The book “is chiefly descriptive and historical. Some of the many photographs are like graphic illustrations of chapters in an early Wells scientific romance. There is all the information necessary for the prospective aeronaut—chapters on aerial photography, radio telegraphy, night flying, instruments for aerial navigation, courses of instruction and required qualifications of personnel for the air service of the United States navy, training, navigation over water, submarine hunting by aircraft, locating submerged mines, etc., etc. No factual aspect of naval aeronautics is omitted.”—New Repub
“As a textbook it is cumbered with a vast mass of extremely interesting but rather irrelevant matter. An instructor making use of it would have to skip about from one end to the other of its 274 pages; but it is provided with an elaborate index compiled by Howard L. Goodhart.” N. H. D.
“It is clear, truthful as to difficulties, expository in the best sense.” H. S.
WOODLEY, OSCAR ISRAEL, and WOODLEY, M. VIRGINIA.Profession of teaching.*$1.35 (1½c) Houghton 371 17-25134
This book has been written in answer to a challenge, to the effect that teaching is not a profession. In the carrying out of their purpose the authors were first called upon to discover the nature of a profession. This is done in the first chapter. The remainder of the book is a study of the particular requirements demanded of those who wish to be teachers in a truly professional sense. Contents: Profession defined; School ethics; The ultimate aim of education; Happiness as related to education; The social function of the school; The relation of the school to the state; The learning process; Correct concepts necessary for right thinking; The teaching process; The recitation; Subject-matter; Vocational education; Vocational guidance; The child’s ability known and utilized; The fundamental concept. Each chapter is followed by a brief reading list and the book is further made useful as a text by the inclusion of questions and exercises. The joint authors have written other books for school use, among them “Foundation lessons in English.”
WOODROW, NANCY MANN (WADDEL) (MRS WILSON WOODROW).Hornet’s nest. il*$1.35 (1½c) Little 17-9252
William Whitefield, politician, financier, and traction magnate finds himself confronted with a skeleton he had thought long buried. For fifteen years before he had destroyed the career of Ashe Colvin, a brilliant young New Yorker, who would have exposed his traction deal, and he had quarreled and parted with his ward, the high-spirited, rich, but, to the millionaire, undesirable Fletcher Hempstead. When his safeis robbed of the Colvin papers and clues lead to a professional cracksman, the “Hornet” who strangely resembles his nephew Fletcher, and when his beautiful niece apparently knows much about the affair that she provokingly conceals, the millionaire fears that the old sins have come to light. It is a thrilling battle of wits, and the love interest is not left out.
“Also a romance quickly springs into being, somewhat invigorating the sordid atmosphere of intrigue environing the story.”
“A mystery story that seizes and holds the attention.”
“An unusually interesting tale of its type.”
WOODS, CLINTON EDGAR.Unified accounting methods for industrials. $5 Ronald 657 17-5973
“During the last few years a new profession has been slowly developing in the industrial world, sometimes called industrial engineering, sometimes efficiency engineering, or again production engineering. ... To trace the development of industrial engineering in detail would mean the writing of several books. Therefore, in the present instance, the primary purpose will be an effort to explain its scope, some of the results obtained by its application to industrials, the necessity that exists for such special service as the industrial engineer has to offer, and in so far as possible to establish certain standards for this new profession.” (Chap. 1) About one third of the book is given up to forms of various kinds.
