“Though these plays were produced in Copenhagen, and though one of them was originally written in Danish, they are thoroughly Icelandic in setting and spirit. ... Both plays are notable for their spontaneity and freshness; the strong clear wind of the north blows through them. They deserve a wide reading in Mrs Schanche’s excellent translation.” H. E. Woodbridge
“Written in prose, ‘Eyvind of the hills’ has that utter simplicity of vibrant strength that marks great poetry.”
“‘Eyvind of the hills,’ which made its author famous, is a tragedy, written with much beauty and a fine simplicity. ... ‘The Hraun farm,’ is a charmingly written little idyll.”
SIMKHOVITCH, MARY MELINDA (KINGSBURY) (MRS VLADIMIR GREGORIEVITCH SIMKHOVITCH).City worker’s world in America. (American social progress ser.)*$1.25 (3c) Macmillan 331.8 17-15550
The aim of this book by the director of Greenwich house, New York city, is to describe simply and briefly the main facts concerning the life of the industrial population of an American city. The term “industrial family” as used in her study, is applied to wage-workers whose family income ranges from $1,500 down to the minimum of subsistence below which the family becomes a public charge. The question to which she gives attention is: “How does this important group of workers live? Not only what are the incomes and expenditures of this group, but what values lie in this group that we cannot afford to lose from the social whole, and what is society already doing or failing to do to protect these values and develop them for the sake of us all?” Contents: The industrial family; Dwellings; Standard of living; Education; At work; Leisure; Health; Poverty; Politics; Religion.
“With the facts that are presented, all persons who have been interested in the life of the working people are fairly well acquainted, but the arrangement and the interpretation are frequently original, and the synthetic treatment is a real contribution to social literature. ... The book is full of clever phrasing and keen interpretation.” F. H. Streightoff
Reviewed by E. L. Talbert
“The chapter on ‘Polities’ is particularly trenchant, and deserves not only to be read but to be studied by every teacher of civic affairs. On the ever-recurring question as to why municipal reform so often receives a setback in the great cities of this country there is a great deal of illumination in this chapter.”
“The author has made conscious effort to write objectively of the life of her neighbors. The book will be of special value to the increasing number of those interested in the exploration of the new paths of community development already being trod in city neighborhoods.” Francis Tyson
“Those curious to know how the majority of their neighbors live will here find the loves, fears, joys and sorrows of the industrial family painted with a sympathy always vivid, yet refreshingly lacking in sentimentality.”
“To the lay reader this is an uncommonly enlightening and suggestive book. ... It is written with eyes wide open to all the good that is in the possession of the town laborer and it is not engaged in the propaganda of any panacea or particular reform.”
“The attitude is one of warm-hearted intimacy with the class whose life is described, and considerable insight into that life is revealed. There is no doubt that the writer knows what she is talking about when she describes conditions.”
“Mrs Simkhovitch has imagination and fervor, as well as the power of creation. She has scored an indubitable success in bringing to bear on the subject a definite point of view, a well-formulated social ethics. She is on the borderline of socialism, but she will not take the next step.” D: Rosenstein
“As a sketch of the right method of approach to community issues, it is a fresh and genuine contribution. To a great supporting circle of volunteers, contributors, kindred spirits, and toall the apprentices of social work, this book is among the few indispensable. Read with intervals of reflection, it will be like a professional course of the waters to many practiced members of the craft.” R. A. Woods
SIMMONS, WILLIAM HERBERT.[2]Soap; its composition, manufacture, and properties. (Common commodities of commerce) il*85c (2c) Pitman 668 A17-1564
The author’s aim has been “to describe in as non-technical terms as possible, firstly, the relationship between fat, alkali, soap, and glycerine; secondly, the more important practical methods of soap manufacture; and, thirdly, the chief factors which determine the commercial value of soap.” (Preface) He points out that the use of glycerine in the manufacture of explosives has given rise to a new interest in its production and in its relations to fats and oils and the manufacture of soap. The final chapter is given to this subject.
SIMONIS, H.Street of ink. il*$3 Funk 072 17-17844
“H. Simonis, a director of the London Daily News, gives the public what is described as ‘an intimate history of journalism.’ Here, within the compass of 350-odd pages, are brief notes on about every daily and weekly paper of importance in England and on practically all of the principal [British] editors and publishers of today.”—Springf’d Republican
“A remarkably interesting and informing book. The writer’s fondness for illustrative anecdote contributes no little to the entertaining quality of his pages.”
“Most entertaining and deftly drawn character sketches. The whole work teems with novel and captivating information imparted in a crisp, chatty style that makes it doubly readable.”
“Such an encyclopedic effort, if successful, establishes naturally an excellent reference work. Mr Simonis’s effort is successful. He has a chapter on the press of France and the United States, another on ‘Some well known journals and journalists,’ one on ‘Old and new journalism.’”
“Those who work for the press, on its literary or commercial side, know that the occupation is not so much of a mutual admiration society as Mr Simonis would have us believe, but they will read with amused interest his eulogistic notes on the various daily and weekly publications. He knows much more about the halfpenny papers and about their publishing and advertising staffs than about the weightier papers and the literary aspects of journalism as a whole. The numerous portraits in the book are, for the most part, not nearly so flattering as the letterpress.”
“Mr Simonis’s aim is to eulogize rather than criticize. Yet within the limits that he has set to his subject, he is a commentator who is shrewd as well as amiable. The wisdom of experience crops out in a hundred observations. Also, his information, wherever separable from opinion, is accurate.”
SIMS, NEWELL LEROY.Ultimate democracy and its making.*$1.50 (1½c) McClurg 321.8 17-13223
The author, who is professor of sociology and political science in the University of Florida, tells us that he has used much of the subjectmatter of this book in lectures delivered in and about New York city and in a classroom course. His purpose is to clarify “the meaning and aims of democracy.” He deals with ancient, modern, and “ultimate” democracy. “As conceived by him democracy is essentially a matter of equality, with liberty and fraternity as necessary expressions. It existed in the pioneer days of America, but has declined under the inequalities forced by our rapid industrial growth and under our wholesale welcoming of alien populations. This decline, he believes, is only temporary. Democracy will again come into its own when a program of four necessary changes has been fulfilled—economic equality; a eugenics to prevent inefficiency; a new type of sovereignty in which ‘the popular will causes the whole social organism to function for the good of all its parts’; and finally, ‘social equilibration,’ a process of so equalizing the various energies of the race that occasions for disturbances like wars between classes or nations will disappear.” (Survey)
“To the perennial discussion of democracy, what it is and what it means, the book is a useful and in some ways a noteworthy contribution.”
“Professor Sims has written a thoughtful and spirited survey of significant tendencies and aspirations in American democracy.” L. P. F.
“It is asserted, but not proven, that the working classes of all countries are devouring economics, sociology, and philosophy—a fairly broad but unsupported statement.”
“Professor Sims is well read in the moderns, notably Giddings, Croly, and Veblen. ... Few will read Giddings, Croly, or even Veblen all through, and here is a way to supply the deficiency. Professor Sims quotes excellently.”
“An expression of an aspiring but timid radicalism.” Max Lustig
“The mass of facts, figures, and sociological deductions brought together by Dr Sims from many sources evinces the fact that democracy is still in the making. The inferences he draws from the exhibit are misleading.”
“A very readable book. ... The type of social stability which he hails as an ultimate solution is perilously akin, we cannot help thinking, to the pax Romana of old.” H: Neumann
SINCLAIR, MAY.Defence of idealism; some questions and conclusions.*$2 Macmillan 141 17-21850
“In this book the author, from the idealistic monist’s statement, deals with pragmatism; with humanism and pluralism generally; with the vitalism of M. Bergson, with Samuel Butler’s pan-psychism, and with the new realism of Mr. Bertrand Russell and others. A noteworthy chapter is devoted to the new mysticism; and there are highly appreciative commentaries upon the writings of Sir Rabindranath Tagore. ... The book has no index.”—Ath
“One cannot say that the logic is always sound. No; not always sound, but always keen, vigorous, lively, readable.” M. C. Otto
“A robust sense of the inevitableness of individuality runs through the book from beginning to end, and is the most obvious thing in it. ... The sympathetic reader will probably not fail to discern something of the sense of ‘a spirit home at last’ in the warm appreciation of the higher mysticism, and of Tagore. ... From various indications, one traces in her discussion of the new realists the marks of its being an afterthought; it is a very brilliant sudden sally, rather than the outcome ofyears of study. And indeed, if one were forced to offer a criticism of the work as a whole, it would be just this: that the book is not, to all appearance, the ripe result of a life study. No doubt the brilliant author would grow tired of philosophy long before she had given a lifetime to it. And that is perhaps the world’s gain. But at the same time, as we feel compelled to think, it is philosophy’s loss.” J. W. Scott
“Written with a most refreshing ease and freedom from technicality. Professional students cannot fail to regard such a book as a gratifying proof of the vitality of philosophy in this country.”
“The charm of the book must be felt, indeed, by every reader who has the smallest drop of philosophy in his nature, and this charm is not in the least inconsistent with rigorous logic. Miss Sinclair has perhaps written more entertainingly about philosophy than any one since Plato; she has triumphed in the most difficult domain of literary art.”
“A notable contribution to modern philosophic speculation, well planned, well written, and well thought.”
“Miss Sinclair brings to bear upon these abstract studies the same keenness of insight that characterizes her studies of men. She is now delineating ideas, not persons. The book is not systematic, and it is not constructive, but it presents ideas, particularly critical ideas, which will set students to thinking.”
SINCLAIR, UPTON BEALL.King Coal.*$1.50 (1½c) Macmillan 17-24400
What Upton Sinclair did for the stockyards in “The jungle,” he does for the unorganized coal mining camps in “King Coal.” There is a brief introduction by Georg Brandes, and a postscript of thirteen pages by the author giving his sources of information, etc. He tells us that most of the details of his picture were gathered in Colorado, which he visited three times during and just after the great coal strike of 1914-15. The greater part of the source material in print used was “sworn testimony, taken under government supervision.” The leading character in the book is Hal Warner, known as Joe Smith, a rich boy of twenty-one, still in college, who, as a result of arguments with an older brother as to the conditions in the coal mines, decides to work as a miner during his summer vacation that he may gain first-hand knowledge of the situation. He becomes first a mule tender and later a “buddy,” or miner’s helper. His rich and beautiful fiancée is lightly sketched in. “Red Mary,” a forceful young Irish girl at the camp, also falls in love with him, but the emotional is subordinated to the sociological interest in the story. “Joe” meets men of various nationalities, learns how the company has got into its clutch “all the legal, political and social safeguards of personal rights and social welfare”; and takes part in the fight for a check-weighman to guard against cheating, for various safety measures and for the right to form a union.
“It is not sensational, has some good characters ... and the whole is interesting and illuminating.”
“‘King Coal’ is an absorbing story, as a story, and an exceedingly effective tract, as a tract. We do not doubt that its physical action is closely based on fact, but we do doubt whether, in making all his rich men fools or rascals, and all his poor men heroes or victims, he does not risk the defeat of his appeal to those of his audience who are unable to subscribe to the code of the screen.”
H. W. Boynton
“Mr Sinclair is a born story-teller. He writes, to be sure, with a purpose, but he never lets this fact obtrude itself on the consciousness of the reader. His picture is so vivid, so full of color and breadth and movement, and so convincing that it has a value of its own quite apart from its propagandist purpose.” R. T. P.
“The novel-reader who chances to appreciate a really novel design in a work of fiction will like ‘King Coal’ both for its originality and its independence. The limitation of the book is its tendency to predetermination, its lack of curiosity and interest in keen ascertainments and differentiations, its apparent belief in formulas.” E. F. Wyatt
“None of the characters seems real, but is created by the author to illustrate his points or fill in the picture. But the underlying thought burns brightly and the author’s meaning is as clear as day. He has the power to interest, which always attends sincere purpose and thoughtful presentation.”
“No reader of this record will doubt the honesty of the chronicler’s opinion or the accuracy of his chosen facts, or will fail to see that the facts have been chosen and assembled somewhat carefully, in the light of that opinion, to ‘compose’ as strongly and effectively as possible. ... This story has far more balance and restraint than the writer has hitherto mustered: ‘The jungle’ is a lurid tract by comparison. It is an absorbing narrative, and it contains at least one strong and living piece of characterization, in Mary Burke. ... But for the rest the writer’s animus is over-plain.”
“Upton Sinclair slaps melodrama and sociology together so honestly as to make it easy for you to believe that ‘practically all the characters are real persons, and every incident which has social significance is not merely a true incident but a typical one.’ ... Yet ‘King Coal’ is an exceedingly vivacious narrative, boyishly sincere.” R. B.
“Since ‘The jungle’ had its phenomenal success, Mr Sinclair has written nothing so good as this novel. The book presents a striking likeness to ‘The inner door’ by Alan Sullivan. Both deal with upper class men leading working class lives, and both portray their conversion. Of the two books, Mr Sinclair’s work rings truer.” D: P. Berenberg
“Artistically, this new novel is a better piece of work than ‘The jungle,’ more compact, better constructed, with swifter, a more centralized purpose, while its picture of life in a great coal camp yields nothing to that portrayal of existence among the employes of the Chicago stock yards in vivid coloring, in understanding of racial types, and in the sincere and convincing quality of its setting. ... The introduction by Dr Georg Brandes is a distinct disappointment. At the least, the publishers of the book might have rectified its English.”
“So far as the manipulation of the vote is concerned, the documentary evidence given in an epilogue shows that Mr Sinclair is on strong ground. But viewed simply as a story it is vivid, exciting, and impressive.”
“The book is more than an exposure of certain outrageous industrial practices. It is an admirable study of human character and motives. For the most part the characters are genuine types.” J: A. Fitch
“It is hard to interest oneself in his characters, for their actions are dictated to them by their creator for his own moral purpose. It is hard, too, to take Mr Sinclair’s facts as the basis for logical inferences, for they are mixed up inextricably with fiction—he insists on appealing to the mind and the emotions at once and the one appeal distracts attention from the other.”
SINGMASTER, ELSIE (MRS HAROLD LEWARS).Long journey.il*$1 (2c) Houghton 17-6324
The journey of a little band of German pilgrims to America is the theme of this story. From the village that has been sacked and left destitute by the French. John Conrad Weiser and his children start on the long journey to the new home where freedom and peace are promised to all. First there is the journey down the Rhine, then the long and hopeless wait in England for the ships that the English queen was to provide. To young Conrad, thirteen years old, this delay is almost unbearable after all his dreams of the new land. The sight on the London streets of three scarlet-blanketed Indians revives his hope, and it is indeed thru these new friends that the German immigrants are granted their wish, passage to America. Here there are more hardships to be undergone, until the final stage of the journey, along the Mohawk trail, brings them home.
“For upper-grade and high-school children.”
“The narrative is simple, pathetic, and human.”
SINGMASTER, ELSIE (MRS HAROLD LEWARS).Martin Luther. il*$1 (3½c) Houghton 17-9137
Elsie Singmaster has written a popular life of Luther as a contribution to the literature of the four hundredth anniversary of the reformation. She says, “The volume contains no original material, but is intended to serve as an introduction to the longer, richer, and more scholarly records of a great life which abound and to the noble writings of the reformer himself.” Contents: Youth; Monk, teacher and preacher; The ninety-five theses and their effect; The primary works of the reformation and the diet of Worms; At the Wartburg and back in Wittenberg; Marriage and family life; The growing church; Last years and death.
