few days spent in a strange land. He is absorbed in a subject that is
organically interesting, and he is content to let it produce its own
effect. Unintentionally he has framed an indictment of mechanical
progress.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p544 O 9 ’19 1900w
=BECK, ERNEST GEORGE.= Structural steelwork. il *$7.50 (*21s) Longmans
691.7
20–10621
“The book contains technical information for the designing and
constructing of ordinary steel-framed buildings. ‘The principal
endeavor throughout has been to make the work broadly suggestive
rather than particular or exhaustive.’ (Preface) The appendix contains
tables useful for reference. Partly reprinted from the Mechanical
World and The Engineer.”—Booklist
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:16 O ’20
=N Y P L New Tech Bks= p6 Ja ’20 70w
=BECK, HERBERT MAINS.= Aliens’ text book on citizenship; laws of
naturalization of the United States. $1; pa 50c McKay 353
19–6644
“In preparing this book the aim has been to provide means of
thoroughly and quickly acquiring the knowledge necessary to pass the
examinations for naturalization and to assist those who have been
deprived of the advantages of our modern public schools.” (Preface)
The steps required for naturalization are first set forth. Then
follows the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States and a final section is given up to
questions and answers on laws and government. There is an index. The
author is chief of naturalization, Camden county courts, Camden, N.J.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:9 O ’20
“This business-like explanation of the law’s provisions is infinitely
more satisfactory and useful than the mushy, sentimental and verbose
expository books for the foreign-born of which there are so many.” B.
L.
+ − =Survey= 43:408 Ja 10 ’20 250w
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:233 D ’20 60w
=BECK, JAMES MONTGOMERY.= Passing of the new freedom. *$1.50 Doran
940.314
20–18420
In part in the form of imaginary conversations, the book discusses the
essential nature of President Wilson’s policies. The dialogues, in
which the chief personages of the Peace conference take part, abounds
in biting sarcasm. In the first dialogue Mr Wilson is made to appear
upon the scene literally exuding “omniscience,” and to expound his new
freedom with sounding grandiloquence. In his final estimate of Wilson
the author says: “Already the world is conscious of a distinct
revaluation of that interesting and complex personality, and it must
be sorrowfully added that this revaluation adds nothing to his
prestige.” The chapters are: Mr Wilson explains the new freedom; The
old freedom; “It might have been”; The apostle of the new freedom.
* * * * *
“The use of imaginary conversation as a means of plucking the mystery
out of the heart of the Peace conference may be questioned as to its
integrity, but Mr Beck has employed the medium with such rare degree
of skill that no one will question its effectiveness for literary
purposes.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p24 O 23 ’20 190w
“Mr Beck has produced in these dialogues a kind of literature that is
not often written after so much cool, thoughtful preparation, and that
is seldom found to be, as in this case, profound and exact as well as
amusing.”
+ =No Am= 212:859 D ’20 850w
“‘The passing of the new freedom’ gives him some claims to rank as a
political satirist—that rare bird in American letters.” E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:419 N 3 ’20 140w
=BECKER, CARL LOTUS.= United States; an experiment in democracy. *$2.50
Harper 342.7
20–13591
The book gives all the outstanding facts of our political history with
such impartiality as to appeal to the reader’s critical faculty and to
challenge independent conclusions. A “habitual dislike of thinking”
the author holds to be a characteristic of Americans, which at the
present time exposes them to the danger of mistaking the “form for the
substance of democracy” and may prevent America from being in the
future what it was in the past—“a fruitful experiment in democracy.”
Contents: America and democracy; The origins of democracy in America;
The new world experiment in democracy; Democracy and government; New
world democracy and old world intervention; Democracy and free land;
Democracy and slavery; Democracy and immigration; Democracy and
education; Democracy and equality.
* * * * *
“It is to be hoped that the inaccuracies will not seriously injure the
usefulness of a readable book, which is on the whole filled with
sagacious comment and treats in a telling way a number of traits and
tendencies of American democracy.” A. C. McL.
+ − =Am Hist R= 26:337 Ja ’21 560w
+ =Booklist= 17:10 O ’20
“The author has given a valuable sketch of the political history of
America.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 18 ’20 580w
“Keen, clear, impartial analysis of American institutions and
traditions, reminding the reader in many ways of Bryce’s ‘American
commonwealth.’”
+ =Ind= 103:292 S 4 ’20 30w
Reviewed by C: A. Beard
=Nation= 111:sup416 O 13 ’20 450w
“Interesting, and would be valuable as a brief and rapid résumé of
America’s early history and political problems were it not for one
fatal defect. It lacks that aspect of detachment which we used to
expect from college professors in dealing with debatable topics. Such
a book must be read with the same caution with which the wise man
reads the current political press during the presidential campaign.”
+ − =Outlook= 126:334 O 20 ’20 270w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:232 D ’20 50w
=BECKWITH, ISBON THADDEUS.= Apocalypse of John. *$4 Macmillan 228
19–16729
“This book is a veritable encyclopedia of information regarding the
interpretation of Revelation. A series of introductory studies deals
at length with a history of eschatological hopes among Hebrews, Jews,
and Christians. An extended description is given of apocalyptic
writings among the Jews. There is also a detailed account of the
occasion, purpose and unity of John’s apocalypse. Other topics
discussed minutely are the literary characteristics of the author, the
content of his composition, the permanent and the transitory elements
in his book, the main features of his theology, the different methods
that have been used in the interpretation of the book, its circulation
and canonical recognition in the early church, the question of
authorship, the two Johns of the Asian church, the meaning of the
‘beast,’ and the condition of the Greek text of the book. The
commentary proper, which embraces slightly less than half the volume,
is of the usual analytical and statistical type.”—Bib World
* * * * *
+ − =Bib World= 54:428 Jl ’20 550w
“It is a real service to religion and sanity when a scholar equipped
with common sense as well as knowledge provides a good commentary on
the book of Revelation. This has been done by Professor Beckwith. The
book fills a real need.”
+ =Nation= 111:163 Ag 7 ’20 250w
“A splendid treatise it is upon a splendid book, and a fresh honor to
American scholarship.”
+ =Outlook= 124:29 Ja 7 ’20 280w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p243 Ap 15 ’20 70w
=BEERBOHM, MAX=, comp.[2] Herbert Beerbohm Tree: some memories of him
and his art. il *$7 Dutton
“The volume is at once a biography and a tribute. The first half of
the book is written by Lady Tree. After short contributions by Sir
Herbert Tree’s two daughters and Max Beerbohm (who, it will be
remembered, is his half-brother) come A sketch, by Edmund Gosse; A
tribute, by Louis N. Parker; From the stalls, by Desmond MacCarthy;
Herbert Tree—my friend, by Gilbert Parker; From the point of view of a
playwright, by Bernard Shaw; and An open letter to an American friend,
by W. L. Courtney. By no means least in interest are the appendices,
which contain Sir Herbert’s ‘Impressions of America,’ as written for
London papers in 1916 and 1917, and some extracts from his
‘Notebooks,’ as well as the speeches made at the unveiling of the
memorial tablet at His Majesty theater and the sermon preached by the
Bishop of Birmingham at the memorial service.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“Why did not Mr Max Beerbohm give us a whole book himself instead of a
‘carved cherrystone’ called ‘From a brother’s stand-point’? That, no
doubt, is his business. But why did he not persuade (or bully) Lady
Tree into writing the whole work and inserting his and Mr Shaw’s
contributions at the appropriate places? Certainly the half of it
which she has contributed under the title ‘Herbert and I’ is
delightful, in style and individuality.” D. L. M.
+ − =Ath= p519 O 15 ’20 880w
“When all is said this book serves its purpose. It is readable; it
contains the facts; it gives personal anecdotes; it has a host of
portraits in character and out; it provides a variety of points of
view.”
+ =N Y Times= p7 D 19 ’20 1250w
“A most interesting book about a great actor. Throughout, it is
informal and lively.” E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:648 D 29 ’20 90w
“Lady Tree’s portrait of Tree is the most vivid and the most life-like
the world is likely to possess.”
+ =Sat R= 130:318 O 16 ’20 920w
“The whole book—all the contributions from all the different sources
are in the mass so sparkling, that it is clear that for so many hands
to write so amusingly, they must have been inspired by a thoroughly
witty and amusing subject.”
+ =Spec= 125:569 O 30 ’20 1150w
=Springf’d Republican= p8 O 23 ’20 40w
=Springf’d Republican= p8 Ja 8 ’21 150w
“It is an amusing macédoine, never insipid, giving all the flavours of
the subject, without perhaps any one flavour that can be called
dominant. And that is right, for Tree’s was a ‘mixed’ temperament, and
his art was a good deal ‘mixed’ too.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p633 S 30 ’20 1350w
=BEERBOHM, MAX.= Seven men. il *$3.50 Knopf
20–19582
Six men and the author make seven. The book contains six imaginary
sketches of six imaginary men: Enoch Soames; Hilary Maltby and Stephen
Braxton; James Pethel; A. V. Laider; “Savonarola” Brown; with an
appendix of drawings of these men by the author. As the drawings are
caricatures so are the pen sketches satires on human vanities,
weaknesses and foibles, literary and otherwise.
* * * * *
“In none is the author’s authentic touch wholly absent, but there are
tedious pages.”
+ − =Ath= p1138 O 31 ’19 80w
“Our only regret on finishing the book is that he might have paraded
his seventh, and after all his most amusing puppet, himself, a little
more lavishly.” S. W.
+ =Ath= p1186 N 14 ’19 720w
“The motif of each story in ‘Seven men’ is slight, the working out of
it spread thin—very thin.” C. K. H.
− + =Boston Transcript= p6 D 4 ’20 480w
+ =Nation= 111:785 D 29 ’20 560w
“Another thing that gives feature to four of the five stories in
‘Seven men’ is their author’s love of design. Even upon his essays
this love has left its mark, less distinct upon whole essays than upon
single pages now and then.” P. L.
+ =New Repub= 21:386 F 23 ’20 1500w
“Max is more than a humorist—he is an ironist. His irony is exquisite
in its nuances, a carefully wrought method of workmanship that grows
almost precieuse at times. ‘Seven men’ is assuredly one of the most
amusing books of the year. It will recapture an undefinable atmosphere
that could only go with youth that was audacious and laughable, and,
by strange flashes, poignantly serious.” H. S. Gorman
+ =N Y Times= p9 Ja 2 ’21 2150w
+ − =Sat R= 128:465 N 15 ’19 240w
“Not even a good comedy is so rare as genuine satire, and when an
example of the latter is produced some indulgence in superlatives may
well be excused. In the case of Mr Max Beerbohm’s new volume, which
brilliantly achieves what ‘Zuleika Dobson’ as conspicuously missed it
is difficult to restrain praise within the bounds of judgment, for its
beneficent, limpid ridicule is an undiluted joy.”
+ =Spec= 122:19 Ja 3 ’20 1500w
“The fragrant quality of the book, the solemn malice of the papers on
Brown and A. V. Laider; the imaginative subtlety of the account of
Enoch Soames, and the glorious remedy of the rivalry between Braxton
and Maltby—they all show Max at his best.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ja 25 ’20 270w (Reprinted from
London Observer)
“Not only are his characters interesting in themselves but Mr Beerbohm
depicts them with such skill that the book is a welcome relief from
the work of less accomplished writers.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Ja 3 ’21 300w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p627 N 6 ’19 810w
=BEERS, HENRY AUGUSTIN.=[2] Connecticut wits and other essays. *$2.25
Yale univ. press 814
20–22823
“Mr Henry A. Beers’s ‘Connecticut wits’ consists of eleven brief
literary essays on subjects whose diversity is undisguised. He has
found nothing in the tradition or the atmosphere of his Yale habitat
to discourage the inclusion of an essay on Cowley and an essay on
Riley in the same volume.” (Review) “He unearths Joel Barlow and those
other neglected spirits of old Connecticut; and then allows his fancy
to range over such themes as the poetry of the cavaliers,
Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Thackeray and Sheridan.” (Freeman)
* * * * *
“In manner, these essays are scholarly, informative, and suavely
graceful.” L. B.
