Chapter 18

20–4141

As indicated by the title, the object of the book is to prove that socialism is the most dangerous enemy to civilization and that socialist agitation “threatens to ruin not only the existing order but also every attempt to improve it and to insure social progress and general prosperity.” The author claims to be a close student of Marx whose economic and social theories he attempts to explain and to refute. Professor Thomas Nixon Carver of Harvard university writes an introduction, and the contents are: Modern socialism—its theories and aims; Criticism of the Marx theory; The great socialistic experiment in Russia; Socialist explanations of the failure in Russia; Socialistic agitation in Europe and America; Social revolution or social reconstruction.

“Mr Brasol’s book gives a just though not a neutral estimate of the character and aims of modern socialism.” J. E. LeRossignol

“Brasol’s treatise is a valuable criticism of radical socialism, it fails to meet in a convincing way, the issue as raised by Laidler, Spargo, Vandervelde, Rauschenbusch and others, although the constructive proposals given in the last chapter might to some extent at least mitigate the admitted evils of the present system.” L. M. Bristol

“He makes out his case by infinite omissions, by a near-sightedness that throws the whole subject out of proportion, and by a plentiful use of epithets like ‘soap-box agitator’ and ‘parlour Bolshevist’; and his constructive suggestions are of an incredible banality.”

“The chief moral to be drawn from the volume is that he wastes his time who tries to interpret present-day social movements without being at least sympathetic with the spirit of social unrest and demand for change.” H: P. Fairchild

“His book is full of ammunition for those who feel a call to oppose propaganda to propaganda, and of reassurance to those who consider the facts disquieting.”

“In offering opinion on his book a sharp distinction should be drawn between the first four chapters and the last two; the book would be twice as good with the last two eliminated.”

“While it cannot be recommended to the opponent of socialism as an altogether reliable armory of arguments, the book, nevertheless, often hits the nail and should prove stimulating and useful to the convinced Socialist and the impartial student.” B. L.

BREARLEY, HARRY CHASE.Time telling through the ages. il *$3 Doubleday 529

20–1749

“When the Ingersolls of watchmaking fame desired to celebrate the quarter-century of their experience in that industry, a book relating the evolution of time-keeping devices was adopted as a fitting memorial and as an anniversary contribution to horological art and science. The anniversary occurred in war time and the book had to wait until the establishment of peace. It is a handsomely illustrated volume, ‘Time telling through the ages,’ and bears the name of Henry C. Brearley as author, although credit is given Miss Katherine Morrissey Dodge for the research work necessary. The book relates the development then of watchmaking in England, France, Switzerland and America, past the days of the guilds and of handmade watches to the era of machine made standard parts at a price within the reach of everybody. Among the illustrations are many photographs of rare and curious old watches in the museums of the world. There is also included as an appendix forty-two pages of encyclopedic dictionary, defining and often illustrating all the terms pertaining to watchmaking and all the names of people identified through the ages with the progress and perfecting of the art.”—Springf’d Republican

“Most ingenious compilation. The illustrations are numerous and interesting.”

“The story is interesting and valuable.”

BREASTED, JAMES HENRY, and ROBINSON, JAMES HARVEY.History of Europe, ancient and medieval. il $1.92 Ginn 940

20–5789

A work based on the authors’ “Outlines of European history.” “Chapters 1–20 have been completely rewritten, simplified, and condensed; and more space has been given to Roman history and less to that of the ancient Orient.... As for the rest of the work, much condensation has been effected and the details of presentation have been reconsidered from beginning to end.” (Preface) The bibliographies have also been revised. Part 1 of the book, Earliest man, the Orient, Greece and Rome, is by Professor Breasted. Part 2, Europe from the break-up of the Roman empire to the French revolution, is by Professor Robinson.

“The writer sees no reason why the book should not meet with immediate success, for it is without question one of the best in a somewhat barren field.”