“The author has used especially the work of Doctor H. E. Jacobs, Preserved Smith, and Heinrich Böhmer (p. 398) and quotes often from Luther’s own works.”
“Tho one could wish made more vivid the daily life of the plain folk of whom Luther was one, yet here is a swift, clear account of the causes of the great struggle, of the events of Luther’s life and his lovable personality, all to be read almost at a sitting.”
“The familiar tale is told with intelligence and in a simple and straight-forward fashion.”
“Miss Singmaster is herself the daughter of a Lutheran clergyman, and is an accurate student of the literature of her subject.”
“The book should be useful to those who have neither the time nor inclination to peruse the larger and heavier accounts of the German reformer’s career. It is really an excellent digest of them.”
SIZER, JAMES PEYTON.Commercialization of leisure. (Present day problems ser.)*75c Badger, R: G. 790 17-11342
“This little essay calls attention to a serious problem in modern life,—serious despite its leisurely aspect. It brings forth the important consideration that amusement and recreation are among the prominent and essential affairs of men. Amusement has become a huge business. Leisure is in itself a value approaching the highest good. A successful democracy must make leisure possible for the largest numbers. It must provide ways of using leisure which will advance as well as content human beings. The statement made by Mr Sizer shows how far from such a condition the actual relation stands.”—Dial
“The organization of leisure and recreation by the community is ably pointed out as one of the essential duties of the true democratic state.”
“Mr J. P. Sizer wastes much fire on that perennial target, the Puritan, on the Y. M. C. A. and on other activities, but his description of present conditions and plans for improvement are sane and inspiring.”
SKINNER, ADA MARIA, and SKINNER, ELEANOR LOUISE, comps.Topaz story book.(Jewel ser.) il*$1.50 Duffield 17-24878
Into this book have been gathered stories and legends of autumn, Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving. Indian myths, folktales from other lands, and modern stories and poems are included. The contents are arranged under the following headings: Autumn stories and legends; Among the trees; Woodland animals; Harvest fields; Cheerful chirpers; All Hallowe’en; A harvest of Thanksgiving stories. The frontispiece is by Maxfield Parrish.
“An excellent compilation. ... There is plenty of wholesome fare in it for both tots and shavers, and nothing, or next to nothing, of the artificial ‘dope’ too frequently offered as a substitute and successfully passed off in the confusion of the market-place,—as, for instance, in too much of the material in ‘John Martin’s annual,’ and in all elaborate commercial juvenilism, under whatever name.” J: Walcott
SKINNER, CONSTANCE LINDSAY.“Good-morning, Rosamond!” il*$1.35 (1½c) Doubleday 17-11791
Rosamond, the very young widow of an elderly and wealthy collector of antiques, was held in subjection by the two elderly servants who revered their master’s memory and who insisted that she do the same. On the morning of the day that Jemima and Amanda were called to their mother’s bedside, their mistress flew to her room, put on her gayest gown, dropped a courtesy before her reflection in the glass and said “Good-morning, Rosamond.” She was determined that this was to be her one wonderful day, and she was youthful enough to hope that her day might bring a fairy prince, altho where he was to come from in staid and settled Roseborough, was an unanswerable question. But strange things, of which the arrival of the desired young man was not the least surprising, were to happen during the twenty-four hours of Rosamond’s day.
“A sparkling, lightsome, exciting and charmingly written story.” E. Gates
“Perhaps the book may be described, with reservations and qualifications, as a Nova Scotian ‘Cranford.’ ... The setting is designedly, perseveringly idyllic, but the action tends tolapse from comedy to melodramatic farce. ... An independent system of illustrations by Thomas Fogarty will challenge attention.”
“The story is told with consummate literary art. It is joyous and buoyant,scintillantand sarcastic, cynical and sympathetic.”
“Constance Skinner, the poet of Indian life, has written a farce comedy in novel form.”
“It is just a bit too preposterous to be as amusing as it might easily have been. It has been dramatized and, we fancy, is better as a play than a novel.”
“Miss Skinner tells a pleasing story of no importance, in the course of which she mildly satirizes life in a small community. The work is artificial and forced in places, but the dialog is bright and skilful.”
SKINNIDER, MARGARET.Doing my bit for Ireland.il*$1 Century 941.5 17-16337
A spirited, frankly partizan account of the Dublin insurrection of 1916, by a school-teacher who took an active part in the rising, was wounded, but escaped imprisonment, and came, some months later, to America. An appendix of nearly fifty pages gives the street songs in vogue in Dublin at the time of the insurrection.
“One of the chief virtues of Miss Skinnider’s simple recital is that it makes the Irish revolutionists live for us, especially their executed leaders, so that the Irish question presents itself as an essentially human problem, and the rights of small nations changes from a battle cry to a demand for constructive thought.”
“A courageous, romantic, naïve story.”
“A striking contribution not only to an understanding of the spirit which led to the Easter rebellion, but, since the writer is confessedly a suffragette, we think also to the strange and baffling spirit of the militant women. Neither so full nor so striking as other narratives lately published. The book is largely about the authoress herself, and its particular value lies in the glimpse it affords of the character of herself and her comrades in the cause. ... More than once she indicates that the stories of Belgian atrocities pale beside the work of the British during the terrible fortnight, but the examples afforded are not convincing.”
“The little volume is intensely readable and well calculated to beguile an idle hour, though it hardly can be regarded as an authoritative narrative, the writer having, apparently, an overload of imagination and a rather scant supply of reasoning power.” Joshua Wanhope
SKRINE, JOHN HUNTLEY.Survival of Jesus.*$2 Doran 232 17-14227
“In the twenty-six chapters of this book the author discusses the nature of the man Christ Jesus, the atonement, and the theology of the future. Regarding telepathy, or thought-transference, as a fact, avera causa, he considers its bearing upon religion, and puts forward a hypothesis of faith-transference or ‘faith-conference.’ Briefly, this hypothesis is that ‘Jesus in the days of His flesh made atonement for men, His contemporaries, by the impartment to them of the life unto God through the medium of a telepathy of spirit.’” (Ath) The author is a clergyman of the Church of England.
“The book is beautiful to those who think they understand it, vague to others, and charming in a way to most.”
“The author of this striking book has done a brave thing, and many who may not be able to follow his guidance will be grateful for his boldness.”
SLADEN, DOUGLAS BROOKE WHEELTON.Douglas romance.*$1.35 Brentano’s (Eng ed 16-19956)
“An historical novel of the present day, ‘The Douglas romance,’ derives its fantastic plot and its kaleidoscopic multitude of cleverly presented characters, men and women of unusual and interesting types, from those still fertile fields of romance, the theatrical world and the European war. It tells of the fortunes of the last heirs of the Scottish earldom of Douglas, the ultramodern descendants of the Black Douglas of ballad fame. ... The war is presented through the points of view of the heroine’s two lovers; one a hero of the trenches, the other the leader of a spectacular attack on a German stronghold. The vivid picture of London in war-time is not the least interesting part of the story.”—Boston Transcript
“Many aspects of theatrical life are shown, perhaps an unnecessary number of unpleasant ones. However, here as elsewhere throughout the book we are disposed to forgive much for the sake of the throng of characters of many types and classes.”
“The tale, from first to last, although lacking in subtle distinctions and delicacies, is interesting.”
“Partly historical and partly romantic, with a dash of triviality. ... In the concluding chapters the author interjects some thrilling war pictures and scenes of heroism on the battlefield which saves the story from tedium.”
SLOCUM, STEPHEN ELMER.Elements of hydraulics. 2d ed rev and enl il*$2.50 McGraw 621.2 17-1800
“In the second edition the author has revised his text and added much of value. In Part 1, ‘Pressure of water,’ is added a chapter on strength of pipes under internal pressure. ... In the second part, ‘Flow of water,’ the author has revised considerably the chapter dealing with weirs. ... The chapter on the influence of bends and elbows on the flow has also been rewritten and much new matter added. ... The older chapter on backwater has been eliminated entirely and new matter substituted. ... The chapter on turbines and their appurtenances was unusually good in the first edition, but the author has nevertheless revised it and added much new matter. The paragraphs on water hammer have been rewritten and a chapter on surge tanks added. As in the former edition, the last pages are in the form of an appendix containing tabulated hydraulic data. Two new tables have been added, one on the discharge from wood-stave pipe and the other on submerged weir coefficients, so that there are now 22 tables covering 35 pages.”—Engin Rec
“The appearance of Professor Slocum’s second edition in a few months after the appearance of the first edition seems to indicate the success of his idea, which was to break away from academic presentations of pure theory in order to secure the interest of the student and to visualize the abstractions that once were too exclusively dealt with.”
Reviewed by A. G. Hillberg
SLOSSON, EDWIN EMERY.Six major prophets.il*$1.50 Little 920 17-13229
A companion volume to “Major prophets of to-day.” “Whoever dies without recognizing the prophet of his time dies the death of a pagan,” says a Mohammedan proverb. To escape this fate, Mr Slosson selected the twelve men of his own time to whom the title of prophet seemed most aptly to apply. He has visited and interviewed each of them and made a study of their works. The results are set forth in these two volumes for the benefit of others. The six men of the second volume are, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, F. C. S. Schiller, John Dewey and Rudolf Eucken. The original articles, which appeared in the Independent, have been amplified for book publication.
“Informal, good for study clubs. Annotated lists of suggested books.”
“Probably the essay on Eucken would have been different in tone had it been written today. Mr Slosson has preferred to let it stand as he originally wrote it for the Independent, a sort of ante-bellum view of German philosophy. If the present book is sometimes less pungent in style than Mr Slosson’s earlier expositions, he has still accomplished his purpose. He can be informative without even skirting dulness.”
“To a marked degree he succeeds in writing interestingly for those readers who have no need to be informed. His intention, he points out, is exposition rather than criticism. But much of very keen and readable criticism his book does contain.”
“Sparkling and ingratiating essays. Each discussion is made more illuminating by a brief bibliographic commentary.” Algernon Tassin
SLOSSON, PRESTON WILLIAM.Decline of the Chartist movement. (Columbia univ. studies in history, economics and public law) pa*$2 Longmans 342.4 16-25227
“Mr Slosson’s title, ‘The decline of the Chartist movement,’ does not quite adequately describe his book. Such a title suggests a study of the movement only from the failure of the great petition of 1848. Mr Slosson’s best work, it is true, is of the years that followed the fiasco of the Kennington Common mass-meeting of 1848. But his story of the movement as a whole is singularly complete and quite comprehensive. ... Clearness both of statement and of reasoning are also obvious when Mr Slosson is discussing to what extent greatly improved industrial conditions after 1848 accounted for the disappearance of the Chartist movement, and again when he is examining the advantages, direct and indirect, that accrued to the wage-earning classes of England in the last half of the nineteenth century from the Chartist agitation of 1837-1854.”—Am Hist R
“Dr Slosson writes with a breadth of view and grasp not always found in doctoral theses.” H. E. Mills
“If there were no other book on Chartism in existence, Mr Slosson’s study would serve most students of English political movements of the nineteenth century. It certainly would serve to the full those students who are already familiar with industrial and social conditions in England from the American revolution to the first decade of Queen Victoria’s reign. Clearness of presentation is the characteristic of Mr Slosson’s work.” E: Porritt
“Particularly of value as regards the treatment of the causes which led to the decline of the movement, and for its examination of some of the distinctly beneficent results that indirectly accrued to the working classes in England from a movement that many students of English history are inclined to regard as a complete failure. If it had stood alone—if it had not been accompanied by Mr Rosenblatt’s book, and Mr Faulkner’s study of the attitude of the churches toward Chartism and also of the attitude of the Chartists towards the Established church—Mr Slosson’s well-written and admirably arranged monograph would have filled the hiatus in the literature of political movements in England in the nineteenth century that had existed for nearly sixty years.” E: Porritt
“Mr Slosson’s history of Chartism will rank with the best contributions of American scholars to the literature of English political movement in the nineteenth century, and also with many of the best contributions to this literature from the pens of English historians.” E: Porritt
“The relation of the movement to industrial depression is analyzed ably and in detail by both Mr Rosenblatt and Mr Slosson. This analysis is by far the most satisfactory feature of their works.”
