“Throughout the book there is evident a genial, eager personality whose keen interest in the world and all its people, in nature and all her manifestations, has filled the days of his life with enjoyment. Particularly wholesome reading will the book be for young medical students and practitioners.”
GIBBONS, MRS HELEN DAVENPORT (BROWN).Red rugs of Tarsus.*$1.25 (3c) Century 956 17-10364
An account of the Armenian massacre of 1909. The author, with her husband, Herbert Adams Gibbons, was spending the year 1909 in Tarsus and teaching in a mission school. Since then she has tried to put the experience of that year out of her mind. “But,” she says, “recent events in Armenia brought it all back again. My indignation, and a sense of duty and of pity, transcended all personal feelings. I lived again that night in Tarsus, when we—seven defenseless women, our one foreign man ... and 4,800 Armenians waited our turn at thehands of the Kurds.” The story is told from the letters written at that time to her mother in America.
“She gives bright and humorous descriptions of her new experiences, which, however, soon cease to be merely amusing. The horror of an Armenian massacre converts the airy narrative into a grim recital of terrible deeds.”
“Unfortunately many of these letters to Mrs Gibbons’ mother contain information which must have interested her mother greatly, but which will seem irrelevant to the public, or trivial, when thought of in relation to such great happenings.”
“A fine and significant book. ... Of the moments of her own peril Mrs Gibbons has written with a simplicity, almost an unconsciousness, that is magnificently fine and dramatic to read, now that it is all over, and she and her husband were saved. But the record as a whole, including those terrible hours with the rest, is one of stark, close, immediate realities, known and faced. The book will give the American reader food for more than one kind of thought.”
“A very vital, realistic, graphic portrayal of one of the terrible tragedies of modern history.”
“The deposition of Abdul Hamid and the triumph of the Young Turks occurred while the family was at Mersina, and the popular impression that the new régime was more tolerant is contradicted by what Mrs Gibbons writes of the early days of its intolerance.”
GIBBONS, HERBERT ADAMS.Reconstruction of Poland and the Near East; problems of peace.*$1 (3c) Century 940.91 17-21742
“These chapters were written as a series of articles for the Century Magazine. At the time of the Russian revolution and the intervention of the United States, the chapters on Poland and Constantinople had already been published and the others were in print.” (Foreword) Mr Gibbons treats some events in outline only, and makes references that assume the reader’s knowledge of modern European history. His chapters all deal with the wrongs of small nations, whom he shows to have been ill-treated by the Entente allies as well as by Germany, and with the way the small nations should be treated to secure a durable peace. Despite his “horrors and detestation of what Jews and Poles and Armenians and Belgians and Serbians are being made to suffer,” he does not think that the punishment of and a change in the political status of Russia, Turkey, Germany, and Austria-Hungary would prevent the renewal in the very near future of wrongs inflicted upon small and weak nations, but believes the formula for the readjustment of the world to be “government by the consent of the governed.” He therefore argues that the reconstituted Polish state must not be subject in any way to either Germany or Russia and that its boundaries must be determined by ethnological, economic and political, rather than historical, considerations; that Constantinople must be considered “in the light of principle and not as a pawn”; that the peace conference must prove the intention of Europe to put “local Mohammedan interests ahead of European interest in Mohammedan countries”; and that the Entente powers must “guarantee the Balkan peninsula to the Balkan peoples,” as otherwise “Germany will keep the hegemony in the Balkans that she has already won.”
“The book interprets for us the passionate racial desires for freedom, and the inalienable right to enjoy that freedom, of all the minor weaker states now in the whirlpool of war.” S. A.
“The author writes from long and intimate knowledge of eastern European politics, and his suggestions are worthy of the earnest attention of statesmen and diplomats.” F: A. Ogg
“The attitude of the writer is rather that of a thoughtful observer than an incisive critic. He has no definite solution to offer for any of the problems which are sure to plague mankind after peace negotiations shall have begun.”
“Mr Gibbons is the author of two recent and very valuable works, ‘The new map of Africa’ and ‘The new map of Europe.’ In the present work he departs from his special forte of describing what has happened in the way of territorial changes to suggest changes that may happen in the future. ... The value of the work consists far more in the information given regarding the past status of these countries than in what he suggests for the future. ... In his past work he was on sure ground, in this it is unavoidably different.” J. W.
“Mr Gibbons gives a lucid and vigorous presentation of the issues at stake in Poland and the Near East, pointing out that if the war is to continue in the character of a struggle for democracy against autocracy, the issues must be defined to meet the requirements of democracy. .... In his point of view he is accurately representative of American nationalism.”
“A useful work of historical reference and suggestion. It should have an index.”
“An important contribution to the literature on American foreign relations emphasizes that the principles of American policy concerning the Near East are fundamentally and necessarily different from those of our allies. ... The author sets right misled public opinion in this country concerning the nature of Panislamism and the Islam conception of the state.” Bruno Lasker
GIBBONS, JAMES, cardinal.Retrospect of fifty years. 2v*$2 (1½c) Murphy, J: 282 17-88
These two volumes contain a selection from the essays and sermons of Cardinal Gibbons. His introduction expresses the belief that they may be of historical importance as a record of the times in which he has lived. He says “I have lived a long time, and I have lived through a very critical time. Not only have I held office many years, but I have held office during a time of transition, when the old order was changed.” A large part of the first volume is devoted to the Vatican council (1869-1870), of which Cardinal Gibbons is the last surviving member. Other miscellaneous papers of general interest included in the two volumes are: The Knights of labor; The church and the republic; Irish immigration to the United States; Patriotism and politics; Will the American republic endure?
“The reader will not find in this book any aids to an exact knowledge of historic facts, nor will the non-Catholic find any arguments to persuade him to join the church, but he will feel that the country has been very fortunate to have had a man of broad sympathies, of generous temper, of great patience and Christian charity at the head of the Catholic church in America during the last fifty years.” H: D. Sedgwick
“Of interest to both Catholics and Protestants alike.”
“He was already a priest during the Civil war, followed Abraham Lincoln’s body in procession when it was brought to Baltimore, and has been personally acquainted with most of the American presidents since Lincoln’s death.”
“The essay on the Knights of labour is one of the most important, as the part played by Cardinal Gibbons in their behalf is one of his noblest achievements. ... In every essay, the character of the man is unconsciously made clear. And one arises from such reading with the conviction that this man is greater than any of his writings or deeds, and that such a man is one of the greatest assets of a nation or a church.” F. P. Lyons, C. S. P.
“Many of the papers and addresses embraced in the ‘Retrospect’ deal with civic affairs. .... In these we get an ineffaceable impression of the distinguished author as the type of the militant citizen who rebukes the wrong and defends the right, and yet through all retains an unshakable faith in his country and its institutions which glows like a torch to guide all who call themselves Americans.”
GIBBS, GEORGE FORT.Secret witness.il*$1.50 Appleton 17-22296
“The author, in an explanatory final chapter, seems to claim that some evidence exists of the truth of the incidents described in the novel as preceding the assassination of the Austrian archduke at Sarajevo. According to this theory, the German Kaiser and the Archduke had formed a secret alliance in which, after the death of Emperor Francis Joseph, they were to divide between them Austria, Serbia, Poland, and other territory, the Archduke to hold the eastern section and to found a dynasty through his children, whose right to succeed him was denied by Austria. The story gives an Austrian origin to the plot and assassination. The secret interview between the Kaiser and Archduke is overheard by a young Austrian countess and a young English diplomat who are in love with each other and who conceive it to be their duty to report the matter—one to the Austrian emperor, the other to the English ambassador. Out of this naturally come plots and counterplots and adventures of startling character.”—Outlook
“Not so skillfully written as Buchan’s ‘Greenmantle,’ but of similar interest.”
