“An unusually good mystery story.”
“The tale is clearly and pleasantly told, the characters acceptably real, and the solution eminently satisfactory.”
“The plot is painstakingly worked out and the book is better written than most plot stories. The power and tragedy of the Great Lakes in time of storm form an impressive background.”
“The big scene on the lake steamer when the cars get loose recalls the place in ‘Ninety-three’ where the gun breaks loose between decks and begins to batter the ship to pieces. The incident is as thrilling as anything short of Flanders.” E. P. Wyckoff
“The story, despite the obviousness of its dramatic struggle, is skilfully constructed, its air of mystery being well sustained.”
MACHEN, ARTHUR.Terror.*$1.25 (3½c) McBride 17-25086
An ingenious mystery story, impossible, fantastic, yet with a moral that sets thoughtful people musing. Rural England which is the scene has a succession of strange deaths. Workers in munition factories, miners, farmers, tourists and laborers are stricken down, some apparently asphyxiated, others victims of inexplainable violence. The theory is suggested that the Germans, before the war, undermined the earth, and, from hidden vantage points, are making use of some deadly ray to destroy the people. In the end it is revealed that the terror had been due to a mute uprising of the brute creation against their human masters who, in descending to the plane of beasts to conduct warfare, had released their spiritual hold over the animal creation. The subjects revolted because their king abdicated his throne. Hatred is contagious. The animals under its spell turned on man to destroy him.
“‘The terror’ is a pure tour de force in diabolism. With its haunting unreality, its many passages of real beauty, its passages of description of Welsh scenery, no little pleasure may be derived from its chapters.”
“Artfully does the story-teller establish his fiction upon an indubitable fact, fresh in every reader’s mind. The British were inactive; we all wondered why at the time, and here, says our deponent, with his crisp reporter’s air, is the answer.”
“The horrors that mark the animals’ sudden war upon mankind seem isolated from their cause, and do not convince one of any real terror at the root of them. In spite of the disappointment, and the defect of a good idea not vigorously carried out, ‘The terror’ is a distinguished book, and bears the mark of a strangely original mind.”
“The fancy is an excellent one, and on the whole well worked out, though, naturally, there are many things left unexplained, and some that do not hang very well together. But as ‘A tale of terror’ it certainly qualifies, and we should conjecture that the book has not been published in England, though it, no doubt, will be after the war.” J. W.
“Daring, ingenious tale.”
MACIVER, ROBERT MORRISON.Community: a sociological study.*$3.75 (3c) Macmillan 301 17-17545
“A small portion of this work has already appeared in the Sociological Review and other quarters. The greater portion is concerned with what are believed by the author to be the fundamental laws of social development. Prof. Maciver declares that social science, in order to advance, must cease to be subject to the methods and formulæ of physical and biological science. It has a method of its own; and social relations cannot adequately be stated quantitatively, nor understood as expressions of quantitative laws. Of militarism the author remarks that it has been the enemy of modern social development, and that, if it cannot be overcome, ‘in all we do to build a greater civilization we are preparing greater offerings to the powers of destruction.’”—Ath
“This is easily the most notable book of the year in sociology. ... It is impossible to outline in a satisfactory manner the argument of a book so fertile in ideas. The only fair thing that the reviewer can do is to urge all interested in social science to read the book. It is far easier, however, to criticise the work, and in certain respects it deserves criticism. It is doubtful, for example, if the author has rendered sociology a service by adding another terminology to the many already in existence. ... Finally, Professor Maciver’s attempt to make psychology purely a subjective science, the science of ‘the knower’ (p. 60), and thereby divorce the social sciences quite entirely from it, will scarcely meet with approval on the part either of psychologists or of a large number of sociologists. These are, however, on the whole, minor defects in a work whose substantial value nearly all students of the social sciences will heartily recognize.” C: A. Ellwood
“It strikes one as a serious omission that almost no reference is made to the contributions of earlier writers to the same theme. ... On the other hand, the author shows no particular familiarity with the sociological tradition. For that reason the terms used in this book are more or less improvised, consequently lacking in precision, and the whole volume is vague, thin, plausible, and innocuous.” R. E. Park
Reviewed by L. L. Bernard
“What makes Dr Maciver’s volume so helpful is the fact that it was written before the outbreak of war and is published unaltered. It is a masterly book, characterized by a firm grasp of principles, and it is about principles that we want clear thinking at the present time. ... The volume is refreshing in that it is neither doctrinaire nor dogmatic. The lack of pretension about the book does not, however, hide the fact that it is written with a thorough knowledge of the best work in modern psychology and philosophy.”