+ =Freeman= 2:358 D 22 ’20 170w
Reviewed by Brander Matthews
+ =N Y Times= p2 Ja 16 ’21 1150w
“Scholarship and humor are admirably blended in these essays.”
+ =Outlook= 126:470 N 10 ’20 30w
“Mr Beers is a clear expositor, is at ease with facts, and can make
them agreeable by almost imperceptible departures from the jogtrot of
chronicle. Without humor, he has something of the buoyancy of humor.”
+ =Review= 3:506 N 24 ’20 180w
“In his essays there is no trace of a professional tendency to carry
on with the class room manner in one’s relations with the world beyond
the class room.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ja 31 ’21 310w
=BEGBIE, HAROLD.= Life of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation
army. 2v il *$10.50 Macmillan
20–5263
In the preface to this life of the founder of the Salvation army, the
author says: “William Booth is likely to remain for many centuries one
of the most signal figures in human history. Therefore, to paint his
portrait faithfully for the eyes of those who come after us—a great
duty and a severe responsibility—has been my cardinal consideration in
preparing these pages. Only when circumstances insisted have I turned
from my attempt at portraiture to examine documents which will one day
be employed by the historian of the Salvation army.” The work opens
with an account of social conditions in England at the time of William
Booth’s birth and reflections on the probable effects of his early
surroundings on his mind and character. Volume 1 covers the years up
to 1881 and volume 2 continues the story to his death in 1912. There
are a number of portraits and other illustrations and an index.
* * * * *
“The world may be divided into people who pray with General Booth,
people who are angry with General Booth, and people who turn their
face away and look out of the window. Mr Begbie, unfortunately, seems
to have considered that it was necessary for his official biographer
to pray perpetually with the General, and his 1,000 pages of biography
even conform to the tradition of prayer in their repetitions,
vagueness, and verbosity.” L. W.
− =Ath= p365 Mr 19 ’20 1800w
+ =Booklist= 16:343 Jl ’20
Reviewed by O. L. Joseph
+ =Bookm= 52:76 S ’20 550w
“There can be no doubt that Mr Begbie has laid us all under immense
obligation through the unusual blend of candor, insight, and reverence
with which he has limned the picture of this noble soul. And yet we
must confess to a feeling of disappointment. At important places the
story lacks clarity. Perhaps the most serious disappointment of all is
the paucity of reference to General Booth’s immediate touch with the
outcast. We miss the bugles and the tears of the Army too much.” A. W.
Vernon
+ − =Nation= 111:507 N 3 ’20 2000w
“Mr Begbie has done his work well. We could have dispensed with some
of his own observations concerning Darwin, Bergson, Nietzsche, and
other figures of interest which are unhelpful to the story and whose
omission might have sensibly reduced the size of the volumes. But
where he has been content with simple narration of events and the
selection of letters and writings, he has proved himself a good
biographer.”
+ − =Nation [London]= 26:778 Mr 6 ’20 2100w
“Every small detail is entered into sympathetically and fully. This is
a human document worth the reading.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:191 Ap 18 ’20 120w
“The life-story of the man who created the Salvation army, written
with a sympathy and understanding such as Mr Begbie puts in it, is an
extraordinarily welcome book.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:210 Ap 25 ’20 2200w
“Mr Begbie’s life of William Booth would be for the general reader
twice as good if it were half as long.”
+ − =Outlook= 125:679 Ag 18 ’20 3500w
“For the general reader there are rather too many ‘interesting cases’
of conversion described in the more or less technical diction of
revivalism, too much journalism in the way of press clippings and
tributes from royalty. But the record as a whole is an inspiring one
of heroic achievement.”
+ − =Review= 2:680 Je 30 ’20 680w
+ =R of Rs= 62:334 S ’20 130w
“These portly tomes on the founder of the Salvation army are
torrential in their eloquence and typhoon-like in their denunciations.
They resemble nothing so much as an exceptionally lively rally at the
Army headquarters, with the penitent-form in full view. Apart from his
exuberance, Mr Begbie has an interesting tale to tell.”
+ − =Sat R= 129:230 Mr 6 ’20 1150w
“Though to the modern man this modern story has more to say than most
of the annals of hagiology, it is as a romance, as a love story, that
William Booth’s ‘Life’ is perhaps most to be valued. The pawnbroker’s
assistant and the half-invalid girl from Brixton are the hero and
heroine of a love romance which for passionate intensity, for
sublimity, for tempestuous vicissitude, stands head and shoulders
above the tales of Paris and Helen, of Tristram and Iseult.”
+ =Spec= 124:584 My 1 ’20 1600w
“The biography is a thorough, exhaustive, vividly personal piece of
work.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ja 14 ’21 530w
“In spite of a tendency to repetition, his book will be welcomed
widely as the good thing which it undeniably is—a book frankly written
and free from prejudice or exaggeration.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p121 F 19 ’20 1850w
=BELL, JOHN KEBLE (KEBLE HOWARD, pseud.).= Peculiar major. *$1.75 (2½c)
Doran
19–15567
“An almost incredible story” says the subtitle, and so it is. The
major had been given a ring by an old Turkish priest in ransom for his
life. This ring was found to possess the magic property of making its
bearer invisible. It first brought the major into repute as a lunatic,
then into all manner of scrapes and out again and so from one Arabian
nights’ entertainment into another until the war was over and we leave
him returned to England and in the arms of his best-beloved.
* * * * *
=Boston Transcript= p4 My 26 ’20 300w
“Mr Howard has produced a book that will be a welcome relief from much
of the dreary fiction of the day.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:71 F 8 ’20 600w
“A book of irresponsible fun.”
+ =Outlook= 124:336 F 25 ’20 70w
“We thought the humours of the ring that makes the wearer invisible
had certainly been pretty well worked out by now. But this was a
delusion.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p414 Jl 31 ’19 100w
=BELL, WALTER GEORGE.= Great fire of London in 1666. il *$6 Lane 942.1
20–19932
The book comes with forty-one illustrations including plans and
drawings, reproductions of English and foreign prints, and
photographs. It is the first authentic account of the fire resulting
from thorough historic research. The sources have largely been
manuscript and the subject matter includes measures taken for meeting
the distress occasioned by the catastrophe, the temporary housing of
the citizens, the restoration of trade and the work of rebuilding.
Among the appendices are letters from residents in London and
contemporary accounts (English and foreign) describing the great fire.
There are also notes, a list of authorities consulted and an index.
* * * * *
“In every chapter sidelights are cleverly thrown upon the habits and
daily lives of the rather unpractical citizens.” E. G. C.
+ =Ath= p613 N 5 ’20 1200w
+ =Outlook= 126:654 D 8 ’20 70w
“Mr Bell had, of course, previously proved himself a scholarly and
responsible historian, a good literary craftsman, and an excellent
guide to old London. Here we have all his qualities at their best,
lighted up with an enthusiasm which good Londoners at any rate will
find exceedingly sympathetic. Now and then, perhaps, he allows his
fervour to run away with him.”
+ =Sat R= 130:320 O 16 ’20 640w
“We commend Mr Bell’s excellent book, with its wealth of new material
and its many illustrations and maps, to all who are interested in the
history of London.”
+ =Spec= 125:403 S 25 ’20 1850w
“The book is well and accurately referenced throughout.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p609 S 23 ’20 1900w
=BELL, WALTER GEORGE.= Unknown London. il *$1.50 Lane 914.21
20–5387
“In the eighteen essays which make up this book—for most of them are
sufficiently personal to be given that name—is nothing that is not
interesting. Mr Bell has chosen, for the most part, from among those
antiquities of which everybody has heard but of which most people know
nothing. His ‘Unknown London’ deals with very familiar things—with
such things as Domesday book, the shrine of Edward the confessor,
London stone, the wax works in the abbey, the Roman baths, the bells
of St Clements, the bones of the mummy of Men-Kau-Ra in the British
museum, and London wall.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup D 11 ’19
* * * * *
=Ath= p734 Je 4 ’20 1400w
=Ath= p763 Je 11 ’20 1250w
+ =N Y Times= 25:279 My 30 ’20 800w
“His book, while necessarily desultory, is readable and full of
information gathered at first hand.”
+ =Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 70w
=R of Rs= 61:559 My ’20 100w
“If Mr Bell is so human and hearty an antiquary it is that in him the
antiquary and the journalist are admirably joined. The one gives to
his book the gusto of an enthusiast. The other prevents him from ever
forgetting, in his accumulation of knowledge, the art of interesting
others.”
+ =Sat R= 128:492 N 22 ’19 950w
=Spec= 123:585 N 1 ’19 110w
=Springf’d Republican= p10 Jl 1 ’20 170w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p615 O 30 ’19 60w
“The merit of his book is that the stories are retold here in a
simple, personal, and most attractive way. From first to last Mr Bell
is an admirable guide to old London, an enthusiast, well stored,
humorous and unfailingly entertaining.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p731 D 11 ’19 950w
=BELLAIRS, CARLYON WILFROY.= Battle of Jutland; the sowing and the
reaping. il *$5 Doran 940.45
(Eng ed 20–8002)
Lord Jellicoe has written his own account of the Jutland battle. This
book is by one of the critics of his policy, who says: “The ban on
discussion, which was felt by many as applying right up to the time of
the surrender of the German fleet, no longer exists. Nothing that can
be done now can remedy the past; but much that can be said may
safeguard the future. Hence this book, which must stand or fall in
proportion to its influence on future thought and action. It is not
intended to be any more than a critical survey. It is not a full
history of the battle of Jutland, for the policy of secrecy pursued by
the Admiralty, and the failure to hold an investigation, have made an
accurate history impossible for the time being.” (Preface) The book is
illustrated with diagrams and there is an appendix containing a
chronology of the battle; also an index.
* * * * *
“It has the authoritativeness that will give it value to historians.”
+ =Booklist= 17:23 O ’20
=Review= 2:677 Je 30 ’20 1400w
“For the general reader it has less value than for the naval expert.
Yet it is an interesting example of the kind of criticism which seems
to be encouraged among British naval officers, not for the sake of
mere controversy but in order to draw conclusions that may be useful
in the future.”
+ =R of Rs= 61:670 Je ’20 120w
“We do not quarrel with Captain Bellairs’s main conclusion, ... but we
could wish that his tone did not sometimes suggest that he fails to be
judicial.”
+ − =Spec= 124:277 F 28 ’20 1300w
“If his captious tone be ignored, there is much in Commander
Bellairs’s criticism in his more general chapters on the sowing which
is well said and is well worth saying. But we cannot commend his tone
and temper; and for the reasons we have given we can attach very
little weight to his onslaught on Lord Jellicoe.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p115 F 19 ’20 1700w
=BELLOC, HILAIRE.= Europe and the faith. $2.25 Paulist press 940
20–15729
“Mr Belloc’s essay may be regarded as having a twofold aim, although,
to the mind of its author, this aim appears to be one and indivisible.
The first, and more narrowly historic aim of the essay, is to present
a new picture of the decline of the centralized Roman empire and the
subsequent building up of Europe, and the second, more obviously
philosophic aim, is to account for the modern European consciousness
in terms of (1) the Catholic faith and (2) the reformation. To Mr
Belloc these two objectives are not really distinct. An account of
Europe is an account of the Catholic faith, and an account of the
Catholic faith is an account of Europe.”—Ath
* * * * *
“The most convinced opponent of Mr Belloc’s views of the historian’s
qualifications will probably agree instantly that an acquaintance with
the Catholic faith is necessary to writing a history of Europe,
although he may not agree that the historian must be a Catholic. But
the strangest part of Mr Belloc’s assumption is that he regards this
condition as sufficient. We feel that Mr Belloc, although a Catholic,
has not understood European history, and that he does not understand
the modern European consciousness.” J. W. N. S.
