“Granting that all the facts are so stated by Mr Barren, that he is not far out of the way in his deductions, and that his little book is worthy of attention, he but touches the surface of the Mexican problem as it exists to-day.”
“Mr Barron writes himself down as 100 per cent plutocratic, and even Prussian in his outlook upon life. ... Mexico is a great country. Mr Barron looks at it only as a means of getting oil for American and foreign capitalism. Mexico has been in disorder for years. He wants tranquility. And he has written this book as a means of arousing American public opinion to consent to intervention in the unhappy nation to the south.” W: M. Feigenbaum
“Mr Talcott Williams’s preface is only some twenty-five pages in length, but it compacts the thought and experience of a lifetime by a man with peculiar opportunities for a just judgment upon conditions like Mexico’s. ... Both Mr Barron and Mr Williams draw an attractive picture of the Mexican people.”
“Supplies fresh and valuable information on the petroleum industry in the Tampico-Tuxpan oil fields.”
“This book supplies fresh and valuable information concerning one major economic interest in Mexico—petroleum. But quite outside its purview lie four others—agriculture, mines, rubber, henequen. It surveys with some degree of intimacy five to ten thousand square miles of territory. Mexico has over 750,000. No reader of the volume can afford to forget these limitations. Within them it is an excellent piece of work. ... Mr Barron is sympathetic in his attitude toward the Mexican people ... but rather sharp with the Mexican government. He is also impatient with Washington.” G. B. Winton
BARROW, GEORGE ALEXANDER.Validity of the religious experience.*$1.50 (2c) Sherman, French & co. 201 17-13311
As a preliminary study in the philosophy of religion, the author makes an examination of religious experience. He accepts religious experience as a fact, as something which happens. He says, “In raising the question of validity, whatever we may mean, we do not mean to question the fact of its existence orwhat its existence includes. We do not ask whether any given case of religion is or is not a true religious experience. We are concerned only with the form of the religious experience and the questions we ask are questions of possibility and of implication. Our analysis is therefore to be an analysis of concepts.” The book consists of seven lectures delivered originally at Harvard university. Contents: The problem of a philosophy of religion; Religion real and unique; The source of religion; The test of religion; Human and superhuman; Personality; A foundation for theology.
“His work will satisfy the scholar, but it is too ponderous and heavy for the average reader. If his thesis could be set forth in half the words andin more popular style it would insure itself of wider reading.” G. F.
“The effort, unusual in these days, to determine the real by analysis of the mere form of experience, produces here, as it has so often done, abstractness of treatment and dryness of style.” G: A. Coe
BARRY, WILLIAM FRANCIS.World’s debate; an historical defence of the Allies.*$1.25 Doran 940.9
“The peace of Westphalia, the execution of Charles I, Washington, Napoleon, the Vatican council, not to speak of the real protagonists, Bismarck and the German emperor, the Boer war, Queen Victoria, and President Wilson all contribute to Dr Barry’s picture of ‘The world’s debate,’ which we need not say is the debate between civilization and kultur, between the Catholic Christian ideal of France and England and the heathenism of Prussia.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) The author says, “‘Autocracy in its assault on democracy was my subject; but my hope was to prove by facts and history two things: first that absolute power is doomed ... and, in the second place, that democracy and Christianity ought to recognize each other as by origin and spirit of the same nature.’” (The Times [London] Lit Sup Ag 23 ‘17)
“The whole method of handling bears the stamp of originality. When the historian combines with scientific exactness the imagination of the poet and the vision of the preacher he holds a powerful weapon with which to drive home truth.” A. M.
“Dr Barry is a pleasant guide; often rambling and discursive, with no very deep display of learning, he gives us his interpretations of the moral of modern history, and from time to time illustrates his story by the personal reminiscences which make the book resemble a pleasant conversation.”
BARTLETT, FREDERICK ORIN.Triflers.il*$1.40 (2c) Houghton 17-10201
A man and a woman, Americans, who meet by chance in Paris, decide in a most commonsense and business-like way to marry. They have known one another for ten years altho they have seen little of one another. The serious responsibilities of marriage are distasteful to both of them, but the marriage they agree upon is to have no responsibilities. Marjory, for her part, desires freedom. The working out of the experiment is the theme of the story. Their meeting with an old lover of Marjory’s induces the two triflers to look at life seriously. By this time too they have fallen deeply in love with one another.
“Brightly written and entertaining in its way.”