BREBNER, PERCY JAMES (CHRISTIAN LYS, pseud.).Ivory disc (Eng title, Gate of temptation). *$1.75 (1½c) Duffield

20–10366

Dr Bruce Oliver had, until nearly his fortieth year, found women only an interesting study, and had not regarded them sentimentally. But when Estelle Bocara came into his life, his heart awakened. She felt and responded to his love, but she was already married to an eastern professor and mystic. As their acquaintance grew and their intimacy developed, Dr Oliver found Estelle at times to be under the strange mesmeric power of her husband, when she committed crimes of which she had no knowledge. Thinking her mental condition due to physical injury received in her childhood, Dr Oliver performed a successful operation on her brain. In an effort to complete the cure, Oliver put himself in Bocara’s power, with almost disastrous results. Fortunately for him, another victim of Bocara’s cruelty freed them both, and the obstacle to marriage with Estelle was removed. The ivory disk of the title is the amulet, the gift of Estelle which Oliver believes saved him from death.

“To become an adept in the craft of storytelling sometimes means advancement in literary style; had it been so in Mr Brebner’s case he would not have opened one of his chapter-sections with such a passage as ‘The crisp air of the morning had not yet let go of the world.’”

“‘The ivory disc’ will furnish the reader with a harmless kind of diversion and will make no extortionate demands either upon his attention or upon his intellect.”

“The book can be recommended to lovers of sensation and cheap sentimental versions of occultism.”

“A distressing story. Apparently the author wants to make our flesh creep. But, somehow, he does not.”

BRERETON, FREDERICK SADLIER.Great war and the R. A. M. C. *$6 Dutton 940.475

(Eng ed 20–285)

“‘The great war and the R. A. M. C. takes up the work of the Royal army medical corps on the western front during the first months of the war and relates with full detail the whole story of its efforts, failures and achievements, with especial reference to the service of its field ambulances.” Springf’d Republican

“His succinct accounts of the various actions and manœuvres are just sufficient to support the main thread of the story without diverting the interest from it.”

BRIDGE, SIR FREDERICK.Westminster pilgrim. il *$8 Gray, H. W.

19–14604

“This bulky but entertaining book recounts a great deal more than the story of a pilgrimage to Westminster. It might excusably claim to be the history of the Abbey itself during the last half-century—coronations, funerals, choral functions, musical services, etc., having all the prominence that the organist would naturally consider their due. First and foremost, it is an autobiography of the chatty gossipy order; the life-story of a singularly busy musician who rose from the ranks, who came into contact with many of the leading men of his time, and who by his own showing never lost an opportunity for profiting by his talents or his peculiar fund of ready wit and jocularity. But in addition to this it deals now and again with serious musical topics, more particularly, of course, those which have come within the orbit of the author’s own wide professional experience.”—Sat R

“On the whole, however, the book suffers from those very excellences which make Sir Frederick so eminently suited to his office.”

“The Illustrations are of exceptional interest, and the whole book is excellently got up.”

“The emeritus-organist of Westminster has led a full and successful life, and the record of his professional activities makes excellent reading, for Sir Frederick Bridge is an admirable raconteur.”

“He records meetings with a few great men outside his profession—Dickens, Tennyson, Browning; but it seems that the organist of the Abbey is most likely to meet great men at their funerals. His friends who were not great in the worldly sense are much more entertaining.”

BRIDGE, NORMAN.Marching years. il *$2.50 (3c) Duffield

20–18955

The above title is given to the autobiography of a noted physician of New England origin, the eighth generation in direct descent of Deacon John Bridge, to whom a bronze statue has been erected near Harvard university. Dr Bridge was graduated from the Chicago Medical college, served on the teaching staff of Rush Medical college for two decades and is the author of many publications on medical subjects, a list of which is appended to the text.

