*“Valuable addition to the Newnes series.”
Wood, Walter Birbeck, and Edmonds, James Edward.History of the Civil war in the United States, 1861-1865.*$3.50. Putnam.
This history of the civil war was written by two officers of the British army, from an impartial English point of view. “Mr. Spenser Wilkinson in a short introduction commends this book because he is convinced ‘that the true nature of war and its relation to national life can be learned from a study of the American Civil war as a whole.’ ... It tells why and how the war was fought, and though there is much in it which the general public may read with profit and interest, its detail and wealth of maps show that it is intended rather for the specialist.” (Sat. R.)
*“Whatever may be the cause of the want of clearness, which we have named, it deprives the book of some of that value which, given its accuracy, would otherwise have attached to it, as a text-book. We have to congratulate our authors upon their index, the compilation of which has evidently been most careful, to the great advantage of the volume.”
*“It would have been all the more welcome if they had attempted less, and omitted some of the many details with which they load their pages.”
*“The authors are scrupulously fair. They have kept a good proportion in their narrative. But they very certainly have not, as Mr. Spenser Wilkinson would have us believe, produced an authoritative military pronouncement on the subject.”
Woodman, H. Rea.Noahs afloat. $1.50. Neale.
A jocular account of the voyage of the ark, which begins with the third day out and ends when the Noahs and the stowaway, John Smith, have packed up their belongings and are ready to land. The book is largely taken up with humorous family discussions of up-to-date subjects. Some lively incidents are furnished by the animals.
“It is carefully written, and those who like this kind of humor may like it very much.”
Woodward, William Harrison.Desiderius Erasmus concerning the aim and method of education.*$1.30. Macmillan.
“This study of the life work of Erasmus as an educator is characterized by ... thoroughness, lucidity, and sympathy.... Erasmus as sketched here is not an altogether attractive personality.”—Int. J. Ethics.
“To inquirers into the origins of modern culture, and to students of the history of education generally, this book will prove invaluable.” R. E. Hughes.
Working men’s college, 1854-1904. SeeDavies, J. Llewelyn, ed.
Workman, William Hunter, and Workman, Fanny Bullock.Through town and jungle: fourteen thousand miles a-wheel among the temples and peoples of the Indian plain.*$5. Scribner.
A book devoted to the “temples and people of India,” giving studies of the six styles of Indian architecture, the Buddhist, Indian-Aryan, Jain, Dravidian, Chalukyan, and Mohammedan, and the innumerable variety of people and adventures encountered “from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas and beyond.” There are over two hundred illustrations.
“It is a worthy record of a remarkable journey.”
“It would be most unfair to deny the value of the material, both textual and pictorial, here gathered together, however unsystematized, or the fact that no other recent work on India gives any such general impression of the Indian peoples and architectures.” Wallace Rice.
“The incidents and excitements, as well as the studious results, of this trip are well told.”
“The narrative does not quite justify one’s expectations. In spite of their unusual powers of endurance, these seasoned travellers found a good deal to grumble about.”
Wright, John, pseud.SeeBourne, R. William.
Wright, Louise Wigfall (Mrs. D. Giraud Wright).Southern girl in ‘61: the wartime memories of a Confederate senator’s daughter.**$2.75. Doubleday.
“The narrative begins in Texas, continues through the author’s child-life in Washington; and, during her school days in Boston, carries the thread of the public story rather than her own, reproducing letters showing progress of events in the South. She reached Richmond just after the battle of Manassas; her record ends with Kirby Smith’s surrender; prominent men and women are introduced in incident, anecdote, and by portrait.”—Outlook.
“The volume under review has an interest and value that the social histories have not.” Walter L. Fleming.
“These books are really worth while, if for no other purpose but to show how ridiculously fallacious are the Southern heroines made up by writers like Cyrus Townsend Brady and George Gary Eggleston.”
*“A girl sees only the surface of things, and what she does not understand she is not likely to remember, nearly half a century later. So the recollections are about what one should expect. They are pleasing, although often thin.”
“Not even a tag of poor verse ... can rob ‘A southern girl in ‘61’ of its literary quality or historical value, its pathos, and its fine humanity.” L. L.
*“Mrs. Wright’s book is decidedly one to read.”
“The book has a substantial interest that only the author could supply, and some of the correspondence introduced has the value of historical documents.”
*“‘The feminine spirit of the Confederacy,’ which has been made one of the chapter titles of this book, is cleverly interpreted by this writer, who was actually a part of the stirring scenes which she narrates.”
Wright, W. Aldis, ed. SeeAscham, Roger.English works.
Wright, William Burnet.Cities of Paul:*beacons of the past rekindled for the present.**$1.10. Houghton.
