“The public needs not be told that Mrs Fiske is no ordinary theatrical celebrity, and there will be general expectation that a book of her views, if authentically reproduced, will be an individual and entertaining book. It is.”
FITCH, GEORGE.Twenty-four; where I took them and what they did to me. il*$1.25 (5c) Little 17-1930
George Fitch once went to Europe with twenty-four girls, winners in a newspaper circulation contest, in his charge. As he puts it, “Some reporters go to war, some have to jump out of balloons in patent parachutes, and some have to take parties of young and beautiful girls to Europe. It’s all in the game.” In this book he has given his own humorous version of the expedition.
“Appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal.”
“As a ‘cheer-up’ story to amuse girls of sixteen, we recommend the book heartily. For older readers it is a little too thin, and the situation is a bit overworked. ... The end drags.”
“Very amusing.”
“The story emphasizes the loss sustained in the death of the kindly humorist.”
FITZMAURICE, GEORGE.Five plays.*$1.25 Little 822 (Eng ed 15-5685)
“‘Five plays,’ by George Fitzmaurice, the Irish folk-dramatist, carry one into the midst of life in the Irish countryside. They are ‘The pie-dish,’ the story of an old Irishman who worked twenty years molding a fine pie dish and died cursing God because he wouldn’t let him live long enough to finish it; ‘The country dressmaker,’ ‘The magic glasses,’ ‘The dandy dolls,’ and a strong play, ‘The moonlighter,’ which pictures the peculiar conditions that nurture violence and revolutions in Ireland. The scene is the period of the agrarian revolt. Peter Guerin, the leading character, is a splendid type of an old Fenian.” (R of Rs) The book was first published by Maunsel (London and Dublin) in 1914.
“Mr Fitzmaurice is a connecting link between the earlier and the later writers of the Irish dramatic movement. In his technique, he is a contemporary Irish dramatist; in his simpler point of view and freer imagination, he is a true son of the pioneers. His vivid dialogue and character-drawing surpass most contemporary work. For sheer beauty, either of thought or expression, he does not equal his predecessors. As a realist, he writes in the modern vein; as a fantast, in the spirit of the earlier men. ... These ‘Five plays’ justify the hope that, if only the Abbey theatre will cease trying to be a Hibernian branch of Drury Lane, it can still produce real Irish dramatists.” Williams Haynes
“Fitzmaurice’s dialect has a richness of idiom that surpasses the familiar and monotonous Kiltartan, a gusty blowing freshness that is typically Irish, yet unlike that of Synge, or Colum, or the work of any other Irish folk-dramatist.”
FLANDRAU, GRACE HODGSON.Cousin Julia.*$1.40 (1½c) Appleton 17-22295
This is the story of a family in a middle western town. “Cousin Julia,” wife of a successful business man, is a social climber with two beautiful daughters, Virginia and Louise. Virginia, the finer and cleverer of the two, is, though she herself is ignorant of the fact for many years, an adopted daughter. Other characters are Félix de Lorme, a French marquis, who marries Louise, but falls in love with Virginia; Tom Collingsworth, a rich and rather commonplace young business man, who is Virginia’s other lover; Frau von Ernst, Virginia’s elderly friend; and Bob Tillinghurst, in the United States diplomatic service, and his wife Violet.
“A painstaking care for details of characterization distinguishes ‘Cousin Julia.’”
“Yet the book is more than readable; its charming pictures of the Middle West and its sardonic understanding of the Cinderella background of ‘les nouveaux’ help to point a shrewd moral.”
“Written with sincerity. ... Interesting, principally because of the well-drawn figure of Julia. The Frenchman, Félix de Lorme, ‘an amateur of everything, of letters, of science, of love’ is also well done, and so is the small-natured and commonplace Louise. ... The picture of middle western society is amusingly presented.”
FLEAGLE, FRED K.Social problems in Porto Rico.$1 (3c) Heath 917.29 17-17543
A collection of data on the social problems of Porto Rico which the author brought together in the course of his work in rural sociology in the University of Porto Rico. Contents: Population; Thejíbaro; Overpopulation; The family; Rural housing conditions; Woman and child labor; Industries; The land problem and unemployment; Poverty; Sickness and disease; Crime; Intemperance; Juvenile delinquents; Rural schools; The school and the community; Relation of the teacher to the community; Present-day rural school movements; Physical development and longevity.
