, to suggest, to awaken, to graft interest, to give range and loftiness of sentiment of view, to broaden knowledge, and to bring everything into touch with life.’ During this age every effort possible should be made to ‘fill and develop mind, heart, soul, and body,’ especially with a view to vocational training. Such training demands vitalized and humanized materials of education and methods of instruction.” (School R)
“A good summary written with forceful simplicity.”
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Booklist 17:54 N ’20
Cleveland p91 S ’20 50w
El School J 21:158 O ’20 200w
Reviewed by Paul Shorey
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Review 2:433 Ap 24 ’20 1600w
“Taken as a whole, this book is quite suggestive and inspirational. Those persons who find the original works of G. Stanley Hall a little weighty will have their minds refreshed with some of his doctrines by reading Mr Mackie’s book, in which Dr Hall’s philosophy is presented in a very readable style, yet with less tonnage than is found in his own works.” J: B. Clark
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School R 28:717 N ’20 820w
MCKIM, WILLIAM DUNCAN. Study for the times. *$2.50 Putnam 150
20–21213
The author calls his study “an inquiry into thought and motive,” and this he considers imperative in these post-war times of restlessness and impatience, of fads and crazes, of hasty formulation of rights and noisy demand for their concession. Although much in this mad onward rush may be of lasting value and help towards a rejuvenation of the race, the latter, he holds, can only be accomplished through careful patient thought and a study of the limitations and frailties of our own individual natures. The book deals largely with human psychology and the findings of psycho-pathology. Contents: Introduction; Social influences; The individual mind; The knowing function; The feeling function; Conclusion; Index.
MACKINNON, ALBERT GLENTHORN. Guid auld Jock. *$1.75 (2c) Stokes
19–18839
Jock had a keen relish for other people’s affairs, especially those of Scotchmen. At the military hospital he ferreted out all such and became their father confessor, their lawyer and general confidant. The book is a collection of such confessions, of wrongs committed, of secret sins, of weighted consciences. And every story had its complement. The other man always turned up and in his turn made a confession, and, thanks to Jock’s discretion, quick wit and sense of humor, there was always a righting and a smoothing over. Some of the titles are: Jock’s neebors; How Jock healed his comrade’s worst wound; The barbed wires of misunderstanding; A prank o’ the post; A maitter o’ conscience.
MCKISHNIE, ARCHIE P. Son of courage. il *$1.75 (2c) Reilly & Lee
20–17187
Billy Wilson was one of the boys in a small settlement on the north coast of Lake Erie. He was full of fun, always ready for some boyish deviltry and the leader among his chums. The other side of his character was love of nature and animals, undaunted courage and love of fair dealing. He was afraid only of ghosts and even against those he felt secure with his rabbit’s-foot charm. His exploits are many and exasperating but he wins the heart of his stepmother and of the prettiest girl in the settlement and becomes instrumental in solving several mysteries and discovering a treasure.
“A satisfying story of outdoor life.”
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Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 70w
MCKOWAN, EVAH.[2] Graydon of the Windermere. *$1.90 (2½c) Doran
20–21188
Kent Graydon of the Windermere is a young Canadian engineer who has gone West and made good. Since his schoolboy days he has cherished the memory of Alleyne Milburne as his ideal of womanhood. Then one summer he meets her again in his own western country. He woos her ardently and it is not until he loses out to his rival of earlier days that he realizes that it is not she who embodies his ideals, but her cousin Claire, who is “honourable and generous, sportsmanlike and fair, sympathetic and womanly.”
MCLACHLAN, HERBERT. St Luke, the man and his work. *$3 (*7s 6d) Longmans 226
20–14133
“In a dozen chapters, Mr McLachlan, lecturer in Hellenistic Greek in the University of Manchester, discusses St Luke, the man of letters, the linguist, the editor, the theologian, the humorist, the letter writer, the reporter, the diarist, etc. The work gives in brief the views of German and English Protestants and Rationalists on every phase of the Lucan problem—authenticity, language, accuracy, doctrine and the like.”—Cath World
“This is a book from which the student of the Lucan writers will learn much, whether he is among the conservatives or the revolutionaries in textual criticism.”
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Ath p540 Ap 23 ’20 800w
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Cath World 111:686 Ag ’20 320w
“This scholarly book is to be commended to the notice of New Testament students.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p111 F 12 ’20 290w
MCLAUGHLIN, ANDREW CUNNINGHAM.[2] Steps in the development of American democracy. *$1.50 Abingdon press 342.7
20–8377
“A small volume comprising the lectures delivered by Professor McLaughlin at Wesleyan university. This series of lectures was the first to be given on the George Slocum Bennett foundation ‘for the promotion of a better understanding of national problems and of a more perfect realization of the responsibilities of citizenship.’ The author tells us in the preface that his purpose ‘is simply to recount a few salient experiences which helped to make America what it is, ... as also to describe certain basic doctrines and beliefs, some of which may have had their day, while others have not yet reached fulfillment.’”—Am Hist R
“In a work of this character, the presentation of new historical facts is not to be expected, but rather a new and fresh treatment of them and of their significance. This latter task is what Mr McLaughlin essayed in this series of lectures and this he has most successfully achieved. Mr McLaughlin’s firm grasp upon the history of the country is apparent throughout his treatment, and his discussion is characterized by brilliant exposition and frequently enlivened by flashes of wit and even restrained sarcasm.” H. V. Ames
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Am Hist R 26:344 Ja ’21 540w
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Am Pol Sci R 14:739 N ’20 50w
“Necessarily, the treatment of the subject is broad but it is marked by a sense of proportion and by genuine insight.”
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Bookm 52:368 D ’20 120w
MCLELLAN, ELEANOR. Voice education. *$1.75 (7½c) Harper 784.9
20–16097
The author claims to have discovered a system of scientific vocal technique through many years of practical research work by beginning with correcting abnormalities of speech and voice action. “This means rectifying conditions such as hoarseness, thickness of the vocal cords and surrounding muscles, nodules, paralyzed vocal cords, loss of high or low notes, stuttering, and all allied phonation and action troubles.” (Preface) The contents are: Breath; Tone versus vowel; Attack and poise of tone; Consonants; Interpretation; Requirements of a great career; Emotions and characteristics of singers.
“Every teacher and singer—and just people—would do well to take the chapter on ‘Emotions and characteristics of the singer’ in this book to heart. But there the practical help of the book to a singer or teacher ends.”
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N Y Evening Post p27 O 23 ’20 150w
MACMANUS, SEUMAS. Top o’ the mornin’. *$1.90 (3c) Stokes
20–17081
A collection of old and new tales in the Irish dialect. Some of the copyright dates go back to 1899. Others belong to the present year. The titles are: The lord mayor o’ Buffalo; The Widow Meehan’s Cassimeer shawl; The cadger-boy’s last journey; The minister’s racehorse; The case of Kitty Kildea: Billy Baxter’s holiday; Wee Paidin; When Barney’s trunk comes home; Five minutes a millionaire; Mrs Carney’s sealskin; The capture of Nelly Carribin; The bellman of Carrick; Barney Brian’s monument; All on the brown knowe; The heartbreak of Norah O’Hara.
“Splendid for reading aloud and full of fun and good Irish wit.”
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Booklist 17:118 D ’20
“Mr MacManus has a certain delicate whimsicality of utterance that transforms his somewhat sordid characters into beings of real interest. They provide a volume of extremely pleasant little stories, all quite indelibly branded with the mark of the shamrock.”
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Boston Transcript p5 N 20 ’20 220w
“Mr MacManus makes potent use of the folk-flavour: he draws his inspiration from the touchstone of common humanity; but he never hesitates to take what liberties he chooses with his material.” L. B.
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Freeman 3:238 N 17 ’20 170w
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Outlook 126:378 O 27 ’20 60w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 3:422 N 3 ’20 380w
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Springf’d Republican p8 D 28 ’20 130w
Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 90w
MCMASTER, JOHN BACH. United States in the world war (1918–1920). v 2 *$3 Appleton 940.373
20–12608
This is the second volume of Professor McMaster’s history of the war. It deals with the work of the American troops in France and ends with the peace conference and the rejection of the peace treaty by the United States senate. Contents: Submarines off our coast; War work at home; Fighting in France; Peace offensives; The armistice; The president goes abroad; The peace conference; The treaty of peace; The treaty rejected; Appendices; Index.
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Booklist 17:25 O ’20
“The arrangement may be registered at once as both logical and, within the scope of logic, rhetorical, even dramatic. He did not make as good use as he might have done of the reports of Pershing and March. When the chapter ‘War work at home’ is so well written it is a pity that no attention should be paid to the efforts the enemy was making to render that work futile.” Walter Littlefield
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N Y Times p22 Ag 29 ’20 2500w
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Outlook 126:202 S 29 ’20 100w
“The second volume is a distinct disappointment. Even considering the haste with which it must have been prepared, the single chapter devoted to the military phase of the war is almost absurdly inadequate and our naval participation is snubbed still more severely. The chapter headed ‘War work at home,’ however, is well done, and the one entitled ‘The treaty rejected,’ considering all the difficulties of the topic, is also handled with considerable skill.”
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Review 3:508 N 24 ’20 220w
R of Rs 62:445 O ’20 160w
“We do not observe that Professor McMaster has utilized any sources of information which are not readily accessible; he seems indeed to have relied largely upon the reports in the newspapers. The book is disfigured by some careless mistakes.”
