Z
Zangwill, Israel.Ghetto comedies.†$1.50. Macmillan.
7–15120.
7–15120.
7–15120.
7–15120.
Fourteen stories of the Jew. Some are little comedies but in some the comedy element is pathetically lacking. The model of sorrows, Anglicization, The Jewish Trinity, The Sabbath question in Sudminster, The red mark, The bearer of burdens. The Luftmensch, The tug of love, The Yiddish Hamlet, The converts, Holy wedlock, Elijah’s goblet, The hirelings, and Samooborona.
“Strong, artistic, short stories of the Jew.”
“We are grateful to him for a book of interesting stories, which give his readers problems to ponder—and some, maybe, also reason for despair.”
“Never has he proved more plainly that a special theme in no way hampers an artist, if only the artist be sufficiently strong and fecund to resist over-specialization and to remain alive and sentient within his chosen field.” Mary Moss.
“The reader feels as tho he has been wandering in a land of grotesques. More than a touch of exaggeration mars some of his best tales.”
“Although in one way the book may be taken as an ironical open letter to the Christian nations, showing them what their centuries of oppression have done to debase their victim, it is also a work rich in understanding and humor, a very quick and true sympathy, and that fearless satirical directness which, when it comes (as it does so very infrequently) from one of this race, is always so telling.”
“In reading these stories (fourteen in all) it is impossible not to feel that merely as a writer of fiction Mr. Zangwill has gained greatly in the past decade. Moreover, his point of view has broadened, and while his sympathies and enthusiasms are as distinctively national as ever, while he still loves so tenderly that he can find fault, or even laugh, he never falls into that partisan sentimentalism which would rob his Jewish pictures of their unflinching sincerity.”
“They have all the realism, the almost grim impartiality of their predecessors.”
“They have the compelling force of reality.”
“When a writer of fiction sets out to defend or attack some system of religion or philosophy or politics or social economy, he must beware of producing a lecture instead of a tale. Mr. Zangwill, an enthusiastic Zionist, has frequently yielded to this weakness, and his ‘Ghetto comedies’ show that he is not done with it yet.”
“What one is perhaps most conscious of when reading Mr. Zangwill is the sureness of his level. His stories are not all of the same value but one is sure when beginning each of them that it will lead somewhere.”
“Alike in matter and manner this is a book of singular and engrossing interest.”
Zartman, Lester William.Investments of life insurance companies. **$1.25. Holt.
7–451.
7–451.
7–451.
7–451.
A book which does not attempt to reflect any of the agitation attending the recent official investigation of life insurance companies, but undertakes the “more congenial task of tracing the beneficent influences which life insurance accumulations have exercised upon the economic development of the country and the relation of those accumulations to social welfare.”
“Will interest readers of thoughtful mind, although it is somewhat restricted in scope, and does not consider many of the most interesting aspects of insurance. Extremely well done.”
“The author’s conclusions appeal to the reader as thoroughly sane and the recommendations as wise and salutary.” H. J. Davenport.
“His method is rigorously scientific, and the result is a most useful contribution to the subject.”
Reviewed by Edward A. Bradford.
“There is much information in his book concerning the character and cost of insurance investments.”
“This little hand-book should be of much interest and value to those who are responsible for the safe and profitable investment of trust or other funds, and to the policy-holder, now somewhat alive to insurance problems who desires to know how his savings are being cared for.” J. M. Gaines.
Zimmern, Helen.Italy of the Italians. *$1.50. Scribner.
7–6779.
7–6779.
7–6779.
7–6779.
“Her aim is not so much to describe the Italy of the past as actual conditions in the peninsula. In that description she is thoroughgoing, she dips beneath the surface. She has interesting things to say about the court, artists, authors, archæologists, scientists, inventors. dramatists, and journalists. But, what is more striking, she seems equally at home whether putting such a poet as Ada Negri or such an archæologist as Giacomo Boni in their proper places, or in discussing agrarian and fiscal conditions. Her treatment of those conditions should commend it to students of economics.”—Outlook.
“Miss Zimmern’s facts appear to be almost wholly drawn from her knowledge of the northern and central districts of the peninsula, with the result that the peculiar difficulties of administration with which the government is confronted in the South and in Sicily are passed over in silence. The book bears signs of having been written in a hurry, and evidences of careless proof reading abound. This indifference to style is particularly to be regretted in the case of an author who can write well when she pleases. A word of commendation must be given to the unusually complete index.”