“It suffers from a certain abstractness. Again and again one needs the apt illustration which will serve to drive home the point that has been made. It is a well-arranged book; and a student who is acquainted with the literature of which it is a part can read it with interest and profit. It is, indeed, here that its main value lies. It is nothing so much as an encyclopædia of the problems involved in the fact of human organization. ... It is permissible to suggest that future work of this kind will be the more useful and suggestive in so far as it is written from the standpoint of historical experience.” H. J. Laski
“Dr Maciver has done valuable service not only in providing us with a summary analysis of acquired results, but also reminding the specialist of the immense value of a wide outlook. The author disarms criticism by acknowledging that the subject is too vast for any adequate survey to be made in the presentstate of our knowledge. On the whole Dr Maciver’s book is completely successful.” C. D. Burns
“Remarkable book—remarkable for the vigour, originality and precision of the views presented. ... Of the two appendices, A is a very masterly criticism of neo-Hegelian identification of the state with society. It is, perhaps, in this illuminating criticism of authorities such as Professor Bosanquet in this appendix and of M. Durkheim (p. 87), Mr William McDougall (p. 79) that Dr Maciver is at his best.” M. J.
“We may express our gratitude for so able and suggestive a plea for the value and importance of individual human personality in the life of community, a plea more deeply significant against the background of present-day happenings.” W. L. S.
“While there is no question that what he has written is of high ability, Mr Maciver has yet certain defects of outlook and method which detract from the value of his thought. His thesis is over-elaborated. ... What is more serious is the unreal atmosphere of the book. Again and again it becomes difficult to grasp the vital fact that of this community we are ourselves part. There is missing the apt historical illustration which would lend point to the argument. ... Not the least serious defect in Mr Maciver is his seeming ignorance of vital tracts of human experience which are essential to his theme. ... If this is for the most part a criticism that is adverse, it is because Mr Maciver has written what is an indispensable book.” H. J. L.
“A very able and penetrating analysis of communal development in the broadest sense.”
“We needed this book badly. Of the thousands who lightly talk about ‘national reconstruction,’ how many question the issues involved? This book provides a real preparation for the task.” A. H. Burnett
“This book, the work of a Canadian professor, is one of unmistakable originality. ... In precision of language, in accuracy of definition, in the expulsion of indefinite phraseology, Mr Maciver’s volume contrasts, to his advantage, with the bulk of sociological literature. Certain pages are in the best style of philosophical exposition. But Mr Maciver does not wholly escape the besetting sin of sociologists—diffuseness.”
MACKAY, CONSTANCE D’ARCY.Little theatre in the United States. il*$2 (3c) Holt 792 17-29335
Aims to give a complete survey of one of the “newest, freest, most potent and democratic forces in the art of the American stage.” The author shows that the idea of little theatres came from Europe. In Paris in 1887 the first experiment was launched by André Antoine. In America the movement is new, dating from 1911-12. The “arch-foe of commercialism,” this great promoter of common interest has grown rapidly in America. The chapters describe the contributions and achievements of the more important little theatres of the United States and tell of the work going on in the laboratory theatres of the universities. There is also a word on the cost of little theatres, on repertory theatres, and on little theatres that have failed.
“A crisply written informational volume.”
“The author has done little more than bring together trivial notes and opinions. ... And the information is frequently inaccurate.”
“Meets a real need to satisfy requests for the history of the little-theater movement.”
MACKAY, HELEN GANSEVOORT (EDWARDS) (MRS ARCHIBALD K. MACKAY).Journal of small things.*$1.35 (2c) Duffield 940.91 17-8206
The author writes of France in the early days of the war. The preface, by W. L. Courtney, says: “Those who have read Mrs Mackay’s book which she entitled ‘Accidentals,’ will know exactly what to expect from her new book ‘Journal of small things.’ Like the early one it consists of a series of little sketches more or less in the form of a diary, vignettes taken from a very individual angle of vision. ... The precise quality of them is that they are extremely individual and intimately concerned with the little things—episodes half observed, half forgotten, which cluster round a big tragedy.”
