RADZIWILL, CATHERINE (RZEWUSKA) princess.Germany under three emperors. il*$4 Funk 943 17-30068
“This account of Prussian diplomacy makes public for the first time much information regarding the Kaiser, his two immediate predecessors, and their great minister, Prince Bismarck. The author tells us how the first emperor was influenced by the great chancellor in the upbuilding of the imperial German plan, how the Emperor Friedrich, who might have modified this plan considerably, was rendered impotent by disease, and how Bismarck, ignoring his wishes, set about instilling the doctrines of militarism into the willing mind of the heir apparent. The story, as it unfolds, shows how the pupil outran the master and how the present Kaiser at last dismissed his aging chancellor and took over control of affairs himself. All this, together with the plots and counterplots that brought Europe several times to the brink of war, is set forth.”—Lit D
“Princess Radziwill is by birth a Russian and, after her marriage to a Pole, she lived much in Berlin. In both countries her associations were with the court and diplomatic circles, and she knew personally many of the men and women who made the history of Europe during Bismarck’s half century of public life. Her book, however, is in no sense the gossipy chronicle which that fact might imply, but a very capable getting together and interesting arrangement of the facts of Germany’s political history since the middle of the last century, told with the vivifying touch of personal contact.”
RAE, HERBERT, pseud.Maple leaves in Flanders fields.*$1.75 Dutton 940.91 (Eng ed 17-10673)
“In ‘Maple leaves in Flanders’ a Canadian soldier, who hides his identity under the nom de guerre of ‘Herbert Rae,’ gives a breezy description of the recruiting of a Canadian regiment dubbed by the author ‘The pompadours,’ and what the regiment has done in the war.” (N Y Times) Admiral Markham writes the introduction.
“Written in an informal style, that is full of humor. ... The work is easy and delightful reading.”
RAEMAEKERS, LOUIS.Kultur in cartoons; with accompanying notes by well-known English writers.*$5 Century 940.91 17-31662
Louis Raemaekers is conceded to be the “only great genius who has been brought out by the war”; who is “worth two army corps to the cause of the Allies.” This is a companion volume to “Raemaekers’ cartoons” published last year. To this cartoonist the war is not a “topic,” not a “subject for charity” but “a vivid, heartrending reality.” There are over a hundred drawings whose artistic appeal is subordinated to the appraisal of them as political documents and as historic records of crimes and barbarities “which the civilized world must not be permitted to forget lest the horrors of the pastthree years descend upon us again.” Each cartoon is faced with a paragraph of description and interpretation by an English writer.
“There is little artistic finesse about Raemaekers’s work. His is of the blunt pencil rather than the Spencerian pen; yet force and action are added to his drawings in ratio to the thickness of his pencil. His vigor is crushing—well-nigh brutal. But his subjects demand the brutality he throws into his work. Despite this fact, however, he has light moments.”
RAINE, WILLIAM MACLEOD.Yukon trail; a tale of the North.il*$1.35 (2c) Houghton 17-13621
Gordon Elliot, an agent for the government, is sent to Alaska to investigate the valuable coal claims of Colby Macdonald. Macdonald is the big man of the North, and, while recognizing his brutality and ruthlessness, the North admires him and, in general, upholds him against the government. But Gordon Elliot comes representing a new order and a new social conscience which demands the conservation of natural resources in place of the reckless exploitation Macdonald stands for. The paths of the two men cross early. Elliot meets Macdonald on the boat going up. Sheba O’Neill is on the boat too, and the girl at once becomes a factor in the struggle.
“It will be all the same to you whether you read this novel or any one of half a dozen of the same variety of the present season. It is a fairly plausible, well-planned yarn that clings to the traditions of its type and its setting.”
“No one will question Mr Raine’s first-hand acquaintance with his ground and the zest with which he handles the theme, even if the rather narrow trail has been trodden frequently before.”
“The plot is put together in a workmanlike way, and contains plenty of incident.”
“An echo of the famous Ballinger conservation scandal of several years ago is found in ‘The Yukon trail.’ ... It is a wholly entertaining tale which moves at a rapid, virile pace against a background of rugged mountains, wide spaces and untamed nature.”