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Spec 125:643 N 13 ’20 170w
MCMASTERS, WILLIAM HENRY. Revolt. il *$1.60 Small
19–18647
“William H. McMasters has produced ‘Revolt,’ a tale of the presidential election in the year 1940. The hero is Roger Morton, a young multi-millionaire of thirty-eight, son of the world’s first billionaire, John Paine Morton, president of the Universal trust company, which has controlled both political parties of the United States for many years. This marvelous young man, being urged to do so by one of the professors on his death bed, forms the revolutionist party, outwits his father at every point, and elects Dan Holman, one of his Harvard classmates as president of the United States.”—Springf’d Republican
N Y Times 25:297 Je 6 ’20 340w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 2:394 Ap 17 ’20 100w
“His characters are rather wooden at first, and he has to jerk hard on the strings to make them do the next thing next, but as the story gathers speed and momentum, they almost run away from him.”
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Springf’d Republican p11a My 30 ’20 280w
MCMICHAEL, CHARLES BARNSLEY, tr. Short stories from the Spanish. il *$1.50 Boni & Liveright
20–8278
“The present volume is published with the intention of interesting American readers in the Spanish short story—a form in which the Spanish excel. There are three stories by Ruben Dario, three by Jacinto Octavio Picon and one by Leopoldo Alas. In addition there is a helpful introduction giving a short sketch of the life of each of these authors.”—Boston Transcript
“The translation is on the whole effective though sometimes awkwardly literal.”
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Booklist 17:158 Ja ’21
Boston Transcript p6 O 13 ’20 320w
“Exquisite little word pictures of a way of living full of delicate grace and beauty.”
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Cleveland p83 S ’20 30w
“These seven tales are marked by charm and delicacy, rather than by strength and passion. Judge McMichael’s translation is generally effective, although it sometimes suffers from excessively conscientious literalness.” W. H. C.
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New Repub 23:183 Jl 7 ’20 260w
“The publishers of this volume have performed a genuine service in offering to American readers in an attractive form these literary gems from a language in which public interest is constantly increasing.”
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N Y Times 25:28 Jl 18 ’20 280w
“There is a clear simplicity and naive directness to be found in the work of all three writers which marks them as of the same race.”
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Springf’d Republican p11a Jl 25 ’20 300w
MACMURCHY, HELEN. Almosts: a study of the feeble-minded. *$1 50 (4c) Houghton 132
20–5606
The book is a study of “the fool” in literature, the author maintaining that valuable suggestions for the treatment and care of the feeble-minded can be obtained thereby. “Sometimes the poet sees more than the scientist, even when the scientific man is playing at his own game. The novelist can give a few points to the sociologist, and the dramatist to the settlement worker.” The great writers have studied the feeble-minded from life. They have “discovered long before the modern ‘uplifter’ was born, that we must reckon with the mental defective as one of those many things in heaven and earth that are not dealt with by some philosophers, and yet that make a great difference to the community and social progress.” The writers from whom the characters are taken are: Shakespeare, Bunyan, Scott, Dickens, Bulwer Lytton, Charles Reade, Victor Hugo, George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hawthorne and others.
“The value of the book is perhaps the greatest in pointing out concretely to the general reader the common characteristics of defectives through these well known examples.”
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Booklist 16:297 Je ’20
“It is not only valuable, but it has as the clever author doubtless intended, the delight of recalling to one’s mind, old time favorites and old familiar friends.”
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Boston Transcript p8 S 18 ’20 360w
Cleveland p74 Ag ’20 40w
N Y Evening Post p11 My 1 ’20 600w
“Although slight and relatively unimportant, the book will doubtless reach many persons with its message of the need for segregation and institutional treatment who would not have been attracted by a work couched in the more prosaic terminology of science.” K. M. G.
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Social Hygiene 6:594 O ’20 130w
Springf’d Republican p8 Jl 2 ’20 180w
“‘The almosts’ will surely help the recognition and adequate care of the feebleminded. It should help to form public opinion.” Alexander Johnson
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Survey 44:449 Je 26 ’20 550w
MACNAMARA, BRINSLEY. Clanking of chains. *$1.90 Brentano’s
19–17481
“The tale is called a story of Sinn Fein, yet it is not the history of that party or a novel that deals primarily with party matters: rather it is the study of an individual, whose finer instincts are never understood by his daily companions and whose efforts do not prove immediately fruitful. Michael Dempsey, the hero, we first meet taking the part of Robert Emmet in an amateur play given in the town of Ballycullen. The novel, then, is only incidentally a story of Sinn Fein, and chiefly the tale of Michael Dempsey’s two loves—Ireland and ‘Mirandolina.’ In the first case, he wooes and loses; in the second, his victory is, one is almost sure, partly defeat.”—Boston Transcript
Ath p258 F 20 ’20 80w
“An extraordinary and tragic book.” H. W. Boynton
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Bookm 51:345 My ’20 250w
“On the whole, ‘The clanking of chains,’ though a very readable piece of work, does not measure up to ‘The valley of the squinting windows’; its characterization is less clear, its incident less varied, its impress less lasting.” I. G.
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Boston Transcript p6 F 18 ’20 950w
Lit D p94 S 4 ’20 1650w
“The story is very vivid and very interesting. Irish village life is satirized with considerable skill. But one wonders what exactly Mr Macnamara intends us to infer.... Emigration seems to be his own counsel to the better spirits, as it was Dickens’s counsel in ‘David Copperfield’ to the disappointed English Chartist. But then, as now, this was a counsel of despair.” H. L. Stewart
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Review 2:462 My 1 ’20 1050w
“This is a strong, sombre, and disquieting book.”
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Spec 124:247 F 21 ’20 750w
“The picture is painted in drab colors, and in the narration of the slender story the author is never at pains to cater to any party’s sympathies or prejudices.”
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Springf’d Republican p8 Mr 30 ’20 180w
“The story is told in a confused way, and in several places the action hangs fire. The book also contains too much rhetoric. But the analysis both of the inhabitants of Ballycullen and of the problems which these individuals personify is acute and honest. Mr Macnamara is, for a writer on Irish topics, impartial, and he makes a great effort to consider the case from every aspect.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p200 Mr 25 ’20 540w
MACNAUGHTAN, SARAH BROOM. My war experiences in two continents; ed. by her niece, Mrs Lionel Salmon (Betty Keays-Young). *$5 Dutton 940.48
(Eng ed 19–8145)
“The late Miss Macnaughtan, we think, drew upon her Belgian diary to some extent for her earlier book, ‘A woman’s diary of the war,’ but there is plenty of fresh material for the new book, and the description of her work in the hospitals and in connexion with her soup-kitchen at Furnes, is vivid and moving. After a year in Belgium and a short lecturing tour at home, Miss Macnaughtan went to give her help on the Russian and Persian fronts. But the Eastern expedition made too severe demands upon her strength. Depressed by Russian dilatoriness and the consequent waste of opportunities, with her physical strength severely impaired by the climate and the hardships she had to endure, she was forced home by illness in the following spring, and she died a few months later. If the chapters dealing with this expedition are less vivid than those about Belgium, the reader feels that it is because illness and depression had weakened her pen.”—Spec
“Though one feels that her deliberate aim was to set down faithfully what she saw—the result is infinitely more than that. It is a revelation of her inner self which would perhaps never have been revealed in times less terrible and strange.” K. M.
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Ath p237 Ap 25 ’19 1200w
Brooklyn 12:43 N ’19 40w
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Pittsburgh 24:612 D ’19 40w
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Sat R 127:426 My 3 ’19 700w
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Spec 122:637 My 17 ’19 200w
“The definite opinions she expresses are so often at variance with one another that the reviewer must tear up his laboured analysis and plead ignorance. But her inconsistency is only superficial; through it all she is affirming her love for what is noble and disinterested.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p176 Ap 3 ’19 1100w
MCPHERSON, LOGAN GRANT. Flow of value. *$2.50 (2c) Century 330.1
20–1957
Proceeding from the premise that human energy ought to be directed to the service of human kind, it is the author’s object to ascertain how human activities can be so coordinated as to result in the general good. His problem is to assemble the findings of economists and sociologists into a body of scientific facts from which the trained investigator can draw correct conclusions. The book is a continuation of the presentation embodied in a previous volume: “How the world makes its living,” and presents the sequence of cause and effect in determining prices, wages, and profit. A partial list of the contents is: Human effort and human wants; Property in matter and property in force; Utility and utilities; The exchange of utilities and the unit of exchange; The actual development of industry and commerce in the United States; The relativity of human effort and the relativity of human wants; The interrelations of effort, prices, and profit; Value; Capital; The ultimate units of production and consumption; Money; The trend of the monetary and banking system; Sound minds in sound bodies; Index.
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Dial 68:671 My ’20 80w
“The value of the present work lies in the clearness with which the fact is developed that all commodities and services are the product of human effort. The vigorous enforcement of this truth at a time when the world seems bent on a hunger strike is a real service.”