“The writer’s intense sympathy with the sufferings she records is unmarred by emotionalism, and permits her to produce an account objective enough to be valuable; and, although Mrs Mackay is apparently not a Catholic, the ‘Journal’ is full of a beautiful reverence for the religion of the French people.”
“This is the record of a spiritual development, and it is by far the most impressive, the most poignant which this reviewer has yet found in the mass of war literature. It is a volume to be read and reread, and always to be kept near at hand.”
“It stays with one, with its heartache and its beauty; not for themselves and their lost homes, but over and over again—‘Sauvez la France.’”
“The book is sad, it cannot be otherwise, but it is truthfully sad and is informed with a delicate sentiment which is never sentimental and which gives to her sketches contrasts of light, shade, and atmosphere.”
MACKAY, MRS ISABEL ECCLESTONE (MACPHERSON).Up the hill and over.*$1.35 (1½c) Doran 17-10164
A little village in Canada, very amusingly described, is the scene of this story. Dr Henry Callandar, of Montreal, seeking mental rest and change of scene, finds both in Coombe, where he buys out the practice of old Dr Simmonds. Well-wishers inform him that old Dr Simmonds really has no practice to sell and that Coombe is an unprofitably healthy town, but all this fits in perfectly with Dr Callandar’s plans. He comes into town on foot, like a tramp, and his first encounter is with Esther Coombe, the young school mistress. What promises at first to be a very pretty love story is interrupted by the meeting between Callandar and Esther’s stepmother. Callandar and Mary Coombe had known one another in the long past and there is that between them that throws the shadow of tragedy over the awakening of a new love. But the shadow lifts, making for the story a sunny ending.
“The rather melodramatic plot is redeemed by skillful character drawing.”
“A book with which we are glad to have made friends.”
“An unusual novel of Canadian life by a Vancouver writer. It is admirably written and very interesting. There is truth, humor, and charm in the pictures both of the place and the people, while the construction is exceptionally good and the plot well and logically developed.”
MACKAY, LUCY GERTRUDE.[2]Housekeeper’s apple book.*75c Little 641.5 17-29531
The author classes the apple among the most essential foods and gives over 200 recipes for its use. Apple sauce and apple salads, baked apples and fried apples, apple puddings, pies, cakes and dumplings are all here, with many variations. The book is indexed.
MACKAYE, PERCY WALLACE.Canterbury pilgrims.*$1 Macmillan 812 17-403
Percy MacKaye’s play “The Canterbury pilgrims” was published in 1903. This operatic version was prepared in the summer of 1914. With music by Reginald De Koven it was given its first performance at the Metropolitan opera house in New York during the season of 1916-17. Geoffrey Chaucer himself is one of the characters, together with the best known of the pilgrims, the Knight, the Squire, the Friar, the Miller, and so on, not forgetting the Wife of Bath.
“That Mr MacKaye’s comedy has been out of print for some time gives a fresh interest and appeal to this operatic version. ... Long regarded as one of the finest of Mr MacKaye’s poetic dramas, it has now achieved the highest recognition in this country.”
“Rare among librettos in English, it is readable. ... Where Chaucer has failed him is in the matter of plot, and the effort to supply the deficiency is not so fortunate. ... In the play, as it was published in 1903, there was more opportunity to seek safety in an entirely appropriate discursiveness. The condensation necessary in an opera makes the incongruity of the plot only the more apparent.”
“With the possible exception of the Prioress, the characters are convincing portrayals. The whole affords relaxation for the student of Chaucer and satisfaction for the lover of good stories.”
MACKAYE, PERCY WALLACE.Community drama; its motive and method of neighborliness; an interpretation.*50c (10½c) Houghton 792.6 17-17646
The substance of this book was “delivered as a lecture before the American civic association in 1916. ... Mr MacKaye considers community drama the ‘ritual of democratic religion.’ Also by offering a dramatic channel for social consciousness he would convert the mentality of competition into the mentality of coöperation, and foster the growth of the international mind, thus making end to war.” (R of Rs) The appendix gives newspapercomments on the production of “Caliban” in New York in 1916.