RALEIGH, SIR WALTER.Sir Walter Raleigh: selections from his “Historie of the world,” letters and other writings; ed. with introds. and notes, by G. E. Hadow. il*$1.40 Oxford 900
“This book contains, besides extracts from the first edition of the ‘History’ (1614), as well as some of Raleigh’s letters to his wife and others, the text of ‘The last fight of the Revenge at sea,’ issued anonymously in 1591. A biographical introduction, followed by commentaries on the texts, and ample notes, will be found in the volume.”—Ath
“The extracts from the ‘Historie’ show what Raleigh thought on many questions of military science and statesmanship—some of them analogous to questions before us to-day, such as Spain’s aim at securing the hegemony of Europe, the contrast between the English and Spanish treatment of native races, the Spanish method of spreading false reports of victories in neutral countries, the best means of repelling an attempted invasion of England, the futility of trusting to a river or a mountain-range to stop an army, the method of dealing with ambassadors who plot against the country to which they are accredited. ... Miss Hadow’s notes are rather meagre. A short glossary of words used in obsolete senses would have been useful to the general reader or the young student. ... Attention is not called to Raleigh’s interesting use of ‘Armado’ of a ship, and ‘Armada’ of a fleet. ... The book is beautifully produced. The word ‘ingentes’ is, however, misprinted on p. 102.” G. C. M. S.
“Miss Hadow and the Clarendon press have done a sound service to the cause of English history and English letters. ... They have made accessible the essential wisdom and the considered judgment of one of the keenest-edged spirits of Elizabethan times. ... The book has a peculiar interest for the Englishman to-day.”
“In this little book the indispensable part of Raleigh’s writing is preserved.”
RALEIGH, SIR WALTER.Sir Walter Raleigh: “the shepherd of the ocean”; selections from his poetry and prose. il*50c Macmillan 820.8 16-25284
“The finest and most moving poetry and prose by Sir Walter Raleigh has been edited in particular for students of literature by Frank Cheney Hersey of Harvard college. ... The selections include, aside from the introductory sketch of his life, twenty-six selections, those popularly known and others difficult to find, such as The 21st book of the lost poem, ‘Cynthia,’ written in praise of Queen Elizabeth, pages from ‘The discovery of Guiana,’ ‘A relation of the Cadiz action,’ and ‘A report of the truth of the fight about the Isles of Azores.’ Portraits of Raleigh and Sir Richard Grenville and cuts from old paintings and drawings illustrate this volume.”—R of Rs
“A tercentenary offering. The selections are almost equally divided between Raleigh’s verse, in which he was always a gentleman, and his prose, in which he was not seldom a poet. In portions of the latter the editor has, wisely for the flavor’s sake, kept the old spelling. To include extracts from Raleigh’s trial was a happy stroke.”
RAMSOWER, HARRY CLIFFORD.Equipment for the farm and the farmstead. (Country life education ser.) il*$2.25 Ginn 630 17-12148
The author, professor of agricultural engineering in the College of agriculture of the Ohio State university, has prepared this book primarily in the interests of “the farmer of the present who is seeking information as to ways and means of making his work easier and his burdens lighter.” The book is also adapted for use as a college text. The author points out that the subject is one which has been given little attention, since the agricultural colleges, experiment stations, etc., have been so largely concerned with crop yields and the improvement of live stock. He devotes chapters to: Some principles of mechanics; Transmission of power; Materials of construction; Cement and concrete; Laying out the farm; Farm fences; Farm buildings; The farmhouse, etc., with special chapters given up to the principal items of farm machinery, The plow, Seeding-machinery, Grain-binders, etc.