A study of the cities of Tarsus, Tyana, Ancyra, Philippi, Old and New Corinth, Ephesus, Colossai, and Thessalonica, which not only shows the setting of the Apostle’s life and helps to our understanding of the Pauline epistles, but points out that the Apostle encountered the same vices, social, political, and commercial, that threaten our own municipalities today, and shows how he dealt with them.
*“With such a purpose Dr. Wright has put his ample knowledge to a highly instructive as well as entertaining use.”
Wylie, Edna Edwards.Ward of the sewing-circle,†$1. Little.
Orphaned Johnny Beal becomes the little “human hand-me-down” of the Smithville sewing-circle. Each member takes charge of him for two months at a time, and with all the divided management, it is no wonder that the little fellow jumbles his various parting injunctions. His only solace is Tab, his cat which kind fate smuggles past the wrathy spots in his foster mothers’ tempers.
Wyllie, William Lionel, and Wyllie, M. A.London to the Nore; painted and described by W. L. and M. A. Wyllie.*$6. Macmillan.
This volume “deals with territory between the metropolis and the sea, and is included in the ‘Beautiful book’ series.... It is described by Mrs Wyllie and the many colored pictures and other sketches are by W. L. Wyllie, A. R. A. The party ‘does’ London to the Nore, along the Thames, and the Medway to Rochester. The book is made up of a series of traveler’s impressions with what might be called a partly historical and partly contemporaneous background.”—N. Y. Times.
“In Mr. Wyllie’s pictures in ‘London to the Nore,’ we are struck chiefly by the wholesome sentiment and the microscopic eye. Mrs. Wyllie’s text is a too frivolous accompaniment.”
*“Amongst the many delightful publications resulting from the happy collaboration of an artist and author that have recently appeared, high rank must certainly be given to ‘London to the Nore,’ with its sympathetic interpretations of typical river scenes and vivid word-pictures of their environment.”
“In every way a most delightful book.”
Wyman, Rev. Henry H.Certainty in religion. 50c; 10c. Columbus press.
“Father Wyman has met many doubters in his long missionary career, and this book is a summary of his most persuasive arguments with them. It will serve, we trust, as a manual for many other zealous priests.”—Cath. World.
“A book of really convincing power.”
Yechton, Barbara, pseud. (Lydia Farrington Krause).Some adventures of Jack and Jill.†$1.50. Dodd.
“A pretty story of a group of English children who lived in Santa Cruz, West Indies. Little Jill, the narrator, looks up to her brother Jack with loving admiration. The mischief they get into and the honest way they get out make delightful reading.”—Outlook.
*“The story is well told.”
*“It is a good story for boys and girls, any one in fact.”
*“Refinement and gentleness characterize this wholesome chronicle of childish thoughts and doings.”
Yellow war, by “O.”**$1.20. McClure.
Dramatic episodes of the war in the Far East are given here with a touch of imagination which only adds to their reality: we see things as the yellow men must see them. There are scenes of war on sea and land, scenes at the front, and at home, most of which tell of the systematic subordination and sacrifice of the individual to the system.
“It is a book which gives an excellent idea of the actors in the war.”
“There is much idealization rather than a precise report, and the result is an impression even more veritable than the others have been able to convey, notwithstanding a certain sense of the fiction that is truer than mere fact.” Wallace Rice.
“On its face a collection of detached recitals, many of them thrilling, but not incredible, this volume, when carefully read, reveals more than tales of adventure. The anonymous writer is clearly distrustful and unsympathetic, but he tries to be impartial.”
“On the whole, it is a book of blood-stirring reading—a sort of prose glory song of the wonderful little yellow man.”
“Remarkable for their vividness and intensity.”
“It is quite likely that this fiction is a truer picture in spirit of the Japanese than much of the fact we have been fed on.”
“It is a word panorama of its great battles and sieges by one who has studied the characters of the men of the two nations engaged in it. The style of this narrative is highly direct and intense, full of life and color.”
“The merely literary merits of his book are great. Most of the book can only be described as lurid; and yet the author writes simply, is never rhetorical, and clearly labours to be temperate and exact. The book is not impartial, sometimes it is palpably unfair, and now and then it is impossibly fantastic. But at its best it comes nearer a kind of genius than any war correspondence we remember.”
Young, Egerton Ryerson.Hector my dog. $1.50. Wilde.
Hector grows very human to the animal lover as with a high degree of intelligence he records his dog thoughts and narrates his Northland adventures. Particularly interesting is the author’s suggestion that the devotion and loyalty which a dog renders his master must be preserved as a part of all good in the final reckoning.
*“Knows his subject and its surroundings thoroughly.”