− =Ath= p406 S 24 ’20 1150w
“If many points of detail are not new, the explanation of their import
and bearing is original. In some cases the author’s critical
examination of sources is particular and minute.”
+ =Cath World= 112:535 Ja ’21 900w
“Mr Belloc writes with great earnestness. One could wish that the
solution of civilization’s difficulties were as simple as he judges it
to be; and that for the strength of his argument history were as
universally confirmatory of his preconceived thesis as it seems to
him.” Williston Walker
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p9 O 23 ’20 950w
“Our real objection to him is not that he has twisted history to his
own view—everybody does that—but that he has given us an incomplete
book, and even on his own showing he has left out the vital part. He
discusses at length the unified Roman state of Europe. He discusses at
length the unified Roman church of Europe. But he omits to discuss the
relations between the two.”
− + =Sat R= 130:338 O 23 ’20 1150w
“It is needless to say that from Mr Belloc’s whole conception of
Protestantism we profoundly dissent. He cannot conceive of men opening
their eyes and realising that they were serving an institution and not
the cause for which the institution stood. This fatal lack of insight
and comprehension effectually disqualifies him from giving the
impartial presentation of European history which he is desirous of
exhibiting, and almost completely nullifies the graphic force and
admirable clarity of his narrative.”
− + =Spec= 125:858 D 24 ’20 1050w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p603 S 16 ’20 30w
“He has the courage of his consistency and the merit of a principle;
but neither is adequate to the perplexities of the modern world.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p661 O 14 ’20 2100w
=BEMAN, LAMAR TANEY=, comp. Selected articles on the compulsory
arbitration and compulsory investigation of industrial disputes. 4th ed,
rev and enl (Debaters’ handbook ser.) *$2.25 Wilson, H. W. 331.1
20–18153
Altho issued as a revised edition of the handbook on compulsory
arbitration first published in 1911, this is practically a new work.
The explanatory note states: “This volume is compiled according to the
general plan of the Debaters’ handbook series, but it differs from
other members of the series in that it covers two questions.... In
this case the two questions are closely related, and much of the
literature deals with both, so that it is impracticable to present
them in separate volumes and yet impossible to combine them into one
question.... The volume contains a full general bibliography revised
to the date of this issue, but not separated into affirmative and
negative references.... It also contains briefs and reprints of the
best material on both sides of each question.”
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:165 Ja ’21
Reviewed by S. M. Lowenthal
+ − =Survey= 45:672 F 5 ’21 390w
=BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT.= Heavens and earth. *$2 Holt 811
20–21994
This collection opens with a long poem in two parts, Two visions of
Helen followed by Chariots and horsemen; The tall town; Apples of
Eden; The kingdom of the mad. The tall town is made up of poems of New
York.
* * * * *
“So many moods and themes spread over the compass of this book,
riotous and rapturous, whimsical and ironic, and undulating on waves
of swift and thrilling music make ‘Heavens and earth’ an enjoyment to
those who admire poetry when it is first of all music and imagination,
and may be after these anything in the way of subject and ideal.” W:
S. Braithwaite
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 D 29 ’20 1300w
“He has a swirling dexterity in syntax and rhythm, and practices a
gorgeous, hot impressionism.”
+ − =Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 60w
“Originality marks his work in spite of the intimation that his themes
are somewhat threadbare. He possesses a virility that is manifest at
all times and a delight in swinging measures and emphatic rhymes.” H.
S. Gorman
+ =N Y Times= p11 Ja 9 ’20 100w
=BENET, WILLIAM ROSE.= Moons of grandeur. *$2 Doran 811
20–19072
This collection of poems is reprinted from contributions to various
magazines. With a few exceptions the poet takes his inspiration from
history: the renaissance, ancient Egypt, medieval England furnishing
him with subjects. Some of the titles are: Gaspara Stampa; Legend of
Michelotto; Niccolo in exile; The triumphant Tuscan; Michelangelo in
the fish-market; The ballad of Taillefer; The priest in the desert;
Dust of the plains.
* * * * *
“The rich color and vigor of his poetry have caught some of the
brilliance and romance of these times. The vocabulary and allusions
make demands upon the reader which to many will be a serious
drawback.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:104 D ’20
“A poet so fertile and diversified is bound to be interesting, and one
cannot but recognize Mr Benet’s gifts of streaming phrase and bannered
fancy; at the same time one often misses the clear, strong note of
nature, often feels the absence from this work of actual blood and
bone.”
+ − =Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w
“The vigor, the individuality, the natural sources of growth and
development in his work, deserve the first word. Mr Benet’s
limitations in making the renaissance, in its essence, live again are
inherent in his method and approach. There was a roundness of gesture
in these years which is missed by nervous actions and pouncing words.”
Geoffrey Parsons
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p8 Ja 8 ’21 720w
“In ‘Moons of grandeur’ he includes ten such poems that may be ranked
among quite the best things he has done. It is apparent in this book
that he has grown greatly in stature as a poet. An extravagance that
was once fatal to him as an artist at times has been finely curbed and
turned into channels where it becomes a virtue.” H. S. Gorman
+ =N Y Times= p11 Ja 9 ’21 480w
“Mr Benet’s poems possess the essential qualities of beauty and
imagination.”
+ =Review= 3:419 N 3 ’20 10w
“In these pictures of renaissance Italy Mr Benet proves his possession
of rhythm, of knowledge, of an allusiveness as ingathering as a
scythe, of energy, of a lambent and vibrant picturesqueness, of the
gait and swing, if not the soul, of passion. ‘Moons of grandeur,’ with
all its attractions, errs somewhat in the obscuration of the rhyme.”
+ − =Review= 3:654 D 29 ’20 290w
=BENET, WILLIAM ROSE.= Perpetual light. *$1.35 Yale univ. press 811
19–25952
“A memorial to the poet’s wife, who died early in 1919. ‘This verse is
published in her memory,’ says the poet in a foreword, ‘because I wish
to keep together the poetry she occasioned and enable those who loved
her—and they were a great many—to know definitely what she was to
me.’” (Springf’d Republican) “Some of the poems are reprinted from
former books of Mr Benet, and a few of the others have appeared in
American periodicals.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
* * * * *
“Mr Benet has a great command of rich language and rich rhythms, and
many of his poems are of a high literary value.”
+ =Ath= p194 Ap 9 ’20 80w
“A tribute full of deep and delicate feeling.”
+ =Booklist= 16:122 Ja ’20
“Poems of much delicate beauty, tenderness and deep feeling.”
+ =Cleveland= p85 S ’20 30w
“Mr Benet has written no better lyrics than some of those included in
this volume. They are both brave and simple.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:173 Ap 11 ’20 180w
“Mr Benet has given his best to this little book.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p15a Ja 18 ’20 200w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p783 D 25 ’19 60w
“The dignity, the courage, the faith, the aspiration of these verses
are like a beacon in this time of unrest and uncertainty.” E: B. Reed
+ =Yale R= n s 10:205 O ’20 220w
=BENGE, EUGENE J.= Standard practice in personnel work. il *$3 Wilson,
H. W. 658.7
20–102
A work which aims to cover the subject of personnel work thoroly,
showing what the standard practice at present is. “The author has
attempted to preserve an impartiality of viewpoint, not by evading
frank statement of conditions, but rather by presenting the pros and
cons on each side of the labor question.” (Preface) Daniel Bloomfield,
editor of the three volumes on industrial relations, contributes a
foreword. Contents: The personnel audit; Job analysis; Study of the
community; Labor turnover and labor loss; Organizing the personnel
department; The employment process; Selection by mental and skill
tests; Methods of rating ability; Education and training; Health
supervision; Maintenance of the working force; Incentives and wages;
Employee representation; Record keeping in the personnel department;
Personnel research; Index.
=BENNET, ROBERT AMES.= Bloom of cactus. il *$1.50 (3c) Doubleday
20–7647
Jack Lennon goes prospecting for a lost copper mine in the Arizona
desert. He encounters a fair amazon who, at the risk of her own
safety, tricks him into becoming a partner to her scheme of rescuing
her weak, drunken father from the clutches of a criminal white brute,
and “Dead Hole, dad’s ranch” from marauding renegade Indians. She
succeeds and so does Jack, after facing incredible dangers, cruelty
and all-round slaughter, for Carmena becomes his own dearly beloved.
She proves her metal by not only fighting her foes in the flesh but
her own jealousy of her much more femininely frail, clinging and
pretty foster-sister, Elsie.
=BENNETT, ARNOLD.= Our women; chapters on the sex-discord. *$2.50 (5c)
Doran 396
20–18319
Sex-discord exists, the author avows; it will always exist; it will
continue to develop as human nature develops—but on a higher plane; it
is the most delightful and interesting thing in existence—a part of
the great search for truth. In this vein a mere man writes broadly,
sanely and humorously about women. Contents: The perils of writing
about women; Change in love; The abolition of slavery; Women as
charmers; Are men superior to women? Salary-earning girls; Wives,
money and lost youth; The social Intercourse business; Masculine view
of the sex discord; Feminine view of the sex discord.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:93 D ’20
“‘Our women,’ being witty, human, and full of challenging
contradictions, will bore no reader, but will interest everyone, if
only for the sake of that argument dear to every mind.” Dorothy
Scarborough
+ =Bookm= 52:363 D ’20 560w
“He is not always sensible when he is serious, and he is not always
funny when he seeks to be humorous. His discourse is merely the
attempt of a glib and facile writer to toy with a theme upon which he
can play endlessly, and at the end be no nearer his goal that he was
at the beginning.” E. F. Edgett
− + =Boston Transcript= p6 O 16 ’20 1400w
“The book is diverting to read, but is not without that vein of
vulgarity which mars so much of Mr Bennett’s work.” L. P.
+ − =Freeman= 2:190 N 3 ’20 270w
=Nation= 112:90 Ja 19 ’21 400w
+ =N Y Times= p1 O 10 ’20 1500w
“Mr Bennett writes as a novelist and more or less for the human fun of
it.” K. F. Gerould
+ − =Review= 3:377 O 27 ’20 900w
=Sat R= 130:279 O 2 ’20 500w
“We believe that most of his own countrywomen, though they may praise,
will not altogether like his book.”
+ − =Spec= 125:535 O 23 ’20 720w
“Though fresh enough in style and not philistine in precepts, ‘Our
women’ is as conventional as ‘Godey’s lady’s book,’ which regaled
several generations of young women; it is, however, a book modern in
sentiment.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p10 O 21 ’20 320w
“His pictures of the modern woman are kaleidoscopic—a medley of truths
and halftruths picked more or less at random from past, present and
future.”
− =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p678 O 21 ’20 1000w
=BENNETT, ARNOLD.= Sacred and profane love. *$1.50 Doran 822
20–1240
A dramatization of the author’s novel “The book of Carlotta.” The
story is that of Carlotta Peel, who as a young girl of twenty gives
herself for one night to Emilio Diaz, a world famous pianist. She does
not see him again for eight years and then, on learning that he has
become a morphinomaniac, goes to him and nurses him back to health and
manhood and restores him to his old place on the concert stage.
* * * * *
“It is, evidently, not the Arnold Bennett of ‘Clayhanger’ who plays
upon the glittering instrument of the theatre. And it is that Arnold
Bennett who could fortify the English drama.”
− + =Nation= 110:435 Ap 3 ’20 200w
“The dialog leaves us unconvinced and shadowed by the feeling that
sooner or later Carlotta will awaken to the futility of her task. We
glance with foreboding into the future. The present is temporarily
serene, but beyond the final curtain lurks a suspicion that the real
conflict of human emotions is still to come.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 25 ’20 520w
“Mr Bennett could hardly write a play without putting into it some
insight into character, some witty or suggestive comments upon human
life, at least one or two interesting situations and some passages of
good dialogue. Hence, this play is readable enough, but it is clumsy
and unconvincing.”