“On the whole, great accuracy and most scrupulous references to the sources mark all three volumes.” I. C. Hannah
SMART, WILLIAM.Second thoughts of an economist; with a biographical sketch by T: Jones.*$1.40 Macmillan 330 16-15824
“In this little book, which marks the close of his most active and productive career, Professor Smart has undertaken a review of the salient facts of economic life as they appear when seen by the light of a warm enthusiasm for worthwhile living against the background of his more formal economics. He has returned to certain Ruskinian questionings and disparagings of industrialism and treats of these things with a freedom which he apparently felt one cannot exercise when one is preoccupied with being an economist. ... The book is, in fact, his philosophy of economic responsibility.”—J Pol Econ
“While noble in its tone aspiration, charming in its statement, and sound enough so far as it goes, it must be said that the book does not add to its author’s reputation.” H. E. Mills
“There is little in the book which was not pretty definitely present in his previous volumes. Its special interest consists in that it enables one to appreciate the influence of certain assumptions which controlled his thinking. ... The memoir seems to me exactly suitable and in place. All former students of Professor Smart will be grateful to Mr Jones for so admirable a sketch of one who was so kindly and so fascinating a man and probably also one of the very greatest teachers of economics the country ever produced.” M. W. Robieson
“Precisely because of this breadth of view, the book seems admirably adapted to introduce the subject of economics to beginners. Economic doctrines appear here vividly as very real things. Advanced readers will find its tone genially lucid rather than keenly penetrating, and humanitarian rather than iconoclastic.” J. M. Clark
SMIDOVICH, VIKENTII VIKENT’EVICH (VIKENTY VERESÁEV, pseud.).In the war; memoirs; tr. by Leo Wiener. (Slavic translations)*$2 (1c) Kennerley 947 17-12165
An account of the Russo-Japanese war by a Russian surgeon who accompanied the troops. The narrative opens with the announcement of war, and is carried on in the following chapters: On the way; In Mukden; The battle of Sha-ho; The great stand: October to November; The great stand: December to February; The Mukden engagement; On the Mandarin road; Wandering; In expectation of peace; Peace; Home again. The translator associates the author’s name with that of Vereshchágin as a depicter of the grimness of warfare, calling the book, “the most complete analysis of the ingloriousness of war yet obtained.”
“It is a revolting picture from first to last, with such a morbid insistence upon the known cruelties and the heedlessness to human suffering that one feels compelled to doubt, at times, the motive of the author. ... The judicious reader will reserve the right to question not only the author’s motive in some of the cases but also the truth of some of the happenings to which he gives credence.”
“A vivid, artistically proportioned account written in the characteristically Russian spirit of patience and understanding. ‘No one but a Russian could have presented such a calm, dispassionate and utterly damning record of graft, incompetence and lack of morale. The book will serve to make the over-optimistic realize the magnitude of Russia’s problem in building up a democracy.’”
“Veresaev is well known as the author of the ‘Memoirs of a physician’ and of many stories and essays. A realist of Tolstoy’s school, he succeeds in drawing gripping pictures in a sincere and reserved manner. As a physician, Veresaev had a rather limited field of observation, but even through his narrow prism he was able to behold an appalling picture of human masses being abused, neglected, demoralized, and senselessly slaughtered, through the whim, carelessness, greed, and ignorance of their superiors.”
“What war can do to even the greatest of men is shown here in a realism which would be merely revolting if it were not for the note of bitterness and irony that gives an undercurrent of clear criticism to the sluggish and sickening stream of war’s horror.”