“Her equipment as a scholar and writer on many subjects, artistic, philosophic, and literary, has given her a power of condensed generalization.”
“The least successful chapters are those on art and literature. Where facts are concerned. Miss Zimmern is instructive; where personalbias filters through, her position is radical, anti-church.”
“An interesting and valuable book on Italy.”
“The whole volume is one of remarkable interest.”
Zueblin, Charles.Decade of civic development. *$1.25. Univ. of Chicago press.
6–674.
6–674.
6–674.
6–674.
Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.
Reviewed by Lewis E. Palmer.
Zuylen van Nyevelt, Suzette van, barones.Court life in the Dutch republic, 1638–1689. *$4. Dutton.
7–11547.
7–11547.
7–11547.
7–11547.
A history of Holland from 1638–1689 in which “we have family life in the upper classes, religious influences, literature and art, society and diplomacy! The bitterness between the Orangeists and anti-Orangeists, the strife of parties, the cumbrousness of the Dutch system of government, are all sympathetically explained.” (Nation.)
“Baroness van Zuylen van Nyevelt pilots the reader ably through the complicated genealogy of the house of Nassau. Her grasp of her subject and her wide sympathy both for the ill-fated and lovable Stuarts and the harder-headed and somewhat uncompromising Princes of Orange, would make a less dramatic period interesting.”
“The book fills a gap in the popular historical library, and is excellently written. It should be widely read.”
“On the whole this is an admirable historical study.”
“The real value of this excellent book, illustrated and indexed as it is, consists in its descriptions, rich in coloring, of the social life of the period, the Dutch golden era.”
“Though the Baroness van Nyevelt writes in strained and dignified style, the picturesqueness of her subject matter gives vividness to every page of her interesting narrative.”
“The baroness’ book is a painstaking and readable contribution to the understanding of the great age of the Dutch republic. If we compare Mr. Barker and the Baroness van Zuylen van Nyevelt when they cover the same ground, it seems fairly clear not merely that the baroness is better acquainted with the best literature of the subject, but is more accurate, more fair and more critical in the proper sense of that term.”
Zwemer, Samuel Marinus, Wherry, Elwood Morris, and Barton, James Levi, eds. Mohammedan world of to-day: being papers read at the first missionary conference on behalf of the Mohammedan world held at Cairo, April 4th–9th, 1906. **$1.50. Revell.
6–41773.
6–41773.
6–41773.
6–41773.
“These papers exhibit the actual state of things both for better and for worse, as seen by eye-witnesses long conversant with the facts. They report both the difficulties in the way of betterment and the encouraging successes here and there achieved. For an understanding merely of the problems in world-politics which grow out of Mohammedanism these papers are valuable, much more for those which appeal to humanitarian and Christian sympathy. They effectually dissipate the allusion that Mohammedanism is on the whole, a beneficent religion, suited to the character of its adherents. Statistics, maps, and illustrations enrich the volume.”—Outlook.
“As in all books of this character the essays vary greatly in merit. Especial mention should be made of those treating Arabia and India, which are excellent.”
“The book has many serious blemishes: it omits North Africa from the field of view; its index is of little use; and its illustrations, good enough in their way, are hastily collected from the stock in general circulation. But its defects do not destroy its interest nor its profound importance as a careful exhibit of the practical results of Islam upon the races that have committed themselves to its guidance.”
“They correct some widely current misinformation.”
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTESP.86, changed “who made of his Seamen’s Bethel” to “who made use of his Seamen’s Bethel”.P.459, “insight, humor, comprehension, sympa-” was the incomplete end of a line.Please note that the publisher split hyphenated surnames. The portion after the hyphen was listed before the forename. The portion before the split was listed after the forenames with a hyphen. E.g. E. Burton-Brown was listed asBrown, E. Burton-.AddedTable of Contents.Added external links to ebooks athttps://www.gutenberg.org. The links may be to another edition of the same title.Removed the bold markup from book titles with no author listed. This is to be consistent with book titles with authors listed. Also the publisher was inconsistent in the book title markup—usually only the first word but sometimes the entire title.Included “and” in the authors bold markup to be consistent with majority practice in this book.Added missing “A” heading on p.1.Silently corrected typographical errors.Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES