Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“Naturally all brief characterizations are unfair, but I suppose ‘Marching men’ might be described as a pæan to order and (quite incidentally, I hope) a naked and somewhat febrile celebration of force. It is, in fact, too insistently, too stridently and remorselessly dedicated to the main theme to make a wholly satisfactory novel. ... Mr Anderson’s is surely the last word of anti-intellectualism; for the men who follow McGregor do not know why they are marching or whither. ... Marching satisfies a deep disposition. Very well, let them march, and trust to luck that the collectivist mind will emerge. To present a programme would be only to repeat the old intellectualist fallacy of the socialists and the organizers. ... Mr Anderson has the skill to make you feel the thick press of life in great cities.” G: B. Donlin
“The sensational and spectacular scheme by which this Pennsylvania miner aspires to evoke the solidarity of labor hardly succeeds in escaping the ludicrous. But ‘Marching men’ is not a literal novel. It has, indeed, its large element of the caveman piffle that played such a part in the romanticizations of Jack London, but outside this puerility, this day-dream of the male egoist, there is a great deal of inspiring symbolism in ‘Marching men.’ ... The chief fact about ‘Marching men’ is not its rhetoric, its grandiloquence. It is its apprehension of the great fictional theme of our generation, industrial America.” F. H.
“Back of the new volume is a big idea, a strong purpose, a white light. It is obviously propaganda, interesting because it makes you thoughtful about the struggle that is going on here in Chicago and in all the labor centers of the land. ... Mr Anderson’s novel, while it compels one to read it to the end, is weak in many places. It savors too much of a preachment, and in the handling of the final chapters falls a bit flat.” J: N: Beffel
“A disappointing book. For in the very beginning of it the descriptions of Coal Creek, the miners, and Norman McGregor’s hatred alike of the place and of the people, are sufficiently well done to lead the reader to expect a novel of possibly a trifle more than average interest and average merit.”
“Mr Anderson writes with an earnestness that cannot fail to awaken respect. Tho his characters occasionally—by no means always—sound a little more than human, his appreciation of the perversities of the social order—or disorder—and his sincere seeking for ‘the wherefore of the why,’ gain for this comparatively new author a sympathetic response.” Doris Webb
ANDREÄ, JOHANN VALENTIN.Christianopolis; tr., with an historical introd., by Felix Emil Held. (Germanic literature and culture) il*$1.25 Oxford 321.07 16-14590
“Christianopolis, a translation from the Latin of Johann Valentin Andreae, portraying ‘an ideal state of the seventeenth century,’ is an important addition to utopian literature in the English language. Professor Held’s valuable introduction connects Christianopolis with the other utopias—Plato’s, More’s, Campanella’s City of the sun, Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, Samuel Gott’s Solyma—and with seventeenth century educational reforms. The text ranges quaintly over many of the rough realities and the fine ideals with which every people is still struggling.”—Survey
“The Latin original of this utopian sketch is very rare. It is just 270 years since Robert Boyle, in a letter to Samuel Hartlib, exprest the wish that an English version of it might be made. Such a version has now been made, and well made, by Assistant Professor Held of Miami university.”
“The introduction gives a conspectus of the literature on the whole subject, and will be useful for reference. It summarizes opinions, corrects errors, and rectifies ill-founded judgments. Dr Held doubtless overestimates his author, but the things for which Andreae may be regarded as noteworthy are properly specified, and a fair degree of probability is made out for the theses here propounded.”
“Dr Held’s translation of ‘Christianopolis’ is not only accurate, but it reads easily.” C. A. Williams
“The matter of his pages is admirable, but the manner it deserves is lacking. It is as the socialist who so long ago saw that the social question is a moral and religious one, as the promoter of educational and scientific reform, that he is important.”
ANDREYEV, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH.Confessions of a little man during great days; tr. from the Russian by R. S. Townsend.*$1.35 Knopf 17-26393
“The book is just the quite shameless confession of a little clerk who gets no nearer the war than Petrograd, a futile, stupid, fussy, egoistic, but affectionate, sensitive, and somehow lovable little man of forty-five, with but one heroic quality, his honesty—at least to himself; he does not spare himself when he writes the diary that no one is to see. ... He wins your sympathy, from a fellow-feeling, and he keeps it, even when he is worrying about himself and his miserable digestion and his neglected state while his fine wife goes nursing, even when the smallness of his life makes him most ridiculous. ... Again when he decides to go to the front and serve with the ambulance you believe that he will go and somehow play his little part.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Registers his revolt against war, his gradual patriotic awakening and finally his desire to help. Will appeal to many Americans now entering upon similar experiences.”