“Presents a well-thought-out, elaborately developed system of records and methods of record keeping adapted to manufacturing enterprises. Because of his practical purpose, the author does not stop to discuss variations from the standard which may be necessary to fit particular conditions, nor does he indicate that there may be in some cases other equally good ways of doing things. Mr Woods writes from the standpoint of the industrial engineer rather than of the accountant, which is responsible for the short dismissal of some points which could profitably be treated with greater fullness. Some of the topics ably presented are: analyzing an industrial manager’s monthly balance sheet; purchasing and receiving; general stores; preparation for the handling of production; schedules; converting labor, material, and expense into finished product; controlling accounts; taking the inventory, etc.” R. B. Kester
“The book shows care and thoroughness in preparation. It is a book to be studied and worked with, not to be skimmed through. The fact that one does not always agree with the author does not impair the usefulness of the volume. It merely means that the reader must justify to himself that certain of his own methods, differing from those set down, are better for him than those given by the author.” E. C. Church
WOOFTER, THOMAS JACKSON.Teaching in rural schools. (Riverside textbooks in education)*$1.40 Houghton 379.17 17-29771
As stated by the author, the aims of this book for rural teachers are: “(1) To bring to attention the needs of rural life, the broadening vision of rural life, and the possible contributions of the rural school to this life; (2) To unfold in a clear and helpful way some introductory guiding principles of education; (3) To start any rural teacher on the road of the best in modern methods in teaching and in managing; (4) To direct such a teacher to the most helpful aids in educational literature in connection with the various phases of theory and practice.” The author is dean of the school of education in the University of Georgia and his book is “an outgrowth of the experience of years spent in teaching in rural schools and of other years given to the preparation of teachers.” Part 1 discusses general problems connected with the rural school. Part 2 is devoted to specific school subjects. Suggestions for reading follow each chapter and at the end there is a list of “Twenty good books for rural-school teachers.”
“A careful reading of the first part raises grave questions as to the wisdom of trying to present in the brief space of one-half of a small textbook the wide scope in which the author is interested. He has been forced to drop into the practice of laying down rule-of-thumb principles and methods of procedure rather than of developing carefully each of the principles. In part 2 the writer again can do no more than rather dogmatically lay out various methods of teaching the individual subjects. The book literature of rural-school administration and teaching is extremely limited. In its present condition Professor Woofter’s book will probably be of distinct help to most rural-school teachers.” H. O. Rugg
WOOLF, LEONARD SIDNEY.Future of Constantinople.*$1 Macmillan 327.4 (Eng ed 17-21780)
“This is a plea for the establishment of an International commission, composed, say, of Americans, Danes, and Swiss, to control Constantinople and the Straits after the war, just as the Danube navigation was controlled by a European commission, of whose work interesting particulars are given. It is a possible solution of a question which cannot be left unsolved.”—Spec
“The grand defect of his schemes, whether they deal with the government of Constantinople or with the settlement of non-justiciable disputes, is that they will work all right in normal times, but that they provide no security against the emergence of the old Adam at a crisis.”
“Brief but remarkably cogent argument. ... We believe he offers a valid solution to a four-and-a-half century problem.” S. A.
“One cannot repress the feeling that the author undervalues the difficulty of carrying out his plan.”
WORK, EDGAR WHITAKER.Bible in English literature.*$1.25 (1½c) Revell 220 17-27636
The purpose of this book is to trace the influence of the Bible on the mode of thought and expression of English literature. The author says, “We shall not be content with showing how the Bible has been quoted by English writers. This is important, and will receive frequent attention. The purpose is broader than this—to show how biblical thought and style have entered into the very mold of English literature.” For his starting point he goes back to the arrival in England of Augustine and his monks, who brought with them the Bible and its teachings. Other early chapters are devoted to Cynewulf, Bede, Alcuin, and King Alfred; another to Religious drama; another to Men of the threshold—Chaucer, Langland and Wyclif. Later chapters are given to Shakespeare and the Bible; The Bible in English prose; The Bible in English poetry, etc.
“Deeply learned, yet admirably simple in construction and expression, Doctor Work’s revelation of the splendor of ‘that light which has never paled from English literature throughout more than a thousand years’ will appeal to all lovers of history, profane as well as biblical.”
“Dr Ward possesses an adequate knowledge of the ramifications of the chosen matter, enabling him to present clear and convincing conclusions.”