“A technically adroit, plausible and attractively written story.”
“There is plenty of variety in the scenes which are laid in many and very different places, including a Turkish harem and an ancient, supposedly abandoned castle high up in the Tatra range of the Carpathians. ... A swift-moving, entertaining story with an ingenious plot.”
“A second ‘Prisoner of Zenda’ in its headlong pace, picturesque situations, adventure and love interest.”
GIBBS, PHILIP.Battles of the Somme.*$2 (2c) Doran 940.91 17-3464
This is Mr Gibbs’s second war book. “The soul of the war” was written while he was a free-lance journalist in France and Belgium. He is now an officially accredited correspondent with the British armies in the field. In this book he has brought together articles written in the three months following July 1, 1916. He is one of the most brilliant men writing from the front. He kept close to the fighting forces, and makes the daily life of the men in action very vivid. There are two folding maps.
“Mr Gibbs’s book is the war. ... The reader sees and senses the horror and the nastiness and the incredible folly of it all; but, shining through the sombreness, the glory of those golden lads who, knowing the war and hating it like the hell it is, went steadfastly forward into the flames with smiling eyes and a jest on their lips.” A. R. Dodd
“No man who writes from the front writes more sensitively than does Philip Gibbs. ... His best pictures are of men.” W. A. M.
“If Mr Gibbs can see the saving humors in the warring days, he can see the hideousness, too, and the fineness, and the tenderness that so often goes hand in hand with the heroism. It is because he can see all of these things—and makes us see them—that his book is so good.”
“The two excellent maps appended to the book, while they fulfil the purpose of their insertion by recording the progress made in the early weeks of the battle, are of no use in following the present movement. The Germans have been backed clean off them.”
“His record appeared from day to day, in either the Daily Telegraph or the Daily Chronicle. ... On the tanks Mr Gibbs speaks with a certain guarded enthusiasm. ... ‘If we had enough of them—and it would be a big number—trench warfare would go for ever and machine-gun redoubts would lose their terror.’”
GIBBS, WINIFRED STUART.Minimum cost of living.*$1 Macmillan 331.83 17-10221
“This work is based on a methodical study of the food habits, as compared with the scientifically-estimated food requirements, of a number of New York families cared for by the Association for improving the condition of the poor; this study seems to have succeeded in multiplying the effectiveness of the money spent in relieving want, and as an unintentional byproduct food economies are suggested which are undoubtedly feasible on a larger scale. The contribution of the book to present needs lies in these statistics of food use and food needs.”—Springf’d Republican
“An accurate laboratory contribution to family budget literature, of use to every student of social conditions. Further, it demonstrates the practicability of using the family budget as a lever to raise the living standards both of dependent and of independent families, and will, therefore, be of service to every social worker.” W. E. Clark
Reviewed by Florence Nesbitt
“It must be kept in mind, however, in reading this book that the budgets given are not to be set up as standards for the cost of living. The clothing estimate is admittedly inadequate even when eked out by gifts of clothing from relations.” N. D. H.
“While primarily a book for charity visitors and district nurses, it should interest all social workers for it records with modesty a fine pieceof constructive work to help families left without an adult male wage-earner, to spend their incomes wisely.”
“Of peculiar interest, now that the war has given prominence to the question of food-economy.”
Reviewed by Graham Lusk
“The explanatory text is rather incoherently assembled, but there are enough figures in handy form to give the amateur economist a good working basis.”
“It gives concrete evidence for the philanthropist, the law-maker, and the employer regarding the now undeniable interrelation between human progress and the minimum wage.” L. B. Mendel
GIBSON, CHARLES R.War inventions and how they were invented. il*$1 Lippincott 355 (Eng ed 17-1948)
“An attractive book which answers a good many of the questions—about guns and shells and range-finding, for instance—which the layman is always asking himself or others equally ignorant.” (Spec) “Contents: How guns were invented; How guns were made to shoot straight; Guns that fire 1,000 shots per minute; Giant guns; What is an explosive? How shells were invented; How we came to make iron ships; Ships that go under the sea; Some questions about submarines; About the deadly torpedo; How torpedoes and mines are exploded; A very dangerous occupation; The eye of the submarine; Measuring the distance to the enemy; Ships that go up in the air; War in the air.” (Pittsburgh)
“Mr Gibson is not afraid to begin at the beginning and explain the very elements of gunnery and torpedo-work, and he has a clear and pleasant style.”
GIBSON, HUGH.Journal from our legation in Belgium.il*$2.50 (2½c) Doubleday 940.91 17-29362
This volume is the private journal of the first secretary to the American legation in Brussels “jotted down hastily from day to day in odd moments, when more pressing duties would permit.” (Introd.) It runs from July 4 to December 31, 1914. Appended to it as a final chapter is an article on the case of Miss Cavell, which has appeared in the World’s Work. “Much material has been eliminated as of little interest. Other material of interest has been left out because it cannot be published at this time.” (Introd.) Most of the matter about the early history of the Commission for relief in Belgium has been eliminated, because Mr Gibson felt that his record of it was inadequate and knew that Dr Vernon Kellogg was to publish an authoritative account of the Commission’s work. There are numerous illustrations from photographs. Among these are portraits of Edith Cavell, Herbert C. Hoover and Cardinal Mercier. There is no index.
“This is one of the best books which the war has given us. The writing is not beautiful or fine, but the story is so surpassingly good that it never is tiresome or dull.”
“What one gleans from this book, even more than the sensations of Belgium invaded—amplified as they are by numerous photographs and proclamations—is a pronounced impression of the Germany that invaded her, the Germans that went to make up that formidable force which Mr Gibson observes so sensibly, with such disintegrating critical gaze.” F. H.
“In this long and absorbing record of early war days there is much to clear up perplexities and to give us new facts and new light on old knowledge. ... Simple, vivid, concrete, informative, it is to repeat, a book that every American ought to read.”
“His knowledge of the mind and spirit of the invaded, coupled with his power to portray the Germans, renders his narrative unusually absorbing and convincing.”
“This is one of those exceptionally privileged volumes which make the great mass of current war literature seem tame and commonplace.” F: T. Cooper
“It forms a vivid and convincing story of what went on in Belgium during the first year of the war. It should be read by all who have any remaining doubts as to the spirit and intent of the German administration in Belgium.”
“The poignant merit of this book consists, not in the novelty of the facts, which are but too familiar, but in the authority of the writer.”
GIBSON, WILFRID WILSON.Livelihood; dramatic reveries.*$1.25 Macmillan 821 17-1621
Mr Gibson has brought together twenty of his recent poems. They are narratives of humble life, stories of men and women who, “in spite of everything,” have learned “to take their luck through life and find it good.” They bring out some of those imperishable qualities in human nature which neither hardship nor poverty nor war has power wholly to destroy.
“He is truly a poet of the people. ... To be a poet of the people, the people must understand you; they must do more, they must know you understand them.” W. S. B.
“The muse of Mr Gibson drowses in ‘Livelihood.’ ... Equally unfortunate is the lapse of that faculty of enlargement which gave compass and vista to those low-life themes which cramp the unsympathetic or unimaginative mind. Comparatively speaking, the persons in ‘Livelihood’ are passive, and their sorrows oppress rather than excite us. Exceptions occur, or the volume would hardly be Mr Gibson’s. ‘The news’ is an affecting though dilated story, and ‘The old nail shop’ illustrates the resurgence of vigor.” O. W. Firkins
“Not that Gibson is faultless; he has at times a distressing tendency to take the phrase or word that comes first into his head; he does not always labor until he has secured the inevitable and creative phrase, as, for instance, Robert Frost usually does. But this does not detract from the beauty he often achieves, or his significance as a poet of labor.” Clement Wood
“Very tender and gentle is Mr Gibson’s touch upon life in these poems, wherein he sees only the solemn glory in each humble soul and has no eyes for its baseness.”
“Though these tales in verse are not poetry in the fullest and highest sense, though they are too merely individual and too photographic for that, yet they are what every one may well be grateful for. ... There is not a dull pagein them; the book is a compound of constant cleverness, much sympathy, some imagination, scarcely any music of speech.”
“The chief defect in the book is a want of the joy of life; there is a sombreness over it all; there is resignation rather than happiness. The chief delight of his men and women is in the remembering of past days. It may be that ‘Between the lines’ gives a clue to this: the shadow of the war has not yet fallen upon us.” E: B. Reed
GIBSON, WILFRID WILSON.Poems (1904-1917). il*$2.25 Macmillan 821 17-24679
The publishers state that “here is brought together in one volume all of Mr Gibson’s writings which he wishes to preserve.” Contents: Akra the slave; Stonefolds; Daily bread; Womenkind; Fires; Thoroughfares; Borderlands; Battle; Friends; Livelihood.
“His work is simple, rough-hewn and frequently unbeautiful, but his sympathies penetrate to the innermost heart of humble life.”
“It is, of course, too early to attempt a placing of Mr Gibson. For the present it is enough to say that he has developed a style peculiarly effective, and valuable too for its influence on contemporary poetry. Mr Gibson has clearly proved that poetry can deal with the commonplaces of daily life,—with the bitter and trivial and powerful and universal commonplaces of human consciousness,—and do it with force and beauty.” Conrad Aiken
“Such sketches of the individual soldier in the trenches as make up the section ‘Battle’ are so brief, so compact, so single in their purpose that every lyric suggests the flight of a bullet. And, like bullets, these war poems either hit altogether or not at all. They are all perfect; tho three or four of them are perfect failures. ... In war and peace alike, Gibson selects by preference the themes that are commonplace or even disagreeable and makes them splendid by revealing the heroism and kindliness which lie deep in the hearts of common folk.”
“He has diction, but hardly phrase; he has passion, but hardly drama; he has humanity, but hardly character. He is concise, but is prodigal of concision. A master of point when he wills, he keeps that mastery in habitual abeyance. Yet so abounding, so dominating, are his diction, his passion, his humanity, that the negations, in the hour of contact, are scarcely credible or visible.” O. W. Firkins
“Wilfrid Wilson Gibson gets into these idylls the kindliness of the English folk. Through his work we see England, not as a great imperial system, but as a not too prosperous nationality where a laborious, poorly rewarded folk love their soil and love their kind.” Padraic Colum
“What he has done, here grouped together, makes him one of labor’s strongest voices; we are justly proud of him.” Clement Wood
“Like Wordsworth, Mr Gibson has a plain, severe way of writing which degenerates only too often into aridity and baldness; ... like Wordsworth, too, he is almost exclusively interested in the lives of the simple and the poor. There, unfortunately, the resemblance stops.”
GIDDINGS, HOWARD ANDREW, comp.[2]Handbook of military signaling. il*60c Appleton 623.7 17-28811
A revised edition of a handbook published in 1896 with the title “Instructions in military signaling.” The preface says, “The changes in codes and signaling systems have been so extensive that the handbook is in effect a new one. The signal codes, conventional signals, letter codes, emergency signals, etc., are taken from the Signal book, U.S. army, 1916.”
“Useful, compact little volume.”
GILBERT, ARTHUR WITTER, and others. Potato. (Rural science ser.) il*$1.50 Macmillan 635 17-10445
“The author states in his preface that the book is intended to give brief and practical suggestions on the growing, breeding and marketing of potatoes.” (Science) “Mr Dean is a grower of potatoes on a large scale and has studied the business of potato growing in all parts of the United States. His chapters in the book deal with the practical work of planting and cultivating, Dr Barrus’s with the diseases of the potato and how to treat them, and Dr Gilbert’s with the different varieties and what each needs in the way of soil and care.” (N Y Times)
“Unquestionably one of the most important agricultural books of the year.”
“Has the usual solid merits of the volumes in Professor Bailey’s Rural science series. Of timely value is the chapter on the problems of marketing and storage.”
“This publication, in addition to being up-to-date in its cultural directions, devotes considerably more attention to the subject of potato breeding than any of our preceding American treatises on the potato. ... The discussion of potato diseases and their control is clear and convincing and should prove very helpful to both the farmer and the student. A chapter on ‘Markets, marketing and storage’ is both suggestive and helpful, as is also that on the cost of growing potatoes.” W: Stuart
GILBERT, GEORGE HOLLEY.Jesus for the men of today; when science aids religion.*$1 Doran 232 17-17183
“‘Jesus: for the men of today,’ by Prof. George H. Gilbert, is a life of Christ in story form. The main facts of the gospel narrative are made to live again amid the homely human surroundings of Galilee and Judea.”—Ind
“It reveals the human and lovely character of Jesus with the power of a poet’s interpretation; it discloses the soul of the writer as well, and the vision is most beautiful. The book must have been written originally more or less in blank verse or else the writer unconsciously pens prose that admits scanning.”
“The ample historical and archeological knowledge of the author guarantee the accuracy of the picture, and the characters are sketched with the modern touches of realism.”
GILBERTSON, HENRY STIMSON.County—the “dark continent” of American politics. $2 National short ballot organization 352 17-12496
“Since 1910, when the American political science association gave the county a place on the program of its annual meeting, a number of valuable studies of the county have been made. ... The work under review by H. S. Gilbertson, secretary of the New York short ballot organization, is the first attempt to set forth within the covers of a single book ‘the outlines of a very real and important “county problem.”’ The purpose of the work, as statedin the preface, is to stimulate a ‘much wider and more thorough research into the subject than has yet been attempted’ and ‘to throw a new light upon the “democratic experiment” in America.’ Within the first 119 pages the author presents his ‘indictment of the county.’ This is followed (86 pages) by a constructive program of county reform. An appendix of 77 pages contains a number of valuable constitutional and legislative documents relating to county government. ... A comprehensive bibliography and an adequate index enhance the value of the book.”—Am Pol Sci R
Reviewed by O. C. Hormell
“The political student and worker will find this book truly useful, the more so if he keep in mind how easy it is whenever a bad spot is found in officialdom to assault the governmental system.”
“Since Mr Gilbertson began the inquiry, something has been done here and there towards untangling the county knot, for example, the work of the Public efficiency society of Cook county, Ill., the Westchester research bureau of New York, and the Tax association of Alameda county in California—and the results of his work justify a degree of optimism for the future.”