“Andreyev’s genius for analysis attains an intensity at times that is fairly hypnotic. ... But the analysis is not all. There are moments of great poetic freshness—pages of lyric beauty with accents exultant or despairing, as in the vivid pictures of springtime in Petrograd, or the moonlit city, still and mysterious and fearful, or the scene in the depot where the wounded soldiers arrive.”
“This diary of a non-combatant increasingly touched by war is one of the most remarkable books the war has produced.”
“There is no purpose or propaganda here. All Andreyeff wants is to be honest, and he leaves you to make what you like of it. ... This honesty is what makes the book so absorbing, that and two other things; first, the extraordinary skill with which, in the simplest words, Andreyeff creates his little man and the splendid wife and the jolly children and the rest; and secondly, the fact that Ilya Petrovitch Dementev is a universal type. Even a brief, terrible description of how some women were tortured by Turks—Andreyeff’s one lapse into the ghastly—cannot altogether dismay you, for even here there is more pity than horror.”
ANESAKI, MASAHARU.Nichiren, the Buddhist prophet. il*$1.25 Harvard univ. press 294 16-17131
“This study is a kind of foreword to the author’s forthcoming work on the ‘Religious and moral development of the Japanese.’ The teachings and influence of Nichirenhave played a large part in the present religious attitude of the Japanese nation. He has been called the ‘Nietzsche of Japan.’ ... His teachings, which unified religion and ethics, rescued pure Buddhism from the contamination of spurious beliefs and restored it to the purity of its original high ideals and to the worship of one Buddha (Buddha Sakya-muni), the Lord of the universe. To the restored purity of the Buddhist faith can be traced—at least in part—the great vitality of the Japanese nation.”—R of Rs
“This sketch, written under the inspiration of Professor Royce and his own experiences as professor of Japanese literature and life at Harvard, will help to an understanding of Japan.”
“Though he never converted the rulers of the land he gathered a considerable following and founded a sect which is to-day enjoying a notable revival. Nichiren, moreover, was not only a preacher, but a writer of real power, and Dr Anesaki has wisely given us many extracts from the ‘prophet’s’ essays and letters.”
“This brief, clear exposition of Nichiren’s personality and teachings is a distinct contribution to the literature of religious psychology and a clearly cut portrait of a man western scholars will indeed be glad to know.”
“The author is professor of the science of religion at the Imperial university of Tokio.”
“Undoubtedly the most complete history of the thoughts and acts of this remarkable man that has ever been published in the English language.”
Annual of new poetry, 1917.*5s Constable & co., London 821.08
“Thirty pages, and more, of this volume are occupied by ‘dramatic reveries’ from Mr Gibson’s ‘Livelihood.’ Seven other poets are included. Two, Mr Davies and Mr Drinkwater, furnish barely twenty pages between them.There remain Mr Sturge Moore and Mr R. C. Trevelyan, who contribute each a single long poem, Mr Robert Frost, Mr Gordon Bottomley, and Mr Edward Eastaway.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Perhaps the most interesting contributions to this volume are those by Edward Eastaway [Edward Thomas], whose poetic impulse was stimulated by the example of Robert Frost ... and who now lies dead on a French battlefield.” E: Garnett
“Mr Trevelyan’s drama is pretty enough but has none of the wit and brilliancy of his best work. ... Mr Gordon Bottomley contributes several beautiful little poems, all full of the pressure of life and death and of the greatness of to-day as coming out of yesterday and travelling to to-morrow. ... Mr Frost’s poems are just little bits of fact or incident which he has observed, sometimes more or less interesting, sometimes defiantly commonplace. ... Mr Eastaway is a real poet, with the truth in him. ... He has no instinct of selection. Several of his pieces here are not so much poems as notes out of which poems might have been made. But he has real imagination.”