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Review 2:282 Mr 20 ’20 1000w
R of Rs 61:447 Ap ’20 140w
“Teachers of college courses in economics will find in Mr McPherson’s ‘The flow of value’ an admirable book for collateral reading. The clarity of exposition, the wealth of concrete illustration, and the refreshing novelty of some of the analysis deserve special commendation.” E. R. Burton
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Survey 44:541 Jl 17 ’20 170w
MCPHERSON, WILLIAM LENHART. Short history of the great war. *$2.50 (3c) Putnam 940.3
20–6967
This volume “dealing particularly with its military and diplomatic aspects and the part played in it by the United States” (Sub-title), offers a general outline story of the war with the main object of giving a clear and accurate running account of its origin and progress. It is a complement to the author’s other book, “The strategy of the great war,” and gives in detail all the outstanding facts and principal operations of the war with appendices and an index.
“Because this book relates to military policy, it is equally interesting to the trained soldier and to the intelligent civilian.” X. Y. Z.
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Nation 111:106 Jl 24 ’20 950w
“The only regret of the reader in regard to Mr McPherson’s one-volume history of the war is that it has no maps; otherwise, within the limitations of space set, it leaves nothing to be desired.” Walter Littlefield
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N Y Times p6 D 19 ’20 380w
“Clear and good it is, but it leaves the impression in one’s mind of newspaper material dished up into a book. On the score of originality of presentation, freshness of statement, vigor of style, it suffers by comparison with Pollard’s, nor does it exhibit the same nicety of proportion and balance.”
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Review 3:424 N 3 ’20 170w
R of Rs 61:670 Je ’20 100w
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St Louis 18:238 O ’20 40w
MACQUARRIE, HECTOR. Tahiti days. il *$4.50 (7½c) Doran 919.6
20–19772
The author was ordered to the Tahiti Islands for his health and found it there, and now invites the reader to step onto his magic carpet and follow him thither, to the fairy land of the South seas, to the “Island of tranquil delight” where the gentle Polynesians will pluck oranges for him, climb the cocoanut palms for nuts for him and regale him with their bananas and breadfruit and where he can see the natives diving for pearls. Among the contents are: Raratonga; The Moana; Tahiti; Babies; The hula-hula; Hikuero, the pearl island; Pearl diving; Breakfast on Hikuero; The Marai and Miggimiggi; Firewalking on Tahiti; The epidemic. The book is profusely illustrated.
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Booklist 17:151 Ja ’21
“He writes of his stay in Tahiti in an interesting fashion, although he spoils his book by his coarseness and his contempt for the moral law. He is at his best when he describes the pearl diving near Kikuero Island, the pagan rite of the fire-walkers of Tahiti, or the customs of the natives.”
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Cath World 112:695 F ’21 130w
“It is a charming book, and one well calculated to disturb the contentment of any city dweller.” B. R. Redman
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N Y Times p12 D 26 ’20 1450w
“It is one of the most entertaining of the recent books about adventure in the islands of the Pacific.”
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Outlook 126:558 N 24 ’20 70w
“Hector MacQuarrie’s ‘Tahiti days’ is a much more creditable book than some other recent works on the same subject. Mr MacQuarrie writes with appreciation of the islands and the people, he writes with directness and humor, and best of all he writes like a man, not like a snickering little boy with naughty stories to tell.” E. L. Pearson
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Review 3:558 D 8 ’20 110w
MCSPADDEN, JOSEPH WALKER, ed. Famous detective stories. *$1.50 (2c) Crowell
20–15065
The stories selected for this collection are: The purloined letter, by Edgar Allan Poe; An interview with M. Lecoq, by Emile Gaboriau; A scandal in Bohemia, by A. Conan Doyle; The adventure of the hansom cabs, by Robert Louis Stevenson; The adventure of the toadstools, by Sax Rohmer; Gentlemen and players, by E. W. Hornung; The black hand, by Arthur B. Reeve; The grotto spectre, by Anna Katherine Green; The mystery of the steel disk, by Broughton Brandenburg; The sign of the shadow, by Maurice Le Blanc; The mystery of the steel room, by Thomas W. Hanshew.
Booklist 17:72 N ’20
Freeman 2:142 O 20 ’20 150w
“There is much entertainment in J. Walker McSpadden’s eleven ‘Famous detective stories.’ One thing is certain, the detective story, entertaining as it may be, is the most thoroughly standardized product in modern literature, as bright and hard and competent as a jackknife, and hardly one iota more humane.”
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Nation 111:354 S 25 ’20 220w
Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 30 ’21 130w
Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 80w
MCSPADDEN, JOSEPH WALKER, ed. Famous psychic stories. *$1.50 (2½c) Crowell
20–16801
Mr McSpadden, who had compiled an earlier collection of ghost stories, touches on the difference between the “psychic” and the “ghost” story in his introduction. In the latter the “old fashioned spook” predominates, while the wide range possible under the term psychic is disclosed by his analysis of the twelve stories. These stories are: The white old maid, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; The facts in the case of M. Valdemar, by Edgar Allan Poe; The dream woman, by Wilkie Collins; The open door, by Margaret Oliphant; The stalls of Barchester cathedral, by Montague Rhodes James; The man who went too far, by E. F. Benson; Moxon’s master, by Ambrose Bierce; The beast with five fingers, by W. F. Harvey; From the loom of the dead, by Elia W. Peattie; The ghoul, by Evangeline W. Blashfield; The shadows on the wall, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman; The widow’s mite, by Isaac K. Funk.
Booklist 17:118 D ’20
Outlook 126:334 O 20 ’20 140w
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Springf’d Republican p9a O 31 ’20 140w
Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 90w
MACVEAGH, EWEN CAMERON, and BROWN, LEE D. Yankee in the British zone. il *$2.50 (3c) Putnam 940.373
20–3186
The object of the book which has a foreword by Major General Wood, and which gives an account of the good understanding and mutual helpfulness existing between the British and American troops is to point a lesson for preparedness so that we may not “become too well satisfied with the outstanding fact that the war was ultimately won,” but may plan during the new phase of our history upon which we are now entering what to retain of and what to add to our hastily constructed military machine. Among the contents are: Getting acquainted; Reasons for the Yankee in the British zone; Tommy Atkins’ estate in France; The Yanks explore and rehearse: Off for the battle of a hundred days; The breaking of the Hindenburg line; Hun opinions of the Yankee; Accomplishments, discoveries, and results of the Yankee in the British zone. There are many illustrations and four appendices.
“The humorous tone saves the book from the charge of propagandism.”
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Booklist 16:238 Ap ’20
“The book contains a wealth of anecdotes, which throw light on the failings of both American and English soldiers towards each other.” O. McK.
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Boston Transcript p6 F 14 ’20 480w
“It is good-humoured, accurate, full of incident, and a bit ‘hurrah.’”
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Dial 68:539 Ap ’20 40w
“A frank, brave, sportsmanly record.” Coningsby Dawson
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N Y Times 25:1 F 22 ’20 1200w
“The humorous as well as the serious side of soldier life comes out in strong relief.”
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Outlook 124:291 F 18 ’20 120w
“The authors are announced as ‘trained observers,’ and the reader concedes the title, adding that of trained or naturally facile writers, for they have dressed their material with real skill.”
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Review 2:436 Ap 24 ’20 420w
R of Rs 61:336 Mr ’20 80w
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Spec 125:573 O 30 ’20 180w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p638 S 30 ’20 180w
MAGNUSSEN, JULIUS. God’s smile; tr. by Daniel Kilham Dodge. *$1.75 (4½c) Appleton 134
20–13992
A work translated from the Danish. The author is a Danish dramatist whose plays have been produced at the National theater. At the age of thirty-seven and at the height of his popularity he suddenly lost interest in the comedy he was writing and found his attention turned to psychic matters by a series of curious experiences. These are described in this book. They began with table rappings, which aroused only amusement and derision, and continued with automatic writings which finally routed his scepticism. The book is said to have run thru ten editions in the first month of publication in Denmark.
“There is little imaginative power and no trace of originality in these supposed communications from the spirit world, which bear a familiar stamp of vague and grandiloquent optimism. The translation does not impress us as particularly good.”
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Ath p678 N 19 ’20 70w
“Deeply sincere, and well told in spite of excessive egoism and introspection.”
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Booklist 17:7 O ’20
“The book is spiritism watered and sugared; its ‘God’ will make converts for atheism, and its ‘smile’ will beget pessimists.”
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Review 3:350 O 20 ’20 250w
“As a matter of fact, his self-revelation is more interesting than are the psychical experiences that he narrates.” Lilian Whiting
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Springf’d Republican p7a N 28 ’20 320w
“Mr Magnussen begins his account in a vein of naive egotism, which—at any rate when in the dress of another language—sometimes approaches the comic; but as he proceeds his story assumes a literary quality by means of its directness and simplicity.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p687 O 21 ’20 100w
Wis Lib Bul 16:232 D ’20 20w
MAIS, STUART PETRE BRODIE. Books and their writers. *$2 Dodd 824
(Eng ed 20–9510)
A series of literary essays and reviews. The author says, “All I have sought to do has been to convey some of the pleasure I have gained from desultory reading of all kinds during the last few years.” In part 1, Novelists and novels, he writes of Compton Mackenzie, Norman Douglas, Frank Swinnerton, Stephen McKenna, Jane Austen, Clemence Dane, Dorothy Richardson. Part 2, Poetry and poets, is devoted to J. C. Squire, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Nichols, Dora Sigerson, Chinese poetry. Part 3, Books in general, contains reviews of Strachey’s “Eminent Victorians,” Smith’s “Trivia,” and other recent works, also papers on Alice Meynell as critic and Lafcadio Hearn. Some of the essays are reprinted from the Fortnightly Review and To-day.