World peril;[2]America’s interest in the war, by members of the faculty of Princeton university.*$1 Princeton univ. press 940.91 17-28843
“What the Princeton professors have undertaken to do is to offer, in the words of President Hibben’s introduction, ‘an especial contribution to the more accurate understanding of the reasons for the entry of the United States into the European war, and to the more vivid appreciation of all that is involved in the outcome of this conflict.’” (Nation) “Contents: American rights imperilled, Henry Van Dyke; Democracy imperilled, Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker; International law imperilled, Edward S. Corwin; The world balance of power imperilled, Mason W. Tyler; The world peril and the two Americas, Clifton R. Hall; The world peril and American interests in the Far East, Mason W. Tyler; The world peril and world peace, Philip Marshall Brown.” N Y Br Lib News
“Unless there shall be what Bertrand Russell calls a neutral authority empowered to adjust interests and to institute readjustments peacefully, readjustments by force are inevitable. We should expect that a book written primarily to educate public opinion regarding war issues would squarely face this problem. The authors of ‘The world peril’ have not done so. Their emphasis is upon the past, not the future.” V. T. Thayer
“What they have done, besides phrasing an uninspired arraignment of Germany, is to make a volume whose treatment of certain important aspects of American foreign policy affords a veritable arsenal of weapons for those who still like to sneer at American altruism or the good faith of American democracy, and from which the German government might, if it chose, reprint considerable extracts with satirical satisfaction. If American universities can offer no better support for the cause of democracy than this volume affords, then truly is the outlook dark.”
WORTH, PATIENCE.Sorry tale; a story of the time of Christ; communicated through Mrs John H. Curran; ed. with a brief introd., by Casper S. Yost.*$1.90 (½c) Holt 17-19505
“‘The sorry tale,’ in the language as used by Patience Worth, is the same as ‘The tale of sorrow.’ ... It is a tale of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and Rome in the days of Jesus Christ, and its theme is the interaction of the love and hate incarnated in the bodies of the Christ and of the thief who died on the cross with Him. ... A great crowd of characters, there must be more than a hundred, carry on the action of the drama, and every one is individualized, full of its own tang of humanity, human and alive. ... ‘Patience’ works her own will with the gospels. She invents new miracles, she retells the old ones, she fills out with incidents the lives of Christ and His disciples; but the touching beauty and simple dignity of the figure of Christ are treated always with reverence and there is nothing in the tale to which the most orthodox could object.”—N Y Times
“But—and this is the main thing—the style as a whole has much of nobility and force—a biblical style with abounding colour added. ... I, for one, own myself converted by this story from a mood of languid curiosity about an odd ‘psychic’ phenomenon, to a state of lively interest in the future published work of the powerful writer who goes by the name of ‘Patience Worth.’” H. W. Boynton
Reviewed by Wilfrid Lay
“If, however, on account of its psychic claims, one approaches the story with unbelief or scoffing, one is instantly rebuffed by its quality. Especially is one impressed with that strongly marked individuality, that touch of a unique personality pervading the book, which we call style.”
“This tale of the Christ is not in the least impressive. Its sole interest lies in its much advertised and to our mind spurious origin.”
“The plot, stripped of verbiage, is consistent and straightforward; many of the incidents are amazingly dramatic or poetic; and the presentation of the life then extant in Palestine is accurate and full.”
“Certainly this book deserves to be weighed not merely as a ‘psychic phenomenon,’ but as a piece of creative fiction.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“But it is a wonderful book, a more astonishing and sustained work than the earlier Patience Worth volume, and unquestionably the most remarkable product of the so-called spirit world, whether it be a sub-conscious achievement, or due to some unnamed psychic manifestation.” Clement Wood
“The long and intricate tale is constructed with the precision and the accuracy of a master hand. It is a wonderful, a beautiful, and a noble book, but it not easy to read. Its archaic language and its frequently indirect modes of expression make necessary constantly the closest attention. The meaning is often so obscure that only considerable study will make it clear. Whoever would read it through will need to be well supplied with time and patience. But if he appreciate the noble and the beautiful in literature he will be well repaid. And he will marvel more deeply than ever over the mystery of ‘Patience Worth.’”
“We are sorry that we cannot join in the praise which has been given to these two books by some critics that take them seriously and find that the literary ghost, so to speak, who communicates under the pseudonym of ‘Patience Worth’ is ‘sensitive, witty, keenly metaphysical.’ We will admit that ‘Patience’ has better qualifications as a writer of fiction than most ‘controls,’ but we find her writing feverish, high-flown, and terribly prolix.”