“Having begun with an arbitrary and improbable, if not impossible, situation, the author is at some pains to motivate fully the rest of his tale. He has succeeded in tracing real character development, and has subordinated circumstances to it in a large measure.” R. W.
“Mr Bartlett has so much skill and charm, his style is so clear and pleasing that some day he will surely write a less trifling book.”
“A somewhat improbable romance. ... The book is hardly on the level with Mr Bartlett’s ‘Wall street girl,’ which was notably original and true to life.”
“The reader is not denied a happy ending, but the suspension of interest coincides with the interjection of the false note.”
BARTLEY, MRS NALBRO ISADORAH.Paradise auction. il*$1.50 (1c) Small 17-23973
The influence of one gracious and beautiful woman on the lives of four young people is the central theme of this story. “Darly,” so called from her son’s childish name for her, had been a famous English actress in her youth, but she had given up the stage and had come to a small American city in order to give her child a simple and wholesome bringing up. His playmates from childhood, Paul and Natalie Kail and Molly Brene look up to Darly asJack himself does. Paul and Molly marry early but Natalie, who loves Jack, and Darly, his mother, suffer together the pain of seeing him marry a shallow, flippant little parasite who is destined to make marriage a mockery. It seems for a time that the mother’s life of sacrifice has been in vain; but it has not, and not only Jack, but the others as well, find, even after her death, that their destinies are shaped by her ideals.
“We follow the separate destinies with an interest which does not wane through a long story.”
“It is a rather futile and exhausted subject, handled in a manner that is skilful, though lamentably typical of modern magazine fiction.”
“Though the novel is much too long, it holds the reader’s interest fairly well. The people are real with a possible exception of the somewhat too remarkable and admirable Darly.”
“The characters move without artificial stimulus. This is particularly true in the cases of the actress-mother and the son’s parasitic wife. The dialog is spontaneous.”
BARTON, BRUCE.More power to you.*$1 (2½c) Century 170 17-23552
Fifty editorials from Every Week which are really sermonettes. They are tiny doses of American idealism offered to business men who are in danger of sacrificing home life, friends, books, even dreams on the altar of business success. The writer shows that many a man has, as a by-product of his building, strengthened the character and lifted the ideals of hundreds of his associates, and helped in the regeneration of entire communities. There is some good advice concerning how to achieve that by-product.
“Mr Barton has the honest American respect for material ‘progress’ and business ‘success.’ But he is not sentimental on the one hand or materialistic on the other. ... ‘More power to you’ is a stimulating, vigorous, wholesome little book.”
“It is a little book that bids us stop for a moment and examine our rushing world. It is a book of simple aphorisms phrased so cleverly that the advice is often concealed for the moment by the sugar coating.”
BARTON, GEORGE AARON.Religions of the world. (Handbooks of ethics and religion)*$1.50 Univ. of Chicago press 209 17-20653
The author is professor of biblical literature and Semitic languages in Bryn Mawr college, Pennsylvania. The book “opens with an outline of primitive religions, and then, having stated the main elements of religion in Babylon and Egypt, goes on to deal with the religion of the ancient Hebrews, Judaism, and Mahommedanism. The next section of the book is concerned with Zoroastrianism, from which it passes to the religions of India, China, and Japan. Chapters on the religions of Greece and Rome follow, and the book closes with a section on Christianity.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) “At the close of each chapter supplementary readings are given. These are divided into two classes, one for extended work, and one for those who have but a limited time to give to the subject. At the end of the volume there are lists of books on special subjects for the teacher, topics for study, and an ‘outline of a book to be written by the student.’ There is a good index.” (Boston Transcript)
“The volume is meant to be a textbook, and as such it is admirable.”
“His work is colored throughout by the conviction of the Protestants that man is saved by faith alone; his book is little more than a summary of the views which various peoples have entertained in regard to God, the soul, immortality, and so on.”
“An admirable text-book for the study of comparative religions. Without being controversial it is animated throughout by the characteristic spirit which recognizes that pagan religions are the product of the soul’s quest after God.”
“A terse, well-written text-book packed with the facts concerning the great religions of the world.”
“Valuable to all who want a concise and accurate survey of the ideals and growths of the religious systems of the world. ... The book fills a real need in the popular religious literature of the day.”