“As Mr MacKaye admits, there are other excellent ways of attaining the ‘international spirit,’ there are other ‘substitutes for war,’ but no one who reads this little book can deny that he proves his own scheme to be at least worth the trying. ... Little attention is given to the rather important subject of the effect of this new amateur ‘community drama’ on expert and professional acting and authorship.”
“It is too slight to be of much value to the student of sociology or of the drama, nor specific enough to be of service to those interested in the practical aspects of the pageant or community play, and too emotional—too sentimental—to carry conviction to the intellectually aware.”
MACKAYE, PERCY WALLACE.Sinbad the sailor.*$1.25 Houghton 812 17-10549
The tales of “Sinbad the sailor” and “Beauty and the beast” have been fused to make this “lyric phantasy” in a prelude and three acts. A note says that music for the play has been composed by Frederick S. Converse.
“An extravagant but entertaining phantasy. ... Full descriptions make the play effective for reading aloud.”
“The dialogue consists of sprightly nonsense on the Gilbertian order, and there are some good lyrics. The settings and transformations, the work of Joseph Urban, seem, as described, to be the last word in modern lighting and stagecraft.”
“Percy MacKaye proves himself more the poet than the dramatist for ‘Sinbad’ ends with all its ‘first line frenzy’ of inspiration, fancy, visualization, lyricism, naïvete, whimsicality in dramatic structure gone, lost in dull verbiage, vanished in its middle act.”
“If Mr MacKaye were an unknown, struggling author, one could offer him at least the gift of silence. But for a man of his standing in the world of literature and the drama to put forth such a ‘lyric phantasy’ as ‘Sinbad’ is calculated to make the judicious grieve.”
MCKELLAR, K. B.Machine gun practice and tactics for officers, N. C. O.’s and men.*90c Macmillan 358 17-18610
A concise manual on methods of organization and machine gun units and sequence of training which has grown out of three years of experience at the front and in instructing men for active service in the present war.
MACKENNA, ROBERT WILLIAM.Adventure of death.*$1.50 (5c) Putnam 218 17-15977
Chapters on The great adventure; The fear of death; The painlessness of death; Euthanasia; What life gains from death; Does death end all? by a British physician who “has enjoyed exceptional opportunities of studying the state of mind and demeanour of those who are at the point of death, and of gathering and collating the experiences of soldiers who have faced the perils of war.” Dr MacKenna believes that a normal man in perfect health has “in some degree a salutary fear of death,” but that “when his hour comes, in almost every case the fear is lost, that a physician has no right to end the life of an apparently hopeless sufferer; that death in itself is painless, and that there is nothing inherently impossible in the survival of personality.”
“No one is likely to find the slightest difficulty in following the argument of ‘The adventure of death,’ for it is very clearly written. Its chief blemishes are the over-abundance of quotations from the poets and philosophers—some of which seem to have more sound than relevance—and an extraordinary gaudiness of style.” J. F. S.
“A beautifully and simply written little book whose perusal ought to do away entirely with the fear and horror of death that lurk in theminds of most normal people who have never been brought into much close connection with it.”
“His little essay is eminently sane and comforting, and that without being a tract.”
MCKENNA, STEPHEN.Sonia; between two worlds.*$1.50 (1c) Doran 17-20668
“Mr McKenna elects to call his novel ‘Sonia’; but Sonia Dainton, charming if turbulent, plays in reality but a small part in it. The story is mainly concerned with the doings and development of George Oakleigh, who acts as narrator, and his two friends, Lord Loring and David O’Rane, from their schooldays at Melton—the famous English public school that stands ‘like a group of temples on a modern Acropolis’—down to the first years of the great war.”—Spec
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“Should the social historian of the future wish to find a convincing picture of one stratum of pre-war Britain he can do no better than read Stephen McKenna’s novel, ‘Sonia.’” F. I.
“A substantial as well as absorbingly interesting novel, worth the time it takes to read.”
“An excellent example of those novels of school and college life which only the English know how to write, perhaps because the English are the only ones who know how to live that life. But it is more than charming narration and delineation; it has a sense of the traits in British character which make it survive.”
“Of course, Mr McKenna has chosen to write ‘Sonia’ in the bald narrative vein for purely artistic purposes. By making the everyday life of an aristocratic order that is passing so homely and friendly, by avoiding any quick, hot anger at the impeccable and stupid extravagance of silly routine, Mr McKenna can vivify O’Rane’s contrasting point of view more enduringly than by dramatic rant.” H. S.
“The novel is well written, done conscientiously, and with infinite care. A great deal of it is interesting, but unfortunately a great deal of it is excessively tiresome. It is a great pity that this should be so, for the book is in many ways excellent, an intelligently thought-out and carefully produced criticism of certain phases of English life as it was before the war.”
“By a member of the recent British commission to Washington. The best part of this book, both for quantity and quality, consists of a review of the actions and thoughts of people in the years just preceding the war, beginning with the hero’s schooldays in 1898, and some account of the modifications which the war has brought about. We congratulate the author on much shrewd discernment and considerable wit, as well as on his attitude towards social problems. We wish we could as heartily commend his characterization, but here, especially in the case of the girl whose name figures in the title, his failure by comparison is very marked.”
“The description of life in Mr Oakleigh’s London in the year of fate is really brilliant, an odd frenzied London, where an eager humanitarianism, showing itself in the sincere pursuit of social reform and international understanding, could mix with senseless personal indulgence. ... It is Mr Oakleigh’s vivid impressionism as a whole, rather than its details, that gives to this book its great interest.”
MACKENZIE, CAMERON.Man who tried to be it. il*$1 (5c) Doran 17-7928
From Wellesville, where he had been general manager of a small business concern, John Hadden was called to Chicago to become president of the Consolidated shoe corporation. John Hadden was accounted a successful business man. He had power and driving force and he looked on the Consolidated as just another and wider field for the exercise of his abilities. But he failed at it, failed because he tried to do too much and because he treated his subordinates as subordinates and tried to make of them mere machines subject to his will. He failed because he tried to use in the big business methods that had been successful in the small business.
“Tersely and interestingly told, and its ‘moral’ deserves a wide reading.”
“The author displays considerable insight into the organization and conduct of a big corporation, and the story is an illuminating reminder of how far co-operation in the management of present-day corporations has supplanted the ‘one man’ control of a not distant day.”
“Capital character study of business men. ... No romance and rather unpleasant.”
MACKENZIE, DONALD A.Stories of Russian folk-life.*2s 6d Blackie, London
“This volume of the ‘Story and legend library’ contains seven short stories of Russian life, both ancient and modern, and an introduction in which the author gives us an interesting sketch of a few of the most prominent facts of the geography and history of the country. Some of the stories are traditional, and in one we have an exciting and tragic encounter with wolves, while in the last, and in some ways the best, there is an account of the actual moment of transition for the peasants from serfdom to liberty.”—Spec
“‘Stories of Russian folk-life’ is a cheerful volume, and the pictures are good. But the title does not indicate the contents very clearly. The book is apparently not translated, and it is not the retelling of old tales. Mr Donald Mackenzie’s effort appears rather to have been to tell certain stories in the folk-lore spirit.”
MACKENZIE, JEAN KENYON.African trail. il 50c Central committee on the united study of foreign missions. West Medford, Mass. 266 17-10203
“A textbook on the approach of the Gospel to primitive peoples was ordered of this experienced missionary, after her striking letters under the title ‘Black sheep’ had appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1915. The present work is the result, and is a unique and valuable contribution to the literature of missions.” (Boston Transcript) “For here is far more than simply an account of religious work among the Bulus. It is a poetic, impassioned setting forth of the great romantic endeavor of the messengers of the ‘tribe of God’; a description in few words of the effect on the white man of life among strange peoples; a remarkable analysis of the first results of the ‘technique of Christian living,’ the ‘ten tyings,’ on the heathen mind.” (Ind) A brief reading list is appended.
“The book is full of original and enlightening expressions, of keen psychology, of human sympathy. It stands beside Keable’s beautiful ‘Cityof the dawn,’ tho broader in scope and deeper in thought. It may be a good textbook. It certainly is literature.”
“There is not in existence any other missionary text-book that presents with such power the underlying psychology of certain African tribes.”
MACKINTOSH, HUGH ROSS.Immortality and the future.*$1.50 (2c) Doran 218 A17-1602
Dr Mackintosh, professor of theology in New college, Edinburgh, restates the Christian doctrine of life after death “on a new foundation, after careful examination of many arguments and much evidence for and against it.” (Springf’d Republican) “In the first part of the volume he takes up the historical development of ideas concerning death and a future life among primitive races and the earlier civilizations. Then, in four chapters, he studies the doctrine of death and life set forth in the Old Testament and Judaism, in the teachings of Jesus, in the apostolic age, and during the long history of the church. The second part, which fills more than half the book, is devoted to ‘a reconstructive statement’ of the hopes of the Christian world, the reasons therefor, and the conclusions of modern belief, deduced from historical and theological research, as to immortality.” (N Y Times) “Some part of the best literature for those who wish to pursue the study of this field is mentioned in the text or footnotes.” (Preface) The first edition of this book was published in England in 1915.
“One of the best of recent books on the subject of life after death, written from the religious point of view.”
MCKNIGHT, GEORGE HARLEY.[2]St Nicholas: his legend and his rôle in the Christmas celebration and other popular customs.il*$2 (5½c) Putnam 922
How a dignified bishop of the medieval church came to take on the character of our popular Santa Claus is one of the matters touched on in this book. The author has brought together a store of scattered material relating to the real life of this saint and the legends that have grown up about him. He says, “In St Nicholas the reader will come in contact with a personality of unique amiability, whose influence has permeated popular customs for many centuries and has contributed much of sweetness to human life.” The illustrations show how the saint has been pictured in popular German prints, early Italian painting and other works of art. One interesting chapter is devoted to St Nicholas plays.
“It is indeed to be regretted that we have known so little of the good Saint Nicholas himself. That want is readably and pleasantly filled in this new book.”
MCLAGLEN, LEOPOLD.Bayonet fighting. il*75c National military pub. co. 355 A18-120
The system of bayonet fighting described in this little manual was invented by Captain McLaglen about the year 1910. In it there is a certain amount of jiu-jitsu. Twenty thousand men of the 1st and 2d Expeditionary force of Australia were instructed by Captain McLaglen in the new method and it is in wide use with the British troops. The fifty-five illustrations have captions printed in French as well as English.
MCLAREN, A. D.Germanism from within.*$3 Dutton 914.3 17-26319
“‘Germanism from within’ by A. D. McLaren is, as the title implies, a series of studies about the German people, but they have not all been called forth by the war, as many of them were written before it. Their central theme is an analysis of Germanism. The author has lived for seven years in Germany. He was in Berlin at the time of the declaration of war, was later arrested and spent eight months in a concentration camp. Mr McLaren treats all phases of German life, political, religious and military. ... An interesting chapter is devoted to the study of the Kaiser.”—Springf’d Republican
“Thus the book is no mere by-product of the war. It is the careful work of a patient observer who has for thirty years been studying the politics, industry, education, character, and ideals of the German people.”
“Far indeed from any shade of pro-Germanism, he yet believes some elements in the German nature are misconstrued. For example, even the severe Prussian is not a pure materialist. Of this the universal German devotion to the Christmas festival is evidence.”
“A journalist by profession—he was a reporter in Germany for the Sydney (Australia) Daily Telegraph from 1908 to 1915—Mr McLaren has observed German life and character from many points of view. ... There is often a certain hardness in Mr McLaren’s treatment and in his conclusion, but the reader is always aware of the great force of his logic. Mr McLaren’s chief weakness is his limited knowledge of German history.”
“His frame of mind is notably judicial and his constant aim seems to be utterly fair to the German people.”
“The book is painstaking and often interesting, but the author, in his conscientious efforts to be strictly fair (which he is), becomes at times a trifle labored and confused in his style.”
MACLEAN, STUART.Alexis; a study of love and music.*$1.50 (2c) Appleton 17-22300
“Cosmopolis, a bustling provincial city somewhere in the United States, possessed a first-class musical critic. Van Alstyne Bradshaw ... was a talented composer as well as a lover of all good music, and did his sincere best to improve the taste of Cosmopolis’s very self-satisfied inhabitants. But he had had a great sorrow in his life; he was an embittered man, inclined to be pessimistic, and very lonely, until he met the boy Alexis. The son of a washerwoman and a day laborer, both Hungarians, Alexis Vaczy was a born violinist. It did not take Bradshaw long to discover this fact, and what he did to Alexis and what Alexis did to him the book tells. ... Two love-stories help to complicate the plot.”—N Y Times
“It is not often that a reviewer finds himself in a glow over an American novel, but such is the present writer’s experience with ‘Alexis.’ ... It does not suffice to say that this story has attractive subject-matter, ... nor is it enough to say the story is exceptionally well written, or that the characters are deftly drawn, or that there is a lot of splendid talk about music and musicians. ... There is between the lines an indefinable quality of ardor, of the eagerness and intensity of youth and youthful ambitions. One knows from the start that the story will be a happy one.”