RANDOLPH, THOMAS.Poems and Amyntas; ed., with an introd., by J: J. Parry. il*$2 Yale univ. press 821 17-7487
“Professor Parry believes that there are external reasons for the oblivion that Randolph [1605-35] has suffered. ... One reason why he believes Randolph has been unread is that, after his death, his brother made the mistake of publishing all of his works which he could find together. For this reason the reader has to wade through even the school exercises of Randolph in order to discover his mature work. ... To remedy this, Professor Parry has reprinted about one-third of the extant works in this volume. He has tried in every sense to avoid the errors of Hazlitt. He has made no changes of his own in the text, relying in large part upon the fact that most of the readers of such a book would be those who were familiar with seventeenth century literature and able to read the early texts with no difficulty.”—Boston Transcript
“At the present time, it is too hard to find an edition of Thomas Randolph. He may be read only in rare early editions or in the faulty Hazlitt edition, which is itself long out of print. ... Professor Parry’s introduction to the volume will aid in making it of great interest to students.”
“Randolph, like so many other of the earlier poets, would find his most enthusiastic readers in those under twenty. Their minds are more impressionable and they are not so apt to question. If you begin to question and criticise too deeply, it is a wasted task to read him. ‘Amyntas’ is juiceless, and scarcely repays reading. Dr Parry’s editorial work is finely done, and his introduction is a model.” Frank Macdonald
RANSOME, ARTHUR.Old Peter’s Russian tales.il*$2 Stokes 17-26894
“The twenty-one stories in the book are such as Russian peasants tell their children and each other. ... The author says that the stories selected for this volume are ‘not for the learned nor indeed for grown-up people at all. No people who really like fairy stories ever grow up altogether. Their reading will convey some idea of the mental processes of the race inhabiting the broad plains and distant forests of half-mysterious Russia, and throw light on the Russian peasant’s interpretation of natural phenomena and the abode of his mythology.’ The principal illustrations are the work of a Russian artist, Dmitri Mitrokhin.”—Springf’d Republican
“Well told with humorous touches.”
“They seem every bit worth while in their folk-lore quality.”
“He tells his tales with the skill belonging to an experienced man of letters.”
“The book is a unique contribution to the holiday output.”
“The tales, though they are second-rate literary matter, should read aloud well. The feeling is that the author is having a pleasant relaxation.”
RAUSCHENBUSCH, WALTER.[2]Theology for the social gospel.*$1.50 (2c) Macmillan 230 17-31090
An elaboration of four lectures delivered in 1917 on the Nathaniel W. Taylor foundation before the annual convocation of the Yale school of religion. The main proposition is that we have a social gospel and what we need is a systematic theology large enough to match it and vital enough to back it. In the first three chapters the author shows that a readjustment and expansion of theology, so that it will furnish an adequate intellectual basis for the social gospel, is necessary, feasible, desirable and legitimate. The remainder of the book offers concrete suggestions how some of the most important sections of doctrinal theology may be expanded and readjusted to make room for the religious conviction summed up in “the social gospel.”
“The book is brave and direct and gathers together in lucid statement much that has been thought out in theology in the past decade. It is a combination of beautiful thought, of keen insight and of one-sided and restricted views. The social aspect of the gospel has its all-important place, but other sides of the question need to be considered in a completely philosophical work.”
RAVAGE, MARCUS ELI.American in the making.*$1.40 (2c) Harper 17-28804
The young Rumanian who writes this “life story of an immigrant” tells us that they who know only America cannot really know America, that “only from the humble immigrant” can they learn “just what America stands for in the family of nations.” And so he tells us his story from his boyhood in Vaslui, Rumania, to his sophomore year at the University of Missouri. Mr Ravage came over in 1900 and settled among his country-people in the “Little Rumania” of New York city. He began to earn his living as a peddler, and after working in a bar-room, and a sweatshop, he succeeded in educating himself sufficiently to enter the University of Missouri, though the sweatshop, he tells us, was his first university, and his fellow toilers there gave him the first stimulus towards reading books and the first introduction to radical thought. “Nothing in the way of thought-interest was too big or too heavy for this intelligentzia of the slums.” His first year in Columbia is a lonely one, save for one friend. He goes back to New York for his vacation and lives “through the last and bitterest episode in the romance of readjustment.” One year in Missouri has made him a stranger to the East side ghetto and when he goes back to college he finds that at last the barriers are down between him and his classmates—that he is no longer “a man without a country”—he is an American.