“Laying aside all questions of the actual authorship, the novel has beauty and extraordinary power.”
WRAY, W. FITZWATER (KUKLOS, pseud.).Across France in war time. il*50c Dutton 940.91 17-29470
“In common with many other British journalists at the beginning of the war, W. Fitzwater Wray suddenly found himself with his means of livelihood suspended and indefinite leisure time on his hands. ... He decided to make a tour of France and chose a bicycle as his vehicle. Taking the channel boat at Southampton, and landing at St Malo, ... he journeyed eastward, through Alençon and Chartres, passing to the south of Paris, and with Vitry-le-François as his turning point, skirted the line of battle as far north as Clermont. The rest of his journey was by rail through Paris to Havre, whence he sailed back to England. Once more in London, he went immediately to the offices of the Daily News and began to write the story of his travels for publication in its columns. It is this story, amplified by omitted portions which were excised from his manuscript to save newspaper space, which is made into this recent volume of the Wayfarer’s library.” Boston Transcript
“Full of picturesque little incidents and human touches is Mr Wray’s volume. It gives an unusual picture of the people in the midst ofwar, and it portrays the difficulties and the occasional danger of travel in the midst of friends who are on the alert to suspect every man’s hand is against them. ... Added interest is given to Mr Wray’s volume by a series of reproductions of pen-and-ink drawings.” E. F. E.
“If much of what he relates has been told elsewhere, yet he adds fresh wayside touches to complete the picture of what we already know of France at that period.”
“His story is vivid and interesting.”
WRIGHT, MRS AGNES (FOSTER).Interior decoration for modern needs. il*$2.25 (4½ c) Stokes 747 17-25296
A practical book for women who cannot employ decorators or who, employing them, wish to work understandingly with them. It is the room between the “period room and the packing-case room” that Mrs Wright helps home makers remove from the commonplace. Simplicity, suitability, durability, economy, comfort and good taste are the watch words. The apartment dweller ought to be especially grateful for the chapter on “The city apartment,” in which are discussed colors that increase the sense of space, furniture arrangement and space economy, and the treatment of the small city apartment. Good illustrations accompany the text.
“She does not cater to the slim purse, but, on the other hand, her suggestions are less elaborate than those in De Wolfe’s ‘House in good taste,’ and Parson’s ‘Interior decoration.’ The book contains many practical suggestions for color schemes and arrangement, and is fully and attractively illustrated.”
“The author strikes a cheerful medium between the ideal and the possible, especially in her treatment of kitchens and service quarters.”
WRIGHT, HELEN SAUNDERS (SMITH) (MRS CHARLES HEWITT WRIGHT).Our United States army; with an introd. by Major-General Leonard Wood. il*$1.50 (2c) Shores 355.09 17-13202
“It is my purpose to present in the following pages a few examples of the manifold activities of the army of the United States, the importance and economic significance of which have been overshadowed by historians in the tragic drama and far-reaching results of our nation’s wars.” (Preface) Contents: Lewis and Clark expedition; Explorations of Pike, Long and Bonneville; Fremont and his adventures; Domestic disturbances; Indian treaties and warfare; Lieutenant Whipple’s surveys and adventures; Gold and the early days of California; Trouble in Kansas and the Mormon problem; Exploration of the Colorado river; Building of the transcontinental railroads; The reconstruction of the South; Alaska; Cuba and the Philippines; Eradication of disease by army medical staff; The Panama canal.
“To recognize properly the service of the army other than military is the errand of this modest volume, and it should be placed in every library beside the history that deals with wars and the military service of the army, to preserve the proper balance. Written in an easy and readable style, the book impresses because so little is claimed; nothing is presented for recognition but the results.” J. S. B.
“The book should be of much interest to the public, for it is practicably the first history, in popular form, of the United States army. It is perhaps to be regretted that the author has not included more extended historical accounts of the organization of the army.”