BARTON, GEORGE EDWARD.Re-education.*$1 (7c) Houghton 362 17-31277
A fearless analysis of the institutional system of the United States by a business man and for business men. The writer believes that there are some fundamental weaknesses or fallacies in our present system of dealing with education, sin, insanity and disease. He bases objections to the existing institutional system on the failure to do more than prevent, during the period of incarceration, the act of which the prisoner or patient has been guilty. He would build up a system of re-education which would make producers of inmates of institutions with an increase of efficiency. The thought underlying the inquiry and arraignment emanates from the best social theory of the day.
BASHFORD, HENRY HOWARTH.Songs out of school. (New poetry ser.)*75c Houghton 821
There is a note of quiet happiness in this small book of poems. Even “The vision of spring, 1916,” the one piece in the book that touches on the world tragedy, speaks with the voice of hope. Other poems are, The high road, Little April, Litany in spring, Lullabies at Bethlehem, Cradle songs, River songs.
“A small collection of verses, most of which appeared in the Spectator, the Nation, the Outlook, and Country Life.”
“There are serious and elegant poems which comport themselves becomingly, but the zest of the book lies in the pattering and twittering verses which in five or six instances overleap that elusive but difficult barrier that divides mere attractiveness from authentic charm.” O. W. Firkins
“The difference between a minor and a sub-minor poet is something to be felt rather than explained, yet there is a definite line between. ... Mr Jeffers is a conventional minor poet; Mr Arensberg is an unconventional one; we catch, out of the corner of our eye, a glint of wings, spite of the manifest failures of each. Mr Bashford, on the other hand, without a failure to his credit, is distinctly a sub-minor. ... The trouble with his verses is that they lack something vital, a distinctiveness, a tang, the scent of personality.”
BASSETT, JOHN SPENCER.Middle group of American historians.*$2 (2½c) Macmillan 928 17-2031
The “middle period” of which the author writes is not exactly defined. Its beginning is placed at some time following the close of the War of 1812, its ending at the time when the scientific spirit gained dominance over the patriotic school of historical writing. 1884, the year of the founding of the American historical association, is suggested as the closing date of the period. The author’s purpose is to treat of the men who were writing history during this time, Jared Sparks, George Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, and Peter Force. There is an introductory chapter on Early progress of history in the United States, and a concluding chapter on The historians and their publishers.
“His chapters on Sparks and Bancroft make the largest contribution of fresh material, for many unpublished passages are drawn from the Sparks manuscripts in the Harvard college library, and still more from the Bancroft manuscripts in the keeping of the Massachusetts historical society.” M. A. DeW. Howe
“A distinguishing characteristic of the work is that it has to do with historians rather than with history: the author is far more interested in the men themselves and in their activities than he is in the books they wrote. ... The book is itself a piece of careful research rather than a contribution to historical criticism or the history of ideas; and taken for what it is, it will be found, by professional historians at least, and one would think by a rather wide reading public as well, a very useful book and an extremely interesting one.” Carl Becker
“The book is eminently readable and is valuable for its appreciation, sympathetic and yet critical, of the men who made this middle period a golden age of historical writing in the United States.”
“Offered as the understudy of a more elaborate work which the author hopes to produce if the future favors.”
BASSETT, LEE EMERSON.Handbook of oral reading.*$1.60 Houghton 808.5 17-2347
“This book is the outgrowth of several years of classroom instruction and practice based on the theory that effective oral expression is the result of clear thinking.” (Preface) The first of the three parts into which the book is divided is devoted to the problem of thought-getting and to the modulations of the voice that serve to make meaning clear to others. Part 2 is devoted to the problem of the imaginative and emotional response to thought. The technical problems of tone production are treated in part 3. The book is well supplied with illustrative material. The author is associate professor of English at Leland Stanford Junior university.
“Sensible ideas, well expressed. Everts’ ‘The speaking voice’ (A L A Catalog 1904-1911) will be sufficient in the average library.”
“Good selections, a clear statement of principles, and a full outline for teachers.”
“The high-school teacher of public speaking will be interested in this book, which sets forth very forcibly the principles of natural oral expression. ... The book might be more attractive to the high-school student if more of the selections were from contemporary literature.” E. F. Geyer and R. L. Lyman
BASSETT, SARA WARE.Story of sugar.il*75c (2½c) Penn 17-16751
Uniform with the stories of cotton, gold and silver, lumber, wool, iron, leather and glass. It is written for boys and girls from seven to twelve and has a thread of plot upon which hang bits of true information about the history and manufacture of sugar. A real sugaring-off in the maple woods, a visit to a sugar refinery, and another to a candy factory are narrated with emphasis on the processes that children can readily grasp. The sport and adventure intermingled are wholesome, the sort that live boys and girls have a big appetite for.