GILMAN, STEPHEN.Principles of accounting. $3 LaSalle extension univ. 657 16-15136
“‘Principles of accounting,’ for trained bookkeepers, is a complete discussion, made clearer by careful illustration, of the forms and values of accurate accounting in its modern meaning where the aim of the business man is not merely a balancing of accounts, but such a comparison of facts and values as will give him the truest estimate of his business transactions.”—Ind
“On the whole, it may be said that the book does not undertake to advance new theories but to present clearly the principles underlying the best accounting practice. The point of view is modern, the treatment comprehensive and usually adequate, and the style simple and clear. Effective use is made of charts, examples, problems, and summaries. ... The author’s acquaintance with accounting theory, however, is evidently not equalled by his knowledge of economic theory, else why say: ‘In a natural state, water may be obtained without effort; hence it has no utility?’” C. C. Huntington
GIRAULT, ARTHUR.Colonial tariff policy of France; ed. by C: Gide.*$2.50 Oxford 337 (Eng ed 16-23596)
“This is one of the two initial publications issued by the Division of economics and history of the Carnegie endowment for international peace; the other being Grunzel’s ‘Economic protectionism.’ ... The book gives a narrative and critical account of the colonial policy of France. A first part, comprising about half the contents, gives a historical sketch of that policy. The second and concluding part takes up the present colonies one by one—the small colonies, Indo-China, Madagascar and dependencies, West Africa, Equatorial Africa, Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco—and describes and discusses their present relations with the mother country.”—Am Econ R
“In style and arrangement it is a typical and creditable example of French scholarly work. It is fluently and clearly written, well arranged, supplied with convenient introductions and summaries; and there is a good index. The passages that involve criticism and reasoning are sensible, but cannot be said to show a thorough grasp of general economic theory or of the principles of international trade.” F. W. Taussig
“Professor Girault is at his best in the historical and descriptive parts of the work. A certain looseness and inconsistency characterizes his generalizations and his deductions as well as his reasoning as to the policy which France of to-day should pursue towards some of her colonies. ... The real merit of this work lies in the analysis of the causes of the colonial tariff policies under the changing governments of France and in a careful presentation of the effect of these policies upon the economic status of each colony; as such it forms an important contribution to the study of the subject.” Simon Litman
Reviewed by R. S. MacElwee
“The severity and lucidity of the main argument, the incontrovertibility of the historical facts built into the exposition, and the wealth of the statistical evidence certainly establish its title to be a work of reference for historians, economists, and the public; but it would require more than one expert thoroughly to sift the premises and test the conclusions stated with moderation but with an impressive conviction by the author. Professor Girault is handling a subject the general principles of which he had worked out in his ‘Principles de colonisation et de legislation coloniale’; and he is careful to correlate the specific analysis of the French system with the wider principles of colonial policy in general. ... Professor Girault has provided the French delegates at the future conference with an indispensable dossier.”
GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART.Speeches; descriptive index and bibliography; with a preface by Viscount Bryce.*12s 6d Methuen & co., London 308 (Eng ed 17-14978)
“Mr Bassett has compiled an invaluable supplement to Lord Morley’s ‘Life of Gladstone,’ comprising an index to his speeches from June 3rd, 1833, to May 4th, 1897, and a bibliography of his writings. ... The index is briefly annotated and gives the length of each speech. Fourteen of the most notable orations are reprinted in full, with useful introductions by Mr Herbert Paul. They include his attack on Palmerston’s foreign policy (1850), his denunciation of the treaty of Berlin (1878), and his famous opening speech in the Midlothian campaign of 1879, expressing a detestation of the Turk. His first Budget speech and his speech introducing the first Home rule bill are of much historic interest.”—Spec
GLAENZER, RICHARD BUTLER.[2]Beggar and king.*$1 Yale univ. press 811 17-29491
Contains among its best pieces “Masters of earth,” “Sure, it’s fun!” “The golden plover,” “Measure for measure,” and “April’s fool.” A handful among the sheaf are steeped in orientalism. Others sing loud and exultantly, drowning “sneers of humankind.” Some are war songs. One of the latter, “The new beatitude,” with a few strokes sets ruined Picardy and Poland before the eye, where “rasps through the reek this whisper raucous and low, Blessed are they which died a year ago!”
“Mr Glaenzer’s volume is somewhat of a disappointment. With a few exceptions the works he has chosen to include are of ordinary significance. It is his workmanship rather than theme or conception that does him the greater credit. ‘Sure, it’s fun!’ one of the recent flashing bits of verse brought forth by the war shows howwell Mr Glaenzer can succeed in being poetical; and the charming poem ‘To a vireo’ ... proves that when he abandons himself to light moods he can sing effectively and graciously. It is when he strives to be more ambitious, to sound the vague and complex depths of human experience that he fails to satisfy and merely irritates the reader by producing clever workmanship.” W. S. B.