*“He has written some excellent descriptions of sledge-trips and other characteristic experiences of that frozen country, but his book, as a whole, is marred by a touch of sentimentality and a tendency to point a moral.”
*“There is plenty of adventure and danger, animal jealousy and human love. The book is pleasant—fascinating indeed—and morally healthy.”
Young, Janet, comp. Psychological yearbook.**$1. Elder.
Quotations showing the laws, the ways, the means, the methods, for gaining lasting health, happiness, peace and prosperity.
Young, Jeremiah Simeon.Political and constitutional study of the Cumberland road. $1. Univ. of Chicago press.
“The introductory chapters on the early transportation difficulties and the first roads to the West are a most convenient summary of that interesting problem in our early economic history. The two following chapters on the genesis of the Cumberland road, its location, construction and administration, will be welcomed by everyone who has had to lecture on the subject. The long constitutional controversy is clearly outlined, taking up the question of eminent domain, jurisdiction, Monroe’s veto, and the final surrender of the road to the states through which the road passed.”—Ann. Am. Acad.
“The treatment is in the main historical. The style of the author is both good and bad. It is clear, but marred by numerous repetitions of lines and even paragraphs, giving us the impression that the chapters were written at widely separated times. There is, moreover, an unfortunate failure of correspondence at times between the text and citations. The book is a very readable and logical discussion of a most interesting subject. It is marred, however, by certain faults of style and inaccuracies in details.” Alonzo H. Tuttle.
“This is an admirable little monograph, a source study of a constitutional question of great historical significance. The monographic study will greatly aid the general historian in getting a sure grasp of the main questions involved.”
Younghusband, Francis Edward.Heart of a continent.*$2. Scribner.
This narrative of travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi desert, thru the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Hunza, 1884-1894, was issued several years ago, and is now republished in cheaper form, owing to the renewed interest which recent events have awakened in both Colonel Younghusband and the entire region traversed. At the time of this expedition Manchuria was practically a closed country, Russia had not thought of occupying it, and the account is one of thoro pioneer explorations, of interesting experiences and observations on the people and the general conditions. There are half a dozen illustrations.
“For full details of their remarkable journey, Mr. James’s book must be consulted; but the brief account of it given by Col. Younghusband is sufficiently full for ordinary purposes, and is replete with both interesting and valuable information.”
Ystridde, G.Three dukes.**$1.20. Putnam.
“A story portraying life among the upper classes of Russia. A pretty English girl accepts the position as a governess to two grown daughters of an eccentric Russian nobleman. The mother is very anxious to get her daughters married. Three dukes are attracted by the beauty of the governess and the fancied dowries of her pupils, but the path of love is very rugged.”—Bookm.
“Nowhere is there a glimpse of the author’s self, the book is as free from personal feeling and bias as a police report. She records what she has seen and heard, and her photographs of scenes and people bear the stamp of truth and individuality.”
“A vivacious and readable picture of Russian life, containing a good many sharply drawn characters who sound as if they had human prototypes.”
“The genuineness of the local coloring is undeniable, and the deft manipulation of both characters and incident shows unusual talent. The book has a charm. The interest is kept up throughout.” W. M. Payne.
“To an English speaking, American thinking reader much of it seems futile and much else of it dull. Similarly all of it seems to lack that sense of humor which is nothing more or less than a sense of proportion.”
*Zacher, Albert.Rome as an art city.*$1. Scribner.
A volume in “The Langham series of art monographs.” “This little book gives a rapid but comprehensive survey of the art of Rome, piloting the reader with considerable skill through the successive phases—classical, Christian, renaissance—down to the present day, and leaving him at last in a position ‘to distinguish the characteristic note in her art, and to divine the secret of its world-wide reputation.’ ... The scheme of the book is suitably assisted by a few photographs of typical buildings and pictures.”—Ath.
*“The general tone is modest.”
*“It is surprising to find the amount of information he has got into this narrow space.”
Zangwill, Israel.Celibates’ club, being the united stories of the bachelors’ club and the old maids’ club.†$1.50. Macmillan.
Genial stories of how the old maids’ and bachelors’ clubs came to be united. A dramatic critic married in order to have some one handy to make use of the second complimentary ticket, and then the theatres began to send but one ticket. An epicure married his bad cook that he might be free “to hire a good one.” Young Dickray married the daughter of his father’s ghost in a spirit of atonement; this is not as weird as it sounds. There are many other stories in the same vein.
Reviewed by G. W. Adams.
“‘The celibates’ is not to be stolidly masticated—it is tabasco rather than oatmeal porridge, and should be used accordingly.”
“The author’s humor is not all British any more than that of George Bernard Shaw.”