BRIDGES, ROBERT.October. *$1.50 Knopf 821

“‘October, and other poems’ does not bring anything particularly new to bear on Mr Bridges’s poetry. Its principal value is to show the poet laureate’s reactions to the war.” (N Y Times) “The best that we get is a quiet sound to arms in ‘Wake up, England,’ a tribute to victory in ‘Der tag: Nelson and Beatty,’ a ghostly dialogue between the victorious admirals of the past and present, some stanzas on ‘Britannia victrix,’ in the orthodox tradition of rehearsing the spirit of England’s greatness, some tributes to personal friends who were lost in the war, laurel-verse for the great soldier Lord Kitchener, sonnets to America in joining the fight for liberty, praise for the dominions for throwing in their lot with the mother of the brood, and other such occasional verses.” (Boston Transcript)

“The disappointment, if we may call it disappointment, of this small book is that so much of its room is taken up by poems of a more or less official inspiration. Nothing he writes, be the occasion never so official or the inspiration tenuous, is marred by a touch of shoddy; the dignity of poetry is safe in his hands. This dignity has no pomposity. It is only a name for the austerity and candour that mark the true artist.”

Reviewed by S: Roth

Reviewed by W: S. Braithwaite

“The collection is hardly representative of Mr Bridges’ best work, but at its least, it is good verse.”

“Mr Bridges was created to do small things in poetry, and to do them very well.”

“The one drawback to Mr Bridges’s poetry is a lack of fire. It all seems conscious, coldly worked out to a well-defined formula. He carves carefully and with meticulous skill the clever cameos which he offers the public.” H. S. Gorman

“The name ‘October’ which the poet laureate has given to his new book of poems is exceedingly appropriate. There is the perfection and completion of autumn about them, the sense of something rounded and finished, a matured and considered beauty.”

BRIDGES, VICTOR.Cruise of the “Scandal,” and other stories. *$1.75 (2c) Putnam

A volume of short stories by an English writer who introduces them with graceful apologies to “the countrymen of Edgar Allan Poe and O. Henry.” Mr Bridges is author also of “The lady from Long Acre” and the stories are written in the light-hearted manner of that novel. Among the fifteen titles are: The cruise of the “Scandal”; The man with the chin; Tony and his conscience; With the conquering turkey; A bit of Old Chelsea; Full-back for England; The bronze-haired girl; His reverence.

“A cluster of very delightful short stories.”

“Here is an English author who is satirical, keenly observant and above all humorous.”

“Most of the tales are amusing, the author’s style is light and readable, and several of the stories reflect pleasantly the easy-going existence of the well-to-do young English bachelor as it was before the war.”

“The short story which gives this book its title is charming and gay. Some of the others are flippant or rummy.”

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

BRIGGS, THOMAS HENRY.Junior high school. (Riverside textbooks in education) *$2 Houghton 373

20–13790

A work by a professor of education, Teachers college, Columbia university. “The purpose of the book is to present the facts, so far as they can be ascertained, concerning the newly established junior high schools, or intermediate schools, and at the same time to set forth a constructive program for the reorganization if it is to be educationally effective.” (Preface) The author states that he has visited personally more than sixty junior high schools, that he has supplemented the information thus obtained by a study of the literature of the subject, by questionnaire returns, conferences and correspondence. He has also acted as educational advisor of the Speyer experimental junior high school in New York. Contents: The need of reorganization of schools; The development of the junior high school; Claims and objections; Organization; Special functions of the junior high school; Curricula and courses of study; Methods of teaching; Teachers and salaries; The administration of the schedule and of class units; Social organization and control; Buildings and grounds; Costs; Results; In conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

“The book will serve a moderately useful purpose as a textbook for classes of beginners who need to be taught some definition of the movement, but will probably do little to influence practice in the present or the future.”

BRIGHAM, ALBERT PERRY.Cape Cod and the Old Colony. il *$3.50 (6c) Putnam 974.4

20–14826

The book considers the Cape in its entirety: geologically, geographically, and historically. We are told of its relation to the glacial invasion, of its changing shoreline, due to the corroding and depositing force of the waves, and “how the first colonists and those who followed them have adjusted themselves to the mobile conditions of nature and of man.” (Preface) Contents: The Pilgrims around the bay; The origin of the Cape; The changing shoreline; Old Colony names and towns; On the land; The harvest of the waters; Roads and waterways; Three centuries of population; The environment of the sea; illustrations, index and maps.

“Clear, informative, and without distinction of style. Good photographs and charts.”