“Mr Ravage’s story of how he became an American and why the process took so long is of especial interest and value because he brings out the non-material reasons for the difficulties in the Americanising of our newly come peoples. He makes clear the mental and spiritual non-adjustments, the constant strong pull of the old world soul. And that is something which we, with our so different heritage, find it difficult to realise.” F. F. Kelly
“But not as a portrayal of the Jewish spirit nor as a recognition of its leaven, not as a study in Americanization is this book primarily arresting. It is a remarkable sketch indeed of contacts between diverse cultures, but it is not alone an ethnological sketch; it is a picture of the life of the spirit, it is literature. In its ironic restraint and subtle interpretation the book is unsurpassed, it seems to me, in the literary art of this country.” E. C. Parsons
“Gives the impression of being not only a more searching but a more honest account of the process of being Americanized than has been presented by any one else.”
“Mr Ravage’s story is full of spiritual adventure. Where have we a more illuminating picture of the motives, the pathos and the fantasy, that bring people from their remote countries to America?... Surely we have had nothing like this story of the assimilation of an eager, idealistic, floundering Rumanian youth into the light, hearty life of a mid-western state university. ... In such a career wesee something vital being done to America by the immigrant, as well as something vigorous being done to the immigrant by America.” R. B.
“There is food for thought in ‘An American in the making.’ And always there is keen interest.”
“The value of this autobiography lies in the fact that the author did achieve Americanization, and from this vantage point could look back over his heartrending struggles with an eye that fully appreciated what he had lost and gained. The humor and clear-sightedness of the author, to say nothing of the colorful and stimulating style, make the book one of the most interesting products of the season.”
“[His experiences] are depicted with a remarkable command of English idioms and American sense of humor.”
RAWLINGS, GERTRUDE BURFORD.British museum library. il $1.25 (2½c) Wilson, H. W. 027.5 17-11000
The author says: “This essay traverses some of the ground covered by Edwards’s ‘Lives of the founders of the British museum,’ and the Reading-room manuals of Sims and Nichols all long out of print. But it has its own field, and adds a little here and there, I venture to hope, to the published history of our national library.” (Preface) The chapters take up: Steps toward a national library; The Cottonian library; The Sloane bequest; The early days of the British museum; Anthony Panizzi; Later days of the British museum; Recent history of the library; Accessions by gift, bequest or purchase; Accessions through the copyright acts; The catalogue; The subject index; Some treasures of the British museum library. The appendix gives lists of some of the official catalogs and other information.
“An attractive and scholarly account of the rise and progress of the great library. ... Some of the principal treasures are well described.”
“Without being in any sense a guide the book provides readers with a brief and well-arranged survey of the contents of the national library and of the methods of obtaining access to them.”
RAWLINSON, HUGH GEORGE.Intercourse between India and the western world from the earliest times to the fall of Rome. il*$2.25 Putnam 930 (Eng ed 16-19470)
“Professor Rawlinson has chosen a romantic subject for his book, and, within the limits he has proposed to himself, has done justice to it. Academic India is at present very busy studying the records of the earliest periods of Indian civilization, and is discovering with just pride and pleasure that the Hindu culture had much in common with the origins of the polities of western nations. ... The old Hindus were certainly daring navigators, keen traders, and colonists in distant lands. They were skilled administrators, and possessed a copious literature dealing with all the affairs of men in organized society, and lacking only in historical accounts of their own doings. The suggestion is natural that the West may owe larger debts to India than have hitherto been recognized.”—Spec
“Needed only in large or special libraries.”
“The author endeavours to give a succinct account of his subject, which has never been dealt with as a whole in any English work, although the material has been handled by a host of writers. ... The book is useful as a compendious summary, and probably may reach a second edition, when corrections such as those noted can be inserted. Others are needed.” V. A. S.
“With much learning, but in a readable and agreeable style, Professor Rawlinson has pieced together our fragmentary knowledge from the foregoing and other sources. His volume is a handbook, not a compilation of original documents like the tomes of McCrindle. The extent of his citations and the account that he takes of recent studies in this by no means neglected field gives it, however, much value for reference purposes as well as for passing perusal.” E: P. Buffet
“Those interested in the relations of East and West revived by the war will find Professor Rawlinson’s book a useful and entertaining guide to a necessary and picturesque background. ... The few errors in the book are due to the inaccessibility of a good library in India, where the author holds a chair in an Indian college.”
“Full of interesting and suggestive topics—a work that will be even more useful to Indian students than to western readers of Indian history. The book is an admirable continuation of its author’s excellent ‘Bactria: the history of a forgotten empire.’”
“If its facts were all known before, they were dispersed in a variety of books, and to bring them together into one cover is to do a service to a large number of people who would like to know the general results arrived at by research with regard to the relations of ancient India and the West, and who would be unable to consult the various books from which Professor Rawlinson draws.”
REED, EDWARD BLISS.Sea moods, and other poems.*$1 Yale univ. press 811 17-25111
A handful of verse, most of which is introspective reaction to the varying moods of the sea. The writer depicts the depression of fog, the exhilaration and tonic of the blue sea, the caprice of the sea and its freedom and romance. The writer for the time being is “fisherman, hunter, and sailor, playing with dreams by the sea.”
“These poems are well done, often very well done; the finish is complete, but they are illuminated from within. They have not the spontaneity, the abandon of an overflowing impulse. They tread a bit heavily their proper metres, overladen with a too literal expression rather than with the sense and emotion and imagination of the subject. The author rises to a higher perfection in verse than in poetry. Thus what we want is not verse about the sea, but the poetry of the sea.” W. S. B.
REED, HELEN LEAH.Memorial day, and other verse(original and translated).*75c De Wolfe & Fiske co., 20 Franklin st., Boston 811 17-23580
A little volume whose profits are to be devoted to the work of helping soldiers blinded in battle. It contains in the first part several patriotic pieces, among them “Your country and mine,” “The Harvard regiment,” “The Grand army passes” and “A Canadian trooper to his horse.” The second group is made up of lighter verse for children. The third division includes some well-known odes from Horace.
“Sincere and varied verse, unpretentious and pleasing.” N. H. D.
“Miss Reed is not a poet of the highest flights, nor does she profess to be, but this book is thoroughly entertaining. Her expression is consciously confined; when she does write swingingly the results are less happy. Her verse is not free from faults of rhyme and meter. But the diversity of subject matter bears witness to breadth of mind.”
REED, HELEN LEAH.Serbia: a sketch.il $1 (5c) Serbian distress fund, 555 Boylston st., Boston 949.7 17-59
A letter from the author says that the book “aims to give the average reader a clear and concise account of Serbian history from the earliest times, with some attention to the present war.” The headings for the five sections of the book are: Serbia: starting; Serbia: singing; Serbia: seaward; Serbians; Serbia: sighing. The book was written for the benefit of the Serbian distress fund, and was first put on sale at the Allied bazaar in Boston. All proceeds from the general sale of the book also go to the relief fund.
“The book will be useful to all interested in the causes of the war. Its sale will help the Serbian fund, and it is a pleasure to recommend it most heartily, as both well-written and generally accurate.” N. H. D.
“Useful, for all its slightness, for the information it gives and the sense of personality it manages to convey.”
REED, HOMER BLOSSER.Morals of monopoly and competition.*$1.25 Banta pub. 338 17-13289
“The author is primarily concerned in describing the evolution now taking place in the business world, ‘one of the outstanding features of which is the change from private and competitive morality to public and co-operative morality.’ He first attempts to explain why private competitive morality has been found unsatisfactory, by a detailed account of its results under the practice of railroad discriminations in the case of the Standard oil company. Secondly, he describes the solutions proposed as evolved in the court decisions concerning railroad rebates and a fair rate of return for public-service companies. Thirdly, through a criticism of these decisions, he attempts to set forth the principles established to meet the new conditions. Then, turning from public callings to private callings, he follows a similar plan in the case of the large industrial corporations. ... The general conclusion is that industrial combinations which are doing business under the law of private callings ought to be regulated under the law of public callings.”—J Pol Econ
“The author predicts that the large industrial combinations will in the course of time come to be recognized as public service corporations, and will be subjected to regulation in much the same way that the railroads now are. But he does not make his point.” Eliot Jones
“Students of business ethics will find the new book of interest as an outline of the changes which have taken place within a comparatively few years in that field. It explains the trend of the times, and is probably more or less prophetic of future changes in the matter of the regulation of business competition.”
