“A brilliant piece of historical writing, particularly significant to students of American history.”
“An elaborate and profound (the criticism might be made that there is a little bit too much of it!) historical work based on the Danish royal archives. ... Not the least interesting part of the book is the chapter devoted to the unsuccessful attempts by Prussians to colonize in the West Indies under the auspices of the grand elector of Brandenburg.”
“It is very fortunate that Professor Westergaard has been able to place in the hands of the public an exhaustive and authoritative history of these islands from the beginning to the day of their transfer. His work is written in a clear and vigorous style, and is a valuable contribution to American historical literature. It is based on rich source material, and bears throughout the character of exact scholarship.” Knut Gjerset
WESTERVELT, WILLIAM DRAKE, comp. and tr. Hawaiian legends of volcanoes (mythology). il*$1 (4c) Ellis 398.2 16-24113
The author is doing original research work in collecting and translating Hawaiian folk legends. This is the third volume resulting from his labors in this field. The legends associated with volcanoes which he brings together are excellent examples of primitive attempts to explain and interpret natural phenomena. T. A. Jaggar, jr., of the staff of the Hawaiian volcano observatory, contributes a foreword to the book, and at the close the author adds further information about the geologic history of the islands.
“William Drake Westervelt of Honolulu has added another to the valuable books containing those Hawaiian myths and folk tales that he has been so indefatigable in collecting and translating. He has rendered an inestimable service to science, for, largely through his efforts, we are promised a mythology of this part of the Polynesian race equaled in completeness by the known mythology of few primitive peoples.”
“This very pleasant little volume is illustrated with reproductions from photographs of the volcanoes of many lands; and there is one beautiful reproduction in colour of the hibiscus flower.”
WESTON, GEORGE.Oh, Mary, be careful! il*$1 (4c) Lippincott 17-26265
Aunt Myra knew all about men, the creatures! For she had been jilted by one of them in her youth. She had learned her lesson well, but to make it more impressive to other foolish and trusting women, she had collected every bit of evidence she could find in the newspapers. Her findings filled many large scrap books. These, together with her house, property and her fortune, she passed on to her niece Mary, with the condition that the girl should never marry. Mary, however, had some doubts as to Aunt Myra’s wisdom in the matter of men. She wanted to find out for herself. And as Aunt Myra had provided her with three practical tests, she knew how to go about it. The outcome is the theme of this story.
“The story is light but will be popular. Appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal.”
“Mr Weston has the faculty of adding just enough charm of style to his ephemeral plot to make the story amusing.”
“It is what the publishers quite appropriately term ‘a sweet story.’”
“A literary bonbon.”
“Another contribution to the already abundant supply of heavily sugared, whipped-cream fiction. ... The author has made a determined effort to write in a light and amusing manner.”
Reviewed by Joseph Mosher
WEYL, WALTER EDWARD.American world policies.*$2.25 (2½c) Macmillan 327.73 17-6653
The war has destroyed American isolation. A new policy must be adopted. Shall it be nationalistic imperialism or internationalism? As the author sees it this is the choice offered. Part 1, Our idealistic past, is a discussion of the forces that have shaped our policies and ideals in the past. Part 2, The root of imperialism, is a study of industrial competition, the fight for world trade and the economic background of war generally. Part 3, Towards economic internationalism, offers a definition of dynamic pacifism and discusses some of the difficulties that must be faced if the second course is adopted. Today the nation stands in a position to contribute to the political progress of the world, says the author: “Either it can cling hopelessly to the last vestiges of its policy of isolation or can launch out into imperialistic ventures, or finally it can promote, as can no other nation, a policy of internationalism, which will bind together the nations in a union of mutual interest, and will hasten the peaceful progress of the economic and political integration of the world.”
“Of the many valuable books produced by the world-war there is perhaps none so admirably suited to the needs of the American public as this very able and readable volume by Dr Weyl. While the writer finds reason to believe that eventually the world may be organized for peace, his belief is not based on a blind optimism, nor does he seek to evade the gigantic problems of world-statesmanship that must be solved. His presentation of these questions in such a way as to challenge further interest and effort rather than to overcome the reader with dismay, is one of the distinct accomplishments of the book.” A. B. Hall
“A thoughtful and thought provoking presentation so concisely and clearly written as to be popular with readers having an interest in such subjects.”
“A critical, dispassionate, patriotic study of the fundamental economic, political, and social factors of which American policy must take account and from which it must spring. Mr Weyl’s grasp of the complex elements of the situation is admirable; unlike too many so-called students he studies the United States in the light of international relationships, of European history as understood in Europe, instead of dealing with international complexities on the basis of a history of American diplomacy unconsciously founded upon the fiction of isolation.” R. G. Usher
“The author is primarily an economist. This accounts for both the strength and the weakness of the book. Its weakness consists in the author’s tendency to interpret all international relations in economic terms. ... With this word of caution in mind, Mr Weyl’s book may be read with extreme profit and pleasure. ... He compels the reader to consider and ponder thoughtfully matters which most writers in this field have either ignored or failed to emphasize. ... The strength of this book lies in the overwhelmingly convincing manner with which the author demonstrates the absolute need of an ‘economic internationalism’ as the basis of world-peace.” P. M. Brown
“A book that will make for far-sightedness, for clarity of thought and sanity of judgment in the deciding of many of our problems, and the directing of our course.” F. F. Kelly
“The most impressive thing in his book is the analysis of imperialist forces, the sense he conveys of the vast sweep of the great modern populations in their push toward subsistence. He searches honestly for ‘antidotes to imperialism’ and has no smug ‘liberal’ illusions about the beneficence of a ‘liberal’ imperialism. This critical analysis is more valuable than anything he does specifically for American enlightenment.” Randolph Bourne
“Here we think is the weakness of his book. By keeping his eye on the evils that he finds in great individual wealth, he passes too lightly by the ideals of mankind and nations. ... Whatever may be thought the practicality of the international imperialism he favors as a substitute for national imperialism all will agree that Dr Weyl has written one of the most stimulating and enlightening books on our foreign policy that has been published during the war.”
“It is unfortunate that Walter E. Weyl’s ‘American world policies’ was sent to the press before American participation in the war became a probability. His assumption that the United States would remain a neutral throughout the struggle gives to much of the discussion, especially in the final chapter, an almost absurd incongruity with all aspects of the situation as it has ultimately developed. The book, nevertheless, has great compensatory merits.”
“It is this quality of self-restraint, combined with his great ability to think and write clearly, interestingly and convincingly, that distinguishesDr Weyl’s volume. ‘American world policies’ is an exceedingly valuable aid to the intellectual preparedness of American statesmen and laymen alike in this time of international crisis.” R. W. Bruère
“As a statement of the contradictions and entanglements of present world capitalism, and the relation of the United States to these the work is an important one and will repay careful reading.” James Oneal
“It deserves careful consideration. More than any other writer, he tries to make an intelligible statement of the real causes of the war.”
“Chiefly a discourse upon how war may be prevented and how America may help to prevent it. Mr Weyl analyzes keenly and his explanation of causes is better worth reading than most of what has been written on this subject; but he leans rather to the side of economic fatalism and his conclusions are not of the most hopeful sort. ... After finishing Mr Weyl’s exceedingly clear and interesting analysis of world politics, one may feel that the most important conclusion reached is that no ultimately satisfactory adjustment between industrial nations can be reached upon purely economic principles.”
“Deserves a wide reading. Here, for one thing, we have an analysis of the ‘preparedness’ movement from a man who writes with a desire to get beneath appearances. ... Mr Weyl’s remedy for imperialism is both dynamic pacifism and internal reform. Here one may think that the author takes too narrow a view. ... Mr Weyl goes farther than British socialists are willing to do in attributing the present war to economic causes.”
“Mr Weyl is not always impartial and not always accurate.”
WHARTON, MRS EDITH NEWBOLD (JONES).Summer.*$1.50 (3c) Appleton 17-17516
Life was dreary as winter in the New England village of North Dormer. Especially was it dreary to Charity Royall, the young girl whom Lawyer Royall and his wife had brought down as a child from “the Mountain,” the desolate settlement where law and order, mind and morals were as nothing and lawlessness and sensuality were everything. Charity thought the Mountain spelled freedom, though the villagers spoke of it with a shudder. Her life was to sit in the village library to which no one ever came, and to share the home of the old lawyer, whom she had cause to mistrust, and who was stern and lonely after his wife’s death. But one day Lucius Harney, the young architect, came and changed the greyness of her life into the brightness of summer. Lucius was of the kind that takes all and gives nothing and after he had gone Charity knew that she was to pay the price. Then the old lawyer, knowing, through the sins of his own past life, how bitter that price would be, went through the ceremony of marriage with her, that the village gossips should have nothing upon which to feed. And Charity and the lawyer both found that goodness is greater than evil.