APUKHTIN, ALEKSIEI NIKOLAEVICH.From death to life; tr. from the original by R. Frank and E: Huybers. il 60c R. Frank, 15 E. 40th st., N.Y. 17-15469
“This first volume in the Gems of Russian literature series is a little book of sixty-odd pages containing a novelette by A. Apukhtin, Russian poet and novelist, who died in middle age a quarter of a century ago. The novelette might be called an essay in reincarnation, for it chronicles in the first person the thoughts and emotions of a man, a member of the Russian nobility, from the moment of his death until, on the day of his funeral, his individuality enters life again in the new-born infant of his wife’s maid. This brief shadow time is filled with intimations of previous existences which waver in and out through the dead man’s consciousness of what is going on around him, and it is ended by a passionate longing for life which fills him as his soul is born again into the body of the infant just entering the world.”—N Y Times
“The extravagance of the central idea in no way detracts from one’s enjoyment of the piece. The prose is simple and direct—and the images are poetic.”
“Such a trifle might seem memorable if stumbled on or more humbly presented, but for the first of a number of Gems of Russian literature it is scarce more glowing than artful glass.”
“The eerie conceit is told with such simplicity and sincerity that it carries the air of absolute truth.”
ARCHER, WILLIAM, comp.Gems (?) of German thought.*$1.25 Doubleday 940.91 17-15965
Extracts from over eighty books and pamphlets, of which the full titles and dates of publication are given in every instance, showing, “the dominant characteristics of German mentality,” and arranged under the headings: “Deutschland über alles”; German ambitions; War-worship; Ruthlessness; Machiavelism; England, France, and Belgium—especially England. Mr Archer states in his introduction that the great majority of the quotations are taken direct from the original sources, and adds that “it will be found by anyone who puts the matter to the test that in no case is there any unfairness in taking these brief extracts out of their context. The context is almost always an aggravating rather than an extenuating circumstance.” There is an “Index of books and pamphlets from which quotations are made,” and an “Index of authors,” with brief notes placing the different writers in the public life of Germany.
Reviewed by H. M. Kallen
“Mr Archer has done an important service, as ingenious as it is real, to the cause of truth and of sober realization of the fundamental causes of the great world war by the compilation of this volume.”
“It is unnecessary to insist upon Mr Archer’s qualifications for the task. As a literary and dramatic critic he has always been distinguished for independence, honesty, and a remarkable freedom from all insular bias. ... And his knowledge of continental literature is based upon first-hand acquaintance with the originals. The method he has adopted in this book is what might be expected from so well equipped and conscientious a writer.”
“They are meant to amuse us—as they do, except when we stop to reflect that a certain blindness in the German mind, which they exemplify, and which is much more a lack of humor than of humanity, has been a trait that helped to make the war possible.”
ARCHER, WILLIAM.God and Mr Wells; a critical examination of “God, the invisible king.”*$1 Knopf (*1s 9d Watts & co., London) 201 17-24674
“Mr Archer is concerned about what the men of the future may think of Mr Wells, and accordingly writes what is certainly a witty and exhilarating, and the publisher calls a ‘complete and crushing,’ rejoinder. ... The critic’s point of view is that of the grave and respectful rationalist, who believes in the tendency of human progress towards good, but declines to be persuaded, by what he regards as ‘a mere system of nomenclature,’ into the belief that Mr Wells has found a new religion, a new God—in other words, the ‘key to the mystery of existence.’”—Ath
“As a literary effort, Mr Archer’s book is clearer, more humorous, and much more convincing than the book that evoked it. We say this without intending any adjudication on the issues at stake.”
Reviewed by W: L. Phelps
“Not much is left of Mr Wells’s glowingly imaginative creation after Mr Archer has devoted a hundred searching pages to its consideration but a large number of brightly colored shreds and tatters. Mr Archer has enjoyed himself very much in the making of them and the reader has equally enjoyed the process. But Mr Archer has not been simply destructive. As he goes along, and in a score or more of pages at the end, he modestly outlines a basis for man’s attitude toward the mystery of the universe and of himself that is austere almost to grimness but is simple, manful, and reasonable.”