“It is sort of glorified geography, with a good deal that is both interesting and instructive.” W. A. Dyer

“One thing at least is certain—he has presented science in a garb that does not repel the layman, and that in itself is always in the nature of an achievement.” B. R. Redman

BRIGHOUSE, HAROLD.Marbeck inn. *$1.75 (2c) Little

20–3713

Sam Branstone’s cradle had stood in a laborer’s cottage. Through a deed of heroism in his boyhood he secured a grammar school education and his face was set towards success. A loveless marriage to an extravagant woman emphasizes the necessity for money. The means he employs for getting it are not of the highest. To business he adds politics and the ambition for power. Then in the capacity of his secretary, comes Effie, the woman of beauty and charm and a talent for self-sacrifice. She loves Sam and resolves to sacrifice herself for him by putting the beauty, that has never found a place there, into his life. During a week at Marbeck inn together, she changes his outlook and as he sinks in the social scale he rises spiritually.

“A book full of clever detail but somehow without any final whereabouts. For myself, I am unable to like or believe much in either Sam or his Effie, and can’t feel that I ought to have been bothered with them, despite the craftsmanship of their sponsor.” H. W. Boynton

“‘The Marbeck inn’ is, as far as we know, Mr Brighouse’s first novel. In it may be found certain of the characteristics discoverable in all his plays, a shrewd knowledge of and a censorious attitude towards the life and the people of his own section of England, and a contempt for the ruling powers of both city and nation. The basis of Mr Brighouse’s art, both as dramatist and novelist, is character.” E. F. E.

“The unregenerate Sam and his world have a magnificent solidity and lifelikeness. His formidable and admirable mother, his moral slattern of a wife, the Rev. Peter Struggles, George Chapple, and even Mr Alderman Verity—these people are authentic, vivid, and memorable.”

“As a study of certain phases of life in and about Manchester, this English author’s new book is to be commended for its faithfulness. That the story is decidedly sordid in tone may be the consequence of its environment. Certainly there are few pleasant people among its characters.”

“The action of the story is rapid and free. It has a dash that savors somehow of the movies, and the characters are perhaps equally moviesque—bold in outline without much delicacy of shading. One feels that one has to take the author’s word for their third dimension—all except Anne, the watchful mother, and Peter Struggles, loved pastor of St Mary’s.” Marguerite Fellows

“One agrees with the author that Sam is worth staying with until the moment arrives when he is to discover that he has a soul. On the other hand, exception will be taken to Mr Brighouse’s method of showing Sam his soul.”

BRIGHOUSE, HAROLD.Three Lancashire plays. $2.50 French, S. 822

20–13324

“The first of the three plays, ‘The game,’ proposes to be about football. The true subject of the play is parents and children. The daughter of the ‘gentleman’ rebels against her father and wants to marry the footballer; the footballer clings to his stern old mother and will not marry the girl unless he may keep his mother. And naturally the girl realizes that that would never ‘work’ and gives up her lover. ‘The northerners’ is a play about the introduction of machine-looms and the new tyranny of the masters of labour in the Lancashire of 1820. ‘Zack’ is a character comedy.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“The first two plays in the volume are hardly adaptable to use in America, but ‘Zack’ will be a valuable addition to the repertory of amateur groups.”

“His plots are neither simple and exact, nor, on the other hand, marvels of good carpentry. They are either too weak or too strong, invertebrate or too dependent on situation. But ... we have here three plays in which Brighouse’s keen sense of good stage-humour, and his knack for observing character are applied to a people and a life that he could know honestly at first hand.” K. M.

“Mr Brighouse’s touch and temper are equally uncertain. In ‘The northerners’ his action is ingenious in the bad and artificial sense, and flares into the noisiest melodrama in the last act. ‘The game’ is a far sounder and less pretentious play than ‘The northerners’; ‘Zack’ is negligible.” Ludwig Lewisohn

“‘The game’ is, perhaps, a trifle too local, with an appeal to a more specialized audience whose chief interest lies in the fair play of organized sport. It is a relief to discover in the last play, ‘Zack,’ amusement for its own sake.”

“As for ‘Zack,’ it cries out for acting. But the dialogue and the situations go for little in print.”