“In externals this is a simple variety of a common theme. But it is a thoroughly individualized version of the old story, and a small masterpiece of refined and economical art.”
“Mrs Wharton has often been accused of bitterness; let her critics note that the whole effect of this powerful story hangs upon our recognition of the power of simple human goodness—not ‘virtuousness,’ but faithful, unselfish devotion of one sort or another—to make life worth living.” H. W. Boynton
“Where in New England did Mrs Wharton unearth the scene and the people for her latest novel?... But reputation has its value, and ‘Summer’ will undoubtedly be sought because it is her latest novel. And that there is something in it worth while because it is Mrs Wharton’s cannot be denied.” E. F. E.
“Mrs Wharton has failed in ‘Summer.’ It is a wonderfully well-written book so far as the marshaling of words and phrases goes. The art of the author is revealed in her remarkable sustaining of the element of suspense; she puts off the catastrophe with consummate skill. And yet, all this is, somehow, mere art: artifice, not life. Was Charity real to Mrs Wharton? She is not to us: there are only one or two vague moments when we feel with her at all.”
“A dreary and rather cold-blooded study, handled with Mrs Wharton’s usual finesse.”
“The combined power of impartial contemplation and sympathy makes the genius of Thomas Hardy and it makes the genius of Mrs Wharton as it is found in ‘Ethan Frome’ and ‘Summer.’” J: Macy
“‘Summer’ reënters the field in which, with ‘Ethan Frome,’ Mrs Wharton produced her single masterpiece. If she does not here duplicate or rival that amazing feat, it is because the new matter falls short of the old in tragic force and conclusiveness. We believe in Royall, and we believe in Charity. But we do not believe in the young Lothario or in the various tricks of coincidence with which the integrity of the action is vitiated.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“It is not a repellent story, but is essentially an empty one, and suggests too often the failings of a person who is capable of going slumming among souls.” F. H.
“Never has Mrs Wharton done anything more delicate, more exquisite, than the pen pictures of the New England countryside with which this book abounds. Of the sure and delicate analysis of Charity’s changing and developing emotions, as of the chiseled beauty of the style, it is unnecessary to speak; these are things which in connection with Mrs Wharton’s work may be taken for granted. ‘Summer’ is not in any way a big book; it ranks with its author’s lesser tales, not with ‘Ethan Frome’ or ‘The house of mirth’ and their fellows.”
Reviewed by Lawrence Gilman
“The characters seem drawn in the flat; they are two-dimensional so far as their emotions go. All the joy and pleasantness and tenderness has been extracted from their lives with a hand so skilled in literary portraiture that the sentences bite like the acids of the etcher.”
“Where Mrs Wharton fails is in preparing us for such an end to the episode. She does not convince us either that the lawyer would have married Charity at that moment or that she would have married him, even in a temporary fit of bewildered despair.”
“The story is brilliantly conceived, with many tense passages and is striking in its portrayal of diverse human passions, but its conception of New England character is that of a ‘literary,’ even a romantic, visitor.”
“Anyone who cares about the way in which a pen is handled should take this book and read, and read again, such pages as those which record the excursion to the country town for theFourth of July celebration, or the girl’s visit to the insinuating lady-doctor, or the wild night-piece of the funeral on the mountain.”
WHEELER, EVERETT PEPPERRELL.Sixty years of American life, Taylor to Roosevelt, 1850 to 1910. il*$2.50 Dutton 329 17-3602
“This book is not a volume of personal or social memoirs. It is true that the author has much to say of the great figures in the country’s history during these sixty years. He has, for example, an interesting chapter on ‘Presidents I have known,’ and another on ‘Changes in sixty years.’ And scattered throughout his record are many delightful personal touches, that seem to slip in almost unaware. But the book as a whole is a study of political activity. Mr Wheeler has taken an especially important part in the work of civil service and in tariff reform. He has always been, as well, intimately concerned with the municipal problems of New York city government. And these are the matters that, readably and in valuable detail, are emphasized in his book.”—N Y Times
“The chapters on the tariff and on municipal reform appeared in the New York Evening Post and the Outlook.”