“In the latter part of his book Mr Archer extends his criticism from Mr Wells’s theology to Christian theology, and then he strikes us as no less ineffectual, because no less ignorant, and considerably less amusing, than Mr Wells when similarly engaged.”
“Mr Archer is, it seems, an agnostic, and the destructive force of his Scottish intellect makes havoc with Mr Wells’s confident and bustling attempt to discover a God in the universe.”
ARMSTRONG, HAMILTON FISH, ed.[2]Book of New York verse. il*$2.50 Putnam 811.08
An anthology of New York verse, fittingly introduced and concluded with selections from Walt Whitman and celebrating both the ancient glories and the modern beauties of the city. The early poems in the collection are arranged in order of events. We have: Verrazano in New York harbour; Hudson’s last voyage; Epitaph for Peter Stuyvesant; When Broadway was a country road, etc. The later poems are arranged loosely by locality: Central park; Brooklyn bridge; Washington square; Broadway. Among the modern poets represented are Sara Teasdale, Chester Firkins, Dana Burnet, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, James Oppenheim, and Edward Arlington Robinson. There are over sixty illustrations, many of them from interesting old prints.
“In spite of its considerable bulk, this book of New York verse is hardly ever monotonous. The whole possession of the city’s past is suggested in the earlier pages, and no reader will leave them without a keen appreciation of Manhattan nomenclature.”
ARNDT, WALTER TALLMADGE.Emancipation of the American city.*$1.50 (2½c) Duffield 352 17-18177
“Home rule appears to the author to be the first step toward a solution of the many problems of the modern city. Not only is the achievement of this step necessary to enable the city to direct its affairs in its own interest, but it is indispensable to the training of its citizens in moral self-direction. Concentration of business and political responsibility through commission government (or its equivalent), the short ballot, separation of local from national political issues, the substitution of independent for partisan tickets, an adequate and irreproachable civil service, the regulation and curtailment of public-utility franchises, the rationalization and standardization of the finance methods of the city within the limits at least of solvency—these are some of the most important reforms explained and urged.” (Dial) There are seven appendices dealing with city charters, preferential voting, etc., and a two page bibliography.
“In not a few paragraphs the language, whether of criticism or of praise, is stronger than a dispassionate analysis of the facts would support. Nevertheless the book will make an effective appeal to those who like to drink their potions of reform propaganda with some ginger mixed in it.”
“Careful and illuminating study of the principles underlying home rule.”
“The viewpoint of the author is decidedly sane and progressive, and the book may be trusted to hold the interest of the average reader.”
“One of the best recent studies and discussions of American municipal government in the present age of reform.”
“It might be said that Mr Arndt has made available in the most readable way all the best thought of the intelligent business class and their unconscious academic allies on municipal government reform. ... Here, it seems to me, lies the value of the book for us. It is a compact and handy guide to recent useful political inventions, some of which it will pay us well to appropriate for our own purpose. There is, however, abundant evidence in this work of an utter failure to understand the heaviest burdens to which our cities have fallen heir.” Evans Clark
“One would have welcomed a more detailed account of the beginnings of municipal reform in this country, with some comment on the pioneers of the movement.”
“The best field for the book is probably among those newly enfranchised women who desire a simple, straightforward account of current reform efforts as an aid in understanding public questions.” R. S. Childs
ARNOLD, SARAH LOUISE.Story of the Sargent industrial school at Beacon, New York, 1891-1916. il Sarah L. Arnold, Simmons college, Boston 640.7 A17-1514
An intimate account of the founding, growth and success of the Sargent industrial school at Beacon-on-Hudson. To establish a home school for girls, without an institutional aspect, where culture and refinement abound, where house-keeping and home-making are efficiently taught, where the community spirit is nourished—this was the original hope of the founder. She began her work in 1878 and from that time to the present has trained more than ten thousand girls. The program provides courses in sewing, dressmaking, embroidery, cooking, house-keeping, laundry work, physical training, singing and drawing. The influence of the school upon the community is a valuable aspect of Mrs Sargent’s success.
ARNOLD, THOMAS JACKSON.Early life and letters of General Thomas J. Jackson, “Stonewall” Jackson. il*$2 Revell 17-241
“From earliest childhood, Mr Arnold (who is a nephew of General Jackson) tells us, his memory is very clear as to the personal appearance of General Jackson, ‘and from that time forward I knew him quite well as a boy would know a man.’ ... In later years, Mr Arnold knew intimately General Jackson’s boyhood companions, and from them gathered much unpublished interesting information. In addition, he recently came into possession of more than one hundred letters from General Jackson’s private correspondence. Of all this material he has made good, judicious use, producing what seems to the reader to be a new, and certainly a true portrait of the famous Confederate chieftain.”—Lit D
“These evidences of Jackson’s growth and inner life are both enlightening and characteristic, although it must be said that they do not materially qualify the picture we have in Dabney’s ‘Life and campaigns’ or Henderson’s remarkable portrait of more recent years. Mr Arnold has done his part of the work well and acceptably, without parade or undue hero-worship.” W: E. Dodd
“The domestic qualities of Stonewall Jackson are traced in a biography by his widow, the military qualities, in the standard biography by Henderson. Neither Mrs Jackson nor Henderson, however, was fully or accurately informed about the early life of the great soldier. Information regarding these formative years has been gathered carefully by Mr Thomas J. Arnold, Jackson’s nephew, and is now published. ... For those who would become thoroughly acquainted with either the exact details of Jackson’s life, or the fulness of his character, an acquaintance with Mr Arnold’s work is indispensable.”
“A somewhat new and very personal view of the Confederate leader.”
ARONOVICI, CAROL.Social survey. (Bu. for social research of the Seybert inst. of Philadelphia) il $1.25 (2½c) Harper press, 1012 Chancellor st., Philadelphia 309.1 16-17518
This work has been developed from a pamphlet that was published as Bulletin no. 20 of the department of social and public service of the American Unitarian association. Parts of the book have also appeared in newspapers and magazines. Its purpose is to suggest lines of inquiry for those contemplating a local survey.Contents: The meaning of the survey; General considerations; Character of the community; The city plan; Local government; Suffrage; Industry; Health; Leisure; Education; Welfare agencies; Crime; Statistical facts and the survey; Social legislation and the survey; The facts and the people; A social program. A list of Social agencies of national scope is given in an appendix and there is a bibliography of thirty-six pages.
“The volume gives evidence of rather hasty composition. Its workmanship is distinctly inferior to the grade which the writer has maintained in special articles. Current platitudes too frequently appear as substitutes for clear thinking. ... The book gives little or no evidence of any utilization of the numerous reports of social surveys. A noticeable deficiency is the absence of even a brief résumé of the social survey movement. The merits, rather than the deficiencies, of the book are likely to impress the majority of its readers. The section on housing is an exceptionally good piece of work. Well-selected charts provide striking illustrations. ... The bibliography is of service not only for its representative enumeration of surveys, but also for the classified selection of books. There is, however, no acknowledgment of the author’s evident indebtedness to the ‘Bibliography of the social survey,’ published by the Department of surveys and exhibits of the Russell Sage foundation.” E. W. Burgess
“Based on the author’s wide experience as director of the Bureau for social research, Philadelphia, this book furnishes a good, usable text for civic clubs and classes or communities which are contemplating a survey.”
“Closes with an excellent bibliography.”
“A useful introduction to the subject for the general reader, as well as a convenient manual of reference in regard to the important surveys already completed. The work is characterized thruout by an active appreciation of the value of facts as a guide to conduct, and of the value of vision in guiding research.”
“It is not a handbook for social surveyors, but it is a first-rate introduction for the average citizen to the problems of his community.” R. E. Park
ARTSYBASHEV, MIKHAIL PETROVICH.Tales of the revolution; tr. by Percy Pinkerton.*$1.50 (1½c) Huebsch 17-26653
There are five stories in this book: Sheviriof; The blood-stain; Morning shadows; Pasha Tumanof; The doctor. All are stories of men and women who sacrificed themselves for the revolution. It appears a hopeless cause, in which a few helpless individuals hurl themselves in futile rebellion against an invincible power, but the stories, dark as they are, will be read with a different feeling now, when it is known that the sacrifice was not in vain.
“Characterized for the most part by a grim realism.”