“The workmanship is thorough, but the volume seems somewhat to lack the freshness that makes much of today’s poetry interesting.”
“He is thoroughly original in everything he writes, with the possible exception of lyrics which only in notable cases differ radically in the year 1917. Mr Glaenzer delights in cynicism. His lyrics are tinged and also tarnished by this trait. Try as he may to climb to the subjective hights of lyricists, there is always some repelling incident to make him slip. For this reason he never effervesces nor thrills with emotional ecstasy. The coquette amuses him. There is always some regret or failing in his theme to dull the brilliance of the glittering peak.”
GLEASON, ARTHUR HUNTINGTON.Inside the British Isles.*$2 (2c) Century 942.08 17-14222
A series of papers on Great Britain in wartime, arranged in four groups: Labor; Women; Ireland; Social studies, followed by a study of Lloyd-George and a conclusion. In concluding the author says, “I have sought to show the passing of England,—Little England, Old England,—the crumbling of its caste system, and the emergence of the England of John Bull and Cromwell’s soldiers from inarticulateness into power. And a yet greater thing has come—the advent of the new British commonwealth.” He adds further, “I am convinced that our own future is bound up with that of England, that together with England and France we can face the world with security, and gradually and painfully make the democratic principle prevail.”
“The impression he creates is of a mind previously made up, and using only those facts which will support his thesis. ... In other words, Mr Gleason is a special pleader rather than a philosophic investigator, and it is only a philosophic investigator who could convincingly treat such a subject as that of the present book.”
“Everyone is there—Mr Lansbury, Mr Zimmern, Mr Lionel Curtis, Mr Webb. Labels of identification are attached to them all. An ordinary Englishman like myself may again and again have real difficulty in recognizing some of the portraits. Mr Gleason works rapidly, and he is a little naïve. But his book has a real interim value as a cinematograph and it is extraordinarily pleasant reading.” H. J. Laski
“Contains uncommonly keen analyses of certain aspects of the national characteristics. Thus, his grasp on the Irish problem in relation to the gulf of feeling and sentiment separating the Irish from the English people goes true to the very bone of the difficulty.”
“Mr Gleason writes with a rush and a whirl. He offers a minimum of specific data and a maximum of generalization. Yet we feel sure that no one will put down Mr Gleason’s book without a clear impression that England is today in revolution. His account is, beyond question, the most comprehensive and the most stimulating that has thus far appeared.”
“Mr Gleason is to be complimented in his piecing together of all the fragmentary information, heretofore available only from time to time in the hurriedly read columns of the press, and furnishing a fairly synthetic picture of all that has taken place. ... He is careful to tell us that ‘Marxian socialism’ is ‘obsolete.’ And this is the only thing in the volume that he doesn’t apparently know anything about.” J. W.
“Sometimes one wonders if perhaps Mr Gleason in his enthusiasm exaggerates the importance of the changes he observes going on, thinks them significant of deeper forces than they represent, mistakes the temporary adjustment to suit temporary conditions for permanent evolution. ... Nevertheless, whether one agrees or not, the book has peculiar interest and high importance. ... But the volume contains a half dozen or more pages on ‘The new Americanism’ which might very well have been omitted because they are utterly irrelevant to the subject of the book and because they amazingly misunderstand and misinterpret facts and conditions in this country.”
“The advantage possessed by Arthur Gleason as an interpreter of English life for Americans is that he has a fresh and active mind and knows what aspects of England American readers would like to hear about. The disadvantage is that his familiarity with British affairs—if familiarity is the proper word—is apparently a very recent growth. ... Having a keen and alert eye and a facile habit of deduction, he seldom fails to be interesting, though he frequently does fail to be significant.”
“The primary value of this book to the student of contemporary events is its description of tendencies, accompanied in nearly all cases by sufficient evidence to allow the reader to judge for himself what amount of intended or unconscious exaggeration there may be in the predictions made.” Bruno Lasker