“A light and sketchy, appreciative and not over-critical, yet useful contribution to the history of current literature.”
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Ath p384 Mr 19 ’20 90w
“There is not one author treated by Mr Mais of whom the reader will get a just estimate, for frothy appreciation is not justice; but there is one author whom the reader will come to know all too well, and he is Mr Mais. Even in his interminable and ill-written summaries of other men’s work, of which the bulk of the book consists, Mr Mais obtrudes himself. He cannot create, he cannot judge, and with his own clamour he deafens judgment.” O. W.
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Ath p542 Ap 23 ’20 1300w
“The most interesting part of Mr Mais’s ‘Books and their writers’ is, to my mind, that devoted to novels and novelists.” K. F. Gerould
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Bookm 52:264 N ’20 460w
“Although Mr Mais’s title is commonplace, his essays are not likewise dull. They are variable in quality, to be sure, and there is in them a revelation of the critical faculty their writer so explicitly denies himself.” E. F. E.
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Boston Transcript p5 S 22 ’20 750w
“An easily readable book, full of time beguiling extracts from the authors under review—an excellent reference book to supplement more critical and comprehensive works on contemporary literature.”
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N Y Evening Post p8 S 25 ’20 170w
“One likes Mr Mais because he likes all sorts of things, and writes about them with a zest which compels you to like them, too, whether you agree with his judgments or not.” R: Le Gallienne
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N Y Times p8 O 17 ’20 1700w
“He has undeniable talent, great industry, almost fanatical enthusiasm: such qualities might carry a man far, but his untidy and careless mind is in danger of wrecking his literary career almost at the outset.”
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Sat R 129:280 Mr 20 ’20 950w
“Mr Mais has not much of value to say: he just flows on chatting intelligently about the books people are reading (or supposed to be reading) and the authors they are talking about.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p142 F 26 ’20 240w
MAJOR, CLARE TREE. How to develop your will power. (How to develop ser.) *$1.25 (4c) Clode, E. J. 170
20–14873
This volume, which follows “How to develop your personality” and “How to develop your speaking voice,” has chapters on Self-examination; Will: its power, function and development; Physical dominance (three chapters); Be courageous; Learn the value of habit; Self-control; Self-control and business power; Business success; Will in idealism; with a Review of chapters at the close.
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N Y Evening Post p11 N 6 ’20 50w
MALDCLEWITH, RONSBY, pseud. Professor’s love-life. *$1.50 Macmillan
19–19246
“The book comprises a series of genuine letters, written by a man who here appears under the name of Ronsby Maldclewith to his fiancée, Katherine, a woman of the old South now some years dead. They are published in accordance with a wish expressed by her. The young professor, devotee of literature and art, within a few months of the discovery of their mutual love, becomes the victim of incipient lung trouble. The letters to Katherine—from Denver during an apparently beneficial sojourn; from New York city, where he settles in order to be able to consult often with great specialists; from his home, to which he returns full of courage and hope of ultimate recovery, and lastly from Denver, where he loses the great fight—are intensely pathetic and from beginning to end tell a story of measureless devotion.”—Springf’d Republican
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Ath p463 Ap 2 ’20 80w
Boston Transcript p6 Ja 7 ’20 120w
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Dial 68:399 Mr ’20 60w
“Were it not for beauty of language, pathos, lofty sentiment and apt quotations, there is no denying that reading the book would at times be depressing.”
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Springf’d Republican p6 F 9 ’20 360w
“It would be hard to trace the impalpable quality which stamps these letters with the seal of truth: but it is there to illustrate the law that style is the touchstone of all fine and sincere literature.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p38 Ja 15 ’20 600w
MALINS, GEOFFREY H. How I filmed the war; ed. by Low Warren. il *$4 Stokes 940.48
(Eng ed 19–19271)
“This stirring narrative describes the innumerable adventures that occurred to Mr Malins in the pursuit of cinematograph records of the fighting on the western front. Mr Malins’ devotion to his job is surpassed only by his courage.”—Ath
Ath p1083 O 24 ’19 40w
“Very few men have displayed such courage and devotion in winning an empire or in winning a wife as Mr Malins has shown in taking his war films. That he is alive to write a book (and an extremely good book) about them is one of the incredible things of the war.”
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Ath p1121 O 31 ’19 600w
“A brisk interesting account of soldiering with the camera. It gives assurance that the scenes of war in the movies were taken at the front, often in positions of danger.”
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Booklist 16:200 Mr ’20
“The pictures are good, and his story, told in a very conversational and natural way, is especially instructive.” J. S. B.
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Boston Transcript p6 Ja 17 ’20 500w
“No doubt Mr Malins’s volume is making a stir in cinematographic circles; but apart from them, we question if it will have a long career as a ‘library book.’ The films themselves were efficiently done, but they were all that counted; there was not enough stuff left to make a readable book.”
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Sat R 130:99 Jl 31 ’19 370w
“Very readable account.”
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Spec 123:512 O 18 ’19 50w
“There was excellent material for a book in all these adventures, and Lieutenant Malins writes with great spirit, if without any special distinction of style.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p598 O 30 ’19 440w
MALLOCK, WILLIAM HURRELL. Memoirs of life and literature. il *$2.50 Harper
20–16292
“Memoirs,” says the author, “represent life as seen by the writers from a personal point of view.... Thus if any writer attempts to do what I have done myself—namely, to examine or depict in books of widely different kinds such aspects and problems of life—social, philosophical, religious, and economic—as have in turn engrossed his special attention, he may venture to hope that a memoir of his own activities will be taken as representing an age, rather than a personal story.” (Chapter I) The first three chapters are devoted to the author’s family antecedents and early life and some of the other chapters are: Winter society at Torquay; The basis of London society; Vignettes of London life; Society in country houses; From country houses to politics; Cyprus, Florence, Hungary; Two works on social politics; Religious philosophy and fiction; Politics and society in America; Literature and action. The book has an index and a number of portraits of famous writers.
Ath p583 O 29 ’20 1300w
“To some the philosophy will seem too self-satisfied and the ease of tone, varied only by urbane satire, indicative of a class heedlessness of much of the passion, discontent and injustice below the surface.”
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Booklist 17:153 Ja ’21
Reviewed by H: L. West
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Bookm 52:269 N ’20 480w
“His ingenious mingling of the records of his own life and mental progress and achievement with accounts of his contact with other men and women of his time, give to Mr Mallock’s memoirs a rare quality. Its pages are all filled with an exceptional sympathy for the mental attitude of even those from whom he differed on problems of vital and lasting importance.” E. F. E.
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Boston Transcript p8 S 18 ’20 1800w
Reviewed by R. M. Lovett
Dial 70:217 F ’21 2100w
“It is with something of shock that we discover Mr Mallock’s conservatism as unyielding as when in the complacent days before the war he came to expound it from the rostrums of our universities. Events have marched, but Mr Mallock has not marched with them. And yet, disappointing though it is, Mr Mallock’s volume contains chapters that redeem it from the commonplace.”
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N Y Evening Post p6 S 18 ’20 1100w
“Too much of the memoirs are snobbery, genealogical dissertations and comments on the author’s own novels and economic studies. He possessed the opportunity for a surprisingly good book but he has not wholly availed himself of it.” H. S. Gorman
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N Y Times p12 O 3 ’20 2100w
“What the author has given us in his books, with all sincerity, has been, so it seems, not ‘confessions’ by any means, but his real inner thought without compromise or unexpressed reservations. This, rather than its suavity of style, its variety of interests, its numerous personalities, explains the charm of the volume. There is an air of intellectual and moral success and good-breeding about it such as one rarely finds.”
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No Am 212:713 N ’20 1850w
“His comments and anecdotes are not always agreeable or calculated to give the reader high ideals.”
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Outlook 126:238 O 6 ’20 220w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
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Review 3:249 S 22 ’20 150w
“This constant didacticism goes far to spoil what is otherwise so good. If only Mr Mallock had expended his energies more exclusively on the descriptive and anecdotal parts of his book, he might have produced a work of rare charm; he has the insight and the literary skill to have done this.”
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Review 3:377 O 27 ’20 950w
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R of Rs 62:446 O ’20 80w
Spec 125:470 O 9 ’20 1500w
“Delightfully entertaining work. Not once in a blue moon do lovers of good literature fall upon anything so richly suggestive, so charmingly satisfying.” Lilian Whiting
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Springf’d Republican p9a O 3 ’20 2300w
“Mr Mallock in the lucidity of his style, in his confident logic and graceful sense of proportion, in his fastidiousness and his cynical undertones, betrays the mind of the eighteenth-century aristocrat.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p597 S 16 ’20 1800w
MALONE, CECIL L’ESTRANGE. Russian republic. *$1 (4½c) Harcourt 947
20–5655
As the basis for an opinion as to the possibilities of peace negotiations with Soviet Russia, the author undertook an examination of the political, social and military conditions there at first hand, by a personal visit. The book records his findings in diary form interspersed with interviews, conversations and personal reflections. Throughout, the author draws a comparison with the French revolution and concludes that the only way to head off a military dictatorship in Russia is through one of two policies; the unthinkable one of making war on her on a grand scale, or “to make every effort to give the Soviet republic internal and external peace, and to establish commercial bonds with them, to the great blessing of mankind and to the prosperity of all countries.” Contents: Introductory; To Petrograd; Moscow; Social reconstruction; Trotsky and the red army; Industry; Religion and women; The peace terms; Homeward bound; Conclusions; Appendix—Prinkipo and Nansen.