BASSETT, SARA WARE.Wayfarers at the Angel’s.*$1.25 (3½c) Doran 17-28601
This is another Cape Cod story by the author of “The taming of Zenas Henry.” A wooden angel, long ago a ship’s figurehead, guards the door of the “straggling house on the bluff, half buried in vines and flowers,” which is the home of three bachelors; John Bartlett, retired captain of the life-saving station; Timothy Talbot, with his Civil war relics and his seven pairs of shoes, which he wears in unvarying rotation, and David Furber, the happy-go-lucky sailor lad whom the life-savers have rescued from a foundering barque, and who after being wrecked twelve times, has now elected to stay ashore. Into this household comes Ann, who is “better’n a trained nurse, she’s a born one,” to nurse David through a fever, and life becomes a different thing to all three men. It also changes greatly for Ann, whom one of the three persuades to stay with him always as “angel of the grey house—a sight better one than that wooden image over the door.”
“The little tale is slight, but rather pleasant. There are some amusing bits, and only one disagreeable character in the book, all the rest being virtuous to a degree.”
“Sara Ware Bassett writes another buoyant ‘Cape’ story which nowise infringes upon the rights and prerogatives of Mr Lincoln.”
BASSETT, WILBUR.[2]Wander-ships; folk-stories of the sea, with notes upon their origin.*$1.50 Open ct. 398.2 17-27992
“The book under the above title—‘Wander-ships’—is a small collection of some of the stories about wonderful and strange ships that have been reported as sailing the seas, from and to no port or haven. ... To further emphasize the stories, for the benefit of the student of such literature, copious notes on the various tales are appended. ... The volume is something of an encyclopædia on the subject of ghostly craft and vessels, the origin and voyages of which are lost in the shades of earliest tradition.”—Boston Transcript
“The several tales are interesting, whether the reader is or is not familiar with such ‘yarns,’ and the volume is a distinct contribution to the literature of the sea.”
“The work is a very unusual one, but will be a source of delight to those who love to dig down into fundamentals, for even if the superstitions of past ages are taken as the subject, the work is in itself essentially a scientific one.” J. W.
BATCHELDER, ROGER.Watching and waiting on the border. il*$1.25 (3c) Houghton 355.7 17-13927
The author writes of his experience on the Mexican border with one of the Massachusetts regiments of the National guard. His first purpose is to answer the many questions asked him since his return: “Was it hot down there?” “What are the Mexicans like?” and so on. His second is “to show, by narrating the story of the mobilization and the subsequent service of the National guard, how pitifully incompetent and unprepared it was and is, to form the reserve military force of the United States.” The book has an introduction by E. Alexander Powell.
“While Private Batchelder is frankly outspoken in discussing these questions, he writes with the good sense and judgment born of experience. As a record of personal service in what may fairly be termed a hard country physically, his book is well worth reading by every recruit as a helpful guide to his duty and conduct.”
“To those interested in military life with just a dash of adventure thrown in there is an especial appeal in ‘Watching and waiting on the border.’”
BAYLEY, WILLIAM SHIRLEY.[2]Descriptive mineralogy. il*$3.50 Appleton 549 17-21365
This work, prepared as a textbook for students, is designed to give “a comprehensive view of modern mineralogy rather than a detailed knowledge of many minerals.” The author says, “It does not pretend to furnish a complete discussion of the mineral kingdom, nor a means of determining the nature of any mineral that may be met with. The chapters devoted to the process of determinative mineralogy are brief, and the familiar ‘key to the determination of species’ is omitted. In place of the latter is a simple guide to the descriptions of minerals to be found in the body of the text.” The three parts of the book are devoted to: General chemical mineralogy; Descriptive mineralogy, and Determinative mineralogy. Lists of minerals are given in appendixes; also a list of references. Hintze’s “Handbuch der mineralogie” has been drawn on for matter in the text, and “Mineral resources of the United States” has been used as a basis for the statistics. The author is professor of geology in the University of Illinois.