“This writer never lays himself open to criticism on the ground of inconsistency or of producing horror merely for horror’s sake. The emotions that he describes are justified by the situations which produce them, and these in turn by his characters, who are undoubtedly real to his experience. ... Personally we read him with mingled feelings—a deep admiration for his power and a feeling of the futility of its expenditure.” R. M.
“Artzibashef was a very young man when he wrote some of the stories in ‘Tales of the revolution,’ but they show little sign of immaturity. ... We may not like the Russia he shows us, we may even profess to disbelieve in its existence, yet he himself is the best proof that it does exist. It is a Russia that we must take into account in the present crisis, and in spite of Artzibashef’s black pessimism, by no means as a factor altogether evil. For it is an honest and a straightforward and an unsentimental Russia, and even in its hopelessness it keeps on striving.”
ASH, SHOLOM.[2]Mottke, the vagabond (Mottke ganef); tr. and ed. by Isaac Goldberg.*$1.50 (1½c) Luce, J: W. 17-30731
This novel, translated from the Yiddish, is a story of life in a Jewish village in Russian Poland and in the underworld of Warsaw. Mottke is born into an overcrowded household. His mother, who gave birth to a child each year, earned her living and that of her family by nursing other people’s children, her own being left to survive or die, as it happened. Mottke, who early shows a tenacious grasp on life, survives, to grow up an unkempt, unlettered lad, the terror of his village. At fourteen he had experienced all the sensations of life—except murder. And that follows not long after. In turn Mottke is a blower in a glass factory, a member of a troupe of wandering acrobats, and keeper of a brothel. He is torn between his love for two women, is moved to reform himself for the sake of one of them, is betrayed by her, and in the face of the other’s efforts to save him, gives himself up to defeat.
“The story has the usual characteristic of Russian literature, frankness, but also a certain wide humanity which makes it distinctive. In the great conflict of passions running through the book decency inevitably triumphs. The descriptions of Jewish life, told in nervous, vivid style are arresting.” I. W. L.
“The people throughout are well drawn, and the realism with which the life of the underworld is given makes it at once more pitiful and less alluring than most authors dare to present it. It is a sordid enough story, as far as its scenes go. Thieves, vagabonds, outcasts figure in it very largely. But they are not stereotyped, and therefore they have those moving qualities which belong to life in all its confusion of beauty and misery.”
ASHBEE, CHARLES ROBERT.American league to enforce peace; with an introd. by G. Lowes Dickinson.*2s 6d Allen & Unwin, London 341.1 17-24821
“Mr Ashbee, who was one of the few Englishmen present at the inauguration of the American League to enforce peace, interprets in this book the tendencies of modern American opinion; and emphasizes the significance of that movement, which passed almost unnoticed in England until President Wilson’s speech in June, 1916. Like Mr Brailsford and others, he considers the adhesion of America to a League of nations would bring this project into the sphere of practical politics; and he is alive to the value of the United States as a counter-weight in the European league; for the United States, within its own borders, is solving by fusion some problems of nationality.”—Int J Ethics
“If Mr Ashbee does not later prove a true prophet, he has at any rate written a stimulating and incisive analysis of recent American public opinion towards international problems.”
ASHLEY, ROSCOE LEWIS.New civics; a textbook for secondary schools. il*$1.20 Macmillan 353 17-11359
“Part 1 is devoted to the topic, ‘The citizen and society,’ and contains chapters on citizenship, the education of the citizen, the American nation, civic organization, and the Americanhome and family. Part 2 deals with ‘Government and the citizen’ and is made up of a chapter on each of the following topics: suffrage and elections, other means of popular control, civil liberty and public welfare, public finance, city government, state and country government, the national constitution, and the national government. Part 3 is on the general topic, ‘Some public activities.’ Public health and welfare, labor and industry, commerce, other business activities, territories and public land, and foreign relations are the subjects considered. The appendix contains an outline of a course on civic problems. ... At the end of each chapter there is a list of general references on the material considered in the chapter, a series of topics for special consideration with exact references on each, a group of studies which contain material for brief daily reports, and, finally, a number of questions based, for the most part, on the text. Besides the foregoing aids the book contains some sixty-four well-selected illustrations and eight maps and charts.”—School R
“Equipped with excellent notes and teaching aids. The book has been recommended to teachers of citizenship for adults in the extension department of the Cleveland schools.”