Booklist 16:308 Je ’20
“Colonel Malone’s attitude is one of a somewhat suspicious solicitude; he is aware of the danger of being taken in, and this gives to his report an air of special authenticity. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is that dealing with the Red army.”
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Freeman 1:167 Ap 28 ’20 300w
“Colonel Malone’s book will be popular among sympathizers with Soviet Russia, especially those of a more or less conservative stripe. It explodes the grosser fabrications about Russia without implying too much violence against what cautious folk conceive to be a properly centered world. Its superficiality from this point of view may prove an asset: for no one can deny that it is essentially a superficial study.” Evans Clark
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Nation 111:47 Jl 10 ’20 750w
R of Rs 61:556 My ’20 60w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p90 F 5 ’20 150w
MANDER, JANE. Story of a New Zealand river. *$1.75 (1c) Lane
20–4462
A story by an author apparently familiar with the country of which she writes. For its beginnings it goes back a full generation to a pioneer age in a new country. Alice Roland is as unfitted for this life as her husband is fitted for it. An English woman, adrift with a young child, she accepts Tom Roland’s offer of marriage and goes with him up the river to the wild country where he is to carve out his fortune. She has never loved him, and finds her life, with its hardships and recurrent child bearing, dreary enough. Then love for her husband’s partner, David Bruce, comes to complicate the situation. Alice’s scruples and David’s loyalty to his partner keep them from transgression. In the meantime Alice’s daughter, Asia, grows up, with ideals very different from her mother’s, with a sure knowledge of what she wants, and she doesn’t let the fact that the man she loves is already married stand in her way. There are good pictures of the New Zealand landscape and of its developing civilization.
“She lacks confidence and the courage of her opinions: like the wavering, fearful heroine, she leans too hard on England. There are moments when we catch a bewilderingly vivid glimpse of what she really felt and knew about the small settlement of people in the lumbercamp, but we suspect that these are moments when she is off her guard. These serve nothing but to increase our impatience with Miss Mander. Why is her book not half as long, twice as honest?” K. M.
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Ath p49 Jl 9 ’20 600w
Reviewed by R. M. Underhill
Bookm 51:440 Je ’20 160w
“The author not only knows her country, but those who live in it, and she describes both with strong feeling and yet with artistic restraint.”
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Boston Transcript p11 Ap 17 ’20 250w
“The theme of this book is good but it is not good enough for 430 pages of closely printed matter. Of the characters that create ‘The story of a New Zealand river,’ which, by the way, is an extremely bad title, nothing but praise may be given.” H. S. G.
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New Repub 23:234 Jl 21 ’20 650w
“The novel presents an interesting picture of pioneer life on the unnamed river and some of Alice’s struggles are well portrayed, but there is so much reiteration and so much of what can only be called padding that the effect of the novel is greatly weakened and it loses its hold on the reader long before the climax is reached.”
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N Y Times 25:240 My 9 ’20 380w
“The author handles this tale of an isolated New Zealand lumber camp with considerable romantic effect.”
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Springf’d Republican p11a Je 27 ’20 220w
“The authoress has a real ability to describe character and differences of outlook; but she does not allow the plot to become lost in disquisitions. The book would have been more emphatic if it could have been shortened, but in its present form it is a patient study of one example of the immemorial clash between impulse and convention. The authoress never exactly hits the bull’s-eye, but she is always on the target.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p386 Je 17 ’20 220w
MANNERS, JOHN HARTLEY. All clear, God of my faith, and God’s outcast. *$1.25 Doran 812
20–4129
These three plays: All clear; God of my faith; and God’s outcast, “written during the horrors of the unjust and cruel war forced by Germany upon civilisation ... founded on actual incidents, may serve to keep alive remembrance of some of the barbarous outrages perpetrated by the Hun on innocent and wretched peoples.” (Foreword) They are songs of hate and the Germans, in the author’s opinion, are “a race apart, unfit to associate with and to be shunned forevermore.”
Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 480w
MANSBRIDGE, ALBERT. Adventure in working-class education. *$2 (*6s) Longmans 374.2
“This book chronicles the genesis and growth of the Workers’ educational association which was founded to promote the higher education of working men and women by means of an alliance between co-operation, trades unionism, and university extension. It began in 1903, not without opposition and with very little financial support, which Mr Mansbridge, to whose enthusiasm the organisation owes much of its vitality, counts like a true fighter amongst the reasons for its success. Mr Mansbridge and his colleagues preserved their eager optimism even through the depressing years of the war until, at the present day, they can number over seventeen thousand members in the British islands and many prosperous branches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. The vivifying idea of the movement is that most workers have an interest in education if they would only realize it; and to stimulate that interest and provide facilities for its gratification are the objects for which the association was formed.”—Spec
Ath p814 Je 18 ’20 80w
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Spec 124:85 Jl 17 ’20 480w
“This book is a short but inspiring introduction to the spirit of the whole movement. In passages it rises to levels of fine eloquence. The prologue should be read by every teacher; and the whole spirit of the movement should become known to social workers and lovers of democracy everywhere.” J. K. Hart
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Survey 45:136 O 23 ’20 320w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p304 My 13 ’20 40w
MANTLE, MRS BEATRICE. In the house of another. *$1.90 (2½c) Century
20–17410
When the heroine of the story comes back to consciousness after an auto accident, she finds herself in a strange environment and among unfamiliar people. She even realizes she has a husband, Alan Leland, whose existence she has no remembrance of, and a circle of friends whom she does not recognize. But they take her quite for granted, which adds to her mystification. She wonders if she is out of her mind. The difficulties of the situation are increased by Willett Renshaw’s attitude to her which is that of a recognized lover. His attentions are distressing to her, but she does not understand the situation clearly enough to be able to straighten it out. Renshaw’s attitude finally results in her separation from Alan, to her sorrow. But she bravely tries to reconstruct her life on a new plan, until a wise friend who realizes that there is some big trouble in her life goes to the bottom of her fears and paves the way for her future happiness and Alan’s.
“It needs a Wells or at least an Anstey (as in ‘Vice versa’ or ‘The statement of Stella Maberly’) to carry out this idea of exchanged personalities satisfactorily.”
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N Y Evening Post p21 O 23 ’20 90w
“As a novel written to divert and mystify, ‘In the house of another’ succeeds in its purpose.”
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N Y Times p11 O 17 ’20 220w
MANTLE, BURNS, ed. Best plays of 1919–20, and the Year book of the drama in America. *$2 Small 822
20–21432
This volume marks the first appearance of a new annual which attempts to do for the professional drama what Mr Braithwaite’s anthology does for poetry and Mr O’Brien’s year book for the short story. Mr Mantle has selected ten of the successful plays from the New York season of 1919–20 and has presented them, partly in summary, partly in dialog. They are: Abraham Lincoln, by John Drinkwater; Beyond the horizon, by Eugene O’Neill: The famous Mrs Fair, by James Forbes; Declassee, by Zoe Aikins; Jane Clegg, by St John Ervine; The jest, by Sem Benelli; Wedding bells, by Salisbury Field; Mamma’s affair, by Rachel Barton Butler; Adam and Eva, by George Middleton and Guy Bolton; Clarence, by Booth Tarkington. The volume opens with “The season in review” by Mr Mantle and the year book at the close includes surveys of the season in London and in Paris, along with statistical summaries and other data relating to the stage.
“As to at least five of the ten, there will be general acquiescence in Mr Mantle’s choice, and as to the other five there will be general diversity of opinion.” Brander Matthews
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N Y Times p4 Ja 30 ’21 360w
“Friends of the drama in America owe Mr Mantle a real debt of thanks.” Dorothy Grafly
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Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 30 ’21 400w
“Altogether a much-needed piece of work, and well done. If the next time Mr Mantle will include some account of the significant achievements in stage-craft, his year-book will prove even more valuable.”
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Theatre Arts Magazine 5:85 Ja ’21 230w
MANUEL, HERSCHEL THURMAN. Talent in drawing; an experimental study of the use of tests to discover special ability. (School and home education monographs) $1.25 Public-school 136.7
20–4546
Account of a pioneer investigation in the province of specialized ability, or talent, conducted by Professor Whipple, Miss Genevieve L. Coy, and Dr T. S. Henry among selected public school pupils and college students of Urbana, Illinois. The problem the investigators set before them was to discover “the essential psychophysical characteristics of persons talented in drawing,” and to learn how the test methods could best be used in the diagnosis of such talent. To the individuals selected were given certain tests of: general intelligence; higher thought processes; memory and learning; reading; observation; sensory discrimination; handwriting and drawing; also physical and motor tests. Tests given were taken from Binet-Simon, Whipple, Thurstone and other authorities. The investigation, completely described in this little volume, together with a list of the tests, and a bibliography of books used, “resulted in a somewhat detailed statement of the nature of talent in drawing and has yielded a tentative program of tests for the measurement of this talent.” (Conclusion)
MAPU, ABRAHAM. Sorrows of Noma. il *$1.50 (1½c) National bk. publishers, 200 5th av., N.Y.