“This book is a specific and not a general picture, and by no means an attractive one. But it satisfies a thirst for information that has been growing with those who hear constantly of the great poverty in Porto Rico. ... It may also assist some in a position to do so to set their shoulders to the task of amelioration—a task that needs more American shoulders.”
“‘Social problems in Porto Rico’ is short and to the point, almost to the extent of being dogmatic. It is well worth reading.” S. B. Grubbs
FLECKER, JAMES ELROY.Collected poems. il*$2 Doubleday 821 17-26316
James Elroy Flecker was a young English poet who died in 1915. J. C. Squire, who was with him at Oxford has edited his poems, contributing a biographical introduction to the volume. He had published four books of verse:“The bridge of fire,” 1907; “Forty-two poems,” 1911; “The golden journey to Samarkand,” 1913; “The old ships,” 1915. It is from these volumes that the present collection is reprinted, with twenty new poems added. The poems are arranged in two groups, Juvenilia, and Later poems, and they follow roughly a chronological order.
“It has been the fate, and perhaps the happy fate, of many English poets to die young. ... Great as was the promise of Middleton and Brooke, it is the death of Flecker that is perhaps our most grievous loss.”
“Poems of a young Englishman who died in 1915 at the age of thirty, and who belonged to the so-called Parnassian school—a group of seekers after perfection of form and the objective interpretation of beauty, represented in France by de Heredia and Leconte de Lisle.”
“His achievement in verse is consistently high, but no single poem stands out as specially memorable.” Odell Shepard
“He is almost the only upholder of art for art’s sake who can justify his practice to the unbeliever.” O. W. Firkins
“His family was Austrian, and perhaps it was because of such affiliation that he was attracted to eastern romance. ... He did a thing more difficult than the bringing back of an eastern glamour—(the glamour is there in The ballad of Iskander, and The golden journey to Samarkand)—he brought into contemporary poetry metres that suggest and may actually be derived from oriental verse. ... Except James Clarence Mangan no other poet has been able to weave English into such exotic patterns.” Padraic Colum
“There are a hundred interesting aspects of the man and his work which space forbids us to attempt. Like Rupert Brooke, he greatened to the last.”
“His achievement is unlikely to occupy the industrious commentator, or to become the esoteric nucleus of a learned society. If it live, it will be because beauty created in words cannot easily die.”
FLEMING, GUY.Diplomat.*$1.50 Longmans
“A picture of early 19th-century social and political life as seen in the family of a Yorkshire squire rich in sons who follow various careers, and a daughter who becomes a countess. But Guy Fleming, a novelist of considerable gifts, concentrates mainly on the career of the fourth son, which culminates in a long residence in a foreign capital. Upon his journals the story is supposed to be based.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Written in the leisurely Trollope manner.”
“There are sundry crimes, all vividly depicted, but leaving the reader disposed to wonder why it was worth while to write—and to write so well—a novel containing no character enlisting much sympathy and with but one scene that really touches the heart; a novel which, with all its merits, leaves the reader cold.”
“Mr Fleming is so interesting that it is a pity his unweeded rhythmless style should make him so difficult to read.”
FLEMING, GUY.Off with the old love; a war story.*$1.50 (2c) Longmans 17-21972
“Though toward the end the scene of the story is shifted to France, to the trenches, and the hospitals, it is at Ravenscroft [in England] that most of the action takes place, and very many of the numerous characters live. ... The plot is an intricate one, with a lost daughter, a murder, an elopement, and no less than three love stories, not to mention several past romances, to increase its complications.”—N Y Times
“There are touches of comedy and two or three amusing characters in the book ... while the author’s intermittent comments are usually clever, often pungent, sometimes satiric, and always entertaining. The quiet restrained style has a good deal of charm. ... There is too much of the pleasantness and placidity in the book; at the end, one feels that persons such as the author has drawn, placed in situations such as those in which he has chosen to place them, would have been a good deal less comfortable than his various characters finally were.”
“Mr Fleming makes all the people in his new book subject to a great variety of coincidences, and when it is all over one feels that they and their surroundings have been a good deal wrenched to make them fit his little stage. ... The war does little to influence the course of the plays except that it provides a fanciful background for a series of coincidences and a target at which Mr Fleming aims a number of rather inapposite and bitter sayings.”
FLETCHER, ALFRED CHARLES BENSON.From job to job around the world. il*$2 (3c) Dodd 910 17-25257
Mr Fletcher, a graduate of the University of California, tells in this book how he started with his fare paid from San Francisco to Honolulu and a five dollar gold piece in his pocket, and worked his way around the world in three years. He visited Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Ceylon, India, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Europe, England, Norway, Spitzbergen, Sweden, and finally crossed the Atlantic to America. Mr Ralph J. Richardson, who was equally short of funds, was the author’s traveling companion on part of the trip, and took the photographs from which the book is illustrated. The narrative was originally published in the Wide World Magazine.
“A buoyant, high-spirited account of personal adventure, with graphic pictures of places and people. Illustrated with good photographs.”
“A very entertaining story he spins, not only about the world, or such considerable portions as he visited, but also about the calm assurance and readiness of American boys to make themselves at home in strange places and under remarkable conditions.” A. M. Chase
“His account of his adventures comes, in vivacity and shrewd observation and humorous description, a close second to Mark Twain’s Innocents abroad.’” N. H. D.
“Boyishly light-hearted but rather crude narrative.”
“Most of the traveling was done third class or steerage, a fact that affords interesting reading because so few American travelers choose to go in this fashion.”
FLETCHER, CHARLES BRUNSDON.New Pacific; British policy and German aims; with a preface by Viscount Bryce, and a foreword by the Right Hon. W. M. Hughes.*$3 Macmillan 325.3
“‘The new Pacific’ is an Australian’s review of British and German dealings in the Pacific ocean, a lucid exposure of German methods and German designs, a statement of Pacific problems present and future, and an account of some representative Britons who have shaped history in those southern seas. The author, Mr Brunsdon Fletcher, is a leading journalist in Australia, associate editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“In this volume, to which Lord Bryce and the Prime minister of Australia have contributed some introductory pages, the author gives a clear and interesting exposition of German policy and aims in the Pacific, and of the long-growing misgivings on the part of Australians respecting the aggressive tendencies of their German neighbours.”
“His indictment of German aims amounts to very little. ... None the less, the book deserves the attention of American students of the whole political situation. The United States has large interests in the Pacific.”
“We advise every one who wants to understand what Australia looks for in the terms of peace to read this book.”
“Mr Brunsdon Fletcher has had access to first-hand information, written and oral, from the best sources; he has presented and arranged his facts with practised skill, grouping them round well-known characters; and the result is a book of singular interest and substantial value. ... If ‘The new Pacific’ had no other recommendation, it would be valuable as illustrating very forcibly and with much picturesqueness the great and much underrated influence which missionaries have had upon the onward movement of the British empire.”
FLOURNOY, THÉODORE.Philosophy of William James; auth. tr. by Edwin B. Holt and W: James, jr. il*$1.30 (3c) Holt 191 17-6639
The author of this interpretation of William James’s philosophy is a professor in the faculty of sciences at the University of Geneva. The book itself is based on lectures which, delivered in 1910, were intended, in a way, as a memorial. In his first chapter the author makes some interesting observations on the importance of James’s artistic temperament. “He was a born psychologist and a psychologist of genius precisely because of this artistic insight, which in him, by a rare exception, was combined with the exact scientific spirit.” The chapters that follow take up in turn: Early environment; Rejection of monism; Pragmatism; Radical empiricism; Pluralism; Tychism; Meliorism and moralism; Theism; The will to believe; Summary and conclusion. A review of “The varieties of religious experience,” from theRevue Philosophique, is reprinted in an appendix.
“This study of the philosophy of James is admitted by many to be the best that has been written upon the philosopher and is now translated into English by two men who personally and professionally are especially well fitted to be just both to James and to Professor Flournoy. ... It reminds us of the work of James himself in its very readable character.”
“It is clearly and simply written and furnishes an admirable introduction to the study of William James—quite the best that we have seen. And it is, moreover, a book that will be read with equal pleasure and profit by those already familiar with his work.”
“Written in so simple a style that even those unversed in philosophical technology need not feel doubtful concerning it.”
FLOWERS, MONTAVILLE.Japanese conquest of American opinion.*$1.50 (2c) Doran 325.7 17-3170
The author believes that the Japanese are carrying on a systematic campaign to win over American public opinion. The objects to be gained are: “The removal of restrictions on immigration; the rights of naturalisation, American citizenship, and of intermarriage with the white race; the overthrow of all anti-Asiatic land legislation in western states; the rapid acquisition of those lands; and all that follows.” The book is issued as a warning to America and as an offset to the writings of Sidney Gulick, H. A. Millis and others, deemed by the author vicious. The book consists of three parts: The Japanese problem; Forces and methods of the Japanese conquest; Bases of opinion, old and new.
“Will be useful in debate work.”
“The temper of Mr Flowers is not altogether admirable. He is sometimes narrow and often vituperative; but he is, as we have noted, sincere and his contribution to the discussion of the ‘Japanese problem’ is worthy the careful attention of those who differ most widely from him.”
“His discussion is valuable solely as a presentation of an extreme point of view held by a number which, it may be supposed, increases geometrically as the Pacific coast draws nearer.”
“We have heard much of Mr Flowers and his diatribes against the Japanese and his dreadful arraignment of such men as Sidney L. Gulick, Hamilton Holt, the late H. W. Mabie, the present reviewer and others. ... The pith of Mr Flowers’ argument is in an outcry against amalgamation. His peculiar ideas as to philosophy, history and ethnology are largely his own. ... He should have furnished an index for students of his closely printed and rather bulky work, so rich in fallacies.” W: E. Griffis
FOERSTER, NORMAN, and PIERSON, WILLIAM WHATLEY, eds. American ideals.*$1.25 Houghton 815 17-25284
Under the heads of Liberty and union, State and nation, American democracy, American foreign policy, and Foreign opinion of the United States, are brought together certain essays, addresses and state papers that express ideals of statesmen and of men of letters from Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson, from Alexis de Tocqueville to Alfred J. Balfour. The authors refer to the collection as “expressions of our national and international conscience” on ideals, policies and political tendencies of our country.
“Ushered in by Mr Woodbury’s splendid sonnet, ‘Our first century,’ these selections challenge as well as inspire.”
“The purpose of the volume is evident and praiseworthy. It might well be adopted as a school reader. But for the public at large, outside the schools, it is valuable, for it brings together the finest utterances on a theme of vital importance, many of them not easily accessible.” J. B. Landfield
“The selections are judiciously made and we believe that the book should prove useful in the inculcation of a thoughtful and intelligent patriotism among the rising generation.”
FOGARTY, KATE HAMMOND.Story of Montana. il*$1 (1½c) Barnes 978.6 16-16737
This story of Montana was written “to meet the demand for a suitable textbook for schools, and also for the many lovers of Montana who wish to become familiar with the main facts of its early as well as present-day history without having to consult many separate volumes.” (Preface) The book is made up of ten chapters: Early explorers in Montana; The Indians; The fur trade; Visitors to the posts; The missionaries to the Indians; The first settlers; The soldiers in Montana; Development of the state; Transformation of the Indians; National problems in Montana. The national problems treated in this last chapter are Irrigation, Dry-land farming and Forestry.
“Intended as a text-book for the public schools, ‘The story of Montana’ also makes its appeal to the adult reader.”