“If books like this could be placed in every school it is no rash prediction that the electorate of the next generation would view political issues more sanely and thoughtfully than this.”
“Singularly free from any partisanship. Written as a text for high schools, it may well serve as a handy reference to the general reader.” A. D.
“From the standpoint of teaching aids the book has much to commend it. ... There is also an abundance of marginal notes as well as footnotes. On the whole the book is a decided improvement over the traditional text on civics.”
ASHLEY, W. B., comp. Church advertising; its why and how; papers delivered before the Church advertising section of the twelfth annual convention of the Associated advertising clubs of the world. il*$1 (4c) Lippincott 260 17-19521
“A series of lively discussions of church advertising and publicity methods by authorities on the subject, who presented their views at the first national conference on church advertising held in Philadelphia in June, 1916. Seemingly nothing has been omitted in the way of church advertising, from the out-of-door devices, steeples, bulletins, etc., to moving pictures and newspaper publicity.”—R of Rs
“This volume gives many useful suggestions for the church which is looking for ideas. Hesitating churches will likewise get inspiration. Tell the world about the gospel and do it in the 20th century way—advertising. That seems to be the burden of these exhortations.”
ASHMUN, MARGARET ELIZA.Heart of Isabel Carleton. il*$1.25 (2c) Macmillan 17-25745
A sequel to “Isabel Carleton’s year,” one of last season’s popular books for girls. The early scenes of the story are laid in London in the fall of 1914. Isabel and her cousin, Mrs Everard, who have been traveling on the continent, reach England just as war is declared. The second part of the story takes her back to Jefferson. She is joyfully received by her family and enters the state university with every promise for a bright future. But there is a dark cloud in her sky, for between herself and Rodney Fox, always her best and most understanding friend, there seems to be a barrier. But this situation is adjusted and Isabel is further made happy by the opportunity to do a service in memory of her friend, Molly Ramsay, whose death had been the tragic incident of the year before.
“Distinguished by its wholesome simplicity and its emphasis on natural interests and companionships. Not as sentimental as its title.”
“An agreeable story for girls.”
ASHTON, HELEN.Marshdikes.*$1.40 Brentano’s
“Marshdikes is the house on the coast of England where Michael and Celia Dittany have made their home, and where they each do their writing. In different ways each has a sincere fondness for Francis Harland and a deep desire to bring more happiness into his life, as well as to give him some real interest in existence. For this reason they invite him to Marshdikes, hoping that this intimate glimpse of their own happiness may bring him nearer to falling in love with Michael’s young half-sister Letty, who imagines herself tremendously in love with Harland. Through a series of clever chapters, Francis evades their efforts, always fearful of where they may lead him and always content with his rather superficial life. The way in which Celia gains her end, only to discover at last that she has made a mistake, is cleverly managed.”—Boston Transcript
“A certain gift of brilliant dialogue is the largest attraction of this novel by a new writer.”
“The story, which begins simply as a gay and sparkling tale, becomes more serious as it proceeds.”
ATHERTON, MRS GERTRUDE FRANKLIN (HORN).Living present.il*$1.50 (2½c) Stokes 940.91 17-18157
Mrs Atherton spent several months in France in 1916 studying the work of French women. She devotes the major part of her book to the work they are doing to help win the war and to the changes that the war seems to be making in French life, especially in the re-action of the French woman to life. The last five chapters, under the caption “Feminism in peace and war,” discuss the present and probable future status of woman in the United States as well as in Europe.
“One gets a feeling of impressions caught at lightning speed and given out all the more personally for not having been mulled over and reasoned out.” Edna Kenton
“A distinctly valuable sociological contribution as well as a vivid record of contemporary women.” D. F. G.
“The second part of the present volume is worthless; but the first part where the author states facts, and does not attempt to philosophize, is interesting and even inspiring.”
“Strongly tinged with Mrs Atherton’s personality and feministic views, the book is readable and provocative of thought.”
“Mrs Atherton’s book, we believe, would have been more delightful, had she confined herself to portraiture and narrative, instead of undertaking, rather superficially, an abstract discussion of values.”