20–4891
A translation, by Joseph Marymont of the Hebrew historical romance, “Ahavath Zion,” the first novel that appeared in Hebrew literature. The story, beginning with sinister treachery and deceptions, and a bitter tragedy, centers about the motive so often recurring in the great Greek narratives—that of a noble son hidden away from evil intrigues of enemies, and raised in rural simplicity as a lowly born shepherd. In this case there is also a mother falsely accused by her husband’s enemies, and a beautiful daughter. The finding of the lad Ammon by an exalted lord’s only daughter, his restoration to his birthright both of nobility and property, the vindication of his mother Noma from false accusations, the inevitable punishment of the followers of iniquity, the loves of Ammon and his sister, are interwoven with a picture of the city of Zion during the reign of Ahaz, and the austere fear of God and love of nation inextricable from any conception of the ancient Hebrew.
“The story is well told in language borrowed for the most part from the Old Testament, and the manners and customs of the Jewish people are well described.”
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Cath World 111:544 Jl ’20 60w
“As a contribution to the cause of acquainting the world with Hebraic literature, ‘Sorrows of Noma’ comes as a valuable addition. But aside from the literary and classical considerations there is still a third value to this book. The human interest of it.” Rose Karsner
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N Y Call p10 My 9 ’20 430w
MARBLE, ANNIE RUSSELL (MRS CHARLES FRANCIS MARBLE). Women who came in the Mayflower. $1.50 (13½c) Pilgrim press 974.4
20–8510
“This little book is intended as a memorial to the women who came in the Mayflower, and their comrades who came later in the Ann and the Fortune.... There is no attempt to make a genealogical study of any family. The effort is to reveal glimpses of the communal life during 1621–1623. This is supplemented by a few silhouettes of individual matrons and maidens.” (Foreword) Contents: Endurance and adventure; The voyage and landing; Communal and family life in Plymouth 1621–1623; Matrons and maidens who came in the “Mayflower”: Companions who arrived in the “Fortune” and the “Ann.” Index.
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Bib World 54:552 S ’20 200w
“A very attractive little volume. It is well worth reading.” W. A. Dyer
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Bookm 52:125 O ’20 60w
“Full of pleasant gossip about the Mayflower folks is this little volume.”
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Boston Transcript p8 Je 5 ’20 300w
N Y Times 25:5 Jl 25 ’20 180w
“Within its limits it is extremely comprehensive, and well worth reading.”
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Springf’d Republican p10 Je 2 ’20 300w
MARCH, NORAH HELENA. Towards racial health. *$2 (2c) Dutton 612.6
19–15994
A book on sex hygiene and sex instruction designed for parents, teachers and social workers. It is an English work and is brought out in America with an introduction by Dr Evangeline W. Young of Boston, in addition to the original foreword by J. Arthur Thomson of the University of Aberdeen. The subjects covered include: The physical development of the child; The mental and emotional development of the child; Care of children; Supervision—psychological aspect; Nature study in the service of sex instruction; Further aids towards understanding the biology of sex; Ethical training; Education for parenthood (two chapters); Social safeguarding. Other important matter is presented in appendices, including suggested ways of answering children’s questions. There is a bibliography of seven pages and an index.
Booklist 16:290 My ’20
“The soundness of the author’s biological background is attested by Professor J. Arthur Thomson’s commendatory foreword, while her willingness to deal with delicate practical difficulties betrays the sympathetic understanding and intimate personal knowledge of the teacher.”
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Dial 67:274 S 20 ’19 60w
“What Miss March has done is well done—her chapters are poorly named, however. The American edition would be improved if statistics from American institutions and organizations were added.” E. M. Achilles
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J Philos 17:192 Mr 25 ’20 320w
“The author exhibits a singular ignorance of the ways of real boys and girls and is to be credited with an extensive knowledge of the literature of the subject.” H. C. M.
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School R 28:159 F ’20 140w
“It is an unusually successful attempt in this difficult field.” L. B.
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Survey 43:438 Ja 17 ’20 130w
MARCHANT, JAMES, ed.[2] Control of parenthood. *$2.50 (5½c) Putnam 176
20–21358
Arguments for and against birth control are presented in this volume, to which distinguished men and women of Great Britain contribute. The Bishop of Birmingham writes the introduction. J. Arthur Thomson and Leonard Hill write of Biological aspects; Dean Inge and Harold Cox of Economic aspects; Dr Mary Scharlieb, Dr F. B. Meyer and Dr A. E. Garvie of Social and religious aspects; and Sir Rider Haggard and Dr Marie C. Stopes of Imperial and racial aspects.
MARCOSSON, ISAAC FREDERICK. Adventures in interviewing. il *$4 (4c) Lane 920
20–645
The book, the author tells us, grew out of a series of articles dealing with war-time interviewing. He believes in making a record of people and events while they are alive and when the interest in them is keenest and he has met many of the commanding figures of the day. He introduces the reader to them both by word and picture. All the most prominent contemporary journalists, statesmen, military men, novelists and actors pass review along with the history of the launching of many a popular book and touches of personal friendships with the author. The contents are: Watterson and the early days; New York and the world’s work; A great American editor; The art of interviewing; Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt; The real Lloyd George; Northcliffe, the king-maker; Haig and other British notables; Kerensky and the revolution-makers; Pershing and Wood; Foch and Clemenceau; The Wall street sphinxes; Some literary friendships; Other literary associations; The story of “The jungle”; Plays and players. There are sixty-one illustrations and an index.
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Ath p751 Je 4 ’20 120w
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Booklist 16:167 F ’20
Reviewed by A. B. Maurice
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Bookm 50:562 F ’20 1550w
“Mr Marcosson’s book is good reading for the general reader and a good text book for young writers and young newspaper men.” J. C.
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Boston Transcript p10 F 7 ’20 440w
Nation 110:559 Ap 24 ’20 260w
“This is a rarely readable volume. It is also excellently illustrated; the photographs with which its pages are generously adorned are exceedingly well reproduced, and the volume takes on value, therefore, as a popular portrait gallery.”
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N Y Times 25:26 Ja 18 ’20 1200w
“It is packed with big personalities described in a most entertaining way by a man who has a genius for interviewing and has had rare opportunities for its exercise.”
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Outlook 124:161 Ja 28 ’20 50w
“The style is already familiar to hosts of readers—popular, fluent, rapid, pointed, occasionally showing irritating haste and carelessness, yet never losing the good journalist’s knack of telling his story interestingly and vividly.” E. M. Brown
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Pub W 97:181 Ja 17 ’20 220w
“A book of many limitations. Mr Marcosson is not even an observer, he sees only the most obvious features in a man’s face and the most conspicuous qualities in his mind. Nevertheless his book is interesting. He sees little, but he sees clearly; and, again, he writes barbarously, but he writes clearly.”
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Review 2:135 F 7 ’20 360w
“Mr Marcosson seems to have been especially fortunate in his intimacies with writers.”
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R of Rs 61:333 Mr ’20 120w
“Unfortunately, Mr Marcosson has not the gift of revealing his personality in his writing, nor do any of the famous men whom he describes emerge from his pages bright and clear-limned. His book, indeed, is a pedestrian piece of work. But though its sole interest lies in the various subjects presented to the reader, that interest is substantial and well recompenses one for the momentary boredom produced by certain appallingly vapid statements.”
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Sat R 129:589 Je 26 ’20 650w
“A bright, racy and interesting account of interviews with a host of notables. From start to finish the personal pronoun ‘I’ looms up with great frequency. This detracts much from the delightfulness of the book.”
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Springf’d Republican p10 Ja 23 ’20 260w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p305 My 13 ’20 150w
MARDEN, ORISON SWETT. You can, but will you? (Marden inspirational books) *1.75 (1c) Crowell 170
20–9415
A collection of the author’s essays on right living. Among the subjects are: The new philosophy of life; The new idea of God; Facing life the right way; Winning out in middle life; How to realize your ambition; The web of fate; The open door; Do you carry victory in your face?
MARKHAM, EDWIN. Gates of paradise, and other poems. *$1.75 Doubleday 811
20–7451
This is Edwin Markham’s fourth volume of verse. It is made up of short poems arranged in eight groups: Van-couriers; At my lady’s window; Wings for the spirit; Deeper chords; Finger-posts for the highway; Echoes from the world war; Memorable men; Songs to the supernal woman. There is a frontispiece portrait of the author.
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Booklist 17:22 O ’20
“Is, at its best, rhymed moralizing: eloquent, sincere, restrained, but withal too absorbed in immediate domestic and sociological interests to touch the deepest mysteries of the heart of man.” R. M. Weaver
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Bookm 51:453 Je ’20 100w
“‘Gates of paradise’ is pleasant for its simple yet technically capable lines only. The thought contained therein is as old and hackneyed as ham and eggs for breakfast. If he is not careful the mantle of Ella Wheeler Wilcox will descend upon him.” H. S. Gorman
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N Y Times 25:18 Jl 25 ’20 150w
Reviewed by O. W. Firkins
Review 3:653 D 29 ’20 420w
MARSHALL, ARCHIBALD. Many Junes. *$2 (2c) Dodd
20–6431
Something stronger than himself had always dominated over Hugh Lelacheur even from infancy. First it was a strong-willed father that interfered with his destiny at the death of his mother. Later a too well disciplined reasonableness always triumphed over his strongest desires to make him give up what he liked best for the second best. The best things came too late and kept his life a lonely one with few high lights and many shadows. The shadow’s turn into bitterness and a hardening of the heart when on a memorable June day, given over to memory and a reliving of his past life, it comes to him that he could offer his unloved wife a measure of spiritual companionship, as the only remaining second best thing that he had so far withheld.