“An inspiring book it is in every way, breathing through its five hundred pages an unshaken loyalty to the principles of democratic government, yet demonstrating how much one man can do, through inconspicuous channels, towards making that scheme of government measure up to its ideals.”
“Offers a valuable and unusual addition to our knowledge of our country’s internal history.”
“One wishes that Mr Wheeler had injected more of that fervor of impressionistic memory that made the late Justin McCarthy’s ‘Reminiscences,’ for instance, such delightful reading. The reprinting of bits of speeches in themselves lend little color to the relation of the struggle for civil-service reform in which Mr Wheeler was so eminently engaged. ‘Presidents I have known’ is disappointingly most impersonal.”
WHEELER, WILLIAM REGINALD, ed. Book of verse of the great war.*$2 Yale univ. press 821.08 17-30693
“During the past two years and a half the compiler of this volume has resided in Europe, America and Asia and has endeavored to choose the most worthy expressions of sentiment concerning the war which have come from these three continents.” (Editor’s preface) He has excluded those poems which seemed inspired by the extreme animosities of the war, holding to this principle in the hope that the book “may contribute in some small measure to a renewal of the fellowship of the universal community of mankind.” Among the poets represented are: Laurence Binyon, Dana Burnet, Emile Cammaerts, Gilbert Frankau, John Galsworthy, W. W. Gibson, Thomas Hardy, W. M. Letts, Josephine Preston Peabody, and Rabindranath Tagore. There is a foreword by Charlton M. Lewis, professor of English literature at Yale.
“The principles of selection shown in this collection are judicious, but it is to be regretted that the poems for the most part chosen have appeared in another book which is less expensive, easier to hold and more attractive to the eye.”
WHERRY, EDITH.Wanderer on a thousand hills.*$1.40 (2c) Lane 17-11706
The first part of this story tells the tragedy of little Tung Mei, Winter Almond. An only child, she had been educated by her father in defiance of Chinese custom. But the only fate for a Chinese girl, even one who can read the classics, is marriage, and marriage means slavery under the domination of a mother-in-law. In bearing a girl child, Tung Mei is disgraced. She is held responsible for her husband’s sudden death, her baby is murdered and she is driven out into a storm. The second part of the story begins with her finding of little Carl Osborne, the child of missionary parents. Like herself he is lost in the storm, and Tung Mei in her distraught state looks on him as a gift from heaven to assuage her woe. She brings him up as her own, and it is not till he reaches young manhood that he learns that he is not of Chinese birth. He tries unsuccessfully to adapt himself to foreign ways, and later becomes the fanatic known as the wanderer on a thousand hills.
“A grievous and dismal tale with hardly any relief and with extreme attention paid to the particulars of Chinese superstition and the delusions of Chinese fanaticism.”
“The book has dramatic quality and atmosphere.”
“It shows, as did ‘Kim,’ that a story, void of the master passion, may yet command a breathless interest. ... As we read, we are conscious of more than intellectual enjoyment; we are tarrying a while at the Interpreter’s house.”
“By a Canadian writer—the wife of a Montreal physician.”
“A tragic and often painful story.”
“Interesting psychological study contrasting the oriental and western ideals.”
“The story intimately pictures the human side of the Chinese, and should go far in helping the unprejudiced westerner to a truer understanding of these people. These pictures contain, perhaps, more than a dash of idealism, suggested by the author’s obviously sympathetic attitude.”
WHETHAM, CATHERINE DURNING (HOLT) (MRS WILLIAM CECIL DAMPIER WHETHAM).Upbringing of daughters.*$1.75 (2c) Longmans 173 17-28870
This book by an Englishwoman has chapters on: The creation of the home; The life of the family; Household duties; Health; Dress; Outdoor life and games; General education; Scholastic instruction; The arts; Holidays and entertainments; Books to read; Money matters; Professions for daughters; Conduct; Religion; The abdication of the parent. The discussions touch on many other subjects than that suggested by the title, altho the author writes always from the viewpoint of a housewife and mother. On matters pertaining to education, professional careers for women, etc., she is conservative.
“Concerning education she would, no doubt, be classed by many as a hopeless reactionary. But Mrs Whetham’s restatements are of the kind that make old things new. ... Though the book is close, earnest reading, it is neither heavy nor pedagogic; it appeals to all who take interest in intelligent defence of the standards by which alone any true progress has been or ever can be made.”