BAYLISS, WILLIAM MADDOCK.Physiology of food and economy in diet.*65c Longmans 613.2 Agr17-520
“‘The physiology of food and economy in diet’ is a rather academic manual which has arisen, Professor Bayliss tells us, from a course of lectures given at University college, London, in November, 1916. ... After a brief résumé of the problem as a whole, Professor Bayliss studies the uses of food, the classes of foodstuffs, the question of quantity, accessory factors, digestibility, alcohol, vegetarianism, exercise, the value of cooking, characteristics of certain articles of diet, and possibilities of economy. As a general summary of his directions, he concludes with the aphorism, ‘Take care of the calories and the protein will take care of itself.’”—N Y Times
“The American reader will perhaps turn with especial interest to the study of the work of the Commission for relief in Belgium as an example of good food ministration and control.”
“In a hundred pages he presents in clear, concise and fascinating language the fundamental principles of nutrition. Bayliss, though noted for his work on the secretory glands and not recognized as an expert on nutrition, has nevertheless written with the appreciative touch characteristic of the master mind.” Graham Lusk
Bayonet training manual used by the British forces. (Van Nostrand’s military manuals) il*30c Van Nostrand 355
This pocket manual is a reprint of material which appeared in the Infantry Journal for May, 1917. The copyright is held by the United States Infantry association. The preface states that the instructions are from the latest British training manual (1916), and that they are based on experience in accordance with which the forces are now being trained.
BEACH, HARLAN PAGE.Renaissant Latin America. il $1 (2c) Missionary educ. movement 266 16-22287
“An outline and interpretation of the Congress on Christian work in Latin America, held at Panama, February 10-19, 1916.” The author has prepared a condensed account of the congress, quoting as largely as was consistent with his purpose from speeches and reports. Contents: The story of the Congress; Re-discovering Latin America; Interpretation, message, method; Latin Americans and education; Leaves for the healing of nations; The upbuilding of womanhood; The Latin evangelical churches; The home fulcrum; Unity’s fraternal program; Congressional addresses; Aftermath and estimates.
“The volume is interesting from beginning to end and for the busy reader meets an urgent need.” J. W. M.
“Much suggestive and stirring material is contained in this condensed review of Christian work.”
“The exchange of ideas was noteworthy as delegates were present from nearly all over the world, and from these workers Dr Beach has collected a most interesting fund of facts.”
“While the enthusiasm of the author for the South Americans carries him perhaps a little too far, yet the book is well worth reading.”
BEACH, REX ELLINGWOOD.Laughing Bill Hyde, and other stories.il*$1.35 (1c) Harper 17-30123
The title story is a tale of Alaska, so is the one following, “The north wind’s malice.” Among the others, several are stories of business, one is a newspaper story. Some of the titles are: His stock in trade; With bridges burned; With interest to date; The cub reporter; Out of the night; The real and the make-believe; Running Elk; The moon, the maid, and the winged shoes; Flesh. The book is printed without table of contents.
“He excels in one kind of fiction which is purely American: the business story.”
“There is nothing particularly original or striking in any of these tales, but many of them will no doubt furnish amusement for an idle hour. They are written in Mr Beach’s well-known and rather agreeable style.”
BEALS, MRS KATHARINE (MCMILLAN).Flower lore and legend.*$1.25 Holt 716.2 17-23777
The author has brought together a store of miscellaneous information—myth, legend, and fancy, with quotations from poetry,—connected with thirty-five of our common flowers. Chaptersare given to the snowdrop, arbutus, crocus, narcissus, dandelion, violet, pansy, mignonette, buttercup, etc.
BEAN, C. E. W.Letters from France.il*5s Cassell & co., London 940.91
“Mr Bean, war correspondent for the Commonwealth of Australia, has not attempted to narrate the full story of the Australian imperial force, but gives graphic accounts of the first impressions of some of the Australians in France, of their life in the trenches and in billets, of the share of the Australians in the Somme advance and in the fighting at Pozières, and of their bravery at Mouquet Farm.”—Ath
“The simple, easy style of these letters shows us clearly what the Australians have done in France.”
“It is a wonderful story, and it is told with great spirit. Mr Bean warns his readers that the Australian troops hate to be called ‘Anzacs,’ just as they hate being called ‘Colonials.’”
BEARD, FREDERICA, comp. Prayers for use in home, school and Sunday school.*60c Doran 248 17-24844
The author has assembled a number of prayers for children and young people. In those for little people she appeals to the child’s natural love of rhythm and repetition. Those for older boys and girls are drawn from many sources and are characterized by a spirit of reverence. They are arranged in four groups: Prayers for little children; Prayers for boys and girls; Prayers for young people; For use on special occasions.