Booklist 16:313 Je ’20
“Reaching us twelve years after its first appearance in England. ‘Many Junes’ reveals the constant quality of Mr Marshall’s genius. It might as well have been written yesterday, as far as internal evidence discloses. To ‘Many Junes,’ therefore, we may turn for the reading of a novel in its writer’s best and most characteristic manner.” E. F. E.
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Boston Transcript p4 Ap 21 ’20 1200w
“Archibald Marshall has told the story pleasantly and neatly enough to hold one’s interest; and yet he fortunately does not make one take the book seriously enough to object to some of the incredibilities in the plot.” J. C. L.
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New Repub 22:428 My 26 ’20 220w
“Mr Marshall’s new novel is something of a departure from his customary type of fiction. This new book is in a different vein, one more serious and more sorrowful.”
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N Y Times 25:204 Ap 25 ’20 1100w
“The present novel has the same attractiveness with the exception that it lacks that pervading humor which made some of Mr Marshall’s earlier books so delightful.”
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Outlook 125:280 Je 9 ’20 240w
“‘Many Junes’ is a rambling, disjointed series or sequence of episodes in the life of an extremely disagreeable Englishman. Hugh Lelacheur is a prig, a snob, and an egotist.” H. W. Boynton
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Review 3:709 Jl 7 ’20 250w
“The characters all are vividly portrayed flesh-and-blood people. Altogether the story is admirably conceived and developed, and will afford agreeable entertainment to Mr Marshall’s readers.”
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Springf’d Republican p11a My 16 ’20 600w
MARSHALL, ARCHIBALD. Peggy in Toyland. il *$2.50 Dodd
20–18754
A story about a little English girl and her two favorite dolls, one of them made of wood, one a very handsome person known as Lady Grace. There is a teddy bear too, and one night in her dreams the three of them conduct Peggy to Toyland where she has many strange adventures.
“The illustrations have the charm of the narrative; a child would like both story and pictures.”
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Ind 104:376 D 11 ’20 50w
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Springf’d Republican p10 D 17 ’20 80w
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p836 D 9 ’20 170w
MARSHALL, ARCHIBALD. Spring walk in Provence. il *$3.50 (4½c) Dodd 914.4
20–17745
The original preface to this book is dated August, 1914, but events immediately following that date delayed its publication. In an added word the author says: “I have been over the manuscript again and made a few alterations here and there, but have altered nothing that shows it to have been written five years ago.” Among the chapter titles are: Hills and olives; Flowers and scents; In old Provence; Aix; Les baux; Mistral; Saint-Remy; Avignon; The palace of the popes; Vaucluse; Villeneuve-sur-Avignon; Arles. There are illustrations and an index.
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Booklist 17:111 D ’20
“A volume of finished excellence, written without affectation, but with due regard for the stateliness of English prose.” Margaret Ashmun
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Bookm 52:344 D ’20 80w
“Mr Marshall’s journeyings through Provence inspire us with a desire to follow his footsteps.” E. F. E.
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Boston Transcript p6 O 2 ’20 1350w
“The accompanying photographs are good.”
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N Y Evening Post p30 O 23 ’20 120w
“Mr Marshall has produced a book that is interesting and quietly entertaining, but it is not one that will add to his reputation as a writer of finished prose. The book bears the marks of hasty composition, of a haste that has resulted in an occasional slovenliness and a frequent awkwardness of expression.”
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N Y Times p18 D 26 ’20 720w
MARSHALL, EDISON. Voice of the pack. il *$1.75 (2½c) Little
20–26323
Dan Failing, the grandson of a frontiersman, has spent all his life in cities. In his twenty-ninth year he finds that he is far gone with tuberculosis and is told that he has but six months to live. He feels a yearning toward the mountain country he has never known except through his grandfather’s stories and he goes out to the Cascades. An old mountaineer who remembers the elder Failing takes him into his home, altho he cannot conceal his disappointment in this weak descendant of a mighty man. But Dan wins his host’s respect almost at once, for he is a natural born woodsman. He regains his health and later wins the love of Lennox’s daughter, a girl called Snowbird. There is much of forest and animal lore in the story.
Booklist 16:245 Ap ’20
“Again and again Mr Marshall leaves his commonplace style to indulge in some really good writing, but as often he returns to the dull monotone.”
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Boston Transcript p10 My 1 ’20 260w
“The story in the main is merely a woodsman’s idyl, rich in poetic fancy—although stern in its fidelity to the truth as that woodsman sees it—and throbbing with reverent love for nature.”
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N Y Times 25:326 Je 20 ’20 700w
“Mr Marshall’s story runs close to nature’s heart. Thru a most engrossing and intimate presentation of forest life, develops a fine love drama.” Joseph Mosher
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Pub W 97:1288 Ap 17 ’20 220w
MARSHALL, F. HENRY.[2] Discovery in Greek lands. il *$3.40 Macmillan 913.38
“Mr Marshall has written an attractive sketch of the chief results attained by excavations in Greater Greece since 1870. He treats the subject historically, starting with the age of Knossos and Mycenae, and describing under each period the main sites examined. He gives special chapters to temples, to the famous centres like Delphi and Olympia, and to isolated discoveries like the Sidon sarcophagi or the fine statues dredged up near Cerigotto in 1900–1.”—Spec
“Though so highly compressed as to be little more than a skeleton review, his narrative is not without interest. The illustrations that accompany the text add much to its value.”
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N Y Evening Post p12 D 31 ’20 160w
“He provides a useful bibliography and a number of good photographs. As an introduction to a large and fascinating subject, the book is much to be commended.”
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Spec 124:245 Ag 21 ’20 100w
MARSHALL, ROBERT. Enchanted golf clubs. il *$1 (3½c) Stokes
20–3577
At the war office he was “Major the Honourable John William Wentworth Gore, 1st Royal light hussars”; to his friends: “There goes good old Jacky Gore, the finest sportsman living!” But he despises golf. The beautiful American widow, Katherine Clendenin Gunter, with a fortune of £2,000,000 sterling, is an enthusiastic golfer. To win her he decides to play a match with a golf champion and enters into a compact with the ghost of a cardinal to use his enchanted clubs. With the ghost’s aid he wins the game, but not the lady.
“Of course what the author describes in his shallow plot could not take place, for the book is admittedly a burlesque. But as a burlesque it is too extravagant to be funny.”
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Springf’d Republican p11a Mr 7 ’20 60w
MARTIN, EDWARD SANFORD. Life of Joseph Hodges Choate. 2v il *$10 Scribner
20–21406
“The reader will promptly discover that this life of Mr Choate is not so much a biography after the manner of Plutarch as a compilation. The chief contributor, by far, is Mr Choate himself, whose writings, public and private, make up four-fifths, or more, of the book.” (Introd.) The first volume opens with Mr Choate’s own story of his boyhood and youth, a fragment of autobiography dictated by him in 1914 while convalescing from an illness. The editor says further, “I have borrowed—whenever it could be done to advantage—from newspapers, commentators, and eulogists. A series of scrap-books, kept for forty odd years and covering more or less Mr Choate’s experiences as ambassador, supplemented the long series of letters which could be drawn upon.” Volume 1 covers the period to the nineties. Volume 2 covers the years of ambassadorship to England and the period of the war, closing with a review of his life. There are interesting illustrations and an index.
“It is a difficult task to cover adequately the many-sidedness of such a man in a biography unless it is systematic and well rounded. The career of Mr Choate merits such a biography. It has not yet been written. When it is, Mr Martin’s interesting and richly filled volumes will be the biographer’s chief source book.” S. L. Cook
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Boston Transcript p6 N 20 ’20 1450w
“The two volumes are a new thing in biography. They will constitute a classic in editing.”
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N Y Times p6 N 14 ’20 1700w
“This is an ideal method of combining biography with autobiography.” R. R. Bowker
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Pub W 98:1884 D 18 ’20 300w
MARTIN, EVERETT DEAN. Behavior of crowds; a psychological study. *$2 Harper 301
20–20958
The book is somewhat of a critical enlargement on Le Bon’s “The crowd.” Its conclusions are based on the latest research in analytical psychology originated by Freud. The author holds that “as a practical problem, the habit of crowd-making is daily becoming a more serious menace to civilization. Events are making it more and more clear that, pressing as are certain economic questions, the forces which threaten society are really psychological.” (Foreword) As a remedy to this menace he suggests re-education along the lines of humanism expounded by such writers as James, Schiller, Dewey and others. Contents: The crowd and the social problem of today; How crowds are formed; The crowd and the unconscious; The egoism of the crowd-mind; The crowd a creature of hate; The absolutism of the crowd-mind; The psychology of revolutionary crowds; The fruits of revolution—new crowd-tyrannies for old; Freedom and government by crowds; Education as a possible cure for crowd-thinking; Index.
MARTIN, GEORGE (MADDEN) (MRS ATTWOOD R. MARTIN). Children in the mist. *$1.75 (3c) Appleton
20–11222
In a series of eight sketches the writer, who has lived with the negro in Mississippi, in Louisiana, in Florida, the Carolinas and Kentucky, shows him as he is, neither praising him as his over-zealous advocate, nor indulging in race hatred. It is an arraignment of the white race for keeping this primitive people so long in confusion, discouragement and ignorance. The stories cover the period from the emancipation to the present and are arranged in chronological order. The stories are: The flight; The blue handkerchief; An Inskip niggah; Pom; The sleeping sickness; Fire from heaven; Malviney; Sixty years after.
“The stories are very readable.”
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Booklist 17:72 N ’20
“The eight stories in this book are written with a commendable intention, but that intention does not after all extend beyond a limited field and a circumscribed aspect of the negro.” W. S. B.
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Boston Transcript p7 S 8 ’20 600w
“Unfortunately, while Mrs Martin writes with the authoritative manner of one who has known the black man intimately, she has, as she concedes, laid no emphasis in her tales upon negroes who have, to use her phrase, forged ahead. The result is an obvious struggle between the complacence which comes of having met coloured people as servants chiefly, and the feeling that it is inconsistent to deny them opportunity and to charge their race with the consequences.” H. J. S.
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Freeman 2:190 N 3 ’20 210w
“Mrs Martin avoids both sentiment and indignation; her tone is warm but quiet; she lets the stern implications arise in their bare and tragic force.”
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Nation 111:276 S 4 ’20 350w
“They are typical of the kind of studied work in short-story writing which carefully applies principles of preparation, suspense, contributing effect, and climax, and never achieves the dynamic impulsion and the artistic inevitability of a directly told unpremeditated tale.”
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N Y Evening Post p20 O 23 ’20 360w
“This book will prove her to have advanced in her art. Mrs Martin is too good an artist to let the purpose obtrude itself. It is there, none the less, and it gives her book a permanent value aside from its quality as fiction.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
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N Y Times p24 O 3 ’20 1550w
Outlook 125:647 Ag 11 ’20 60w
“A broad vein of humor runs through the tales, but invariably there is a serious note at the ending.”
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Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 140w
Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 80w
MARTIN, HELEN REIMENSNYDER (MRS FREDERIC C. MARTIN). Schoolmaster of Hessville. *$1.90 (3c) Doubleday
20–16342
The schoolmaster of Hessville, a Pennsylvania Dutch village, was John Wimmer, fine and strong of character but with the cravings of youth in his young body. It was flesh calling to flesh that made him love Irene, the glowing beauty with the coarse instincts. She played cat and mouse with him and her wiles were finally responsible for John’s marriage to Minnie, Irene’s opposite. Minnie’s winsomeness never quite compensated John for Irene’s more sensuous charms and when a cruel accident deprives Minnie of her reason leaving John with two motherless children on his hands, the now, on her part, widowed Irene, offers her services as housekeeper and becomes John’s mistress. He has fallen an easy prey but in time his eyes are opened, and when a successful operation restores Minnie to him he blesses her breadth of view that can condone his lapse.
“Not alone are the main characters well drawn, even the most minor minion is unforgettably sketched. The author has studied children and has thoroughly expressed her understanding of them.”
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N Y Times p27 S 12 ’20 240w
MARTIN, MABEL WOOD. Green god’s pavilion. *$1.90 (1½c) Stokes
20–14601
This novel of the Philippines shows in almost lurid colors the irreconcilable difference between the East and the West. It is symbolized in the figures of two women, one, Julie, an American of a fair and spiritual beauty who goes out to Manila as a teacher and with the spirit of a crusader. The other, a native woman, Isabel, the “Empress of the East,” with the fierce passion of life that stops not at evil. It is a tragic story of how the East breaks all who come to her with the best of intentions of uplift and improvement, except they miraculously rise from the dead for a second birth. It broke Julie and left her for dead among the plague stricken huts of the natives. It broke Barry McChord, the man with the “Excelsior” face, who fell a victim to the plague after his high hopes were gone. But something selfless in both finally triumphs over all self-deceptions, even over death. Much philosophizing and much gruesome realism are a part of the story.
“Smoothly written and vivid tale of love and faith and hardship.”
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Bookm 52:174 O ’20 220w
“From its opening chapter, the reader’s interest is caught and held. Amy Lowell, herself, has done no more vivid color bits than this author has introduced in descriptions of Manila. Aside from the brilliancy of the local setting, she has woven a tale of exceeding interest and charm, and super-excellent quality in novels of today, its ‘third act’ is most engrossing.” C. K. H.
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Boston Transcript p4 S 4 ’20 540w
“‘The green god’s pavilion’ may hardly be termed an extraordinary novel, for it is built too obviously for thrill purposes, but it displays an intimate knowledge of conditions in the Philippines and presents with frequency pictures of native life that are vivid and finely written.”
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N Y Times p10 O 10 ’20 600w
MARTYN, WYNDHAM. Secret of the silver car. *$1.75 Moffat
20–5579
Another book of the adventures of Anthony Trent, master criminal. In an indiscreet moment while they were shut in a caved-in dugout in Flanders, expecting death at any moment, Trent had told the story of his life to his unknown and unseen companion. Both escape and with the war over, he sets himself to find this unknown “William Smith” who knows too much about him for his own safety. He meets “William Smith’s” sister, falls in love with her and for her sake resolves to give up his brilliant criminal career. In her service he goes out to the Balkans, becomes involved in international intrigue, has many hairbreadth escapes, but secures the papers that mean so much to Lady Daphne’s father and is rewarded with her hand.
Boston Transcript p6 Jl 3 ’20 300w
“Nor is this book mere swashbuckling. It is written always adroitly, sometimes humorously, and with the zest of the author’s own enjoyment.”
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N Y Evening Post p20 Ap 24 ’20 200w
Reviewed by M. K. Reely
Pub W 97:996 Mr 20 ’20 320w
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Springf’d Republican p11a My 16 ’20 200w
MARVIN, FRANCIS SYDNEY, ed. Recent developments in European thought. *$6.25 Oxford 901
20–17403
“This volume, which is a sequel to ‘The unity of western civilization’ (1915) and ‘Progress’ (1916), is, like them, the fruit of a course of lectures given at a summer school at Woodbrooke, Birmingham. The addresses composing it were given in August, 1919, and it traces the idea of progress in European history since 1870. Among the contributors, besides the editor, are Mr A. E. Taylor, who writes on ‘Philosophy,’ Dr F. B. Jevons, who writes on ‘Religion,’ Mr A. D. Lindsay, of Balliol, whose subject is ‘Political theory,’ and Mr A. Clutton Brock, who discusses ‘Art.’ Each article is followed by a bibliographical note as a guide to further reading.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup N 11 ’20
Ath p509 Ap 16 ’20 1400w
“In spite of the difficulties of handling the vast intricate masses of still fluid material, the contributors have given readable and yet valuable summaries of the progress of thought. For the beginner, there could be no better introduction to the essential contributions of man’s recent achievement.” M. J.
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Int J Ethics 31:114 O ’20 460w
“Naturally, the essays by different authors vary in value. The least satisfactory is the first, on philosophy.... The most brilliant essays are those dealing with the fields of thought most intensively cultivated by the last generation.... Compared with the treatment accorded history, the studies here offered of political theory and of economic progress are slightly disappointing.... Taken as a whole, the cumulative impression of these various lectures is greater than that of any one taken separately.” Preserved Smith
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Nation 111:379 O 6 ’20 1000w
“The personality of each of the twelve writers is given full expression. It makes the diversity more interesting than the unity.” H. W. C.
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Nature 105:607 Jl 15 ’20 500w
“The aim of the writers is to trace the progress and acquisitions of thought and give a general picture of the results obtained by modern knowledge; and they have succeeded in producing essays that are of a high quality and also thoroughly readable.”
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The Times [London] Lit Sup p247 Ap 22 ’20 2450w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p742 N 11 ’20 110w
MARX, MAGDELEINE. Woman; tr. by Adele Szold Seltzer. *$1.90 (6c) Seltzer
20–11894
A translation of a novel that is said to have created a sensation in France. It is a record of emotional moments. The characters have no names, no appearances. They are only personalities. The “woman” of the story loves and marries and bears a child. While still loving her husband she takes a lover and then loses both husband and lover in the war. Out of these experiences she emerges invincible, with an undimmed capacity for life and an indomitable will to live. Henri Barbusse says in his introduction, “In no other book perhaps so markedly as in this has the integrity of an individual been more respected, and never has an imaginary character so consistently warded off whatever is not of itself. You don’t even seem to feel that this ‘woman’ talks or tells a story. You simply know what she knows.”
Reviewed by Theodore Maynard
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Bookm 52:75 S ’20 700w
Dial 69:433 O ’20 70w
“To those in search of a well-written book, not to mention a contribution to real literature, Magdeleine Marx has nothing whatever to offer. The style is wordy, pretentious and empty, a disjointed collection of hollow phrases embodying all the platitudes of the so-called revolt of woman.” E. A. Boyd
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Freeman 2:43 S 22 ’20 960w
Ind 104:64 O 9 ’20 500w
“The story is frank and sincere and full of isolated perceptions that are both searching and beautiful. But it is also thin and scrappy and disjointed, and the complete shadowiness of all the characters robs its theories of the inner energy of a human content. In a word, Madame Marx has felt very deeply and reflected intensely, and those who agreed with her passionately have taken it for granted that she has written a great book. But that is taking for granted far too much.” Ludwig Lewisohn