“In ignoring the separate treatment of cross sections of human experience and action, and in compassing the sphere of man’s whole human environment, this text-book is distinctive. The book is noteworthy for its inclusion and very direct dealing with so many pressing phases of present social development. Its references and supplementary readings, together with a good index, add to its value.” Graham Taylor
FALES, JANE.Dressmaking; a manual for schools and colleges. il*$1.50 Scribner 646 17-1600
“Part 1 presents the development of costume from the standpoint of history and design. Part 2 considers the materials which are used in dressmaking, and discusses the economic value of various fibers and fabrics. Part 3 treats design and technique in pattern-making and dressmaking.”—School R
“Contains more material on costume and on textile manufacture than Baldt’s ‘Clothing for women,’ and less instruction on the more elementary details of garment construction. Both books have much material on pattern drafting and the use of commercial paper patterns. An unusually complete bibliography and index add to the usefulness of the book.”
“Will be valuable to home dressmakers as well as to class students.”
“The author is director of the department of textiles and clothing in Teachers college, Columbia university.”
“The text is a distinct acquisition to the literature of home economics.”
FALL, DELOS.Science for beginners. (New-world science ser.) il $1.20 (1c) World bk. co. 502
A first book in general science intended for intermediate schools and junior high schools. It is based on the principle that, to gain the best results, the pupil must collect his own material and learn to draw his own conclusions. “The teacher is asked to keep in mind that the chief purpose of this book is not to give the pupils a large amount of information, but rather to introduce them to a method through the use of which they will acquire the habit of gaining information for themselves.” (Preface) The first chapter discusses Science and the scientific method; the second, What the young scientist must learn to do. These are followed by chapters on: Matter and its forms; Some properties of matter; Changes in matter; Oxygen: the active element; Hydrogen and its compounds; A study of water, etc. The author, now professor of chemistry in Albion college, was formerly state superintendent of public instruction in Michigan.
“The first half of this volume treats of elementary chemistry, the latter part of elementary physics. There is a smattering of biological material treated from the standpoint of chemistry. Chapter nineteen, on ‘The potato,’ is the only one with a title suggestive of living things. The book has many good features. It attempts drill in the scientific method of thinking, and some of the exercises are in problem form, though most of them are demonstrations of facts stated in the text and afford little opportunity for reflective thinking. The book impresses one as an attempt on the part of an enthusiastic chemist to pre-empt some time in the first year science for his favorite subject.”
Fall of the Romanoffs.[2]il*$5 Dutton 947 (Eng ed 18-540)
“This new volume, by the anonymous author of the remarkably opportune ‘Russian court memoirs, 1914-16,’ published last March on the morrow of the revolution, purports to show how the ex-Empress and Rasputin between them were responsible for the downfall of the autocracy.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) “Believing that the weakness of the Czar and the evil influence of the Czarina made the downfall of the royal family inevitable, the writer still holds that a greater effort should have been made to avoid actual abdication, and that even if the Romanoffs themselves were banished a reformed monarchy would be the proper and wise form of government for Russia. ... The writer deplores the fall of Milukoff and laments the rise of the Social Democrats with Kerensky—although expressing admiration of that leader himself.” (N Y Times)
“Written frankly from the monarchist’s point of view, the book offers none the less most interesting information, and no little food for thought. The book devotes a good deal of space to the recital of superstitions, and it is impossible to avoid suspicion that the anonymous author is markedly prejudiced. No one could call the volume authoritative. But it is exceedingly interesting from beginning to end.”
FALLON, JOHN TIERNAN, ed.[2]How to make concrete garden furniture and accessories. il*$1.50 (5c) McBride 693 17-17213
The preface traces the history of concrete as a building material, showing that its use dates from early antiquity. The seven chapters of the book are devoted to: The selection and testing of material; How to proportion and mix the materials; Making forms and placing the concrete; How to make garden walks, steps and other simple utilities; How to make sundials, benches and swimming pools; Bird baths, lanterns, pottery and water gardens; Making concrete garden frames and garden rollers. There are nineteen half-tone plates and numerous illustrations in the text.
“Deals in general with more elaborate construction than most other books on the subject.”
FALLS, DE WITT CLINTON.Army and navy information. il*$1 Dutton 355 17-29353
The author, an officer of the New York national guard, has brought together information relating to the uniforms, organization, arms and equipment of the warring powers. The book is illustrated with six colored plates and thirty line cuts by the author.
“This timely and useful little reference book is something no one can afford to do without today.”
“As a handy reference, this book will be found serviceable to civilians as well as soldiers, and all those who write about the war.”
FANNING, CLARA ELIZABETH, comp. Selected articles on capital punishment. (Debaters’ handbook ser.) 3d and rev ed*$1.25 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 016.343 17-12266
This is the third edition of a debaters’ handbook published first in 1909. The second edition was issued in 1913. The explanatory note says, “The third edition varies from the second in two parts. The bibliography has had references inserted in all its divisions to bring it up to date. New pages have been added at the end of the book with selected articles grouped as general, affirmative and negative. Since the arguments have undergone no material change in three years, the chief service of this section is in making accessible several magazine articles and pamphlets not found in the average library.”
FARIS, JOHN THOMSON.Old roads out of Philadelphia. il*$4 Lippincott 917.48 17-28890
“It would be hard to find anywhere in America roads richer in historical interest than those that lead out from Philadelphia, and John T. Faris in his book has told the story of them well. He takes his readers along the King’s highway to Wilmington, over the Baltimore turnpike, the Gulph road, the turnpikes to Westchester and Lancaster, the old Germantown road, the road to Bethlehem, the Ridge road to Perkiomen, the old York road, and that to Bristol and Trenton. On each one he tells about the famous historical events that happened along its way, the important men and women who have traversed it, points out the features of local interest both now and during former times, and mentions its beauties of landscape.” (N Y Times) “A photographer went with him on many of his journeys of exploration, providing the illustrations, one hundred and seventeen in number, which accompany the text.” (Lit D)
“So far as relates to the eleven roads and their surroundings, Mr Faris has done his work well. The writer of this review has lived in part of this territory since his boyhood and can testify to the substantial accuracy and, in general, the judiciousness of the selection of material for his descriptions.” I: Sharpless
“With much curious lore has the subject been enriched, showing diligence and no little original research in the treatment.”
“The book will add immensely to the pleasure and interest of Philadelphians who motor and walk in the neighborhood of their city, and it will have its appeal also for lovers of the historical and the picturesque everywhere.”
“A good companion volume to Mr Lippincott’s book [’Early Philadelphia’].”
“There are many pleasant discoveries for the traveler along these roads out of Philadelphia with Mr Faris as guide.”
FARMER, FRANK MALCOLM.Electrical measurements in practice. il*$4 McGraw 537.7 17-17201
“The author is the head of one of the best-known commercial testing staffs in the country, and throughout the book the topics are presented from the practical standpoint of the tester. Descriptions of instruments and methods of employment alternate.” (Engin News-Rec) “The book is divided into sixteen chapters dealing with the following subjects: Introductory, galvanometers, continuous emf. measurements, continuous-current measurements, alternating emf. measurements, alternating-current measurements, resistance reactance and impedance measurements, power measurements, energy measurements, maximum-demand instruments, inductance measurements, capacitance measurements, frequency and slip measurements, wave-form determinations, magnetic measurements, curve-drawing instruments.” (Elec World) The book has 230 illustrations and diagrams.
“Mr Farmer’s descriptions are concise and clear, but he does not compare the several methods of making any one of the numerous electrical measurements as fully as might be desired. The book will, however, be useful to anyone who has electrical testing to do, in furnishing him with several practical plans for making any desired measurement.”
“This is an excellent and timely text and reference book on electrical measurements from the industrial viewpoint. There are various excellent treatises available on the principles and physical relations of electrical measurements, but there are very few which deal with electrical measurements as they have to be made in electrical engineering laboratories for the purposes of the industry. ... The treatment is clear, thorough, practical and up to date. The chapter on maximum demand instruments is particularly timely.”
“The particular audience addressed by Mr Farmer is of course largely composed of electrical engineers. But his book is of considerable use in the libraries of a larger group of engineers, particularly those dealing with hydroelectric work, because ultimately the performance of their generating and transmission installations have to be tested by well-tried instruments and practices of the electrical test laboratory, more or less modified to suit field conditions. ... The sections on power and energy measurements and on maximum-demand and curve-drawing instruments are of conspicuous merit.”
FARNOL, JEFFERY.Definite object; a romance of New York.il*$1.50 (1½c) Little 17-15972
Geoffrey Ravenslee was suffering from the boredom of too much money. Life offered him a variety of diversions but no definite object. A young amateur burglar, attempting to break into his house, brings the needed change. Geoffrey decides that instead of turning young Spike over to the authorities, he will accompany him to his home in lower New York and see something of life from another angle. He finds all that he has been looking for,—adventure, of course, and with it romance; for Spike, the would-be burglar, proves to be the adored younger brother of a very lovely sister.
“Nothing could be more unreal in the midst of realities than Mr Farnol’s latest novel. Although its scene is New York, although its characters are New Yorkers, although its time is the present, its atmosphere is the atmosphere of ‘The broad highway,’ ‘The amateur gentleman’ and ‘Beltane the smith.’ ... It need not, however, be imagined for an instant that ‘The definite object’ is any the less diverting because we cannot believe a word of it. ... But readers will not be disappointed, for they will find in it a romantic world of the same element and variety that have made the appealing charm of all his other novels.” E. F. E.
“Some of the character drawing—the pompous butler Brimberly, the loquacious Old ‘Un, and the shrewish Mrs Ann Angelina Trapes—is as good as Dickens at his best.”
“Mr Farnol, his publishers inform us, knew the New York slum life at first hand, during the time of his obscure activities as a scene-painter, ere fame found him. One may say enough of this book, perhaps, in saying that it shows the sort of fidelity to detail and falsity of color and perspective which are still to be found upon the flies and backdrops of melodrama.”
“The book is romance, not realism, and very delightful and entertaining romance, too, with plenty of incident, any amount of ardent lovemaking, more than one hairbreadth escape, and several fist fights of the most energetic, not to say violent character.”
“Mr Farnol’s knowledge of New York slang is astonishingly accurate and up to date. Frankly, his characters would be more agreeable if they were not so voluble—one cannot see the story for the words. But Mr Farnol has a large following of readers, and they will find fun and action in this romance, despite this criticism.”
FARRAR, GILBERT POWDERLY.Typography of advertisements that pay. il*$2.25 Appleton 659 17-18351
This book “discusses type and combinations of type, blank spaces in which cuts and text appear as islands or peninsulas, the various kinds of effective illustrations, serious and comic, and it reproduces dozens of more or less effective examples, ... distributed according to a general classification as the Forceful educational, the Passive educational, the Hand-lettered, the Poster, the Character and the Comic, the Small space, the Mail order and the Department store.”—Boston Transcript
“Takes up the mechanical side of advertising and goes into more detail than Sherbow’s ‘Making type work’ in that it discusses the picture and engraving side, hand lettering and borders. Has many more examples than Sherbow.”
“Mr Farrar’s book is admirably adapted to classroom work because of its good arrangement, well-chosen illustrations, and its simple manner of presenting technical material. A peculiar virtue of the book is that the type faces are placed in close relationship to the advertisements that employ them. An excellent chapter is that entitled Putting the advertisement together. The chapter on Making the message quick and sure is a most excellent treatment of the employment of types for the essential purpose of making clear what you have to say.” J. W. Piercy
“Full of excellent suggestions, wise advice, and practical help.”
“There are few firms that could not improve their advertising—and their sales—by observing some of the principles of lettering and type set forth in this useful book.”
“This useful volume supplies a very definite need among advertising men and printers.” P. B.
FARRER, JAMES ANSON.Monarchy in politics.*$3 (3c) Dodd 942.07 (Eng ed 18-388)
“An impartial inquiry into the actual practical working of constitutional monarchy in England during the reigns of George III, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria, as illustrated by the evidence of the letters, memoirs, diaries, and speeches of contemporary statesmen, and especially of the letters of those sovereigns themselves to their ministers, or others, in respect of the chief foreign and domestic problems of their reigns. The writer’s endeavour has been to glean from as wide a field as possible of the best contemporary sources the chief evidence that bears on the position of the crown in our system of government.” (Publisher’s note) A three-page bibliography of the chief works consulted is included in the front of the volume, following the table of contents.
“Mr Farrer has demonstrated to foreign students of British government a fact which they are too prone to disregard, namely, that while the legal powers of the monarch may have dwindled down to almost nothing, the personal influence of a strong-willed sovereign may still prove to be a factor of great consequence. No student of modern European history or of English government can afford to overlook this volume.”
“There are one or two inaccuracies of names and dates; but we can recommend the book to serious readers, who wish to examine historically the exercise of kingly power by the house of Hanover. The part of Mr Farrer’s book to which most readers will turn with greatest attention is his account of the intervention in politics of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.”
“Mr Farrer has chosen the method of telling an almost consecutive story out of the letters and memoirs of the chief actors, and done it with no little skill, for his book contains a quantity of information which, though not new, was well worth bringing together, while it is at the same time quite entertaining.”
FARRÈRE, CLAUDE, pseud. (CHARLES BARGONE).Man who killed; tr. by Magdalen C. Schuyler.*$1.50 Brentano’s 17-29736
“Pera, where the Orient apes European streets and shops and manners, ... and across the Golden Horn, Stamboul, its minarets and domes rising like white bubbles over the grass-grown Turkish cemeteries. In this curious setting is enacted the little drama, whose principal characters are a French military attaché, an English ‘Director of the Ottoman debt,’ his wife, his Scotch mistress, and a secretary of the Russian embassy. ... M. Farrère has written his narrative as though it were a group of notes from the journal of the attaché, the chief protagonist. ... His journal presents both his fascinating personal adventure and his reaction to the apparently placid and actually fermenting life about him.”—N Y Times
“M. Farrère has what so many of our contemporary writers lack—intellectual sophistication and good taste. Dramatic reserve, intelligent characterization, and an exotic background, painted with beauty and understanding, make a strange tale plausible and worth the reading.”
“The impressiveness of the story is created not so much by the plausibility of the situation as by a style which even translation does not destroy. The title alone seems unfortunate, for it might be the caption for any cheap thriller, but the novel is the work of a clever technician and a well-informed teller of tales.”
FAULKNER, HAROLD UNDERWOOD.Chartism and the churches; a study in democracy. (Columbia univ. studies in history, economics and public law) pa*$1.25 Longmans 16-25225
This work “is a study of the attitude of the churches to Chartism, and of the attitude of the Chartists toward the churches, particularly toward the Established Church of England,which in the early days of the Chartist movement was, as a national institution intended primarily for the service of the people, at its lowest ebb. ... Mr Faulkner’s book is a venture into a field that hitherto had been quite unexplored either by English or American writers.”—Ind
“The work reveals most extensive use of the voluminous literature of the subject, is interesting and free from bias. The indexing is inadequate. The chief defect of this study is in its failure to make connection with anti-ecclesiastic and anti-clerical influences which in the period preceding Chartism had come to be widespread through Owenism.” H. E. Mills
“A book of which the full value is not stated when it has been said that it is an excellent, almost indispensable companion volume to those of Messrs Rosenblatt and Slosson. It is a distinct contribution also to the history of the Established church, the Roman Catholic church, and the Nonconformist or free churches of England and Scotland in the first ten or fifteen years of Queen Victoria’s reign. It deals with an aspect of organized Christianity in Great Britain which has been generally ignored by church historians, and scarcely mentioned by the general historians of the nineteenth century.” E: Porritt
“There can be no complete understanding of the unbroken success of the trade union movement, the coöperative movement, and the friendly societies movement in England, or even a full realization of the causes which have combined to give England the most politically independent and the best politically educated working-class of any country in the world, without some knowledge of the Chartist movement, of the type of men who were its leaders, and of the influences—political, social and industrial—that were bred of the long working-class agitation of the middle years of the nineteenth century.” E: Porritt
“A book that is more than a contribution to political history. It is a book that has its value and its obvious lesson for organized Christianity in the United States and Canada as well as in England.” E: Porritt
“Gives a lively picture of the give-and-take of the free-thinking Chartists and the ultra-conservative middle-class churchmen. How the ‘Christian socialists’—Frederick Denison Maurice, Charles Kingsley, Archdeacon Hare, Thomas Hughes and their associates—put a sort of bridge over the chasm by encouraging popular education and practical philanthropy is interestingly told.”
“It may confidently be asserted that no serious student of the social and economic history of Great Britain during the nineteenth century can afford to miss any one of these three books [on Chartism].” I. C. Hannah
FAULKNER, HERBERT WALDRON.Mysteries of the flowers. il*$2 (4½c) Stokes 581 17-12041
In simple, untechnical language the author explains blossom structure, using the wild flowers of the eastern United States as his examples. The adaptation of structure to cross fertilization by means of insects is his central theme. There are chapters on: Pistillate flowers and staminate flowers; Perfect flowers; Floral mechanisms; Orchids; The wind and the flowers; Self-fertilised flowers; Effort and accomplishment; Seed sowing. The illustrations are from drawings and paintings by the author. A number of them are in color.
“His study is, however, deeper than merely botanical and presents the flowers as being living, breathing personalities, striving as do human beings to attain what is to each the ultimate of life. Through his sympathetic study and rare insight, we also see their ‘intimate daily life,’” F. B.
“It is the intimate relation between author and subject that attracts the reader in this vivified botany, which is as good for the lay reader as for the student and interesting to both.”
“The ‘study’ is made so attractive, and the book is so thoroughly readable, that both children and grown folk will delight in the pages that have in them so much, not only of botanical lore, but of the actual vitality of the plants’ being.”
FAXON, FREDERICK WINTHROP, ed. Annual magazine subject-index, 1916; including as pt. 2, The dramatic index, 1916.*$8.50 Boston bk. 050
“This, the tenth volume of the Magazine subject-index, follows the same plan as the previous annuals, and furnishes a subject-index to the less common American and English periodicals.” (Preface) New periodicals added are: American-Irish Historical Society Journal; International Review of Missions; Trail and Timberline, and Biblical Review. The magazine index constitutes part 1 of the volume. Part 2 contains the Dramatic index for 1916, to which is added an appendix giving a list of Dramatic books and plays (in English) published during 1916.
FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA.Library of Christian cooperation. 6v*$5; ea*$1 Missionary education movement 206 17-10987
The reports of the third quadrennial meeting of the Federal council of the churches of Christ in America, held in St Louis in December, 1916, are presented in these six volumes. Volume 1, The churches of Christ in council, prepared by Charles S. Macfarland, general secretary, is a general report, giving the official record of the proceedings of the Council. Volumes 2 and 3, prepared by Mr Macfarland and Sidney L. Gulick are devoted to The church and international relations, presenting the report of the Commission on peace and arbitration. The activities of the Commission on peace and arbitration, the independent peace activities of the constituent bodies and other religious groups, and the activities of the Church peace union and other cooperating bodies are covered, and volume 3 closes with discussions of The duty of the churches of America in the light of national and of world conditions. The subject of international problems is continued in volume 4, with the report of the Commission on relations with Japan. Volume 5 is devoted to Christian cooperation and world redemption and consists of the reports of several special committees. Volume 6, prepared by Henry H. Meyer, deals with Cooperation in Christian education.
“As a record of proceedings the volumes are cumbered with much matter which is of little interest to the ordinary reader, or even to the student of social and ecclesiastical movements. Volume 5 carries the largest measure of value to the ordinary Christian worker and the church.” A. W. Anthony
“Any comparison of the relative importance of the books would be unfair, for each has its own remarkable value. As unique and significant as any is the report on Christian education. The set makes a permanent contribution to the history of American Christianity.”
“The fourth volume [on Japan] is a very able and frank discussion of a delicate question.”
“The second, third and fourth volumes contain a splendid summary of the peculiar problems facing the American church because of the war in Europe, and are a thrilling call to the proclamation of the gospel of peace.”
FENOLLOSA, ERNEST FRANCISCO, and POUND, EZRA LOOMIS.Noh; or, Accomplishment; a study of the classical stage of Japan.*$2.75 Knopf 895
This volume includes translations of fifteen examples of the “Noh” or classical drama of Japan, which arose in the fifteenth century of our era, came near to perishing at the revolution of 1868, and is now “the pride and pleasure of the cultivated element of Japan.” “In a prefatory note the English author states that the ‘vision and the plan’ are the late Ernest Fenollosa’s, that in the prose portion of the book he (Mr Ezra Pound) has ‘had but the part of literary executor,’ and that in the plays his work has been ‘that of translator who has found all the heavy work done for him, and who has had but the pleasure of arranging beauty into the words.’” (Ath) Mr Fenollosa, who served as Imperial commissioner of arts in Japan and was in close touch with Mr Umèwaka Minoru, the official hereditary master of Noh ceremonies in the Shogun’s household, contributes a concise essay on the origins and development of the Noh drama. “In the appendixes and elsewhere are numerous details concerning the care and selection of costumes, the masks used, and the like; and at the end of the book is an attempt to record some of the music of one of the plays.” (Ath)
“Mr Pound, in his notes and comments, writes with his usual unceremonious directness. ... And as the volume is made by the Clarks, of Edinburgh, a ‘serious’ house, one notes, with gratification, an almost complete suppression of Mr Pound’s tendency toward typographical willfulnesses and eccentricities.” H: B. Fuller
“When we have read ‘Noh; or, Accomplishment,’ our first feeling is that of gratitude to Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound for bringing this remote but serious and beautiful art so close to us. On Fenollosa’s part it meant the devoted labor of more than twenty years. Ezra Pound has given a shorter term of labor, but he is one with Fenollosa in his loyalty to the spirit of ‘Noh.’”
“A curious thing about the plays is their diction. We know not if it be because Mr Pound is steeped in the works of Maeterlinck, the school of Synge, and the poetry of Mr Yeats, but certain it is that in phraseology and dialogue they continually remind one of these authors. ... We in the West are not in a position, with the data available, to arrive at a full appreciation of ‘Noh.’ ... But we may gain some perception at least of the delicacy, the lofty idealism, and the noble hopefulness which are among the essential qualities of an art that, in Fenollosa’s words, ‘has been a purification of the Japanese soul for 400 years.’”
“Mr Pound describes the Japanese classical drama as in form approaching most nearly to the Greek plays. But it is, we think, a very slight resemblance, and certainly in spirit and expression it is peculiarly individual. There is about it a simplicity such as is to be found in a Hans Andersen fairy-tale, a wealth of imagery reminding us of the Celtic drama, and again a dignity of imagination which is like nothing so much as some of the work of the Hebrew poets. ... Mr Pound’s translation is admirable in most respects, but we wish that he did not show a tendency to be influenced by the vocabulary of the Celtic drama.”
“The uninitiated foreigner is enabled by Mr Pound’s mastery of beautiful diction to appreciate the alternately wistful and proud appeal of these ghostly masterpieces. ... Two points of cardinal interest are emphasized and driven home by this vivacious rendering of archaic compositions—their intense humanity and their indifference to realism.”
FERBER, EDNA.Fanny herself.il*$1.40 (1½c) Stokes 17-25431
Fanny Brandeis, like Miss Ferber’s Emma McChesney, was a successful business woman. Her mother, Molly Brandeis, who, after her husband’s death, ran Brandeis’ Bazaar in the little middle western town of Winnebago, was also a good business woman, but she died of pneumonia, brought on by overwork, when Fanny was twenty-four. Then Fanny, swayed by “a bitter sorrow, and ambition, and resentment” made up her mind to crush out sympathy and unselfishness and the artistic impulse in herself, and to mold herself into “a hard, keen-eyed resolute woman, whose godhead was to be success, and to whom success would mean money and position.” She went to work in the Haynes-Cooper mail order house, where she made good, and in a few years was earning her $10,000. Then she had to choose between a still greater business success with Michael Fenger, former manager of the Haynes-Cooper concern, and a chance to develop her talent as a cartoonist and to marry Clarence Heyl, who had loved her for years, and who did not see the real values of life in terms of cash. Other characters are Father Fitzpatrick, the Catholic priest in Winnebago; Ella Monahan, buyer for the glove department of Haynes-Cooper; and Fanny’s brother, Theodore, the young violinist, to secure whose musical education Mrs Brandeis and her daughter had made such sacrifices. Emma McChesney also plays a very slight part in the story.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“An element in the story which we are seldom allowed to forget is the racial one. With all the recent emphasis upon the Jew in literature, it is hard to call to mind a story which so fully developed those distinctly higher attributes of the Jew. ... Fanny Brandeis becomes, as we read the story, something more than an individual character. She becomes typical of that slaying of the ideal for the material which is going on day after day in thousands of Fanny Brandeises all over the United States.” D. L. M.
“The most serious, extended and dignified of Miss Ferber’s books. Its first half, in particular, is quite the best work that the creator of Emma McChesney has done.”
“It is Molly Brandeis who, with the little town of Winnebago, Wis., makes this story of ‘Fanny herself’ worth while.”
“A notable advance in the author’s previous fiction work.”
“Yet there were here and there discerning readers who failed to find in them [the Emma McChesney stories] a fulfilment of the promise offered in ‘Dawn O’Hara.’ For this reason there should be much rejoicing over Miss Ferber’s new volume and second novel. And the fact that she has produced her effects out of practically the same well-worn, almost shabby stage properties of her earlier stories, is perhaps the most conclusive evidence that she has this time arisen from mere talent to something containing a lurking spark of what, for lack of a better word one may call genius.” F: T. Cooper
“Fanny’s mother is a striking creation, and her personality goes a long way toward lifting the story above the commonplace.”
FERGUSON, JOHN DE LANCEY.American literature in Spain. (Columbia univ. studies in English and comparative literature)*$1.50 (2c) Columbia univ. press 810 17-263
“Systematic study of the European reputations of American authors is a thing of recent date,” says the author. His purpose in this book is to make such a study with respect to Spain. The chief source of knowledge of American literature in Spain, he finds, has been France. There have been a few exceptions in which communication between the literatures of the two countries has been direct, notable among them the case of Irving, whose relations with Spain were personal. Another way of entry has been thru Spanish America. Chapters of the book are devoted to Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Prescott, Emerson, Whitman. The bibliography is pronounced by the author the most important part of the work.
“Regarding his work as a dissertation for the doctorate, one is disposed to be severe upon this contribution to scholarship: it deals chiefly with the exuberant and bombastic opinions of men whose words are without value; it is devoid of philosophical conclusions; further, we do not recall reading a dissertation whose body was so compactly made up of quotation.”
FERNALD, ROBERT HEYWOOD, and ORROK, GEORGE ALEXANDER.Engineering of power plants. il*$4 McGraw 621 16-24435
“To the worthy treatises on power-plant engineering of Gebhardt, Hutton, Hubbard and others, these eminent authors have added an equally worthy volume. The new book is of great interest to industrial-plant owners and engineers, as the treatment is both by description and discussion and introduces specific data at every turn. All kinds of power are touched on, though steam and internal-combustion plants are naturally given the most space.” (Engin News-Rec) Of the two authors, the first is professor of dynamical engineering in the University of Pennsylvania, the second is a consulting engineer in New York city.
“Useful in connection with Gebhardt (4th ed. Booklist 10:80 O ‘13) but will not replace that standard work.”
“Is a happy medium of practice and theory that has been greatly lacking in books of this nature. ... Does not cover details of design or operation of the different parts of power plant equipment ... but considers the power plant as a whole from the standpoint of economical power production.”
FERNAU, HERMANN.Coming democracy.*$2 (2c) Button 940.91 17-24321
Herr Fernau, a German democrat and pacifist and author of “Because I am a German,” published the original German version of his present book in Berne, Switzerland, under the title “Durch!... zur demokratie,” before the Russian revolution and the entry of the United States into the war. “The whole of this new book is devoted to the thesis that war now, as always, springs from a false and perverted form of internal government—a form of government to which he gives the name of a ‘dynasty’; the form under which the whole welfare of the people is subordinated to a small ruling caste or family; external war has always been and will always remain the chief weapon by which the dynasty maintains authority over its own people, and the only means by which it can be overthrown is defeat in war.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) Herr Fernau preaches “Germany for the Germans,” and hopes for a defeat of the German arms as the best way of realizing this. “For what would happen if we Germans emerged victorious from this war? Our victory would only mean a strengthening of the dynastic principle of arbitrary power all along the line. Those of us who bewail the political backwardness of our Fatherland must realize that a ‘German’ victory would prolong this backward condition for centuries. And not only Germany but the whole of Europe would have to suffer the consequences.”
“He writes rather in anger than in sorrow; and, since he is a German, he would be more conciliating and convincing if he were less vehement and intemperate in his language.”
Reviewed by C. H. P. Thurston
“The author clearly shows what indeed only a native German could show, the very strong differences and opposition between the German people and their rulers.”
“He sincerely believes, in common with many Americans, that wars will cease with the disappearance of dynasties. If his book will enforce this illusion, its present value is questionable.” V. T. Thayer
“There is little that is new, in these bitter and even cynical pages, for the reader who has kept moderately well abreast of the anti-German literature of the war. Moreover, destructive criticism, especially when forged in great heat, may easily go too far. Indeed, a reading of the book suggests the extremely useful service that would be rendered if some one who knows Germany and its people as well as Mr Fernau does would point out just what the Germans could do, under their existing constitution, to bring about the régime of popular government which President Wilson, for example, believes to be a prerequisite to peace.”
“Herr Fernau has given us a most remarkable work, a most powerful and convincing analysis of past German history.” J. W.
“‘The coming democracy’ is an astounding book, so unexpected is it to find such clear, keen insight into German conditions, such fearless presentation of facts, such merciless, sardonic, biting humor in statements coming from a German source.”
“For the most part, Fernau’s logic is inexorable, but here and there he is guilty of a curious fallacy, as when, for instance, he holds dynasties exclusively responsible for the horrors of war, and also declares that the ideal of fighting for a fatherland perished with the Greeks.”
“Hermann Fernau is a true patriot, a passionate lover of the German people and of the old German fatherland. ... A considerable part of his book is given up to showing, as only a German brought up under the system can appreciate and show, how a small ambitious group of men may, by means of it, control absolutely the souls, minds, and bodies of a great nation. ... His analysis of the German constitution should be studied by those who still believe that the German people have any active share in the government of their country.”
“The book is one of the most important contributions to the literature of the war. The subject and matter, is, indeed, not new, but it is put in a new light. ... The translation is excellent.”
FERRI, ENRICO.Criminal sociology.(Modern-criminal science ser.)*$5 Little 364 17-13931
This book by “the first of living criminal sociologists,” is divided into four parts: Data of criminal anthropology; Data of criminal statistics; Positive theory of penal responsibility; Practical reforms. “Signor Ferri, who belongs to the so-called positive school of criminology, is a scientific socialist; moreover, he utterly demolishes the orthodox theory of freedom of the will. He regards all crime as a social disease which must be treated as every other disease is treated: clinically. Mild forms need only a change of diet or environment with very little if any medicine of the law; the contagious cases must be isolated as we isolate smallpox and diphtheria until there is a perfect cure or until it is proved that there is no cure possible. He recognizes that many criminals are insane, hopelessly insane. His own belief is that the penalty of death is advisable in the instances where an insane criminal is dangerous to society; but that is immaterial. Protection of the community in which criminals are found is the one vital thing.” (Boston Transcript) The book, first published in Italian in 1880, is translated by Joseph I. Kelly and John Lisle; edited by William W. Smithers; and has introductions by Charles A. Ellwood and Quincy A. Myers.
“An important book for college and special reference libraries.”
“This volume gives one of the best pictures of the changes through which criminal sociology has passed in the last half century.” W: B. Bailey
“No one today can make a pretense of familiarity with the modern sciences of criminology who has not read this work. If criticisms are to be made of the Italian school, they should be made on the basis of the ideas here set forth. The American institute has rendered a great service to English civilization by the translation of this book.” J. P. Lichtenberger