WRIGHT, HENRY WILKES.Faith justified by progress.*$1.25 Scribner 204 16-22424
“The Bross lectures for 1916 at Lake Forest college have been published under the title, ‘Faith justified by progress.’ The author takes certain types of social life which have been outstanding stages of social and moral evolution and seeks to discover what part religious faith had in their working and development. The book opens with a discussion of the eclipse of faith due to the rise of naturalism. ... In four chapters Dr Wright reviews ‘Primitive life,’ ‘Natural life,’ ‘Supernatural life,’ ‘The universal life,’ and ends with a postscript on the ‘Future of religion.’”—Springf’d Republican
“It is to be hoped that Professor Wright’s book will be widely read; for it is well calculated to arouse interest and sympathy for a religious movement of great promise.” G. B. Smith
“The postscript on the future of religion is a fitting close to a work which is optimistic in an acceptable form. Although the author’s conception of will is very comprehensive, in the reviewer’s opinion there is hardly sufficient recognition of the great fact that will to be efficient must be directed. Reason must at least sit on the right hand of the throne. We heartily commend the book to a wide constituency.”
“The author is professor of philosophy in Lake Forest college.”
“The book is clearly written and is systematic in its presentation of its thesis. It represents real scholarship and incisive reasoning.”
WRIGHT, IRENE ALOHA.Early history of Cuba, 1492-1586; written from original sources. map*$2 (2c) Macmillan 972.91 16-23517
A work based on a study of records in the Archive of the Indies at Seville, Spain. As the introduction states, it is a “history of Cuba from its discovery by Columbus in 1492, through the year 1586, when Sir Francis Drake, in sailing along the north shore of the island after his successful raid on other Spanish settlements of the West Indies, closed the first era of the colony’s history.” Contents: Book 1, 1492-1524, Spain takes possession of Cuba; Book 2, 1524-1550, An era of stagnation; Book 3, 1550-1567, French influence; Book 4, 1567-1586, The menace of the English.
“Gives some new and interesting material and at the same time suffers some omissions from the limitation of its sources.”
“When Miss Irene Wright chose such an attractive subject, and took the trouble to study it from the original sources in Spain, it seems a pity that she has produced such a dull book. Miss Wright’s book may contain a good deal of fresh matter, but unfortunately it is unreadable.” H. P. B.
“The best chapters in the book are those dealing with Menendez de Avilés, the first truly great figure to appear in Cuban history. ... In such a book as this a map is not only desirable, but essential; and the same may be said of a list of the writers who have already worked in the field of early Cuban history.”
“Interesting, readable account.”
“Miss Wright has had the courage to explore the archive of the Indies at Seville, and haswritten this attractive and interesting book from the documents, which no one before her had studied with care.”
“Miss Wright’s book is interesting and readable throughout. ... While it is to be regretted that she did not bring her research down to a later date, the ‘Early history of Cuba’ will have lasting value for the light it throws on the development of the Spanish colonial empire.”
“Miss Wright is a journalist who has practised her profession in Havana and has by long residence in the island well qualified herself to write such a descriptive work on present-day Cuba as she published a few years ago. But the qualities which served her well in the composition of that work are not all that are needed in a more serious history based on original research among documentary materials. ... Her narrative is lacking in insight and perspective, and in that creative, or at least reconstructive, imagination which is the note of the true historian. Moreover, she handles her materials in no very scholarly fashion.”
WRIGHT, PHILIP QUINCY.Enforcement of international law through municipal law in the United States. (Studies in the social sciences) pa $1.25 Univ. of Ill 341 16-10801
“Dr Wright ... has confined himself to a study of the measures which this country has adopted to compel its citizens and others found within the confines of its jurisdiction to observe what Dr Wright calls ‘supra-national’ law. ... Throughout the book the sharp dividing line between that which is municipal and that which is international is clearly drawn. Dr Wright aims to present a study of the enforcement by the national legal machinery within the United States of those provisions which may be considered as international law. He points out that the importance of this study results from the necessity in the application of the system of ‘supra-national’ law to take action through national officials. The title of his book makes a sharp division between the rules of international law which are observed by the executive and representative branches of the government and those which are enforced by the legal machinery.”—Nation
“As to the method followed by Doctor Wright, nothing can be said in criticism of the excellent scholarship evinced throughout the monograph. The author is sure of his ground. He has a firm grasp on his law, and is careful to make only such statements as can be amply substantiated. ... It is possible to criticize the mechanical arrangement of his thesis. The scaffolding is too much in evidence. The structure is too gaunt and creaking. Such chapter headings as ‘Obligations of vindication’ and ‘Obligations of reparation’ are awkward and pedantic. But such criticism is of course of minor importance.” P. M. Brown
“The style, command of material, method of treatment, and unusual power of accurate classification will give Dr Wright’s work a high place among the numerous studies in his subject which are now appearing. His work is both original and sanely conservative.”
WRIGHT, RICHARDSON LITTLE.Russians; an interpretation.*$1.50 (2c) Stokes 914.7 17-13335
Writing shortly before the revolution in Russia the author said, “I have attempted to interpret the why and how of Russian life so that Americans can understand what their present activities presage for the future. ... There is no reason why the people of the greatest republic should not be on friendly terms with the people of the greatest autocracy. Between no two nations are there so many points of contact—what the states possess fitting so snugly into what Russia requires.” Contents: The strength of the adolescent; What is a Russian? A democracy in the making; The things he revolts against; “This is the faith of the fathers”; The moujik’s religion; The Russian as a business man; The Russian as a working man; Defining Dostoevsky and some others; The colors of the Russian palette; When Russia sings; The Russian land of promise; Russia’s manifest destinies; Russia and America.
“It is hardly necessary to add that while expatiating with an air of authority on the remote destinies of Russia, Mr. Wright overlooks the stupendous powers of revolt and reconstruction which were ripening before his very eyes in the vast Slavic cauldron.” Abraham Yarmolinsky
“Many inaccuracies also arouse the reader’s suspicion. ... Mr Wright makes a valuable comparison between the Russian and the American business man and any person cherishing the plan of engaging in trade with Russia would find it to his advantage to take his sensible and constructive suggestions to heart. ... He gives an excellent idea of the greatness and promise of Siberia and here his own personal experiences are of real value.” N. H. D.
“His style is vivid rather than literary, and his viewpoint distinctly American.”
“The work of a man who has a deep affection for the Russian people and a knowledge of the grave problems that Russia will have to face in the near future. Unfortunately, much in Mr Wright’s interesting volume has become ‘antiquated’ in view of the great strides that the country has made in the last four months.” L: S. Friedland
“The correspondent of the New York World and the London Daily Press covers a broad field, and answers more of the questions Americans are asking than do most books on Russia.”
“It is a vital fault in Mr Wright’s volume that not only does it fail to make us see a reason for the revolution, but that its spirit and context bear all against the possibility of what has actually come to pass. ... His ideas on the radical revolutionary forces in the country are positively tragic. ... He has given us something that comes very close to being a misinterpretation of the Russian people.”
“A clear, sane, and interesting as well as instructive account of a country and its people.”
“The aim of the book is to dispel false impressions and it accomplishes its object.”
Reviewed by Walter Pettit
WRIGHT, WILLARD HUNTINGTON.Creative will.*$1.50 (3c) Lane 701 16-24940
The author calls the four essays of this book “studies in the philosophy and the syntax of æsthetics.” The four essays are entitled Art and life, Problems of æsthetics, Art and the artist, Art and the individual. Mr Wright is author of a book on “Modern painting: its tendency and meaning.” It is the philosophy of the new art that he voices in this book: “The artist is an interpreter of causes, not a depicter of effects”; “The dictum that ‘art should express life’ has retarded the development of æsthetic expression more than any other”; “Art is the mouthpiece of the will of nature, namely, the complete unified intelligence of life. ... An artist’s mind in the act of creating, is only an outlet of that intelligence.”
“A little more science and a little more philosophy would have given us a work of more catholic sympathy without abandoning the general position which Mr Wright so ably constructs.”
“The æsthetic of mass, which has been variously developed by Guyau, Hildebrandt, Lipps, and Berenson, receives its most effective literary presentation in this new book. ... Mr Wright’s style has pulse and drive enough to carry along a good deal that is crabbed in vocabulary. He is always honest and clear, and but seldom careless. His robust intellectualism deserves admiration, however much his particular theories may provoke dissent. To read him is to sharpen one’s own thinking. ... I suppose the unsteadiness of the impression Mr Wright’s argument makes, is due to the fact that he has built up upon a flimsy foundation a well-ordered and over elaborate structure. He is at all points very far from life, of which art is after all an expression, and his miraculously poised card house does not look habitable. In building it, however, he has displayed rare ingenuity.” F. J. Mather, jr.
“The book is not without its sound teachings; as, for instance, in parts of Aphorisms 27, 138, 150, and 179; but it also contains a number of misleading statements which point to a lack of historical research on the part of the author. ... No one can fail to discover that Mr Wright is in dead earnest; but, after reading his book carefully, we cannot advise the public to take him too seriously at the present stage of his development.”
“Once Mr Wright wrote a book called ‘What Nietzsche taught,’ but he neglected to learn one of that philosopher’s most pungent lessons, which was, not to attempt a volume of metaphysical epigrams unless you are a genius. ... One demands always the just, always the keen and vivid insight. And in ‘The creative will’ the supply is pitifully inadequate to the demand. It is mostly will, and very little creation.” H. S.
WRIGHT, WILLARD HUNTINGTON.Misinforming a nation.*$1.25 (2½c) Huebsch 032 17-13756
A critical examination of the Encyclopædia Britannica. In his first chapter, Colonizing America, the author contends that American thought is shaped by British influence. Cut off from contact with other European nations by unfamiliarity with any language other than English, and unsure of ourselves, we have slavishly imitated England. “We have de-Americanized ourselves to such an extent that there has grown up in us a typical British contempt for our own native achievements.” In particular is the Encyclopædia Britannica held responsible. “Taken as a whole, the Britannica’s divisions on culture are little more than a brief for British art and science,” says the author. Chapters on The novel, The drama, Poetry, British painting, etc., are given up to an examination of the Britannica’s treatment of these subjects. At the close there is a list of Two hundred omissions.
“Mr Wright’s book, as a pamphlet against a long-established literary institution, gets to be rather wearying and irritating. ... So good a book ought not to produce such an effect. I suggest that it be read in a different spirit from that in which it is written, and that it be made to serve a different purpose. Let it be thoroughly indexed and annotated, and used as a little ‘Encyclopædia moderna’ (if such Latin will pass), concerned altogether with current movements and latter-day personalities.” H: B. Fuller
“Certainly, a work of the proportions of the encyclopedia in spite of the most earnest efforts of those in charge, would have its defects in omission and commission. But to the ordinary reader it seems a little bit unnecessary to fly into a rage over these errors, and thus mar what would otherwise be a very important critical study.”
“The confusion of thought, the mixed metaphor, the affectation of needless and banal French words, the spiteful and shallow temper shown in the brief citation we have made pervade the book.”
“Written in the spirit of an attack rather than a judicial examination. The overwhelming merits of the work are largely ignored. ... Mr Wright misrepresents the book which he is examining. For instance, he gives a list of 200 Americans whose biographies do not appear in the Britannica. But he does not state that practically all these Americans are considered under the subjects in which, if at all, they have attained distinction.”
WYATT, EDITH FRANKLIN.Great companions.*$1.50 (2c) Appleton 814 17-7484
Essays reprinted from the North American Review, the Chicago Tribune, the Little Review, Poetry, and other periodicals. Most of them are literary studies. The author of Robinson Crusoe, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Some unpopular parodies, With Walt Whitman in Camden, James Whitcomb Riley, Brontë poems, Shelley in his letters, are some of the titles. Among the remaining essays are a few possessing a wider interest, altho these too have a literary point of departure. “Nonsense about women” is a comment on the Fiona MacLeod-William Sharp problem. “An autobiography of American farm women” is a study of the series of letters from farm women published by the Department of agriculture.
“Shows delightful intimacy and sound critical judgment. The sense of the writer’s personality, while not at all intrusive, adds a flavor to the essays.”