“Her book is a curious although intriguing jumble of prejudice, keen, swift insight, mercilessobservation and a good deal of perhaps unconscious snobbery. Only Mrs Atherton could have written it without misgivings.”
“She writes with frank and astonishing one-sidedness.” C. W.
“Of some of the ideas she strikes out, one can say only that they show ability, not that they are inherently sound. The notion, for example, that there is among woman an instinctive tendency toward a return to the primeval matriarchate, though none too seriously advanced, is yet advanced with more seriousness than it probably deserves. Inherently sound ideas are, however, not lacking.”
“Her speculations as to the bearing of the war on the future course of feminism in France are also provocatively stimulating.”
ATKINSON, ELEANOR (STACKHOUSE) (MRS FRANCIS BLAKE ATKINSON).Hearts undaunted; a romance of four frontiers. il*$1.30 (2c) Harper 17-31031
This story follows the forward movement of the frontier from northern New York to Chicago. The heroine, Eleanor Lytle, spends her childhood as a captive among the Indians. As a little girl of three, she attracts the attention of Chief Cornplanter, who kidnaps her and makes her an honored member of his tribe. She is grown to young womanhood before she is returned to her sorrowing mother. To make up to her for the years of suffering, Eleanor marries the man who is her mother’s choice, but later, after his death, she marries one she loves and goes westward with him, as a pioneer to the new frontier.
“Of limited appeal.”
“Despite its interest, and the fact that it is based on historic truth, the book does lack the element of realism. It is glossed over with sentimentality; heroism and nobility are unrelieved by any mere human failing. It is, however, much more entertaining than the average romance, and the stressed historic note gives it an added interest.”
ATWOOD, ALBERT WILLIAM.How to get ahead; saving money and making it work.*$1.25 (2c) Bobbs 331.84 17-6557
“The purpose of this book is to help young men and women of moderate earning capacity to save and invest money. Incidentally its aim is to show the advantages of thrift. The main purpose is the practical one of explaining actual, workable methods of saving and investment.” (Introd.) The author writes on: Money—its use and abuse; Real and unreal wants; Personal finance; Family finance; Saving on small wages; Making money work; Owning a home; Different kinds of desirable investments, etc.
“Author is a lecturer on finance at New York university.”
“There is not much in recognition of those ideals of life which are higher than money making and money saving. But there are a few reminders that many wage-earners are failing to make the most of their opportunities.”
AUMONIER, STACY.Friends, and other stories.*$1 (2½c) Century 17-23334
“Stacy Aumonier, author of ‘Olga Bardel,’ is an Englishman well known in London as a landscape painter as well as a writer. This book contains three of his short stories, of which ‘The friends,’ which gives title to the volume, appeared in the Century Magazine. ... The other two, ‘The packet’ and ‘In the way of business,’ are similar in theme and treatment. ... All three deal with business men in London, salesmen and department managers of furniture or dry goods houses, and the central theme of all of them is the immense amount of alcohol these men consume by way of facilitating the conduct of their affairs. ... One of the stories, ‘In the way of business,’ deals with the business career of a hard-working, upright, morally fastidious man who does not like alcoholic drinks and to whom they are physically ruinous. The story tells how, notwithstanding his struggles, he cannot make a living for his family until, little by little, he comes round to the methods of the others, and what happened to him afterward.”—N Y Times
“The initial story is by far the best of the three. ... There is no air of preaching about it, no attempt to draw a moral. It is just a story told with such fine realism, such artistic and impressive selection and arrangement of incidents that it becomes wholly convincing.”
AUSTIN, FRANK EUGENE.Examples in battery engineering. il $1.25 Austin, F. E., Hanover, N.H. 621.3 17-20028
“‘Battery engineering’ is quite distinct from the subject of the chemistry, or chemical reactions accompanying the operation of batteries. The latter subject is not given extensive consideration in this book; it being deemed expedient to devote the discussion to those features that are of importance in the efficient industrial operation of any and all types or kinds of cells and batteries. ... The arrangement of the subject matter in lessons under important subject headings adapts the book for use as a textbook, while the discussion of the application of theory to practice renders the book useful to electricians, operators of submarines, and of automobiles.” (Preface) The author is a professor in the Thayer school of civil engineering connected with Dartmouth college.