“While it is evidently intended to be a study of the musical temperament, and as such is not badly done, the most interesting thing in the novel is the picture of the musical and would-be musical society of Cosmopolis.”
“The work is distinctly above the average novel in intelligence.”
MCMAHON, JOHN ROBERT.Success in the suburbs. il*$2 (3c) Putnam 630 17-14063
A book that offers to tell “how to locate, buy, and build; garden and grow fruit; keep fowls and animals.” This promise is repeated in the chapter headings: The hike to the suburbs; Scouting for a suburban home; Financing the suburban home; Legal fixings and fences; The suburbanite his own architect; The fireproof house; Remodeling old houses; The garden; Fruit trees and small fruits; Animals on the suburban place, etc. There are over forty excellent illustrations. Useful tables are given in an appendix.
“An interestingly written and practically suggestive book.”
“His optimism is merry, not patronizing, and the more convincing that he sets up a moderate standard, planting it in good practical advice. Of course, covering much ground, the book is suggestive, not a complete building and garden guide.”
“It is a very interesting and instructive book, and combines practical, scientific, and legal instruction. With this book and personal enthusiasm it would seem possible to make a success of any suburb.”
“To all suburbanites and would-be suburbanites I introduce this book as the most complete work on the ‘suburban game’ yet published.” G: H. Hamilton
“A practical book.”
“A rather slangy account of life in the suburbs, but at the same time a valuable account, for it contains many practical hints to the suburban dweller as to house and garden, orchard and poultry yard.”
“Many personal experiences are related which are of practical service to the novice in country life.”
MACMILLAN, MARY LOUISE.More short plays.*$1.50 Stewart & Kidd 812 17-21729
This is the author’s second book of plays suitable for amateur production. “Short plays” was published in 1915. Among the seven plays in the new book are two that are rather more ambitious than the title would suggest, “Honey,” with scenes laid in a southern mill town, and “The pioneers,” an historical play of the Middle West. The remaining plays, His second girl, At the church door, The dress rehearsal of Hamlet, In Mendelesia, parts 1 and 2, and The dryad, are shorter pieces.
“All the plays are pleasing, however, viewed from different angles. ‘His second girl’ is a delightful bit of comedy. ... ‘The dryad’ is a poetic fantasy in verse that will appeal to the heart of every tree-lover.”
MACMURCHY, MARJORY.Woman—bless her; not as amiable a book as it sounds.*$1 Doran 396 (Eng ed 16-21046)
“An appeal to women for proper recognition of their work in war and reconstruction. It is addressed primarily to the women of Canada, but can be read with benefit by women in the other dominions and in Britain. ‘The most useful economic and social war and reconstruction work that each woman can do,’ says Miss MacMurchy, ‘will be found more readily if she can define the economic and social duty of the class to which she belongs.’ To this end she divides women into categories. ... The writer proceeds to study the particular work in each category, to estimate its value to the nation, and to show where it can be developed and extended.”—Spec
“Useful for the facts and statistics presented.”
“Librarians should purchase this book and make special efforts to circulate it.”
MCNALLY, GEORGIA MAUD.Babyhood of wild beasts; with foreword by W. T. Hornaday. il*$2 Doran 17-29790
“Miss McNally was born and lived for a part of her early life on the frontier where she came to know something of the wild animals, to care for them and to feel that she understood them. The wild babies of whom she tells were some of them her own personal home friends, like Pompey, the baby lion, and others she became acquainted with in the big Bronx zoological and other gardens. All the wild babies she has known in one way or another, and the many interesting pictures are of the animals themselves.”—N Y Times
“A fascinating account.”
“Through it all you get accurate scientific facts, with now and then a good scientific word smuggled in where its meaning is quite evident from the context. There is no sugar-coating of facts with silly stories. This is a book to be most heartily recommended to boys and girls of all ages.” R. F. Zametkin