+ − =Theatre Arts Magazine= 4:174 Ap ’20 180w
=BENNETT, RAINE.=[2] After the day. $1.50 Stratford co. 811
A volume of poems written after the war, reflecting the impressions of
war of one who took part in it. The author is a Californian who has
written dramas for local groups and had one play produced at the Greek
theatre in Berkeley. The introduction, by George Douglas of the San
Francisco Chronicle, says: “These ‘after the day’ or ‘nocturnal’
impressions were all written with a view to their being read aloud,
and as dramatic reading they take on a singularly magnetic quality.”
Free verse is the form employed.
* * * * *
“The poems, dramatic rather than lyric, are an earnest expression of a
man—one who has something to say in free verse that is worth saying.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 N 20 ’20 120w
=BENOIT, PIERRE.= Atlantida (L’Atlantide). *$1.75 (2½c) Duffield
20–12951
This prize novel of the French academy is translated from the French
by Mary C. Tongue and Mary Ross. Two French officers engaged on a
scientific expedition into the wilds of Sahara, discover the mythical
island of Atlantis and find that instead of having been immersed in
the sea, the desert had emerged about it preserving it with all its
ancient treasures and through mysterious contact with the outside
world, making it a storehouse of all the sciences and lore of all the
ages. Antinea, its present ruler, a descendant of Neptune, is
continually supplied with men from the outside world, who all die of
love for her while she is unable to love. At last she loves one of the
two officers of our story, but being scorned by him, she compels his
companion to kill him. This one, by the aid of a slave girl in love
with him, succeeds in escaping, but ever after wanders about a
restless spirit, consumed with the desire to return.
* * * * *
=BooklistM= 17:30 O ’20
“There is a glamor of mystery in the story; there is a flavor of the
Orient, a glint of gold, an aroma of perfume which attracts the senses
and beckons the reader onward to the end. The French have a
fascinating way with them.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 25 ’20 200w
“Benoit has learned from Anatole France to display erudition but the
translators make a sad mess of it. What they do to classical names
should be a warning to reformers of the curriculum.”
+ − =Dial= 69:546 N ’20 90w
“The tale is told with an economy, a sureness and a subtlety that show
how a French writer can come near to salvaging for literature themes
which, in English, are condemned to a humbler sphere.” H. S. H.
+ =Freeman= 2:358 D 22 ’20 120w
“Excellent as Monsieur Benoit’s book is, it does not equal, either in
imaginative power, fertility of invention, ingenuity and abundance of
incident, suspense, dramatic effectiveness, construction,
character-drawing, sustained interest or the ability to make the
reader feel that the events narrated actually occurred, any save
perhaps some one among the lesser of the many romances written by Sir
Rider Haggard. This is not to say, however, that it is not an
admirable and very entertaining story, with a conclusion both artistic
and dramatic, and more than one scene of fine imaginative quality.”
+ − =N Y Times= p24 Ag 1 ’20 1050w
=BENOIT, PIERRE.= Secret spring. *$1.75 (3c) Dodd
20–7919
In this story within a story Lieutenant Vignerte tells his
brother-in-arms the story of his life, which is still casting a
melancholy spell over him. Just before the war he had been a tutor to
the heir of the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold. He had fallen in
love with the Grand Duchess, received much friendly encouragement, had
come on the track of a mystery which points to the murder of her first
husband—brother to the present duke—by discovering old records and a
secret spring opening a door into a hidden chamber. A conflagration in
the castle and the outbreak of the war prevented complete disclosure.
The duchess herself took him in her private car to the French frontier
and saw him safely into the hands of the French commander there. While
in action in the trenches a German prisoner of high rank is
discovered, by Vignerte’s confidant, to be the arch-fiend in the
Lautenburg tragedy, but here again a complete revelation of the secret
is foiled by a shell that kills both Vignerte and the prisoner.
+ =Cleveland= p71 Ag ’20 70w
“In spite of the involved plot, the annoyance of a story within a
story, and the somewhat cloudy narrative style—which latter may or may
not be partly the fault of the translator—the spirit of romance in
this volume makes it fairly acceptable to the leisurely reader.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:21 Jl 11 ’20 550w
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Ag 29 ’20 250w
=BENSHIMOL, ERNEST.= Tomorrow’s yesterday. *$1 Small 811
20–11179
Marsh dreams, The passing of a shadow, Morning and evening, Confession
of hope, Atonement, In the wilderness, The tale of the grey wolf, The
moon on the Palisades, At dusk, Evening, The end of the trail, are
some of the themes in this volume of poems. The author is a young
poet, a graduate of Harvard, class of 1917.
* * * * *
“It is pleasing to discover a poet today who thinks in every line he
writes. There is no superfluous word-painting in any of Benshimol’s
poems. They are the genuine and spontaneous expression of a highly
imaginative and reflective mind. Here and there, unfortunately, the
reader comes across an image that is obscure or jumbled.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 250w
“The writer is a true poet and this first volume not only has great
promise for the author’s future development, but has great charm in
the present.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Ag 1 ’20 100w
=BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.= “Queen Lucia.” *$2 (1½c) Doran
20–15389
Riseholme was a strictly Elizabethan village, and “The Hurst,” the
Lucas’s house, more Elizabethan than all the rest, was its social
centre. Here Queen Lucia reigned. For ten years she had been the
undisputed ruler when the smoldering rivalry between herself and her
neighbor, Mrs Quantock, threatened open eruption. Not content with
having set the town’s pace with her classic taste, Queen Lucia must
also make herself the leader in each new fad discovered and introduced
by Mrs Quantock. With the coming of the famous singer, Olga Bracely,
as a resident of the town, all social observances, rules and
precedents are knocked into a cocked hat and one by one the bubbles,
in which Mrs Lucas saw her own greatness reflected, are pricked. She
no longer rules and social oblivion threatens to engulf her when Olga,
in large-hearted pity, executes a series of maneuvers which reinstate
a humbler and wiser queen in something of her former position.
* * * * *
“The dismallest feature of all is that Mr Benson’s humour should have
gone—not to the dogs, but to the cats.” K. M.
− =Ath= p241 Ag 20 ’20 700w
+ =Booklist= 17:30 O ’20
“Fantastic in the extreme, Mr Benson’s latest novel may be accepted
more as a light and airy fantasy than as a contribution to the study
of English social manners. It is, in fact, a merry farce transferred
from the lights of the stage to the printed pages of fiction and it
bears further tribute to the ingenious qualities of Mr Benson’s
humor.” E. F. E.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 28 ’20 1150w
“A clever and amusing satire.”
+ =Cath World= 112:549 Ja ’21 170w
“The book is lacking in what we are constantly told is necessary for a
good novel. There is not much plot; there is no love interest; there
is no climax. But it is long since one has seen such a masterly bit of
satire, such a piece of character-study as Lucia.”
+ =Lit D= p101 S 18 ’20 1400w
“The book is a great treat from beginning to end.” E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:249 S 22 ’20 480w
“Apart from its humor and comic sense of character, the narrative
emphasizes Mr Benson’s versatility and his mature art.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a S 12 ’20 400w
“Taken as pure farce, ‘Queen Lucia’ is an altogether satisfying
entertainment; full of humorous situations, sparkling with wholesome
wit. The characters, too, are for the most part consistent and
original. So very little restraint would have kept it within the
limits of comedy and we do not feel that it gains in any way from the
touches which incline to extravaganza.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p502 Ag 5 ’20 480w
=BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.= Robin Linnet. *$1.75 (2c) Doran
19–19852
The book shows us English society “snug and comfortable and
stereotyped” in various aspects. First among the students and faculty
of Cambridge where, in the former, the spirit of youth occasionally
pierces through the stereotyped smugness doubly emphasized in the
faculty. There we meet Robin Linnet, nicknamed “Birds,” a lovable boy,
full of fun and horse-play with his chums, but fortified by a rare
love and respect for his mother. The latter, Lady Grote—brilliant
society woman, patroness of celebrities, shining center of an
aristocratic coterie absorbed in “a fever of mere living, a
determination to make the most of the present moment, whether bridge
or scandal or games”—has for her saving quality her great and sane
love for her son. The war-change that English society suffers, topples
Lady Grote’s world over like a house of cards, when her son goes to
France. She decides to superintend the Red cross hospital, into which
her husband converts their country house, in person. When Robin is
killed her spirit rises nobly to the occasion and what was a fill-gap
and a duty now becomes a work of love.
* * * * *
“Full of bright and entertaining dialogue.”
+ =Ath= p1138 O 31 ’19 120w
“Parts of the book are so slow moving that some readers may not care
to finish it.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:242 Ap ’20
“The action moves cumbrously; too much time wasted in irrelevant talk
by superfluous characters. This tries the reader’s patience, and makes
negligible a book which might have been one of Mr Benson’s most
successful efforts.”
+ − =Cath World= 111:539 Jl ’20 210w
“The concluding pages of the book are beautifully written and very
moving, making the whole worth while. It is a book practically devoid
of even a slight thread of plot, and it is very much too long.” L. M.
Field
+ − =N Y Times= 25:1 F 29 ’20 1150w
=N Y Times= 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 70w
“Not Mr Benson’s best work in fiction. The whole [is] thrown together
rather than thought out.”
− + =Outlook= 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 70w
“The story is told with Mr Benson’s usual vivacity, but the conversion
of Lady Grote is far less convincing than the elaborate and often
acute analysis of her emotions in her unregenerate days.”
+ − =Spec= 124:179 F 7 ’20 500w
“The closing chapters are beautifully written. Mr Benson is deeply
sympathetic without giving way to the strong temptation to be highly
sentimental. The characters are excellently individualized.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 25 ’20 700w
“Has the same merits and weaknesses as Mr E. F. Benson’s previous
novels.... Mr Benson, in fact, is almost entirely preoccupied with the
superficial.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p629 N 6 ’19 460w
=BENSON, STELLA.= Living alone. *$1.75 Macmillan
20–2266
“This little book describes the adventures of Angela and the
adventures of those with whom she comes in contact while she is
caretaker of a small general shop which is also part convent and
monastery, part nursing home and college, and wholly a house for those
who wish to live alone. She is an out-and-out, thorough witch, a
trifle defiant, poor, always hungry, intolerant of cleverness
and—radiant.... We have said that ‘Living alone’ is a book about the
war. There is an air raid described from below and from above,
together with a frightful encounter which Harold has with a German
broomstick, and one of the inmates of the house of ‘Living alone’ is
Peony, a London girl who is drawing her weekly money as a soldier’s
wife—unmarried. The story that Peony tells her fellow-lodger Sarah
Brown of how she found the everlasting boy is perhaps the highwater
mark of Miss Benson’s book.”—Ath
* * * * *
“We hardly dare to use the thumbmarked phrase, a ‘born writer’; but if
it means anything Miss Stella Benson is one.” K. M.
+ =Ath= p1187 N 14 ’19 440w
=Booklist= 16:203 Mr ’20
“Stella Benson possesses the rarest of attributes among writers—that
of personality.” D. L. M.
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 My 5 ’20 950w
“The particular merit of ‘Living alone’ is that it is a fairy-tale for
grown-ups, a piece of whimsical madness without rhyme or reason.” H.
S. G.
+ =Freeman= 1:406 Jl 7 ’20 200w
“No one but a poet could have written ‘Living alone.’ It is Barrie at
moments; again it is Chesterton, that preposterously humorous
Chesterton of the romances; and, after all, it is Stella Benson. It is
a book for the lonely and it is a lesson for the self-conscious. Best
of all, it can be read for the sake of the narrative by those who do
not care to trouble themselves with allegory.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p2 My 1 ’20 720w
“It is a book to dally over and reflect on.”
+ =Sat R= 129:70 Ja 17 ’20 100w
“There are many amusing sketches of people.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 16 ’20 330w
“It is a pity that mere manner should so have marred this new essay in
beautiful nonsense. Beautiful is none too grand a word for ‘Living
alone.’ The book teems with beautiful ideas, beautiful imaginings,
best of all—beautiful feeling.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p586 O 23 ’19 550w
=BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS.= Imperfect mother. *$2 (2c) Macmillan
20–8237
A story based on what the Freudians term the “mother complex.” Cecilia
Kirkwood, a woman of dynamic personality, is married to a sombre
little book-seller and is mother to three grown children. At forty-one
she falls in love with the cathedral organist and leaves her family to
go to London with him. Before taking the step she tells her story to
her seventeen year old son thinking him the only one who will
understand her. Stephen at this time is just beginning to fall in love
with little Margaret Weatherly and his mother, hungry for admiration
and sensitive to all shades of feeling toward herself, is conscious of
the slight change in his attitude, and the one bond that might have
held her to her home is broken. All thru his young manhood Stephen is
influenced by the tie that binds him to his mother and all his
relations with women, including his love for Margaret, are affected by
it. With the dissolution of the conflict her spell over him is broken
and he moves forward unhampered to business success and happy
marriage.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:346 Jl ’20
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 Je 12 ’20 950w
“Reads like a case book on the ‘Oedipus complex.’ But in spite of the
author’s effort to get everything right according to Freud it is not a
bad story.”
+ − =Ind= 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 110w
“The story is woven with great delicacy and with unobtrusive skill and
is remarkably interesting. Yet it is doubtful whether really great
fiction would thrive on so much scientific awareness.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ − =Nation= 111:74 Jl 17 ’20 750w
“‘An imperfect mother’ is certainly one of the best of the recent
English novels. The author is secure in the consciousness of a ripe
and finely developed art.” W. H. C.
+ =New Repub= 24:52 S 8 ’20 900w
“It is all symmetrical enough. And yet it is all quite unconvincing.
It is even uninteresting. Cecilia alone emerges—a splendid creature
bursting through the murky moralities of stuffy Medboro.”
− + =N Y Times= 25:264 My 23 ’20 700w
“It is an easy enough book to read; but there is nothing much to carry
away from it, except the impression of an experienced chronicler
rehandling his materials in the light of an ‘idea.’”
+ − =Review= 2:654 Je 23 ’20 650w
“Where it might be thought to fail, is in the too subtle
characterisation of Celia; older hands would have broadened their
touches. It is a fine piece of work.”
+ − =Sat R= 130:14 Jl 3 ’20 100w
“The merit of the book lies in the skill with which the conflict
between Cecilia’s better instincts and her invincible egotism is
drawn. Mr Beresford is an admirably self-effacing narrator....
Allowing for the improbabilities we have noted, this is an excellent
and restrained study of an ‘a-moral’ type of womanhood.”
+ − =Spec= 124:697 My 22 ’20 560w
“Judged as an essay in morbid psychology, ‘An imperfect mother’ is an
interesting document; judged as a novel, it is a failure.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p199 Mr 25 ’20 850w
=BERGER, MAURICE.= Germany after the armistice. *$3.50 (5c) Putnam 914.3
20–9640
“A report, based on the personal testimony of representative
Germans, concerning the conditions existing in 1919.” (Sub-title)
The author of this book, which is translated from the French, with
an introduction, by William L. McPherson, was a lieutenant of the
Belgian army. He went to Berlin after the signing of the armistice
to engage in a series of personal interviews with men of prominence
in diplomacy, the army, industry, finance, politics, journalism, the
arts and sciences. These interviews are here published in full and
contain such names as: Brockdorff-Rantzau; Prince Lichnowsky;
General Kluck; Karl Helfferich; Hugo Haase; Karl Kautsky; Theodor
Wolff; Maximilian Harden; Hermann Sudermann, and many others. In his
conclusions the author treats of: Germany and the war; Germany and
the atrocities; The Kaiser—militarism—bolshevism; Public spirit—the
government; Germany and the society of nations; The new Germany. The
book also contains a preface by Baron Beyens, former Belgian
minister in Berlin, and has an index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:339 Jl ’20
“A full revelation is this volume of the true inwardness of the German
character.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 4 ’20 500w
“The interviewer writes with the violent prejudice of an enemy who
still fears his defeated foe. But many of the conversations are of
peculiar interest none the less. Especially valuable, perhaps, are the
statements of Kautsky and other Socialists; also the account of the
shameless murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.” H: W.
Nevinson
+ − =Freeman= 1:404 Jl 7 ’20 280w
“No better account has appeared of the individuals who are directing
the destinies of the young republic.”
+ =Ind= 104:67 O 9 ’20 30w
“Lieutenant Berger draws with bold strokes the portraits of the men he
met—they stand out with lifelike distinctiveness. His style is simple
and vivacious and his subject matter is engrossing.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:10 Jl 18 ’20 1300w
=R of Rs= 62:112 Jl ’20 40w
“There is a tone of sincere frankness in the interviews which carries
weight. Lieutenant Berger is evidently a man of tact and discernment;
he refused to enter upon useless discussion, but he was able to guide
the conversation so skilfully as to secure for his superiors the
desired information.” C: Seymour
+ =Yale R= n s 10:419 Ja ’21 310w
=BERGSON, HENRI LOUIS.= Mind-energy. *$2.50 (3c) Holt 194
20–15087
This collection of lectures and essays, translated from the French by
H. Wildon Carr, is not only an authorized translation, says the
translator, but has been carefully supervised by M. Bergson himself,
as to details of meaning and expression, in order to give it the same
authority as the original French. The lectures are partly in
exposition of philosophical theory, partly detailed psychological
investigation and metaphysical research illustrative of their author’s
concept of reality as a fundamentally spiritual activity. Contents:
Life and consciousness; The soul and the body; “Phantasms of the
living” and psychical research; Dreams; Memory of the present and
false recognition; Intellectual effort; Brain and thought; a
philosophical illusion; Index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:137 Ja ’21
“Bergson is brilliant, and he is in close touch with the life of men.
He is always worth reading for his intellectual strength and his
insight into things spiritual. In this book Bergson is found at his
best.” F. W. C.
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 S 22 ’20 1050w
“The present volume is valuable for students of Bergson just because
its confident reaffirmations proclaim that, in the author’s judgment,
his theories have stood the test of time. Hence this is a good
opportunity for attempting a total estimate of Bergson’s work and a
sorting out of what is likely to live from what is likely to die.” R.
F. A. Hoernle
+ =N Y Evening Post= p6 Ja 15 ’21 850w
“The student who lacks either the time or the training to study Mr
Bergson’s larger and more difficult work will find in this volume of
essays clues not difficult to understand and profitable to follow.”
+ =Outlook= 126:767 D 29 ’20 300w
“The essays before us, though diversely prompted, all converge towards
one centre, which is revealed by the title of the book. At the end
they leave the feeling that he has been pursuing the same subject all
the time. The tenacity with which he applies his principles is
certainly to be noted in a thinker who suggests such a flexible,
almost elusive, view of reality. There is a fascinating essay about
‘false recognition.’”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p715 N 4 ’20 800w
=BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HEINRICH ANDREAS HERMANN ALBRECHT, graf von.= My
three years in America. *$5 Scribner 940.32
20–11505
“As a pendant to Mr Gerard’s reminiscences of the American embassy in
Berlin during the war, Count Bernstorff’s account of his work as
German ambassador at Washington is of some historic interest. He is
mainly concerned to defend himself and to put all the blame for the
quarrel with America on the Berlin foreign office and on the military
chiefs. He denies, of course, that he had anything to do with the
campaign of bomb outrages which German-Americans, assisted by
Irish-Americans, waged against American and Canadian factories and
allied shipping. He records the profound horror and indignation caused
by the torpedoing of the Lusitania, but disclaims all previous
knowledge of that foul deed.”—Spec
“For the historian and student of the war Count von Bernstorff’s book
has undoubted value. The excellence of the translation may be due in
part to the style of Count von Bernstorff; for, unlike many German
writers, he does not hide his thought behind dense and complicated
entanglements of language, but sets it forth in clear, short, crisp
sentences.” E. E. Sperry
+ =Am Hist R= 26:99 O ’20 1100w
“There are many curious statements in the book, some of which no
sophisticated reader will believe without confirmation. At any rate
students of political science will find many things in this volume to
provoke dissent, and some also that will meet with hearty
concurrence.”
+ − =Am Pol Sci R= 14:736 N ’20 250w
“The book is interesting and has a certain historical value.”
+ =Ath= p11 Jl 2 ’20 580w
“The tone is reasonable and conciliatory, the logic sometimes too
smooth.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:23 O ’20
“Throughout the narrative Count Bernstorff is wonderfully frank.
Whether this frankness arises from an honest openness of mind or from
an utter absence of ability to realize his own obliquity is a question
for each reader to solve for himself.” E. J. C.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 10 ’20 900w
“Count Bernstorff himself is not a thinker like Norman Angell and
Bertrand Russell, but he is intelligent to a high degree, exact,
fearless, without cheap pride, living in a much more real atmosphere
than most of the German war statesmen. He has the prime advantage, for
a time of such complexity, of having a good mind that functions
without interference from his prejudices or his passions.” Norman
Hapgood
+ =Nation= 111:132 Jl 31 ’20 1750w
“The story is told coolly and without any sign of prejudice, except
for an occasional slurring reference to Colonel Roosevelt or
Ambassador Gerard. The narrator analyzes his characters in an
objective sort of way, unmoved by anger or enthusiasm, except for one
exclamation of admiration for Colonel House; he dissects, he does not
eulogize or condemn.” C. W. Thompson
+ =N Y Times= 25:3 Jl 4 ’20 2150w
“This book, as a real contribution to history, will assuredly take its
place alongside volumes of such permanent value as Viscount Haldane’s,
General von Falkenhayn’s, and Count Czernin’s. Indeed, in none of
these is there sharper, more illuminative, and more cynical
observation both of men and events.”
+ =Outlook= 126:690 D 15 ’20 250w
=Review= 3:710 Jl 7 ’20 360w
“It would be a serious mistake to consider his ‘plaidoyer’ as
dispassionate history. It is a further and exceedingly interesting
addition to that large library of self-justification now appearing in
Germany. It differs from other volumes only on a point of good taste.”
Christian Gauss
− + =Review= 3:190 S 1 ’20 1200w
“The reader into whose hands it may come will not fail to find its
chapters exceedingly interesting, as they review familiar episodes
from what to Americans is an unfamiliar standpoint.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:221 Ag ’20 240w
“We think that all the great actors in the German tragedy, military,
political and diplomatic, have now told their story, except the
ex-Kaiser. Count Bernstorff’s is certainly the best of these ‘pieces
justificatives,’ for it shows that the writer’s judgment was better
than that of his masters, and his style is temperate and logical.”
+ =Sat R= 129:542 Je 12 ’20 900w
=Spec= 124:799 Je 12 ’20 430w
“His attempt to gauge American character is on the whole happy. Even
those who differ with him will find it difficult to disprove his
findings. There is no rancor in his judgments. There is no attempt to
add piquancy to the narrative by gossip.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ag 9 ’20 280w
=BERRIMAN, ALGERNON E., and others.= Industrial administration.
(Manchester univ. publications) il *$2.40 Longmans 331
20–9654
“The lectures published in this volume were delivered in the
department of industrial administration in the College of technology,
Manchester, during the session 1918–19, by various well-known
authorities on subjects relating to industrial administration.”
(Nature) “Contents: Social obligations of industry to labour, by B. S.
Rowntree; The applications of psychology to industry, by T. H. Pear;
Education as a function of management, by A. E. Berriman; Occupational
diseases, by T. M. Legge; Atmospheric conditions and efficiency, by L.
Hill; Industrial councils and their possibilities, by T. B. Johnston;
Training for factory administration, by St G. Heath; Industrial
fatigue, by A. F. S. Kent.” (Am Econ R)
* * * * *
=Am Econ R= 10:840 D ’20 50w
=Ath= p814 Je 18 ’20 60w
=Nature= 106:74 S 16 ’20 620w
=BETTER= letters; a little book of suggestions and information about
business correspondence. $1 Herbert S. Browne, 608 S. Dearborn st.,
Chicago 658
20–3557
“This little book has been compiled for the average person in
business, whether executive or stenographer, who wants a statement in
simple and direct form of the elementary things that are essential to
good letters. It is a first-aid manual of style for business
correspondence, suitable for adoption by any commercial concern, large
or small.” (Introd.) Contents of part 1—The letter itself: Appearance;
Substance; Phraseology; Punctuation; Paragraphing; Abbreviations;
Miscellaneous. Contents of part 2—Words, right and wrong; Some misused
words; Verbal vulgarisms; Similar words often confused; Pronouns:
their use and abuse; Miscellaneous.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:17 O ’20
=BIERSTADT, EDWARD HALE, ed.= Three plays of the Argentine; tr. from the
Spanish by Jacob S. Fassett, jr. *$1.75 Duffield 862
20–4775
In his introduction to these plays Mr Bierstadt has given us a glimpse
of the culture of one of our American neighbors to the South, of whom
we have hitherto known too little. His historical sketch of the folk
drama of the Argentine, known as the drama criollo, shows it to have
sprung from the very heart of the people, the gaucho, and to have had
its inception in the sawdust ring of the circus. As given in the
translation, the plays are transcriptions from the original popular
and unprinted versions and although modified, have retained their true
atmospheric and colorful qualities. Of the two first Mr Bierstadt
says: “They are perhaps the most famous in all the category of gaucho
plays, and carry as do no others the very spirit of the pampas.” These
are “Juan Moreira” and “Santos Vega.” The third, “The witches’
mountain,” is not in the same sense a gaucho play, as it is set in the
mountain country, but is considered as marking the last milestone in
the epoch of truly native drama.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:336 Jl ’20
“‘The witches’ mountain’ is the only one of the three plays included
that conforms to the canons of real drama.”
+ =Dial= 59:664 D ’20 80w
“The second, while sufficiently crude and violent, has elements of
great beauty. The third, The witches’ mountain, is a really
magnificent piece, both in conception and construction.”
+ =Freeman= 1:214 My 12 ’20 400w
“When we come to the actual texture of the ‘dramas criollos’ the
impression is one of slight disappointment. The figure of the
wandering ‘gaucho’ and minstrel is romantic rather than naive. Speech
and verse, at least in their translated forms, present a curious
mixture of the sentimental and the artificial. In The witches’
mountain there is high and concentrated dramatic passion. But this
play is obviously the least primitive of the three.”
+ − =Nation= 110:693 My 22 ’20 260w
“These plays have a freshness and vigor of spaces our Wild West
scenarios somehow lack. There are the same conventional gestures, the
same corroborated sentiment from which any informing fire has gone
out. But at least these are reminiscent of authentic instead of
manufactured emotion.” Lola Ridge
+ − =New Repub= 25:236 Ja 19 ’21 660w
+ − =Review= 2:605 Je 5 ’20 240w
“However primitive the plays, they possess what our American drama
strives in vain to discover, the soul of their native land.... The
witches’ mountain is doubtless the most actable, and the most easily
understood by an American audience.” D. Grafly
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 25 ’20 600w
“If these plays seem immature rather than naive; crude, rather than in
the spirit of the folk; if Mr Bierstadt seems to have mistaken the
drama inherent in the life and character of the ‘gaucho’ for drama in
the plays that represent him, there is still nothing but gratitude due
him for introducing the ‘gaucho’ to our unromantic world.”
+ − =Theatre Arts Magazine= 4:256 Jl ’20 380w
=BIGELOW, MELVILLE MADISON.= Papers on the legal history of government;
difficulties fundamental and artificial. *$2 (4½c) Little 320.1
20–4206
The author warns against making a fetish of history and points out the
difficulty in the way of its infallibility as a teacher. The number
and complexity of the facts, in part hidden, in part incomprehensible,
impede correct judgment. Besides, latent energies may at any time
spring into action to change men’s reactions to given facts. On the
other hand there is a certain fundamental principle on which society
rests and which serves as constant in the interpretation of history.
It is the object of the book to study the past, to give assurance of
the principle and then to see how men have acted and are acting in its
presence. Contents: Unity in government; The family in English
history: an inquiry; Medieval English sovereignty; The old jury;
Becket and the law; Index.
* * * * *
=Am Pol Sci R= 14:738 N ’20 50w
=Booklist= 17:10 O ’20
=Boston Transcript= p6 Ap 28 ’20 220w
=BINDLOSS, HAROLD.=[2] Lister’s great adventure (Eng title, Head of the
house). il *$2 (2c) Stokes
George Lister, a young Canadian engineer, has his pluck and natural
ability rather than a defective scientific training to thank for a
moderate success. His self-reliance scorns the help of friends. He
rescues a young girl, Barbara Hyslop, from an amorous crook who has
induced her to run away with him. Later he is instrumental in
returning the girl to the bosom of her family. Having lost his job he
resolves to see something of the world and goes to England, and while
there undertakes to raise a wreck off the African coast for Barbara’s
step-father. After heroic efforts he succeeds but succumbs to the
fever-ridden locality. Barbara, who from conscientious scruples over
her romantic exploit, had refused his love, now calls him back to
health with the gift of it.
* * * * *
“The heroine and the various members of her family have more
individuality than is usual in this class of literature.”
+ =Ath= p523 O 15 ’20 80w
“There are no improbabilities and no excesses of sentimentality, the
style is simple and effective, and the pace is brisk and unwavering.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p621 S 23 ’20 90w
=BINDLOSS, HAROLD.= Wilderness mine. il *$1.90 (1½c) Stokes
20–14600
This story is divided into three distinct parts, the first and third
of which take place in England, and the second in Canada. Creighton
and Stayward are partners in business until Creighton, driven on by
his wife’s extravagances and his daughter’s need of an education,
misappropriates some of the funds and Stayward dissolves the
partnership. Creighton disappears and his wife spreads stories about
Stayward’s cruelty and dishonesty to her husband. The Canadian part of
the story has to do with Geoffrey Lisle, Stayward’s nephew, who is
managing a mine there, and who comes in contact with Tom Carson, cook
and chemist, who helps him defeat the rival mining company he is
working against. Upon his return to England at his uncle’s death,
Geoffrey again meets the girl who has been in his thoughts ever since
he left England, to discover that she is Ruth Creighton, and
theoretically his enemy. The timely discovery of who Tom Carson really
was helps him to win the girl and to clear his uncle’s name in her
eyes.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:70 N ’20
“His latest effort is a far more polished production than some of
those that have gone before it. As it is not the best kind of romance,
quite naturally it is not the best kind of adventure, but it serves
very well for an hour or so’s amusement, and lovers of Mr Bindloss
will find in this tale all the ingredients of his other efforts.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p8 S 15 ’20 350w
“Mr Bindloss is one of those writers (all too few) who handle the
adventure story without stressing the adventures to the disadvantage
of all the other parts of the story. In other words, his
characterization is always clear and distinct and worked up with some
elaboration, and he has a quick eye at the description of natural
scenery.”
+ =N Y Times= p27 Ag 22 ’20 370w
“The Canadian part of the book is much the best.”
+ =Outlook= 126:378 O 27 ’20 40w
=BINDLOSS, HAROLD.= Wyndham’s pal. *$1.75 (2c) Stokes
19–16148
Harry Wyndham having inherited from his forefathers an old business
enterprise of somewhat doubtful credit, along with a romantic,
restless, daring temperament, sets out on a trading adventure in the
wild lagoons, mandrake swamps, fever atmosphere, and mysterious
dangers of the Caribbean coast. There is a girl back home in England,
for whose sake he wishes to return wealthy and successful. He achieves
his purpose, although in order to do it he has to deal with a
dangerous, sinister, mysterious creature called the Bat, and has to
compromise his honesty and honor. Found out by his bride and business
partner he seriously undertakes reparation and re-establishes his own
self-respect, as well as the respect of others.
* * * * *
“Men, and boys in their teens, will like this story.”
+ =Booklist= 16:242 Ap ’20
“Without being particularly exciting or particularly vivid, it holds
the reader’s attention.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:120 Mr 14 ’20 380w
=Outlook= 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 50w
“To an astonishing degree, he maintains his average. And his average
is good.” H. Dick
+ =Pub W= 97:604 F 21 ’20 280w
“We have read better stories by this author.”
+ − =Sat R= 128:422 N 1 ’19 60w
“The story is rather better than many of the author’s recent books,
and his readers will find considerable entertainment in its pages.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Mr 7 ’20 300w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p502 S 18 ’19 100w
=BINNS, OTTWELL.= Mating in the wilds. (Borzoi western stories). *$2
(2c) Knopf
20–15961
Hubert Stane, who has served a prison sentence on a false charge, is
in the north woods. Here he meets Gerald Ainley, the man who was
responsible for his sentence. Ainley apparently stands high in the
estimation of Hudson Bay company officials and is a suitor for the
hand of Helen Yardely, a beautiful English girl who is making a tour
of the posts with her uncle. Helen is lost in the woods. Stane finds
her and fate forces the two to spend long months of exile together.
Helen takes naturally to primitive life and when Stane’s name is
cleared the two are married at an English mission and continue their
wilderness life.
* * * * *
“An exciting tale told with literary excellence beyond the average of
adventure stories.”
+ =N Y Times= p25 Ag 29 ’20 550w
“It is all admirably and romantically told. Though we know the tale of
old, it is still alive when the right chronicler takes it up; and Mr
Binns never for a moment lets it flag.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p126 F 19 ’20 200w
=BIRDSEYE, CLARENCE FRANK.= American democracy versus Prussian Marxism.
*$2.50 Revell 335
20–4906
“Clarence F. Birdseye, in a volume entitled ‘American democracy versus
Prussian Marxism,’ presents what he calls ‘a study in the nature and
results of purposive or beneficial government,’ his object being to
warn his fellow-citizens of the great danger threatening the American
form of government through the attacks that are being made upon it by
Marxian socialists. In order to make clear the danger is real, and not
fanciful, Mr Birdseye analyzes both governmental forms and shows
conclusively that no tolerance of the Marxian idea can be permitted in
this country without damage to American institutions and ideals.”—N Y
Times
* * * * *
“In this compact little volume, rich in well selected facts and
information throughout, the author has performed a useful service.” W.
B. Guthrie
+ =Am Pol Sci R= 14:510 Ag ’20 420w
=N Y Times= p31 S 5 ’20 90w
=R of Rs= 61:560 My ’20 50w
=BIRNBAUM, MARTIN.= Introductions; painters, sculptors and graphic
artists. il *$5 Sherman, F: Fairchild 704
20–2849
“Papers by an American critic on Beardsley, Conder, C. H. Shannon, C.
Ricketts, Pakst, Dulac, Alfred Stevens, John Flaxman, and some younger
American artists—Maurice Sterne, Paul Manship (sculptor), Alfred
Sterner (painter, lithographer, etc.), Robert Blum (illustrator,
decorator, pastellist), Edie Nadeloman (Polish sculptor), Kay Nielsen,
the Danish water-colourist, Jules Pascrin, the Austrian satiric
artist.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“The Aubrey Beardsley and Conder introductions may be taken as the
perfect models for this form of art. Mr Birnbaum, himself, never quite
arose to the same plane of detachment in his later writings. The
citations, though brilliant, become too incessant and the authorities
parading through the pages scarcely give each other elbow room. The
feats of memory displayed are prodigious, comparable to those of Mr
Huneker. In fact, stylistically, there is more than a suspicion that
Mr Birnbaum is Mr Huneker’s child.” H: McBride
+ − =Dial= 68:371 Mr ’20 1850w
“To be graceful, informing, and readily understood was the problem.
The author has solved it with sure literary tact and offers as well a
fine criticism which was not in the bond.”
+ =Review= 2:184 F 21 ’20 350w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 S 10 ’20 580w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p304 My 13 ’20 50w
=BIRRELL, AUGUSTINE.= Frederick Locker-Lampson. il *$8 Scribner
(Eng ed 20–14702)
“A kinship of spirit as well as relationship by marriage bound Mr
Birrell and Locker-Lampson, and in every page of his character sketch,
he reveals a sympathy that is both personal and professional. Few
books are both more and less a biography than this. It is merely a
series of impressions and appreciations. Less than half its opening
pages contain the biographical matter, and then follow some fifty
pages of letters from eminent literary men—including Thackeray,
Dickens, Tennyson, Holmes, Ruskin, Hardy and Stevenson—which reveal
the esteem in which Locker-Lampson was held by his contemporaries. The
other material which completes the volume includes six letters written
by him to his son at Eton, some family bookplates, bibliographical
notes on the books in the famous Rowfant library, and a brief account
of the Rowfant library at Cleveland, with a list of its
publications.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“Mr Birrell’s biography reads so queerly because it brings before us a
real human being. It is not that he is more profound than others, or
that he has a story to tell to which we cannot fail to listen. It is
that the values of life are quite different from those of biography.
There is such a thing as living. One of the chief merits of Mr
Birrell’s method, which is a peculiar compound of wit and sanity, is
that it reduces these nineteenth-century phantoms to human scale.” V.
W.
+ =Ath= p201 Ag 13 ’20 1300w
“It has been a long time since ‘London lyrics’ first appeared, but
none the less this intimate and accurate character sketch of their
author has a genuine interest and value.” H: L. West
+ =Bookm= 52:73 S ’20 450w
“A gentle and a genial tribute, it may well be said, is this volume to
the personality, the achievements and the memory of a rare being.” E.
F. E.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Je 30 ’20 1250w
“As a piece of book-making, the offering is admirable; as a book—! But
Mr Birrell is a devoted chronicler and if, from these impeccable
pages, his placid father-in-law emerges an even less interesting
figure than he seemed before one’s perusal of his memorial, the
meticulous chronicler himself can not escape scot-free.” L: Untermeyer
− + =Freeman= 2:163 O 27 ’20 750w
“Hitherto the best analysis of Locker’s work was to be found in the
sympathetic study prepared by Austin Dobson in 1904. Mr Birrell’s
sketch is ampler than Mr Dobson’s and it is also more discursive. It
abounds in playful digressions and in pleasant irrelevancies.” Brander
Matthews
+ =N Y Times= 25:14 Jl 11 ’20 2300w
“His sketch is somewhat discursive and casual, containing more
background than definite statements, but it includes some agreeable
Birrelling.”
+ − =Sat R= 129:588 Je 26 ’20 1000w
“Nowhere has he gossiped more charmingly; and if he cannot resist an
occasional divagation from his main topic, his obiter dicta are as
pleasant as ever.”
+ =Spec= 124:82 Jl 17 ’20 1500w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 18 ’20 650w
“In reading this book, and noticing how Mr Birrell is always sliding
away from his subject to talk about himself, or about somebody or
something other than Frederick Locker, you ask why he chose ‘Frederick
Locker-Lampson: a character sketch’ for the title of a book that might
just as properly have been called ‘Scraps,’ or ‘Chips,’ or ‘Jottings.’
In the end nevertheless, you feel that you have been unfair. Mr
Birrell, in his odd, slipshod way, is a man of letters—at least a man
who delights in letters; and he gives you a faint character sketch of
Frederick Locker-Lampson.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p381 Je 17 ’20 1500w
=BISHOP, CARLTON THOMAS.=[2] Structural drafting and the design of
details. il *$5 Wiley 744
20–4714
“The author was formerly chief draftsman to one of the largest bridge
companies, and is now a professor at Yale university. Part 1 covers
comprehensively the duties of the draftsman and what he should know in
a general way about organization of plant and office, as well as a
survey of the manufacture and fabrication of structural steel. Part 2
tells in detail about the technique of drawing, with special chapters
devoted to beams, girders, trusses, bracing systems, bills, checking,
etc. Part 3 deals closely with the theory and practice of designing
different types of construction members.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:102 D ’20
“To the student or inexperienced draftsman the book is invaluable. The
experienced draftsman can hardly fail to add to his efficiency by
reading it. The typography of the book is all that needs be desired.
This, with the general excellence of the contents, will make it a
standard in the field of structural drafting for some time to come.”
+ =Engin News-Rec= 84:1215 Je 17 ’20 1150w
+ =Iron Age= 105:1293 Ap 29 ’20 160w
=Mining & Scientific Press= 121:33 Jl 3 ’20 110w
“On the whole we are inclined to name this the best book on the
subject.”
+ =N Y P L New Tech Bks= p27 Ap ’20 170w
=Pratt= p16 O ’20 20w
=BISHOP, ERNEST SIMONS.= Narcotic drug problem. *$1.50 Macmillan 613.8
20–1614
“‘It is becoming apparent that in spite of all the work which has been
done there has been practically no change in the general situation,
and there has been no solution of the drug problem.’ This is the
conclusion of Dr Ernest S. Bishop, clinical professor of medicine in
the New York polyclinic medical school. Two outstanding elements
appear to Dr Bishop to have received insufficient consideration in the
efforts to solve the narcotic drug problem. One of these elements is
the suffering of the addict: the other is the nature of the physical
disease with which he is afflicted. Dr Bishop asserts that the
exploitation of human weakness and suffering would be checked on any
large scale, if the disease created by continued administration of
opiates were recognized and its physical demands comprehended and
provided for in legitimate and relatively unobjectionable ways.... Dr
Bishop also recommends the establishment under proper supervision and
management of stations or clinics at which those who for financial or
other reasons are unable to secure honest medical help, may obtain
their necessary opiate at minimum expense without ‘resorting to
underworld associations and illicit commerce.’”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
+ =Cleveland= p74 Ag ’20 50w
“Occasionally, very occasionally, one finds a book upon a somewhat
technical subject which is not merely readable and informative, but
actually liberating. Such a book is Dr Bishop’s discourse on the
narcotic drug problem.”
+ =No Am= 211:428 Mr ’20 850w
=Review= 3:112 Ag 4 ’20 130w
“A criticism of the book might well be directed against its
redundancy. Nor does it appear just what type of audience he had in
mind when inditing his message. Obviously it is not intended for the
narcotic drug addict. If addressed to the physician, it is incomplete
and fragmentary. If meant for the layman only casually interested in
the problem, the message should have had greater emotional appeal.” H.
E. K.
+ − =Social Hygiene= 6:586 O ’20 480w
“Dr Bishop’s study of the situation is scientific, thorough and
humane. It will authoritatively inform the public regarding a subject
on which enlightenment is needed.
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ja 29 ’20 800w
“The real problems of the narcotic drug situation are related to the
origin and prevention of heroin and cocaine addictions and the
treatment and after-care of those so addicted. This book avoids these
questions and is sterile of information on these essential points of
the narcotic drug problem.” Medicus
+ − =Survey= 44:253 My 15 ’20 450w
=BISHOP, H. C. W.= Kut prisoner. (On active service ser.) il *$1.50 (3c)
Lane 940.47
20–5240
The author, a subaltern of the Indian army reserve of officers, gives
an account of prison life at Kastamuni in Asia Minor, and of his
escape in company with three other officers, their recapture, and
rescue by Turkish brigands and their voyage across the Black sea in a
small boat, to the Russian border and freedom. Contents: Ctesiphon;
Kut; From Kut to Kastamuni; Life in Kastamuni; Escape from Kastamuni;
The first night; On the hills; Slow progress; Bluffing the peasants;
Reaching the coast; Recaptured; Rescued; In hiding with the Turks;
Continued delays; Three days on the Black sea; The Crimea and home;
Friends in captivity. There are maps, illustrations and appendices.
* * * * *
“The book is interesting.”
+ =Ath= p386 Mr 19 ’20 30w
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 S 15 ’20 250w
“Mr Bishop describes his adventures simply and clearly, and his book
is worth reading.”
+ =Spec= 124:216 F 14 ’20 70w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p90 F 5 ’20 60w
=BISHOP, JOSEPH BUCKLIN.= Theodore Roosevelt and his time shown in his
own letters. 2v il *$10 Scribner
20–17013
“Seven years ago, when Theodore Roosevelt published his
‘Autobiography,’ he prefixed to it a foreword, which began with this
sentence. ‘Naturally, there are chapters of my autobiography which
cannot now be written.’ Yet he had written from day to day, on the
spur of the moment, in his frank letters to one or another of his
multitude of friends, the very passages which he could not give to the
public while he was still in the thick of the fight. And it is these
passages which enliven and illuminate the two volumes which Mr Bishop
has now selected and set in order, and explained and annotated. The
work was begun while Roosevelt still lived; it had his complete
approval; parts of it were read to him and amplified from his
recollections.”—N Y Times
* * * * *
“The biography which will be most worth while to libraries.”
+ =Booklist= 17:68 N ’20
“One of the most notable works of the season is Joseph Bucklin
Bishop’s ‘Theodore Roosevelt.’” Margaret Ashmun
+ =Bookm= 52:345 D ’20 140w
“With perfect taste and judgment Mr Bishop has stood aside and allowed
the story to be told through Roosevelt’s letters. He has made an
excellent book, important, always readable and often extremely
amusing. With the ‘Autobiography’ and Mr Thayer’s book, the present
work, ‘Theodore Roosevelt and his time’ is one of the three
indispensable books on this subject. With Mr Huneker’s ‘Steeplejack,’
it is one of the two best American biographies of this year.” E. L.
Pearson
+ =Boston Transcript= p5 O 23 ’20 2750w
“It is a work of notable artistic merit. Perhaps fifty years hence it
may generally be conceded that this book preserves what is important
in ‘the true Theodore Roosevelt’s’ character. At present one cannot
help feeling that Mr Bishop’s figure of rugged integrity, unerring
rectitude, and loftiest patriotism has been shorn of some of its
beams.” S. P. Sherman
+ − =Nation= 112:18 Ja 5 ’21 2500w
“A difficult task has been accomplished triumphantly, and the result
is a portrait of Roosevelt by himself, set in an editorial frame which
is artistically unobstructive. Mr Bishop has given us a work which
does for one president of the United States what was done for an
earlier president by the publication of Grant’s ‘Personal memoirs.’
And neither of these great men would object to the comparison.”
Brander Matthews
+ =N Y Times= p4 O 3 ’20 2300w
“There are a few little errors, nothing of consequence. But the book
is undoubtedly partisan; which does not prevent it from being a
thoroughly good and complete biography.” C: W. Thompson
+ − =N Y Times= p5 O 3 ’20 3450w
“It is a work after Roosevelt’s own heart, the sort of record that he
himself would have endorsed just as it stands, showing him in the full
strength and weakness of his very human quality.” F: T. Cooper
+ =Pub W= 98:1196 O 16 ’20 480w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:314 O 13 ’20 340w
“These two volumes, as they stand, will serve not only for the present
time but for future generations.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:669 D ’20 280w
“Mr Bishop has succeeded in giving us two volumes of great value and
readability.”
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:236 D ’20 110w (Reprinted from Atlantic D ’20)
=BISHOP, LOUIS FAUGÈRES.= Heart troubles; their prevention and relief.
il *$3.50 Funk 616.1
20–13070
A book written in popular style and addressed to the layman. The
author believes that a patient is entitled to the full confidence of
his physician and thinks that in heart disease “the educated patient
can help more when wisely advised than in almost any other form of
disease.” The book is in two parts: Physiological and symptomatic, and
Therapeutic. The final chapter is devoted to Nursing in heart
troubles. The book is illustrated and indexed and there is a one-page
list of collateral reading. The author is professor of the heart and
circulatory diseases, Fordham university, New York city.
* * * * *
+ =Cath World= 112:410 D ’20 90w
“The immediate effect of this sane and sensible work should be a wider
dissemination of modern knowledge of the heart, its affections and
their treatment; the ultimate result should be a reduction in the
alarming death rate from heart disease in the United States.” V. B.