“A beautiful collection.”
“Tho not many are adapted to use in public schools, in private schools, in the home and Sunday school, they would provide splendid suggestive training.”
BEAUFORT, J. M. DE.Behind the German veil; a record of a journalistic war pilgrimage. il*$2 (2c) Dodd 940.91 17-14977
Before going to Germany in 1914 as the representative of a London newspaper, the author had spent three years in journalistic work in New York, and he acknowledges a debt of gratitude to his American training. He is a Hollander by birth and parentage and as a boy was sent to school in Germany. His sympathies, even before starting on his mission to Germany, were strongly pro-Ally. He says, “I started on my mission and entered Germany with as far as possible an open mind. I could not honestly say at that time that I hated the Germans; I merely had no use for them.” All his experiences within the German empire intensified his feeling. The book consists of four parts: General impressions; My trip to the eastern front and visit to Hindenburg; An incognito visit to the fleet and Germany’s naval harbours; Interviews.
“He relates his experiences and impressions in journalistic and entertaining fashion.”
“The style in which the book is written is not attractive, but the matter is undeniably of interest.”
“The material is interesting but the writer dilates rather too freely on his own shrewdness and ‘nerve.’”
“If there is anything ‘Behind the German veil’ which is particularly worth disclosing, it has not been revealed by J. M. de Beaufort.”
“Offers some of the most interesting firsthand accounts that have come out of Germany. ... Mr de Beaufort writes vivaciously, although somewhat garrulously, and his book is full of interesting matter of much importance for Americans if they would understand the German spirit. He was in Europe as the correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph.”
BEAVERBROOK, WILLIAM MAXWELL AITKEN, 1st baron.Canada in Flanders. maps*1s 3d Hodder & Stoughton, London 940.91
The second volume of the official story of the Canadian expeditionary force covers the period between September, 1915, and July, 1916. For an account of the first volume consult the Digest annual, 1916, under Aitken, Sir William Maxwell—the name of Lord Beaverbrook before he was raised to the peerage.
“The descriptions of the dash and vigour of the Canadian troops are graphic and inspiring.”
“Lord Beaverbrook’s second volume concerning the Canadians, which is written by him as the Canadian ‘Eyewitness,’ contains a most readable and workmanlike account of the long and bitter struggles first at St Eloi and then at Hooge, in the Ypres Salient, which ended a fortnight before the battle of the Somme began.”
“It is difficult to conceive of anything more likely to stimulate zeal and efficiency than volumes of this kind. The general public cannot master an official dispatch, so long after the event, without considerable explanatory notes and plans. The whole scheme of the volumes at present issued is to present a coherent account of an action as a whole, and at the same time to signalize individual acts of gallantry.”
BECHHOFER, C. E., ed. Russian anthology in English.*$1.50 Dutton 891.7 A17-1637
“Translated extracts in verse and prose from twenty-five authors (of whom only one, Volynsky, is new to English readers), with some ballads and folk songs.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“This collection of extracts from Russian verse, drama, and prose is too fragmentary to be satisfying. In some of the examples, such as the excerpt from ‘The idiot’ by Dostoevsky, the absence of context makes for obscurity and a sense of incompleteness. Other examples are enjoyable, such as Gogol’s idyllic ‘Old-world gentle-folk,’ ‘The death of Ivan’ by Alexis Tolstoy, Pushkin’s poem ‘The three sisters,’ Leo Tolstoy’s thoughtful criticism of Maupassant, and the slyly humorous sketch by Chekhov, ‘A work of art.’ Many prominent modern Russian authors are represented, though we miss the names of Gorky, Grigorovitch, Artsibashev, and Sologub.”
BECKLEY, ZOË, and GOLLOMB, JOSEPH, comps. Songs for courage.*$1 Barse & Hopkins 821.08 17-15993
Courage is one of “the subjects made prominent by the war” to which librarians are officially advised to give special attention in book selection. In this collection of over 100 titles we find the old favorites, such as Henley’s “Invictus,” Sill’s “Opportunity,” Matthew Arnold’s “Self-dependence,” together with the work of more recent writers.