“All show a sense of the theatre, good situations, lively talk (and, one might exclaim, ‘What more could you ask, in Heaven’s name?’), but for all this they are at best but commonplace.”

BRINKLEY, FRANK, and KIKUCHI, DAIROKU.History of the Japanese people. il *$4.50 Doran 952

This history dates from the earliest times to the end of the Meiji era and has been compiled with the collaboration of Baron Kikuchi who also contributes the foreword. He claims that among the many books on Japan there has not yet been a history of Japan so essential to the proper understanding of Japanese problems. Besides that part of the contents devoted especially to dynastic and political history there are chapters on: The historiographer’s art in old Japan; Japanese mythology; Rationalization; Origin of the Japanese nation; Language and physical characteristics; Manners and customs in remote antiquity; The capital and the provinces; Recovery of administrative authority by the throne; Manners and customs of the Heian epoch; Art, religion, literature, customs, and commerce in the Kamakura period; Foreign intercourse, literature, art, religion, manners, and customs in the Muromachi epoch; Christianity in Japan; Revival of the Shintō cult; Wars with China and Russia. The appendix contains: The constitution of Japan; The Anglo-Japanese agreement, 1905; and the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905. There is a list of Japanese works consulted; an index; 150 illustrations engraved on wood by Japanese artists; half-tone plates and maps.

BRINTON, REGINALD SEYMOUR.Carpets. $1 Pitman 677

20–14784

This volume of Pitman’s Common commodities and industries series comprises the following chapters: History; Materials; Dyeing; Hand-made carpets; Brussels; Wilton; Axminster; Chenille; Tapestry; Ingrain; Design and colour; Statistics; Employers and employed; Conclusion. There are thirty illustrations and an index.

BROOKE, STOPFORD AUGUSTUS.Naturalism in English poetry. *$3 Dutton 821.09

20–20661

“These studies deal with that reaction from artificial and conventional poetry of the eighteenth century which began with Thomson, grew through a transition period of some fifty years (1730–1780) into the ‘naturalistic’ poetry of Burns and Cowper, reached its height with Wordsworth, and died with Shelly, Keats, and Byron. They are based on the Ms. of a course of lectures delivered by the late Stopford Brooke at University college, London, in 1902. The later chapters of the book are also printed from Mss., except two, which appeared after the author’s death in the Hibbert Journal.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“There was, perhaps, no great originality in Stopford Brooke’s criticism; and in reading his particular book one sighs occasionally for a page or two of precise discussion of the keyword in the title. On the other hand it has the redeeming salt of a genuine humanity, an enthusiasm which, if it attaches sometimes to what seems to us only diluted poetry, is in the main convincing—a book, in short, which can be read with pleasure rather than exhilaration, and which, considered as lectures delivered to a university audience, is admirable.”

“Mr Brooke’s book is one that should be widely read, for it gives new life to these men [Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron].” H. S. Gorman

“While Stopford Brooke has written good criticism, he has not written great criticism; for a criticism which, while dealing with human values, does not really seek for the larger reconciling ideas, and which always in a pinch leans toward a theological standard cannot be called great.”

“Though the present work penetrates deeply into the spirit that animated the naturalistic poets, it is marred by the use of many outworn phrases, examples of tautology, and an irritating loquacity that might be forgiven in a lecturer, but cannot be condoned in the printed page.”

BROOKS, ALFRED MANSFIELD.From Holbein to Whistler; notes on drawing and engraving. il *$7.50 Yale univ. press 767

20–15784

“Starting with the ‘Beginnings of line engraving in Italy,’ Mr Brooks comments on the line engraving and wood in the North, talks upon the work of such men as Mantegna, Marcantonio, Raimondi, Lucas of Leyden, Durer and Holbein; gives an account of the theory and progress of etching through Rembrandt, Van Dyck to Claude Lorraine; mezzotint engraving as exemplified by Claude Lorraine and Richard Earlom, and concludes on the famous collection of engravings and designs by Turner known as ‘The liber studiorum.’ The volume is illustrated in both line and shadow, with reproductions of the famous drawings of the artists dealt with.”—Boston Transcript

“Ease and dignity mark the style.”