“As a ‘tonic,’ ‘Great companions’ can certainly be recommended, for it contains something sufficiently rare: independent and, at the same time, cheerful thought about what we have done in literature and what we are likely to do.”
“To make a book of such a miscellany of topics requires the sustained application of general ideas or the pervasive cement of personality. In this case there is not enough of either element to produce much impression of coherence. Where temperament appears, however, it is bright, cheery, and gently adventurous. And here and there Miss Wyatt turns up an idea fit for the central thesis of a book.”
“Miss Wyatt has read Americans with particular responsiveness, deeply feeling the privilege of America, the chance our democracy has given us so far, and the beauty of the vastness of our plains and forests.” E. B.
“It is interesting throughout, and it is marked by a freshness and briskness which—added to the carefulness of its study—give it a great deal of charm.”
“It is with this constant bias toward sensitive and beautiful indication that Miss Wyatt discriminates the human and spiritual values of her subject-matter. ... That is her special and precious contribution. We are aware of no one else in America today who can interpret imaginative creation out of a fuller understanding of those things which are efficacious ‘in making men wiser, better, and happier’: who can speak of them with equal insight, rectitude, and beauty.” Lawrence Gilman
“She has the faculty of making all her literary friends appear worth a further acquaintance.”
WYATT, EDITH FRANKLIN.Wind in the corn, and other poems.*$1 Appleton 811 17-29996
A volume of lyrics, collected from the author’s writings of the past ten or more years. She offers them now as an attempt to express something of the American dream of democracy. They are an expression of “some of the overland ways of the living presence of our country,” the author believing that one of the most important elements in our common background is a “consciousness of movement over a variety of country.” Among the poems in which this “overland” element is prominent are: Wind in the corn; To a river god; Niagara; Winter wheat; On the great plateau; November in the city; An Arizona wind; A city equinoctial.
“There is more romance in these poems than at first appears on the surface, but it is the romance of the spirit rather than place or incident. Simple and direct as is the language of these poems, they are richly suggestive of life with fulness of dream and aspiration. With a peculiar gift of visualization Miss Wyatt makes one see what she does not figuratively put into her verse.” W. S. B.
“Miss Wyatt derives a genuine inspiration from her country both as a nation and a geographical expression. She really has captured something of its thoughts and moods, its variety and manifold poetry. ... In ‘November in the city’ rings a deeper and more vibrant music, with a universality and insight that mark it from her other poems.” M. T.
“A free and buoyant spirit breathes through the swinging lines, a keen joy in what is seen and felt, a realization of what is worth while and permanent.”
WYMOND, MARK.Government partnership in railroads. $1.50 (3c) Wymond & Clark 385 17-6654
The author’s purpose is to propose a constructive railroad policy to replace present attempts at regulation and to forestall government ownership. The main points of his plan are: to expand the present Interstate commerce commission by the creation of eight district commissions; to grant the railroads representation on these commissions, and to have the government guarantee interest and dividends. Contents: Our transportation problem; The sins of regulation; Sins of the railroads; A constructive railroad policy; Government ownership of railroads.
“Mr Wymond’s proposal is an interesting one, but does not come with the force that might possibly have marked it if his discussion had been of a broader character. The discriminating reader is left in doubt as to the extent to which he can rely upon the author’s guidance.” E. R. Dewsnup
“Mr Wymond is a good spokesman for the railroads, assuming, what seems to be true, that he represents them with his solution of the troublesome plan of railway regulation—much in the same unofficial way that he represented them with his earlier book, ‘Railroad valuation and rates.’ Mr Wymond’s candid and quiet statements will gain a wider hearing, in spite of his obvious leanings, than the once familiar broadside loaded with bombast and exaggeration.”
Railway Review p539 Ap 14 ‘17
“It is not likely that his plan will be accepted by the managers. But it cannot be called visionary, for it merely provides a possible synthesis of forces existing in society and applies principles that are already accepted in theory. One may make this acknowledgment without yielding full assent to this particular plan of Mr Wymond’s, which, however, is worthy of consideration. The question of railway credit and the desirability of doing away with the anomalies of the present system of regulation demand constructive thinking.”