“Offers a clear and simple statement of the significant change that has occurred in our attitude towards ‘big business.’” B. H. Bode
Reviewed by C. W. Wright
REED, THOMAS HARRISON.Form and functions of American government. il*$1.50 (1c) World bk. 353 16-24343
“This book is the result of nine years’ experience in teaching government and a lifelong interest in politics. It is intended primarily for that great majority of high-school pupils who go no farther on the road of formal education and aims to deal with the principles of governmental organization and activity in such a way as to be a suitable basis for the most thorough high-school course in preparation for citizenship.” (Preface) The book is divided into six parts, preceded by an introductory chapter on Government, and why we study it. The six parts take up: The background of American government; Parties and elections; State government; Local government; Government of the United States; The functions of government.
“The author has shown remarkable skill in being brief without being misleading. A most commendable feature is the evolutionary or organic viewpoint, which finds consistent expression throughout.” A. B. Hall
“Usefully illustrated; full bibliography at chapter-ends.”
“The subject is treated from an historical point of view, but in the main each topic is brought up to date and the views are progressive throughout. ... Several errors—of fact rather than interpretation—may be noted. ... This book was in press during a period of unprecedented federal legislation, so various facts concerning the Philippine government, preparedness, military and naval academies, and the income tax are already out of date. Also, the shipping board, the farm loan board, the tariff commission, prohibition of child labor, and the inheritance tax have come into existence since the book went to press. ... There is an excellent bibliography at the end of each chapter.” F. A. Magruder
“An admirably stimulating text book.”
“Teachers of civics who desire to make their instruction practical in the best sense of the word should not overlook this volume, for besides having the notable merit of definiteness Professor Reed’s volume is inclusive, well-proportioned, accurate, and readable.”
“The author of this handbook came to his task with a rather unusual equipment. A graduate of Harvard university and of the Harvard law school, he was successively a member of the bar of Massachusetts and of New York, and in 1908 was appointed to a professorship of government in the University of California. For six months in 1911 he held the office of executive secretary to Governor Johnson and in 1916 secured a leave of absence from the University to assume the duties of city manager of San José, Cal. His book, therefore, has a background of practical experience in governmental affairs.”
“Among the many volumes recently put out on citizenship for school use, it is clearly one of the ablest, both in its careful preparation and clear writing. In its real appeal to the natural civic interests of the high-school student it stands alone.” R. N. Baldwin
REELY, MARY KATHARINE, comp. Selected articles on immigration. (Debaters’ handbook ser.) 2d ed*$1.25 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 325.73 17-6882
Changes in this second edition of the debaters’ handbook on immigration consist of: a revision of the bibliographies on European and Asiatic immigration, with the addition of references bringing them down to date; a revision of the section on The European war and immigration, with the addition of new reprints, and the addition of a group of references on Americanization.
REELY, MARY KATHARINE, comp. Selected articles on minimum wage. (Debaters’ handbook ser.)*$1.25 (1½c) Wilson, H. W. 331.2 17-6881
This volume is an outgrowth of a pamphlet issued in 1913 in the Abridged debaters’ handbook series. Like other volumes in the series it contains briefs, bibliographies and selected reprints presenting both sides of a debatable question. The explanatory note says, “An attempt has been made to choose wisely such articles as would present the question from many points of view, that of the employer, the trade unionist, the lawyer, the economist, the social worker, etc.” Among those who argue for the minimum wage are Margaret Dreier Robins, Florence Kelley, John A. Ryan, Walter Lippmann, Sidney Webb and Louis D Brandeis. Among those opposed are John Bates Clark, F. W. Taussig, J. Laurence Laughlin, Rome G. Brown and Helen Marot. The volume is indexed.
“An excellent handbook giving all the latest data and discussion.”
“The introduction, a brief sketch of the history of the minimum-wage movement, shows the compiler to be strongly in sympathy with it and to be capable of sharp criticism as regards its various phases; but the selection of articles is marked by impartiality as well as by good judgment. ... The 200 pages, including a bibliography and a good index, will be interesting and helpful not only to prospective debaters, but to the general reader desiring to get a fair impression of the considerations that have been brought to bear on this subject by representative thinkers and writers.”
“In her introduction to the volume the compiler makes a few very interesting observations. ... The literature on the subject is very extensive, and the compiler made use of the best that has been published. General bibliography as well as references to the material used, and a well arranged index, are included in the volume which makes it very convenient for the reader.” A. L. Trachtenberg
“In all cases the material is selected with impartiality and with obvious intent to do full justice to both sides of a question.”
Reviewed by Henrietta Walters
REEMAN, EDMUND HENRY.Do we need a new idea of God.*$1 (3c) Jacobs 211 17-18044
The Rev. Edmund H. Reeman is a Unitarian minister and is at present pastor of the First Unitarian church, at Trenton, N. J. He states in his preface that “there is need for a reinterpretation of life and a restatement of religious faith in the light of democratic outreach and impulse.” His book is an attempt to turn our “thoughts away from the old ideas of God as a king upon a monarch’s throne, the remote and transcendent creator and ruler of the world and life, to the thought of God as the God of all the struggle and outreach of life—the real Life-Force of the universe and the eternal toiler in the universe,—a God who needs our strength and grit and will and courage far more than He needs our tears and our penitence.”
“This book makes good. ... There is a striking difference between this book and the most prominent current pronouncement on the same subject—H. G. Wells’s ‘God, the invisible king.’ Both books are good on the destructive side, with the balance decidedly in favor of Wells. Constructively, however, the British writer seems, in comparison, vague, truistic, naive, and dogmatic. ... Both writers conceive of God as finite, holding up men’s hands and being held up by them, but Mr Wells is vague in differentiating God from the Life Force and maintaining his personality, while Mr Reeman is perfectly clear in identifying the two and in giving the doctrine of divine immanence a modern pragmatic meaning.”
“Like many other dissatisfied souls, the author finds it much more easy to point out the inadequacy of the old than to lead into positive notions of the new, but his attempt is a worthy one.”
“Much that the author says is well said, and has been said as well by leaders in scientific theology. ... Evidently he has not studied the New Testament, or seen its Revised version.”
“This conception of God as the master spirit of struggle, the ‘eternal toiler’ of the universe, is shown to be in line with the facts of modern experience.”
REEVE, ARTHUR BENJAMIN.[2]Adventuress. il*$1.35 (2c) Harper 17-30121
Marshall Maddox, head of “Maddox munitions, incorporated,” is murdered and the model of the telautomaton, a wonderful war invention is stolen from his safe. Craig Kennedy, “scientific detective,” well known to Mr Reeve’s readers, is put in charge of the case. Several other members of the Maddox family enter into the story. The adventuress is Paquita, a little Mexican dancer in whom Marshall Maddox has been interested.
“From the very first page, where the story opens with the crack of a revolver shot, the reader is taken along through mystery, exciting adventures and deep-laid plots. The story is interesting from its many human aspects.”
REEVE, ARTHUR BENJAMIN.Treasure train.il*$1.35 (1½c) Harper 17-15286
A dozen stories, adventures of Craig Kennedy, scientific detective, who, by means of chemical analysis or some curiously and delicately devised instrument, gets at the truth of a crime and rounds up the criminal. The crimes uncovered by his laboratory methods of investigation are of the subtlest order. Some involve the use of deadly toxins,—muscarin, digitalis, and abrin from the Hindu prayer-bean which resembles snake-venom. Some cases introduce deadly gas, deadly germs and dum-dummed poisoned bullets. For every mystery there is a quick and sure solution, the way to which comes spontaneously forth from the laboratory-trained mind of this calm, clear-headed detective.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“When one considers how closely the author follows the same general formula in constructing each story, the amount of variety in them is rather surprising.”
REEVES, FRANCIS BREWSTER.Russia then and now, 1892-1917. il*$1.50 Putnam 914.7 17-13230
In 1892 the author was sent to Russia in charge of the cargo sent by the Philadelphia relief committee to the famine sufferers. In this book he gives an account of his mission, illustrating it with photographs taken at the time. To give contrasting descriptions of modernRussia, he quotes from the writings of others, including two articles by Margaret Wintringer on the abolition of vodka.
“The book takes on the nature of a pleasing memorial of a worthy charity and is hardly more than that.”
“Mr Reeves has made a pleasant and appropriate memorial of an incident in the friendly relations that have long existed between the United States and Russia, but he leaves unsatisfied those readers who expect any analysis or interpretation of Russia, or the Russians, then or now.”
“It is in the appendix to the book that we find the most useful information concerning conditions in Russia since the war began and before the Czar’s abdication. This for the most part consists of extracts from newspaper articles by other hands, and gives a fairly complete basis for contemporary judgment. Of these articles the most valuable is the paper on ‘Russia’s future needs for capital,’ by Samuel McRoberts, vice president of the National city bank of New York city.”
“The book contains nothing of consequence about Russia now, and the author saw, or at least realized very little about the bureaucracy of Russia then.”
REID, FORREST.Spring song.*$1.40 (2c) Houghton 17-8741
Four of the Westons were ordinary children. First there was Edward, something of a fop, then Barbara, a trifle priggish, then Ann, always out of breath, but so warm-hearted and kind, and last, there was Jim, a jolly little boy with a fondness for riddles. It was Grif who was different. Grif sees and hears things of which the others are never aware. He is sensitive to influences that never touch his brothers and sisters. In this story he is brought to the verge of a mental and physical breakdown by contact with a morbid and unbalanced mind. The nature of Grif’s illness puzzles everyone, but his healing is finally brought about most simply and beautifully.
“The children are well drawn, but the book will have only a limited appeal.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“A heart-breaking little tale. ... And its poignancy lies in the fineness and restraint of feeling that differentiate it from the coarsely and slushily sentimental child-literature which so often appears to be ‘what the people want.’”
“Very moving and imaginative study of the most moving of all living things: childhood laid upon the rude sacrificial stone of adolescence, and quivering to its death.” H. W. Boynton
“The descriptions of the English countryside are very lovely, and the story holds the reader’s interest firmly from beginning to end. There is about it nothing slovenly or unfinished; the author has the artist’s instinct, the artist’s loving care, and the result is a book of distinction and charm.”
“More than half of Mr Forrest Reid’s story is a pure delight: the rest makes for what we are old-fashioned enough to think unnecessary sadness. ... The story of the clouding of an innocent but highly strung mind is not as horrible as that of ‘The two magics’, but it is painful.”
“There are few contemporary stories of childhood reaching the artistic height of ‘The spring song.’”
“There are a number of very amusing scenes in the book, and the children’s characters, especially Jim and Ann are delightfully drawn. ... But the author’s intentness on the pursuing nightmare robs the later part of the book of some balance, until Grif’s delusions appear real against a rather shadowy background.”
REID, SIR GEORGE HOUSTON.My reminiscences. il*16s Cassell & co., London
“Scottish by birth and ancestry, an emigrant to Australia in 1852, and later a successful barrister, prime minister of New South Wales, premier of the Commonwealth of Australia, first high commissioner for the commonwealth and now independent imperialist member of Parliament for St George’s, Hanover square, the author of this autobiography has had an active, eventful, and distinguished career, and has rendered many valuable public services. Much of the volume is concerned with Australian politics. ... The author relates several amusing incidents.”—Ath
“As a summary of leading figures and measures in Australia it is of value, but outside of politics it is dull.”