“If the reader may occasionally prefer a different path from the one taken by Mr Brooks, that is in measure a matter of personal predilection. The same may be said of the choice of prints for discussion. However, in the end the book stimulates, and exhibits good common sense.”

“On the whole, it is an interesting and instructive book, a little verbose, but full of shrewd observations and sound though unoriginal generalities. It is neither sufficiently concise nor sufficiently ample for very general use; however, the patient reader will be amply repaid for the reading.” R: Bassett

BROOKS, CHARLES STEPHEN.Luca Sarto. il *$1.75 (2c) Century

20–3883

Fourteen hundred and seventy-one is the time of this story of adventure and romance, as told by the hero, Luca Sarto, in the first person. Here is his own outline of the events: “We shall see, when all is done, how a man fled wisely from his enemies, the Orsini; how he came to France; how later, in good time, he wooed and kissed a lady; how, after a night that was candled by stars and danger, the morning sun was witness to their betrothal. I end with priest and blessing. No need of candle then.”

“Remarkable for the fidelity with which the author preserves the atmosphere of the middle ages.”

“From the confinement and necessary limitations of the essay-form, Mr Brooks has emerged with much credit, to give us a glorious adventure bubbling with spirits, and plausible withal.” R. D. W.

“Full of intrigue and action, and related in a quaint phraseology full of color and metaphor.”

“It has the sparkle of brightly burnished armour and a pulse-quickening pace. The manner of the telling is not without a touch of swagger, spiced with the salt flavour of the modern point-of-view, humorous and whimsical.”

“The book, a first novel, is an entertaining historical romance cleverly written and contains plenty of intrigue and adventure combined with a pretty love story.”

“His adventures in France are told with dash, and the style smacks truly of the manner of the fifteenth century.”

“A spirited and amusing if not inspired narrative of adventure-cum-politics.” H. W. Boynton.

“The story is well written, in a fresh and stimulating romantic spirit, and should appeal to those with a weakness for historical novels that do not contain too much history.”

BROOKS, JOHN GRAHAM.Labor’s challenge to the social order; democracy its own critic and educator. *$2.75 (2c) Macmillan 331

20–8263

“The problem here submitted is a study of power rapidly and in part accidentally acquired by labor. More especially it is a study of what labor is to do with its new mastership, what fitness it possesses for the work it would take in hand and how, meantime, other classes are to play their part.” (Chapter 1) The author holds that the war has precipitated this new power of labor, which in normal times would have developed more slowly and carried with it its own discipline, and that now its education will be more costly both for itself and the public. He also holds that for capital the day of “the lone hand” has closed and that the lesson for both capital and labor to learn is to unite their forces in cooperative effort. A partial list of the contents is: “A new society”; World lessons; The struggle at its worst; The Inner revolution; Lessons from the communists; Socialism; Government ownership; Industrial democracy at its best; The employers’ case against the union; The new “profit-sharing”; Syndicalism; The new guild; Index.

“It is a stimulating and penetrating appreciation of the latest developments in the labor field on the background of Mr Brooks’s forty years’ study of the upward movement of wage-earners throughout the world. Like his other books, it is a human document rather than a dogmatic treatise.” H: R. Seager

“The volume is fully up to the author’s standard of writing, which means that it is accurate, good-tempered and interesting.”

“The very interesting illustrations cited throughout make this book not only earnest but really attractive reading on labor organization questions.”

“A clear account and discriminating criticism of the labor movement.”

Reviewed by G: Soule

“His book is unquestionably the most mature, balanced and far-seeing analysis of recent months.” Ordway Tead

“With some blemishes here and there of involved or slipshod phrase, the book is to be warmly welcomed. No other man in America who deals with this subject draws from so ample a store of learning and experience. No other has at once the exactness and the scope of his information. No other writes with such uniform tolerance and breadth of view.” W. J. Ghent

“His tolerance and his desire to understand and to interpret the world of labor fairly and humanly give distinction to his work.” W. L. C.

BROOKS, VAN WYCK.Ordeal of Mark Twain. *$3 Dutton

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