FOOTE, JOHN TAINTOR.Dumb-Bell of Brookfield. il*$1.35 Appleton 17-6535
“One need not be an enthusiast about hunting dogs or dogs in general to appreciate and thoroughly enjoy half a dozen stories, all related, that are grouped in this volume. Dumb-Bell appears first as a runt of a puppy, the son of the late champion setter, but so insignificant as to be ‘a stone despised by the builders, that is made the head of the corner.’ His anonymous triumph puts him instantly on the throne of his father, as told in the first story. Later chapters have to do partly with his own career and partly with his owners and other people and dogs at Brookfield.”—Springf’d Republican
“Full of pathos and humor, they show a complete understanding of dogs without making them in the least human. Good for reading aloud.”
“Somewhat out of the ordinary. Appeared in American Magazine.”
FOOTE, MRS MARY (HALLOCK).Edith Bonham.*$1.50 (2c) Houghton 17-8582
The friendship between two women is the foundation of this story. One of them marries and goes out into the unknown West. (The time of the story is fully a generation ago.) Here the other, Edith Bonham, follows her some years later, intending to make her home there and to help in caring for her friend’s children. She arrives just in time to learn of Anne’s death. For the sake of the children, she remains, resolved to make up as best she can for their loss. She at first wholly misunderstands her friend’s husband, a quiet man of deep feeling and few words. But in time a sympathetic understanding breaks down the barriers and they are drawn together.
“Distinctly a woman’s book, one of the few which interpret the best American types.”
“The reader may find himself (if not herself) in a rather impatient mood before all the misapprehensions and mystifications of a fairly simple situation are permitted to be cleared up. Mrs Foote’s style, as always, with its quiet clarity, offers grateful refreshment to ears which may be a trifle weary of the din and ‘punch’ of the current literary mode.” H. W. Boynton
“Will probably be considered her most appealing novel. Mrs Foote writes with the method of the great novelists of an earlier generation. There is nothing of sketchiness in her literary product. Her characters are limned with delightful attention to details.” H. S. K.
“A detailed leisurely story with a few excellent characterizations but with what seems to be a wilful and superfluous piling up of barriers between the two chief characters.”
“Mrs Foote is one of our veteran novelists and she knows her business. I ask, however, with due respect whether the book should not end on page 321, whether the postscript is not superfluous.” J: Macy
“So much for the crude substance of the book: its merit lies elsewhere, in the quiet and sure rendering of that substance by a delicate womanly hand.”
“The story has the human appeal and sure touch in dealing with life found always in Mrs Foote’s work.”
For France; ed. by C: Hanson Towne. il*$2.50 Doubleday 940.91 17-29466
Tributes to France in story, poem and song, from the hearts of a notable group of America’s authors, painters, musicians, sculptors and actors. The offerings are all short, with a note of deep loyalty and affection for the people who from ‘76-‘83 sent us their money and their men under the leadership of their Lafayette and Rochambeau. The chapters, full of sympathy, and of the sense of debt we owe, have a heartening message for the heroic, dry-eyed patriots who have been shaken to the depths with sorrow; while for Americans they serve as a new spur to fight the harder for justice, humanity, liberty, democracy.
Reviewed by Albert Schinz
“While there is much repetition of sentiment in it, and while some of the writers are so emotional and temperamentally strung that they are unable to give vision to their words, there are, nevertheless, a number of notable and significant contributions. Such, for example, is Mr Owen Wister’s address in French. But from the standpoint of literary permanence the volume is sorely lacking.”
“It is amazing simply as a collection of names, if nothing more. The volume strikes a lofty note as a work of art—art with a purpose, certainly. A peculiarly rich and beautiful tribute to France.”
“It appears to us that the theme has appealed to the writers and artists and that there is little or nothing in the volume that is not inspired by very genuine feeling.”
For the right; essays and addresses by members of the “Fight for right movement.”*$1.50 Putnam (*5s T. Fisher Unwin, London) 940.91 (Eng ed 17-3139)
“A series of addresses, which were delivered at King’s college, London, to explain the principles for which the Allies are fighting and to show how they may be established in the life of nations when the peace settlement has been made. The aim of the Fight for right movement is to keep these ideals before the nation, and prevent it from being diverted by ‘minor questions of trade and territory and retaliation.’ The authors of the papers included in the present volume are Lord Bryce, Sir Henry Newbolt, Mr Maurice Hewlett, Mr Wilfrid Ward, Dr Robert Bridges, Dr L. P. Jacks, Prof. Gilbert Murray, Prof. Ramsay Muir, Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr Philip Kerr, Mr A. F. Whyte, Mr H. Wickham Steed, the Rev. W. Temple, Evelyn Underbill, Mr Arthur Boutwood, and M.Painlevé.” (Ath) There is a three-page bibliography for Mr A. F. Whyte’s lecture, “The outlook of a good European.”
“We, too, have learned, ever since the second of April last, how much harder is the task, how much greater is the sacrifice we have undertaken than we at first supposed. So it comes about that the words of this book, which were meant for England, seem made for us.”
“‘For the right’ would make uncomfortable reading for the German Chancellor; it would cause him to search his conscience. Our publicists, now busy with the stale and futile ‘barbarian’ whipper-up of public feeling, might learn from this even-tempered volume how to put democratic driving-force behind the complex realities of a liberal peace.”
FORBES, JOHN MAXWELL.Doubloons—and the girl.il*$1.25 (1½c) Sully & Kleinteich 17-10668
A tale of treasure hunting. The discovery of an old Spanish pirate’s chart has the usual effect on the imagination of the finders. No one who has a pirate’s chart in his possession can rest easy until he is aboard ship and on his way after the treasure. In this case the search party consists of two old men, one of them the captain, two young men, and one girl, the captain’s daughter. The mate, a one-eyed seaman who has discovered the purpose of the expedition, is the villain who all but destroys the success of the expedition. The island on which the treasure is buried is volcanic, and eruptions and earthquakes are added to mutiny to give color to the tale.
“The tale is related with some spirit, and is not unentertaining.”
“A lively, though conventional tale.”
FORBES, NEVILL.Russian grammar. 2d ed rev and enl*$2 Oxford 491.7 17-13555
“Dr Forbes’s ‘Russian grammar’ is timely. ... Dr Forbes seems to have made a point of omitting those rules which, although accepted in standard grammars, are nevertheless subject to numerous exceptions. Russian grammar can safely undergo this process of simplification to a considerable extent. ... Perhaps the greatest difficulty presented by the Russian language lies in the aspects of the verb. ... The author’s treatment of this part of the subject is particularly thorough.”—Ath
“The book is intended for the use of students working with a teacher or those who, working alone, wish to learn to read. It seems to us admirably suited for its purpose. ... We believe that those who have already an elementary knowledge of the subject will find the ‘Grammar’ excellent.”
“The interest in Russia that has grown up during the present war has produced a large number of grammars and handbooks to the Russian language. The fullest and most scientific of these books is Mr Nevill Forbes’s.”
FORBES, NEVILL, ed. Third Russian book.*$1 Oxford 491.7 (Eng ed 18-383)
A reader of selections, supplementing the language teaching of the “First Russian book” and the “Second Russian book.” “Four notable men of letters are represented in Mr Forbes’s ‘Third Russian book’: Aksakov, aristocrat, naturalist, sportsman, and author: Grigorovitch, painter, novelist, and art-critic; Herzen, philosopher, historian, reformer, and exile; and Saltykov, satirist. The text is clear, and plentifully provided with foot-notes.” (Ath)
“The notes are good, though somewhat needlessly full on the simpler passages and scanty on those more difficult; the vocabulary is adequate and carefully prepared. The weak point of the volume is in the choice of material. ... No one of the authors represented is of the very first rank, and of the five selections two are the opening chapters of novels. It is a model of neat, careful printing.”
FORBES, WALDO EMERSON.Cycles of personal belief.*$1.25 (3c) Houghton 121 17-10884
The cycle of personal belief which the author traces comprises a process of illusion, disillusion, and reillusion. Disillusion cannot be permanent because of the soul’s craving for positive elements. “Thought, phoenix-like, begins perpetually to create new beliefs, to build, to affirm, and to renew the world.” But belief, after all, plays little practical part in our lives, for we discover that a perception of truth does not guarantee an obedience to truth. There is another cycle, growing out of experience, that follows the cycle of belief. The stages of this the author terms generation, degeneration and regeneration. But he does not imply that, even with regeneration, a permanent goal is reached: “Our moments of peace are given for the reception of new visions, and these, however gently the hint at first is given, are each and all incentive to action. Human life embosomed in paradise at one pole plunges into turmoil at the other. The struggle is not over, the problems are not solved.”
“Mr Waldo Emerson Forbes has succeeded in cultivating something of the style both of thought and of expression which one finds in the writings of the great essayist, his grandfather, whom his name brings to mind.”
FORD, SEWELL.Wilt thou, Torchy.il*$1.35 (2c) Clode, E: J. 17-5451
Sewell Ford’s clever stories, told in the latest up-to-the-minute vernacular, seem to lose none of their popularity and Torchy is a hero who rivals Shorty McCabe in public favor. This book contains seventeen new stories, reprinted from Every Week. Torchy relates his own adventures, telling of his progress upward in the Corrugated trust company, and of his mishaps and final success in courtship under the keen and not encouraging eye of “Auntie.”
“Will be popular.”
“Torchy is still the unique creation of Mr Ford’s brain and it is to be hoped that the advancing years will not materially change him, it being taken for granted that more of his delightfully humorous tales will soon be forthcoming to give pleasure to young and old.”
Reviewed by E. P. Wyckoff
FORDYCE, CLAUDE POWELL.Touring afoot.(Outing handbooks) il*80c (3c) Outing pub. 796 17-4213
A three mile walk daily in the interests of health is the author’s advice, given in the first chapter. The man who has kept himself in trim thru this daily exercise will be ready for the longer tramps discussed in the remainder of the book. The author writes of: Hitting the trail; Going in “light”; Woods walking with a pack; Map reading; Packs and packing; Footwear; Efficient cruising shelters; Camp making; The outdoor bed question; Choosing the light weight mess kit; The ration list; Health hints for hikers; Winter travel afoot.
FORNARO, CARLO DE.[2]Modern purgatory.*$1.25 (4c) Kennerley 365 17-31926
“This book is a record of the prison experiences of Carlo de Fornaro, artist, writer, editor, revolutionary. It is a record of experiences in the famous Tombs prison, in New York city, and in the New York city penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island.” (Introd.) The offense against the laws of the state of New York on which the author was convicted was criminal libel against Diaz, then president of Mexico. If the reader does not see the relation between facts and consequences as set forth in the introduction, he must accept the situation as another evidence of the strange and wonderful ways of justice in our land. The book itself is a narrative of daily prison life told without bitterness and with only unspoken condemnation of a heartless and futile system.
“Mr Fornaro’s is not what the Puritan calls a pleasant book. But it possesses the rare degree of truth that one finds more often in Russian than in American writing. His is the most vivid, concrete description of the mediaeval survival in the heart of our modern cities, and the most realistic illustration of the need for such reform as Mr Osborne has instituted that has yet appeared.”
“The book is interesting, but neither subtle nor detailed enough to rank as literature. He paints at all times with the artist’s love of a picture, never with the scientist’s love of accurate statement.” W. D. Lane
FORSTNER, GEORG GÜNTHER, freiherr von.Journal of submarine commander von Forstner; tr. by Mrs Russell Codman. il*$1 (5½c) Houghton 940.91 18-8
This translation of the journal of a German submarine commander appears in book form with an introduction by John Hays Hammond, jr., who writes of “The challenge to naval supremacy.” In her foreword the translator says, “The following pages form an abridged translation of a book published in 1916 by freiherr von Forstner, commander of the first German U-boat. ... Many repetitions and trivial incidents have been omitted in this translation; but, in order to express the personality of the author, the rendering has been as literal as possible, and it shows the strange mixture of sentimentality and ferocity peculiar to the psychology of the Germans.” In part the work is a personal account, in part a technical description of the activities of a submarine. There are seven illustrations from photographs.
“Gives American readers a good opportunity to get the German conception of the deadly efficiency of their favorite sea weapon.”
FORSYTH, PETER TAYLOR.Justification of God. (Studies in theology)*90c (1c) Scribner 231 17-9816
“Lectures for war-time on a Christian theodicy” is the sub-title of this book, and the unfamiliar word is defined as “the attempt to adjust the ways of God to conscience.” Contents: Overture and outline; The expectations of popular religion and their fate; The problems: revelation and teleology; Metaphysic and redemption; What is redemption? Salvation theological but not systematic; The failure of the church as an international authority; Teleology acute in a theodicy; Philosophical theodicy; The eternal cruciality of the cross for destiny; Saving judgment; History and judgment; The conquest of time by eternity; Bibliography.
“It is a pity the book could not have been written in simpler style. To understand it will be far beyond the average layman, and parts of it will puzzle the theologian. Taken as a whole, however, the purpose of the author is clear and his reasoning conclusive.”
FORTESCUE, GRANVILLE ROLAND.[2]France bears the burden. il*$1.25 (3c) Macmillan 940.91 17-30748
This book devoted to France and her part in the war consists of chapters on: The glory of France; Monsieur Poilu of Paris; Verdun, the battle epic; In the Argonne; In the stream of the Somme fighting; The business of war; The flying fighters; Thoughts on shrapnel and tanks; Who pays for the war? The burden France has borne. In a letter, reprinted as a foreword, M. André Tardieu says to the author: “That which, in my opinion, gives special value to your book on France in war time, is that you have not been content only to gather therein the excellent articles sent by you from Paris and the front to the Washington Post, but you also, from your observations and experiences, develop a picture of the whole subject. Yours is the work of the historian.” Major Fortescue is author of “At the front with three armies,” and other works.
“Full appreciation of France is revealed on every page of Mr Fortescue’s book. One might almost complain that his praise of France and her brave men implies a discrimination against the British and American troops.”
“Much above the average level of the descriptive war books now appearing.” Joshua Wanhope
FOSDICK, HARRY EMERSON.Challenge of the present crisis.*50c (3c) Assn. press 172.4 17-28192
A message for all who are asking these questions: In what mood shall a Christian, or for that matter an idealist of any kind, face the catastrophe? With what considerations and insights can he support his faith and hope? How can he harmonize his ideals with his necessities of action in a time of war? His answer gives reasons for accepting the present crisis as a challenge and concludes with: “The present war is an appalling commentary upon our failure to fulfil or even to acknowledge our obligations. We have seen our duty in too little terms; we have but dimly understood what the Master wanted of us. We are challenged to understand it now; the call is written in lines of fire on the map of the world; and we shall be renegade, indeed, if we do not now accept before it is too late the opportunity for international service which this war reveals.”
“A sane and thoughtful consideration of the relations of war and Christianity.”
FOSTER, MAXIMILIAN.Shoestrings. il*$1.40 Appleton 17-6533
“It is concerned primarily with the ambitions and the adventures of J. Lester Tams, who began his career as a bundle boy in a San Francisco department store and after many years of struggle had achieved eminence as a floorwalker. ... Mr Tams’s purpose in life was to become a gentleman. To that end he toiled, to that end he studied—books of etiquette were the subjects of his mental effort, and to that end he had in sixteen years succeeded in saving the sum of $1,700. Then came a lucky plunge—a splashing bucket shop plunge, it was—in war stocks; and Mr Tams and every one else in Mrs Tams’s boarding house got rich.”—N Y Times
“Full of funny character sketches, and good for reading aloud. Appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.”
“Emphatically a tale to amuse an idle hour. And a most amusing tale it is.”
FOSTER, ROBERT FREDERICK.Foster’s pirate bridge; the latest development of auction bridge, with the full code of the official laws. il*$1.50 (3½c) Dutton 795 17-4824
The aim of this book is “to set before the reader a complete description and exposition of the latest candidate for public favor in the realm of cards, without assuming on the reader’s part any previous knowledge of similar games, although it is naturally expected that the largest appeal will be to those who are already familiar with auction bridge. The author has endeavored to explain the logic of the bidding as clearly as possible, illustrating the more interesting situations by hands from actual play.” (Preface) The author is an authority who has issued a number of other works on bridge.