“Is a collection of extravagant tales and character sketches. But the book is no better than an exhibition of the journalistic talent for writing up exhaustively from the slightest foundation of facts or fancy.”
“It is clever—only too clever, witty, lively, cynical, even sentimental. Yet, after its fashion, human also. Above all, it is Mr. Zangwill’s own.”
“Whimsicality too elaborate and often forced is made to take the place of humor, with the result that the reader is often puzzled and sometimes wearied.”
“All the stories abound in wit and humor in detail, and ... some of the verses are brilliant.”
Ziémssen, Ludwig.Johann Sebastian Bach; tr. from the German by George P. Upton.**60c. McClurg.
The life of Bach, contrary to most artists’ careers, manifests no repression of spontaneous, all-around development. “He was an affectionate father, laboring manfully and incessantly to support a large family; a good citizen ... a musician without an equal in the profundity of his knowledge and the richness of his productions; the founder of modern music, the master of the organ, a composer of the highest forms of sacred music; a plain humble man.” This view of the man fills the volume which belongs to “Life stories for young people.”
*“The story is well told, with commendable fidelity to fact, and the translation is exceedingly good.”
Zilliacus, Konni.Russian revolutionary movement: a history of the various uprisings from the beginning.*$2.50. Dutton.
“M. Zilliacus writes primarily for Finlanders, who have no à priori sympathy with Russian democracy, and require to be convinced that the cause of their nation is bound up with the larger cause of reform. He therefore gives a summary of recent history, showing the steps in the development of the autocracy, the consequent misgovernment, and the elements in the state which have now been arrayed against it.”—Spec.
*“We are able for this and other reasons to commend this volume.”
“The account is of absorbing interest, and may well be read by all who desire to obtain an inside view of the underlying causes of present conditions in Russia.”
*“He claims to have misrepresented no facts, and to have verified them, so far as possible, by reference to other than revolutionary sources, a claim which appears to us to be thoroughly well-founded.”
“He frankly sympathizes with the revolutionists. But his general statements are abundantly supported by specific facts.”
“A word of praise is due the unnamed translator, whose version is smooth, flowing, and altogether readable.”
“The book is conspicuous by a rare moderation of tone.”
Zimmer, George Frederick.Mechanical handling of material.*$10. Van Nostrand.
This is the first book written in English devoted to the subject of mechanical loading and transportation of materials. It treats of elevators and conveyors of various kinds, of ropeways and cableways, grab buckets, dump cars, unloading by coal tips, automatic weighing machines, floor and silo warehouses for grain, cantilever cranes, etc. There are 542 illustrations.
“The scarcity of data and the apparent unreliability of some of the data given form the most disappointing feature of this volume. There are many otherwise good illustrations whose value is greatly reduced by the absence of dimensions.”
“The book will be indispensable to all engineering firms, consulting engineers, and architects who have to deal with this important question.” T. H. B.
Ziwet, Alexander.Elements of theoretical mechanics.*$4. Macmillan.
This is a revised edition of “An elementary treatise on theoretical mechanics,” by the junior professor of mathematics in the University of Michigan, and is intended especially for students of engineering. Kinemetics, statics, and kinetics are the main divisions of the book, which states in its preface: “This work is not a treatise on applied mechanics, the application being merely used to illustrate the general principles and to give the student an idea of the uses to which mechanics can be put.”
“Is an excellent introduction to the science of analytical mechanics. His exposition is in general sound and logical.” L. M. Hoskins.
Zola, Emile.Selections; ed. by A. G. Cameron.*80c. Holt.
In choosing these selections the editor has endeavored to illustrate Zola’s “patriotic, sociological, and descriptive sides, expressed in the mastery of his style and literary workmanship.” The text includesL’Attaque du Moulin,Le grand Michu,Le paradis des chats,Les Halles,L’Ile du diable, and nine other selections. An English introduction, notes and bibliography fits the book for student use.
“It would have been better if Mr. Cameron had given the source from which he took each of the pieces he has chosen.”
Zollinger, Gulielma, pseud. (William Zachary Gladwin).Widow O’Callaghan’s boys.$1.50. McClurg.
Widow O’Callaghan’s boys have lost not a whit of their popularity during the seven years since their first appearance. The brave cheerful struggle of the mother in launching seven boys upon useful careers is as refreshing and helpful as ever. Mrs. O’Callaghan brought her boys up on the teaching that “The Lord niver puts little b’ys and big jobs together. He gives the little b’y a chance at the little jobs, and them as does the little jobs faithful gets to be able to be the men that does big jobs easy.”
*“Quite inimitable in Mrs. O’Callahan’s Irish way of putting things, which furnishes the salt to the solid nutriment of the story.”