These essays are portions of two presidential addresses delivered to the British academy, June, 1915 and July, 1916. “Among the topics considered are the vast range and extent of the war, its immense influence upon neutral nations, the changes in the methods of war, the cost, the moral issues raised, the effect in each nation upon the whole body of the people, ... the shock given to the rules of international law, the chief causes of war in the past, the question whether international machinery can be contrived ‘calculated to reduce the strength of the forces that make for war and to strengthen those that make for peace.’ He indicates some of the difficulties to be surmounted, but believes that there is much to be hoped from the creation of ... an international mind, and of an international public opinion.” (Ath)
“Lord Bryce’s two presidential addresses are deliberately written in a spirit of detachment. ... The second address contains some acute criticisms upon plans for a federation, or league of nations.” M. J.
BRYCE, JAMES BRYCE, viscount.Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman empire, 1915-1916; documents presented to Viscount Grey.*$1 Putnam 956 17-2893
“The collection is made from a great variety of reliable sources including American consuls and missionaries, German travelers and missionaries, Danish Red cross workers, Swiss visitors, native teachers, pastors and other religiousleaders. It is a terrible mass of conclusive evidence pointing to the perpetration of the foulest crime ever committed against a defenseless people.”—Ind
“If the reader is sickened by the dreadful reiteration of horrors, of torture and murder and mutilation, of outrage and burning, of the sufferings of starving women forced to march on under a blazing sun when the pains of labour were on them, let him not fail to read Mr Toynbee’s admirable historical retrospect of Armenia and his review of the antecedents and procedure of the deportation policy.”
BRYCE, JAMES BRYCE, viscount, and others.Proposals for the prevention of future wars.*1s Allen & Unwin, London 341.1 (Eng ed 17-22062)
“This is a draft scheme for an international alliance to keep the peace. It differs from the League of nations society’s programme in not asking the Allies to enforce an arbitrator’s award, and from the programme of the American League to enforce peace in requiring the Allies to deal with aggression by a non-Ally as well as by one of their number.”—Spec
“The proposals are reasonably modest and admittedly deal only with a part of the problem. They are concerned only with international disputes and with the means of preventing international wars. ... They are sound enough so far as they go, but the motor will not move without its petrol; and it is the spirit which is difficult to obtain.”
BRYCE, JAMES BRYCE, viscount, and others.War of democracy.*$2 (2c) Doubleday 940.91 17-8205
A collection of papers on the war from the standpoint of the Allies. Lord Bryce in his introduction says: “The present war differs from all that have gone before it not only in its vast scale and in the volume of misery it has brought upon the world, but also in the fact that it is a war of principles, and a war in which the permanent interests, not merely of the belligerent powers but of all nations, are involved as such interests were never involved before. ... This war of principles is a war not only for the vindication of international right, for the faith of treaties, for the protection of the innocent, but also for liberty.” Among those who contribute to the book are: Lord Haldane, Gilbert Murray, Arthur J. Balfour, G. M. Trevelyan, Viscount Grey of Falloden (Sir Edward Grey), and M. Maurice Barrès.
“Mr Balfour’s discussion of naval questions comes no nearer to our time than the summer of 1915, and this fact suggests the most obvious comment upon this whole volume. It is not keyed to the present moment. It meets no present vital need. The volume entitled ‘The war and democracy,’ which Messrs Seton-Watson, Wilson, Zimmern, and Greenwood published in 1915, is incomparably superior to this one.” C. H. Levermore
“A notable collection of articles, addresses, interviews, and documents.”
“Mr Fisher’s discussion of the value of small states is an historical analysis of permanent importance. ... The temper of the book is admirable in its moderation and its calm common sense. It is greatly to be hoped that this collection is only the first of a series which will winnow from the immense mass of pamphlets some, at any rate, of those which have more than a momentary importance.” H. J. Laski
“‘The war of democracy’ was written for American consumption and was put together with the avowed purpose of influencing American opinion. As America made up its mind definitively at the very hour of the book’s publication, many of the articles, addresses, and interviews so carefully selected by the editor are rather belated. A few of the articles, however, are of permanent value.”
“Perhaps the article which most needs to be read by Americans is the one on ‘Economic Germany,’ in which Henri Hauser discusses German industry as a factor making for war. For he lays bare developments, conditions, purposes that are as much a menace to the harmony and well-being of the world as is Prussian militarism.”
“Includes some of the great speeches of the war period.”
BUBNOFF, I. V.Co-operative movement in Russia; its history, significance, and character. il $1.25 M. Fainberg, 309 Broadway, N.Y. (Co-operative printing society, Manchester, England) 334 17-30589
The author shows that cooperation has gained a firm footing among the Russian peasantry, and that the European war has given a prodigious stimulus to the movement. He begins with a sketch of agriculture from the abolition of serfdom in 1861, and tells of the help furnished the peasants by the zemstvos and by agricultural societies, whose work is mainly instructional while economic functions are discharged by the artels for production, consumers’ societies for distribution, and credit banks for finance. Consumers’ societies, we are told, between 1905 and 1917 have multiplied from 1,000 to 20,000 and credit and loan associations from 1,434 to 16,057.
“The book evidently contains authentic matter prepared by one thoroughly familiar with the subject at first hand.” Herman Kobbe
“Mr Bubnoff says nothing about the political or industrial side, but his account of the cooperative movement reveals so much capacity for organization, self-help, and practical action among the peasantry and industrial classes of Russia that current events become much more intelligible in the light of it. ... His book is a compact statement of facts with sufficient explanatory comment to make clear the character of cooperation in Russia and its various ramifications. It is a valuable addition to the library of cooperative literature.”
BUCHAN, JOHN.Battle of the Somme. il*$1.50 (2c) Doran (1s Nelson, London) 940.91 17-14221
The main purpose of the allied forces at the Somme, says the author, was “to exercise a steady and continued pressure on a certain section of the enemy’s front.” Subsidiary aims were to ease the pressure on Verdun and to prevent the transference of large bodies of German troops from the western to the eastern front. He gives a somewhat detailed account of the entire campaign, dividing it into four stages. The book is illustrated and well supplied with maps.
“Contains two appendixes: 1, Sir Douglas Haig’s second dispatch; 2, General Sixt von Armin’s report.”
“A most lucid and instructive account with not a few fine touches; it is also marked by the admirable balance that places Mr Buchan above most war historians and chroniclers of these days.”
“Mr Buchan’s book is a recital of the field moves of an army all told in a calm, clear way and without passion. Then at intervals it gathers up its momentum of dispassion, its inertia of facts, and in some supreme and succinct statement of fact carries the reader to a conclusion that creates emotion. It is his reticence that gives one additional confidence in the sequence of his facts.”
“His style is simple narrative with the accent of true English restraint.”
“Written with the fervour and simple straight patriotism we expect from Mr Buchan. ... Here is the right blend of emotion and of sturdy common sense.”
“Its main concern is to give a semitechnical account, which he succeeds admirably in doing, thanks in great measure to the ample number of maps with which the book is supplied, and which appear at sufficiently frequent intervals to make the text entirely comprehensible. ... Mr Buchan’s qualifications for his task are attested by his recent appointment as director of publicity in Great Britain.”
“This is a timely narrative, very well illustrated.”
BUCHAN, JOHN.Greenmantle.*$1.35 (1c) Doran 17-20424
Richard Hannay, hero of the author’s first novel, “The thirty-nine steps,” is made the central figure in this war story. Hannay, who has been made a major in England’s new army, is summoned to the foreign office and entrusted with an important mission. He is to investigate the sources of a “jehad” (holy war) said to be organizing in the East. With three companions he gets into Germany, and out again. He then goes to Constantinople, and there finds what he is seeking, the woman who is the chief agent in fomenting rebellion in India.
“An absorbing adventure story, not a series of ‘movie’ thrills but clean cut, sustained excitement.”
“Mr Buchan has given us another novel, not only of vivid interest, but one which visualizes certain phases of the world war as only a book of its kind can.” F. B.
“Although (or perhaps because) it is not a realistic war story, the book is a great favorite with convalescent readers at the base hospitals, and the fact that the author wrote it while in active service accounts for the vividness of some of its details.”
“There is no instruction in the book. ... You will just be thrilled—as Cooper thrilled you with his Mohicans and Dumas with his Musketeers. You will arise refreshed from the contemplation of great exploits greatly performed. And next day’s business will seem the brighter because for one short evening you have held commune with the impossible.” H. J. L.
“A story full of spirit and swing and high heroism. It is very much better than either of its author’s two previous novels, successful and interesting as were both those books.”
“This is the longest of the sensational romances that Mr Buchan has given us since the outbreak of the war. It is also the most exciting and in our opinion the best.”
BUCHAN, JOHN.[2]Nelson’s history of the war; with preface by the Earl of Rosebery. v 14-17 maps ea*60c Nelson 940.91 (War15-86)
Volumes 1 to 13 were published in 1916. In volume 14 Mr Buchan “begins with General Townshend’s surrender, writes of the war in the Levant, of the Russian front, of the battle of Jutland, of Italy’s part, and ends on the second battle of Verdun.” (N Y Times) Volume 15 deals with Brussilov’s offensive and the intervention of Rumania. “The sixteenth volume is devoted entirely to the battle of the Somme. That great achievement is described in five chapters, the first of which is concerned with preliminaries. The appendixes contain Sir Douglas Haig’s second dispatch, and General Sixt von Armin’s report describing experiences of the 4th German corps during July, 1916.” (Ath) “The two main episodes of the seventeenth instalment are the brilliant opening and the disastrous sequel of Roumania’s campaign, and the heroic advance of the French at Verdun.” (Ath)
“Mr Buchan’s account of the great sea-fight is a masterpiece of clear and sober narrative.”
“Lieut.-Col. Buchan continues, with the same mastery of detail and incisive style, to convert yesterday’s news into intelligible history. It would facilitate reference if the year, as well as the month and day, of the event recorded were printed oftener in the margin.”
“He handles the intricacies of the Balkans with the same quiet clearness that marks his treatment of the attacks on Verdun.”
“The most striking portion of the work is the lucid account of the battle of Jutland, which is described with an exemplary grasp of essentials. There are several diagrams.”
BUCHAN, JOHN.Salute to adventurers.*$1.35 (1½c) Doran 17-26974
Altho the story opens in Scotland, its scene changes shortly to Virginia. Young Andrew Garvald goes out to the colonies to engage in trade. His business takes him far away from Jamestown and the tidewater, back into the interior of the country, where he learns more of true conditions than the governor or the young gallants of his train will believe. The sudden outbreak of the Indians does not come to him without warning, and because of this he is able to rescue Elspeth Blair and win the reward of which he had dreamed ever since his first meeting with the girl in Scotland years before.
“Good of its type, but not as good as ‘Greenmantle.’”
“It is a colorful tale, this, with plenty of action and ingenuity and interest, but it does not rank for a moment with ‘Greenmantle,’ either in its characters, its setting, or its plot.”
“With its strong Scotch flavor and its tang of hazardous events, the book smacks strongly of Stevenson. ... Unfortunately, Mr Buchan is open to the criticism of which most prolific writers are deserving. His historical facts and background are not accurate. ... But, afterall, the story’s the thing, and inaccuracies of this sort are unimportant in so gripping and adventurous a yarn.”
BUCHANAN, FLORENCE.Home crafts of today and yesterday. (Harper’s home economics) il*$1 (2½c) Harper 640 17-16903
The author is instructor in handwork in the School of household science and arts, Pratt institute, Brooklyn. “The woman who longs to try something new but feels a bit vague about beginning will find [here] the what, the where, and the how for a variety of crafts. Emphasis is placed on the start rather than on detailing the technical processes, but enough of the latter is always given along with explanatory diagrams to guide a beginner through the piece of work.” (Preface) Linen, chair-caning, basket-planning, dyeing materials for and making rugs, weaving, painting and batik dyeing are among the subjects considered.
“Practical book for the home keeper who wishes suggestions for many kinds of handiwork.”
BUCHANAN, JOHN YOUNG.Comptes rendusof observation and reasoning. il*$2.25 Putnam 504 (Eng ed 17-18064)
A collection of scientific papers. The author says, “As the title of this volume indicates, the book consists of ‘accounts rendered’ of work done at different times, in different places and on different subjects.” Among the subjects with dates of first publication are: Recent Antarctic exploration (1906); On ice and brines (1887); On steam and brines (1899); The size of the ice-grains in glaciers (1901); Ice and its natural history (1909); On the use of the globe in the study of crystallography (1895); Solar radiation (1901). Some of these are republished from the Proceedings of the Royal society, others from magazines and newspapers.
“Mr Buchanan is a believer in original research in the full significance of the words, including originality in methods and point of view, as well as in the subject dealt with. Unlike his former volume of collected oceanographical papers, this collection consists of a selection on many subjects, scientific and popular, several reproduced from the pages of Nature. ... The memoirs themselves form solid and informing reading for students; but they are rendered entertaining by the extraordinarily copious analytical table of contents, which occupies thirty pages.” H. R. M.
“A prospective reader who opens this book at the beginning will find a rather dull account of Antarctic exploration as it stood in 1905, with a reprint of chemical and physical notes for the use of explorers, which, however important for their particular purpose, are likely to bore the layman. If he then turns impatiently to the end, he will find some elementary remarks on such fundamental topics as the ‘power of Great Britain’ or the ‘House of commons,’ and he may then lay the book aside. But if he has the good luck to open it in the middle, he will probably turn over a good many pages with pleasure and profit; for Mr Buchanan has some interesting and important things to say on a fascinating topic, which makes it the more aggravating that they are presented in so unnecessarily unattractive a guise.”
BUCK, ALBERT HENRY.Growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800. il*$5 Yale univ. press 610.9 17-5568
“As Dr Buck has chronicled them, there are nine periods in the history of medicine. They are: Primitive medicine to be reckoned by thousands of years; the medicine of the East by which we possess only a fragmentary knowledge; the medicine of the classical period of antiquity; that of the Hippocratic writings which in Greece was the most flourishing period; the period during which the greatest intellectual activity was at Alexandria, Egypt; the medicine of Galen whose searching profoundly influenced the thought and practice of one whole civilized world of medicine up to our seventeenth century; the medicine of the middle ages; the medicine of the renaissance which brought adoption of dissection, the only effective method of studying anatomy; and modern medicine, in two periods, the first to about 1775. The second Dr Buck does not attempt to cover.” (Boston Transcript) “The author is consulting aural surgeon of the New York eye and ear infirmary.” (St Louis)
“Especially interesting are the chapters on Oriental medicine, The Arab renaissance, and The advance of surgery during medieval times.”
“The book is not intended for the student of medical history, but for the physician who wishes to become acquainted with the essential phases of that earlier medicine upon which his own theory and practice had been built.”
“Not overburdened with detail, but presents the important facts in an attractive manner.”
“Throughout the volume the reader is impressed by the clearness of Prof. Buck’s expression and by the overwhelming mass of facts that have been interestingly assembled.”
“An interesting and thought-provoking volume is this, when the material might easily have been treated as technical and specialized. The history has a social message and this not for the doctor only, but for every one who watches with interest all progress of matters medical.” G. S.
“Dr Buck claims nothing which is not his own, and credit to authorities is honestly and fairly rendered, wherever due, without the encumbrance of footnotes. The book is printed in beautiful style.” F. H. Garrison
BUCKROSE, J. E., pseud. (MRS ANNIE EDITH [FOSTER] JAMESON). Matchmakers.*$1.35 (1½c) Doran 16-21706
Peggy, daughter of the rector of Little Pendleton, is the heroine of this story of English village life. Little Pendleton doesn’t always approve of Peggy, but it has her best interests at heart and wants above all to see her make a good match. All the village stands back of the squire in his wooing, but Peggy takes the matter into her own hands, and altho the village is flouted in its aims it isn’t crestfallen. It turns squarely about and takes credit to itself for the success of Peggy’s marriage with young Charley Tremaine. Peggy’s father, the impractical rector, is made a very lovable figure, and the whole story is told with quiet humor.
“Our greatest quarrel with the story lies in the arbitrary way in which the author has surmounted her difficulties in the end. It quite offends our sense of good story telling that with a good situation, instead of finding a way out of it, she should so arbitrarily go around it.”
“A genial, placid portrayal of village life which never excites, but equally never bores and never offends.”
BULLARD, ARTHUR.Mobilising America.*50c (2½c) Macmillan 355.7 17-10363
The author, having spent much time in France and England during the war, had begun to collect data for a book on “How democracies mobilise.” Some of the main points on the subject are summarised in this small book. He says, “I am not considering the ethics of war, nor the advisability of our participation in the present struggle. I accept the fact that we have decided to fight and I try to show how the experiences of other democracies can teach us the way to do it efficiently.” (Preface) Contents: America goes to war; Democracies as fighting machines; The mobilisation of public opinion; The mobilisation of industry; The mobilisation of men; A programme.
“His book has the endorsement of a long list of prominent editors and authors, and of the conference committee of national preparedness.”
“This is a tiny volume, but it is worth the intelligent perusal of every American citizen. It is sane, thoughtful and constructive. It would be of particular value in any course in government given at our American colleges.” D. F. G.
“One can only hope that the sanity and helpfulness of Mr Bullard’s fertile suggestions will not be lost in the maze of Washington officialdom.” H. S.
“Offers many of the practical suggestions which have since come from the visiting French and English commissions as how best to mobilize and conduct the war.”
BULLITT, MRS ERNESTA DRINKER.Uncensored diary; from the central empires.*$1.25 (3c) Doubleday 940.91 17-10878
A diary written, the author says, for her great grandchildren, not for publication. She was in Germany with her husband, a newspaper correspondent, in the summer of 1916. A short trip to Belgium and one into Austria-Hungary are recorded in the diary, but it is concerned for the most part with her experiences in Germany. It forms one of the very small number of books which tell us anything of what is going on within the German empire. Informal interviews and conversations with important officials, among them Von Bissing and Zimmermann, are reported, but of no less interest are the accounts of what German women are doing. The book also throws some light on the methods by which Germany is attempting to conserve her child life during war.
“The book is markedly good on two counts: It is written with freshness, with cleverness and wholesomeness and real personal charm; and it has things of actual interest and importance to say.”
BULLOCK, EDNA DEAN, comp. Selected articles on single tax; 2d ed., rev. and enl. by Julia E. Johnsen. (Debaters’ handbook ser.)*$1.25 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 336.2 18-397
“Since the first publication of the Single tax handbook a fairly large bibliography on the subject has become available, references to which are included in this revised edition. The handbook is brought down to date by the inclusion of late reprints in the concluding pages, and by a revision and enlargement of the bibliography and brief.” (Explanatory note) The first edition, compiled by Edna D. Bullock, was published in 1914. The second edition has been prepared by Julia E. Johnsen.
BÜLOW, BERNHARD HEINRICH MARTIN KARL, fürst von.Imperial Germany; tr. by Marie A. Lewenz. new and rev ed il*$2 (2c) Dodd 943 (17-5549)
This book was first published in Germany as a section in an important general work compiled to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of the Emperor William II. A revised edition was separately published in Germany in 1916. The first edition in English was reviewed in the Digest for 1914. “More than one-half of the letterpress of the original volume has been re-written, ... and the new passages are indicated by brackets. The introduction by Prince Bülow is entirely new, and so are the two chapters on Militarism and the chapter on the Social Democrats, and the latter part of the Conclusion.” (Publishers’ note) An illuminating foreword of twenty-eight pages is by J. W. Headlam, who speaks of the book as “largely a defence and apology of von Bülow’s own action during the years he had held office (1897-1909), and an exposition of the principles by which he had been guided.”
“One dollar cheaper than the first edition (Booklist 10:384 Je ‘14).”
“It is admirably translated. ... Written as it is by one who, with the single exception of the German emperor, is more responsible than any other man for the present catastrophe, it is little less than a public duty for everyone who wishes adequately to understand the present situation to read it. ... Prince Bülow’s whole conception of international relations is based upon the terrible chimera of the balance of power, and he obviously considers concerted European action of any kind a fantastic dream. ... Such was the attitude of Prince Bülow in 1913. The tragedy of this new edition is the fact that not even the terrible experience of the last three years has led him to modify a single conclusion.” H. J. Laski
Reviewed by W. C. Abbott
BUNNER, HENRY CUYLER.Poems of H. C. Bunner. new ed il*$2 Scribner 811 17-24881
H. C. Bunner, former editor of Puck, died in 1896. Lately there has arisen a steady demand for his writings, which resulted in the publication, about a year ago, of a new edition of his stories, now followed by his collected poems. “In the present volume are included the contents of the two books of verse he published during his lifetime, ‘Airs from Arcady’ in 1884, and ‘Rowen’ in 1892, and also a selection from the ‘Ballads of the town’ (which he had been contributing to Puck for half-a-dozen years), together with a few of his later lyrics and the ... lines read before the Army of the Potomac at New London in 1895.” (Introd.)
“‘It is perhaps as a poet,’ writes Brander Matthews in his introduction to this edition, ‘that the author of “Airs from Arcady” is likely longest to be remembered; it is as a poet that he would have chosen to be cherished in men’s memories.’ And his verse met with the same good fortune that befell his fiction; it pleased both the critical and the uncritical. ... Bunner’sname stands for the light, delicate and whimsical. His work in prose and verse is alike beloved for its charm. ... Among the more serious poems is one, ‘Bismarck soliloquizes,’ which is a most fitting expression of men’s thoughts today; indeed, nothing more vigorous and condemning has been written by any contemporary poet on the iniquitous system of German autocracy than this poem of Bunner’s—written a quarter of a century ago.” W. S. B.
“Great metrical accomplishment is in these poems. There is such variety in the themes as would be expected of the poet who is also a journalist. Invention often flies on humor’s wing. ... It is a happy sign that the present hour is willing to turn back for inspiration and fine and perfect examples of the lighter lyrical art to the day before yesterday.”
BUNNER, HENRY CUYLER.Stories.2v il ea*$1.35 (2c) Scribner