WHIPPLE, GEORGE CHANDLER.State sanitation; a review of the work of the Massachusetts State board of health, 1869-1914. 2v*$2.50 Harvard univ. press 614.09 (17-13246)
Two volumes devoted to this subject have been issued. The first volume “is in two parts. Part 1 first sketches the early history of public health work in Massachusetts to the beginning of the board in 1869. It then outlines the history and the work of the board and its divisions, including the world-famous Lawrence experiment station for the study of water purification and sewage treatment and the engineering work of the board. There is also a chapter of biographical sketches; a chapter on the state department of health, 1914-16, and one on state sanitation in general. Part 2 is an able condensation of the lengthy ‘Report of the Massachusetts sanitary commission of Massachusetts’ which under the leadership of Lemuel Shattuck worked out a detailed plan for a ‘sanitary survey’ of the state—really a scheme for state and local health work.” (Engin News-Rec) “The second volume contains in some cases reprints and in other cases abridgments of the more important articles or studies which have appeared in the publications of the Massachusetts state board of health during the past forty-seven years. Included also are chronological abstracts of the board’s annual reports.” (Am Pol Sci R) “Extracted from the 1878 report of the board is a paper entitled ‘The filtration of potable water,’ written by Prof. Wm. Ripley Nichols. This is one of many classics on water and sewage treatment which are reprinted in full or abstract in this volume.” (Engin News-Rec)
“Professor Whipple’s keen eye for the things that are interesting has enabled him to make his book readable throughout. That it will be of great service to special students of the subject is beyond question.”
“Many of these writings represent pioneer achievement in the domain of public health administration, and taken as a whole they afford an interesting history of the stages through which that science has developed during the last half century.”
“An interesting and stimulating record of American progress in state and municipal sanitation and preventive medicine.”
“Professor Whipple is rendering a notable service. The pleasurable task he is doing so well is one for which he is well qualified through long acquaintance with members of the board and of its staff and through service on the Massachusetts public health council since 1914.”
“A book of general as well as technical interest.”
WHITE, ALBERT CLEMENT, ed. Little book of Irish verse.*60c Dutton 821.08
“The profits from the sale of ‘A little book of Irish verse’ are destined to add to the comfort of Irish troops, wounded or in the field. Tho this collection cannot bear comparison with that in Yeats’s ‘Book of Irish verse,’ it still contains verses by some of the best Irish poets of the day. Irish war poems are in evidence, but not less so lyrics on themes quite unconnected with the present conflict.”—Ind
“Mr White, who is editor of the Ulster Guardian, has made careful selection from the verse of some of the best known of the modern Irish poets and in the main, as has been suggested, has chosen poems with a war-time theme.”
WHITE, VILLETTE HUTCHINS.[2]Mental control of the body; or, Health through self-conquest.*$1 (4c) Clode, E: J. 131 17-21698
Aims to show the way to bodily healing thru an intelligent understanding of a few basic facts, a vital faith in the possibility of cure and a disciplined will to realize upon that faith. It differs from Christian science healing in its conscious effort to treat disease as a reality—to be met by bringing all the bodily forces and functions under one’s control thru the will. The writer once establishing the theory of her health scheme proceeds to give a simple practical method of application by which the reader may find health.
WHITE, WILLIAM ALANSON.[2]Mechanisms of character formation.*$1.75 (3c) Macmillan 130 16-22292
For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.
“On the whole, Dr White’s book shows wide learning and offers much interesting material, but lacks logical coherence and exactness of terminology and is marred occasionally by slovenly English. In spite of its subtitle, ‘An introduction to psychoanalysis,’ it hardly meets that need as successfully as Hitschmann’s ‘Freud’s theories of the neuroses,’ recently made accessible to English readers, neither does it possess the incisiveness and clarity of Professor Holt’s brilliant little book, ‘The Freudian wish.’ The chief attraction of the book is the note of broad and sympathetic humanism running through it.” J: M. Mecklin
“We have apprehended no real ‘message’ in this book, either to the medical student or to the general reader; it seems to us to get nowhere in particular.”
“The criticism which applies to all Freudian psychologists applies to the present author as well. They assume much and interpret much on slender evidence.”
“Its teaching is rather obscured than clarified by the vague philosophy of life and of the universe which the author, in common with many of the school, delights in spinning about the facts of their practice.” R. S. Woodworth
WHITEHEAD, HENRY, bp. of Madras. Village gods of South India. il*85c Oxford 229 17-3158
“This is the first of a series of small volumes dealing with the Religious life of India, under the editorship of Mr J. N. Farquhar, literary secretary, Y. M. C. A. in India. The volume under review is by the Bishop of Madras. ... He shows how the village gods symbolize the facts of village life, and suggests the hypothesis that the form of their worship, viz., animal sacrifice, is a survival of totemism from a time when the people lived a nomadic life. ... The fact that women perform so much of the agricultural work among primitives suggests an explanation for the fact that the majority of the South Indian deities are female.”—Bib World
“Gives a mass of new material for the study of comparative religion.” W. D. S.
“The book is deserving of a hearty reception by students of the history of religion.”
“It is a needed volume, handy, straightforward, and not antipathetic.”
“A glossary of Indian terms, a list of gods, male and female, and a geographical index to the ethnological divisions, all provided with diacritical marks, promise well for the series.”
“Mr J. N. Farquhar is entirely competent. Successive volumes, some in preparation andothers in projection, are to be written by authorities who have every reason and opportunity for full investigation upon the spot.”
WHITING, LILIAN.Adventure beautiful. il*$1 (2c) Little 134 17-25596
The author has taken Charles Frohman’s words: “Death is the most beautiful adventure in life,” for the text of her first essay. The present appalling sacrifice of life leads her to look for spiritual compensations and to contemplate the possibility of immortality and its evidences. The remaining essays of the book are: The reality of the unseen; Twenty years in retrospect; Some psychical experiences; Powers of the ethereal body; The nature of the ethereal world; Creative agencies of the spiritual life; Make room for happiness; Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
“Miss Whiting has made a genuine contribution to the discussion of a theme which must more and more command the world’s attention.”
“Miss Whiting has much to say of the sort of spiritualism taught by Professor Hyslop. With this spookery she mingles fragments of mysticism caught from anywhere in the Orient. The effect of the mixture upon one soul at least is not exalting, but there are readers who enjoy Miss Whiting’s rhapsodies more than does this reviewer.”
“One can hardly lay down her book without feeling more hopeful of happiness in the world beyond.”
WHITING, LILIAN.Canada, the spellbinder. il*$2.50 Dutton 917.1 17-22084
“A brief survey of the ‘creative forces’ of Canada, those explorers, missionaries, adventurers, pioneers, traders, scientists and statesmen who from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries have explored and developed her picturesque and fruitful domains, is followed by detailed studies of various localities.” (Boston Transcript) “Beginning with ‘Quebec and the picturesque maritime region,’ Miss Whiting travels slowly westward, describing the chief cities, the summer resorts, visiting Cobalt and the silver mines, and so going on through Winnipeg and Edmonton to the western coast. There is a chapter on ‘Prince Rupert and Alaska,’ and another describing the journey from Prince Rupert by way of Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle to San Francisco, where another section is devoted to Canada in the Panama-Pacific exposition.” (N Y Times) “There is a chapter on the poets of Canada, C. G. D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, W. H. Drummond, and others.” (Spec) “The book incorporates portions of Miss Whiting’s articles which appeared in the Sunday Springfield Republican in 1916.” (Springf’d Republican)
“The interest of this readable volume is increased by numerous fine illustrations in colour and monotone.”
“Miss Whiting reviews for us not only the development of those Canadian cities and provinces of which we already have a superficial knowledge, but also such places as Winnipeg and Prince Rupert.”
“She lacks great power of description, but to offset this, falls back upon scores of writers and poets who have written of the scenes she visits.”
“Lilian Whiting’s enthusiasm of spirit and glow of language are at their usual high level in ‘Canada the spellbinder.’”
“A very happy specimen of globe-trotting literature taken in serious vein. ... Journalists and readers who are interested in journalism will note with special attention Miss Whiting’s comment on the founder of the Toronto Globe.”
WHITMAN, SIDNEY.Things I remember.*$2.50 (3½c) Stokes 17-8078
The subtitle describes this book as “The recollections of a political writer in the capitals of Europe.” The author was for many years special correspondent for the New York Herald. His recollections go back to the early nineties. Among other things he writes of: Vienna; Salonica and Constantinople; The Spanish-American war; Bismarck’s death; Warsaw in revolt; Berlin during the Algeciras conference; W. T. Stead; James Gordon Bennett.
“Mr Whitman, well known for his travels over Europe and his intercourse with great and formidable people for the benefit of the ‘New York Herald,’ has revived some of his memories in a pleasant and easy narrative. ... We have much to learn concerning Germany, and Mr Whitman is well qualified to teach us.”
“A most interesting book, and one which deserves the attention of all those who desire to understand the inner working of German policy.”
“One of the best books of memoirs which have recently appeared.”
WHITTON, FREDERICK ERNEST.[2]History of Poland from the earliest times to the present day.*$3 Scribner 943.8
“Major Whitton traces the record of ‘the most unfortunate and not the least noble of European peoples,’ the rise and fall of their great kingdom. Naturally our interest centres in events since the beginning of the famous partitions, and in the fate of Poland under Russian, Prussian, and Austrian rule. The story of the partitions is told in detail, with significant sketches of the characters of the rulers involved—Catherine the Great of Russia, first Frederick the Great and then Frederick William of Prussia, and first Maria Theresa and then Francis of Austria.” (N Y Times) “In his story of the famous partitions Colonel Whitton follows Lord Eversley fairly closely, but he has been preserved by study of the cold-blooded ‘Cambridge modern history’ from being too pronounced a partisan of the Poles. He is fully alive to the weak points in their national character and to the viciousness of their system of government.” (Spec)
“His narrative is interesting, readable, and to the point. But the book suffers from two weaknesses—a marked insufficiency of dates and a remissness in dealing with the life of the common people.”
“‘A history of Poland’ is not only a presentation of valuable and pertinent facts, but is written with a simplicity and vividness that make the book thoroughly interesting.”
“He would, we are sure, lay no claim to be an original historian; he has not added anything to the sum of knowledge. Nevertheless, we can cordially recommend his book.”
“The author gives a clear but not very well balanced account of the Polish kingdom under its successive monarchs. It must be confessed,that the earlier part of the book is unsatisfactory, especially chapters 1 and 3, and contains actual mistakes. The best part of Major Whitton’s book is certainly its later portion.”
WHITTON, FREDERICK ERNEST.Marne campaign. (Campaigns and their lessons) maps*$4 (5c) Houghton 940.91 17-24849
For years before the outbreak of the European war, Major Whitton points out in his preface, military experts of all countries had been considering the problem of handling the huge armies which a modern war would demand. In the campaigns of the Marne theories were put to a practical test, and it is from this point of view, that of military strategy, that the battle is here studied. “The battle of the Marne furnishes the military student with a signal example of the strategical counter-attack on a great scale.” Eight folding maps are provided at the end and there is a bibliography.
“Will be useful to civilian and military readers alike. Eight clear maps illustrate the book.”
“The book contains an excellent map of the alignments of the armies, numbered according to their corps, divisions and brigades upon the most reliable up-to-date information.”
“The present volume tells this story in a particularly masterly manner, and is perhaps the best documented and most circumstantial account of the great battle. None, in fact, that has been issued iscomparable to it, except Mr Belloc’s volume of about a year ago.”
“He is clear and concise, and his book gives a much better general impression of the battle of the Marne than any other we know.”
“A very useful and well-written narrative. There have been two rival theories of the Marne. The common view is that General Maunoury’s flank attack on the Ourcq upon General von Kluck, who commanded on the German right was the deciding factor. Major Whitton adopts this theory, and supports it by a good deal of evidence.”
“Considering that Major Whitton’s narrative is built throughout of similar and not more stable material, we are half inclined to mourn over the labour which he has expended upon it. For the author has not done his work ill. He writes good, clear, and vigorous English; and his summary of the military and naval resources of the combatants and of the operations preceding the battle of the Marne is, so far as his information goes, terse and pointed.”
WHYTE, ADAM GOWANS.World’s wonder stories. il*$1.75 (2½c) Putnam 500 18-2983
A book of rather miscellaneous information about the universe, together with a discussion of ethical problems, designed for young readers. Contents: How was the world made? Where did the plants and animals come from? Nature’s family tree; Who was the first man? Who was the greatest grandfather of creation? Where did all the religions come from? Where did the Bible come from? Where did right and wrong come from? How do things happen? There are many illustrations.
“It is that rare thing, a book written for children without being in some sense written down to them,—and therefore a delight to the reader of any age.” J: Walcott