“Many old favorites are here. ... There are also many unworthy verses. The inferior verse far outranks the worthy. And it is surprising to note how many of the poems of revolutionary courage are missing.” Clement Wood
BEECROFT, WILLEY INGRAHAM, comp. Who’s who among the wild flowers and ferns. new and combined ed il*$1.50 Moffat 582 A17-406
“The outstanding feature of the work and the one which commends it to the ordinary student, is that a person need not be a botanist to use Mr Beecroft’s guide.” (Springf’d Republican) “The flowers are classified by colors, as in most volumes of the kind, and under, the name of each flower ample description is detailed for identification. There are blank pages for notes.” (Boston Transcript)
“The inclusiveness of ‘Who’s who among the wild flowers and ferns’ will rightly make it a popular guide.”
“While scientific and accurate, it is entirely untechnical.”
BEER, GEORGE LOUIS.English-speaking peoples; their future relations and joint international obligations. 2d ed*$1.50 (2c) Macmillan 327.73 17-17291
Mr Beer was formerly lecturer in European history at Columbia university, and is the author of “The old colonial system, 1660-1754,” etc. He recalls in his preface Admiral Mahan’s essay of 1894 entitled “Possibilities of an Anglo-American re-union,” and goes on to say: “What in 1894 was unripe and academic, has today become urgent and practical.” A series of notes is appended which furnish a running bibliography to easily accessible and non-technical literature. Some of the material in the book appeared originally in the Political Quarterly, New Republic, and elsewhere.
“Valuable as the author’s opinions are, it is no discourtesy to him to say that the facts, figures, and references appended to the book in some forty pages of ‘Notes’ are in some respects even more valuable; for facts on these contentious subjects are often ignored and sometimes very difficult to get at, and Mr Beer has a genius for relevant documentation.”
“Mr Beer’s argument is logical and forceful. He has scrupulous regard for the facts of history and economics; his views are the outcome of a lifetime of study of British imperial and colonial affairs and of international politics. Many, perhaps most, of his readers will shrink from his conclusions. But no one will be justified in withholding from this book the tribute of candid and thoughtful consideration.” F: A. Ogg
Reviewed by Sinclair Kennedy
“The valuable references and notes are sure to be of immediate help to every thoughtful reader interested in this absorbing and timely question.”
“The volume is easily one of the most weighty pieces of writing about the war that has yet appeared in this country, and should be widely read.”
“A factor of the first importance in the molding of public opinion in this country. ... In three remarkably thoughtful concluding chapters Mr Beer discusses the predominant factors in the unity of English-speaking peoples, the economic possibilities in co-operation, and the community of Anglo-American policy toward China and Latin America. The chapter on the growing economic interdependence of the world is, in particular, closely reasoned.”
“Without necessarily giving full credence to ideas that are indeed but tentatively advanced, one may affirm that ‘The English-speaking peoples’ is a statesmanlike book. In its grasp of the ends to be wished for, in its perception of present realities, and in the caution of its conclusions, Mr Beer’s book differs essentially and completely both from those forecasts of the future which are more or less frankly utopian and from the desperately opportunistic proposals which the present world-crisis has called forth from certain would-be practical idealists. Although his style is of the plainest (in both senses of the word), the author possesses an unusual power of extracting fundamental truths from a great mass of conflicting facts. ... The book will prove valuable for its broad and illuminating criticisms of such general ideas as that of nationality, and of such programmes or proposals as pan-Americanism and the League to enforce peace.”
“He states his arguments cogently, but without heat, and fortifies every position he takes up with a full reference to facts and authorities. We regret only that in the effort to be at once condensed and accurate he has allowed his style to become, at times, so abstruse and technical as to prevent his volume from appealing to the widest possible public.”
“We are bound to demur to his too facile assumption of the abandonment of free trade by Great Britain.” R: Roberts
“It is one of the best, most original, and judicious attempts to construct out of the political anarchy of these times new organizations. ... Mr Beer modestly describes his book as a livre de circonstance dealing with an unpredictable future. It is in reality a valuable addition to political science. ... This book, with its earnest appeal for support to a permanent, loosely knit association between Great Britain and the United States, is to be welcomed by every one who has at heart the ideals which these two countries represent.”
“The book is the work of a scholar, and it is, as scholars say, thoroughly documented. But it is not primarily addressed to scholars, and it is not a dry-as-dust performance. It is addressed to thinking people who are ready to consider seriously and with care the duty of the nation in this great crisis, and it abounds with fresh suggestions and arguments which are bound to excite interest and open new channels of thought.” G. B. Adams