Thorne
+ =N Y Times= p17 Ag 29 ’20 3000w
“A ‘doctor book’ of an unusual sort and one which will be found of
great interest and of much practical value.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ag 2 ’20 130w
=BISPHAM, DAVID SCULL.= Quaker singer’s recollections. il *$4 Macmillan
20–1629
“For thirty years and more David Bispham has been prominent, here and
abroad, as a baritone of note, a singing actor, and an advocate of the
use of English speech in opera. In these recollections he has packed
into one volume the record of a long and busy life—a life of many
strange and varied experiences. Unlike most men who have their hour in
opera, he has had his in society. He has traveled far and wide, and
mixed with people who were worth knowing and far-famed in many ways.
To this it may be added, unreservedly, that he has more than an
instinctive turn for setting down, in plain but vivid words, what he
would tell.”—Review
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:241 Ap ’20
“The style, unfortunately, is plainly that of a singer, and wavers
continually between the exclamatory and the sentimental.”
+ − =Dial= 68:402 Mr ’20 90w
“While Mr Bispham’s book may appeal primarily to singers and students
of singing, it is none the less a valuable text book for students of
the drama.”
+ =Drama= 10:356 Jl ’20 140w
“It is an interesting volume full of the writer’s personality written
with more literary skill and taste than many such books, giving many
sidelights on the musical life of the period of which it treats.” R:
Aldrich
+ =N Y Times= 25:6 F 29 ’20 2150w
“If we were disappointed in David Bispham’s ‘A Quaker singer’s
recollections,’ it was not because of lack of thoroughness, but
because that delightful singer’s fund of anecdote has not been used to
advantage.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:192 Ap 18 ’20 80w
“A singer who can write with ease and style is rarer than that rare
bird, the black swan. One artist of the kind is David Bispham.” C: H:
Meltzer
+ =Review= 2:289 Mr 20 ’20 950w
=R of Rs= 61:333 Mr ’20 100w
“An excellent volume of reminiscences.”
+ =Spec= 124:694 My 22 ’20 780w
“He has perhaps not grasped the first bitter truth to be learned by an
author that of all the countless incidents which his own mind makes
picturesque in retrospect only those are interesting which he can make
picturesque to others. The bald stretches, however, are only
occasional.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p233 Ap 15 ’20 850w
=BISS, GERALD.= Door of the unreal. *$2 (3c) Putnam
20–19179
Strange disappearances are common in fact and in fiction, sometimes
involving equally strange explanations, but surely in either realm,
nothing could rival the solution of the mystery of this story. Of the
four people who completely vanish from a well-traveled English road
about midnight of a moonlight night, the only one who is ever seen
again is Tony Ballingdon, and he is found unconscious and bruised in a
nearby wood. Lincoln Osgood, an American who happens to be on the
scene, makes a study of the case and soon forms a theory which proves
to be the correct one, altho so weird and uncanny is it that he
himself can hardly credit it. It is based on lycanthropy and its
strange lore: in fact, it presupposes the existence in the
neighborhood of two werewolves, Prof. Lycurgus Wolff and his old
servant. By his knowledge of the subject Osgood prevents further
tragedy and frees Dorothy, Wolff’s daughter, from the curse that is
threatening her.
* * * * *
“With the understanding that the solution of the mystery of the novel
lies along the lines of lycanthropy, the reader finds before him a
smoothly written, straightforward narrative, lucid and compelling in
its admirable simplicity, and endowed with that sustained interest
which before anything else connotes a good story.”
+ =N Y Times= p23 S 19 ’20 760w
“A readable yarn it is.”
+ =Review= 3:350 O 20 ’20 330w
=BLACHLY, CLARENCE DAN.= Treatment of the problem of capital and labor
in social-study courses in the churches. *50c Univ. of Chicago press
330.7
20–2984
“The social-study movement in the churches of America has developed on
lines both sound and broad in recent years, and a review of its
present status would be decidedly helpful. Mr Blachly, however, has
found the material so large that in the present essay he confines
himself to only one aspect of that movement. He presents an analysis
of several hundred pamphlets and reports, replies to questionnaires
and letters of inquiry, the texts of the social study courses used in
the leading Protestant churches, the principal church magazines and
other literature. He distinguishes five methods of approach to the
discussion of capital and labor by the churches: deductive study which
he finds as a rule incomplete and non-conclusive; controversial
discussion, especially the adoption of a definite political or
economic platform, which is dangerous to church harmony; control of
experience through attitude of mind and heart, i.e., emphasis on the
spiritual rather than the legal control of conditions; scientific,
critical examination—which is rare because the religious attitude is
as different from that of the student as it is from that of the
legislator; the incorporation of modern, scientific and sociological
facts into teaching that is primarily religious. Evidently, the
author’s preference is for the last named method.”—Survey
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:10 O ’20 (Adapted from Survey 43:781 Mr 20 ’20)
“This is a valuable summary of information for the student of the
teaching of organized religion on present-day problems of the social
life and a suggestive criticism of the different policies that have
been adopted.” B. L.
+ =Survey= 43:781 Mr 20 ’20 330w
=BLACK, HUGH.=[2] Lest we forget. *$1.50 Revell 824
“In the eleven chapters which make up this book the author discusses
among other things the meaning of the victory, a democracy safe for
the world, patriotism, true and false, peace and pacifism, the binding
of the nations and the English-speaking peoples. In the chapter on the
binding of the nations he says: ‘All men of goodwill must recognize
that the plan for a league of nations is inspired with their highest
ideal, and they can make it invincible.’”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
=N Y Evening Post= p24 O 23 ’20 90w
=N Y Times= p21 N 14 ’20 120w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 D 21 ’20 280w
=BLAKE, A. H.= Things seen in London. il *$1.35 Dutton 914.21
20–26316
“This book is a pocket-sized volume, belonging to the Things seen
series, which contains descriptive and historical chapters on points
of special interest with post-card sized illustrations.”—Booklist
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:239 Ap ’20
+ =Spec= 122:546 O 25 ’19 40w
“It hardly exhausts the city. But it is a good introductory
description, written by a person who appreciates historic flavor. The
little book is well illustrated.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 F 18 ’20 120w
=BLAKEMORE, ARTHUR WALKER.=[2] Make your will. *$1.25 Appleton 347.6
20–22318
The book is “a guide to the drafting of a valid will under the laws of
any state.” (Sub-title) In the introduction the reasons for making a
will, its essentials, and definitions of the terms used are given. The
other chapters are: Form and essentials; Provisions of will; Execution
of will; Codicils; After execution of will. The book is indexed and
has an appendix containing a synopsis of laws affecting wills for
every state.
=BLANCHARD, PHYLLIS MARY.= Adolescent girl. *$2.50 Moffat 136.7
20–8047
“A pioneering into the field of girl life in a direction, says Dr G.
Stanley Hall in his preface, which his studies took with the
adolescent boy. The book is a summary of the main theories of Fichte,
Schelling, Von Hartmann, Bergson, Freud, Trotter, Adler, Jung, Maeder
and others.”—Booklist
* * * * *
“More helpful to the serious student than Evans [‘Problem of the
nervous child’] because of its carefully selected chapter
bibliographies.”
+ =Booklist= 16:302 Je ’20
“Unfortunately, she does not resist the temptation to adopt the
evangelistic tone. Although ostensibly based on the findings of Freud,
Jung and Adler, there is never any suggestion that their researches
may ultimately lead to a questioning of some of our moral standards.
But this is an eminently safe book.” Fola La Follette
− + =Freeman= 1:621 S 8 ’20 1100w
“To the reviewer the book commends itself most particularly on account
of the richness of first-hand clinical material, put in a simple,
readable manner, the frankness with which the author has handled the
subject of the instinctive determinants of conduct, and finally
because it reflects throughout a ‘mental hygienic’ rather than a
therapeutic aim.” Bernard Glueck
+ =Mental Hygiene= 4:974 O ’20 800w
“The chief value of Miss Blanchard’s work is in line with her own real
interest, philosophy. Busy workers with girls, who may feel that their
knowledge of the main developments of psychoanalysis is rather vague,
and who wish to know some of its real possibilities in their own
field, will find this a useful and interesting introduction.” M. E.
Moxcey
+ − =Social Hygiene= 6:584 O ’20 350w
“She endeavors to give a social direction to her material. But it
remains a good deal of a jumble.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 70w
Reviewed by A. E. Morey
+ =Survey= 45:369 D 4 ’20 560w
=BLAND, JOHN OTWAY PERCY.= Men, manners and morals in South America. il
*$4.50 Scribner 918
(Eng ed 20–14550)
“This book is the outcome of two or three journeys which Mr Bland, the
author of several books on China, made to South America in the course
of the war. They took him to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.”
(The Times [London] Lit Sup) “He protests against the ‘blue-book
stodginess’ of many works which deal with that portion of the western
hemisphere south of the equator. It is undeniable that the general
reader wants, not dry particulars of South American trades,
industries, and manufacturing possibilities, but silhouettes of the
men and women and their social life; descriptions of the prairies and
forests, of mountain gorges and the ‘everlasting hills.’ Mr Bland, who
portrays numerous types of South American humanity, and spiritedly
describes the places he has visited, successfully avoids the faults to
which his strictures apply.” (Ath)
* * * * *
“His book is heartily to be commended.”
+ =Ath= p687 My 21 ’20 100w
+ =Booklist= 17:25 O ’20
“All that he tells is well worth the reading.” E. J. C.
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 Je 12 ’20 550w
“Tho rambling in manner and somewhat cynical in tone, is an
illuminating introduction to a little understood part of the world.”
+ − =Ind= 104:68 O 9 ’20 60w
“In no place in the present work has he attained or even attempted
that subtlety of characterization, that inimitable charm of
description which enchants us in Hudson. The outsides of people he has
faithfully observed and studiously catalogued; the insides he has
missed. Not that there are lacking passages of rare beauty and
memorable description in the present work. Had Mr Bland chosen any
other theme than this one, which has already been covered by a master,
his volume would stand out as an unusual contribution to the
literature of travel.” H. L. Varney
+ − =N Y Times= p16 Ag 15 ’20 1700w
“He writes because he likes writing, and as he writes very brightly
the reader has no cause to complain. He conjures up people and customs
that were strange to him in phrases of so much colour, point, and
pungency that we are well content to see them with his eyes.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p198 Mr 25 ’20 1100w
=BLAND, OLIVER.= Adventures of a modern occultist. *$2 Dodd 133
20–17101
To acquire psychic power, says the author, presupposes certain unusual
natural gifts and the object of the volume is to render assistance to
those possessing such gifts. It contains disclosures of hidden facts
which have been abiding their time for years in the author’s
notebooks, and which are of interest to the spiritualist, the
theosophist, and the student of psychic research. Contents: The dead
rapper; The automatist; Astral light and psycho-lastrometer; An
experiment on the theory of protective vibration; Sex in the next
world; The reality of sorcery; Incense and occultism; Beasts and
elementals; Possession; Some new facts and theories; Oriental
occultism.
=BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE.=[2] Enemies of women (Los enemigos de la
mujer); tr. from the Spanish by Irving Brown. *$2.15 Dutton
20–19241
“In a fairy-like villa on the Mediterranean, Prince Lubimoff, a
Russian Apollo, surfeited with luxury and liasons, gathers a group of
friends,—a savant, a soldier, and a musician,—in order to live in calm
contemplation, free from the most disturbing element in life—the
feminine. These ‘enemies of women,’ as they style themselves, start
with a sense of satiated superiority that makes renunciation easy, but
the gradual defection of each from the code and the coterie forms an
intriguing study of human nature and its inevitabilities. In the end,
all the ‘enemies of women’ have succumbed to the eternal feminine and
chiefly because of it have gone to fight on the side of idealism, even
that incorrigible epicurean, the Russian prince, losing an arm in the
Foreign legion and gaining some semblance of a soul.”—Pub W
* * * * *
“Taking it by the large, the book, though not without its weak spots,
is a decided improvement over the two that went before it in point of
time, and thus provides a genuine climax to the trilogy.” I. G.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p8 N 6 ’20 1350w
“While the book is a colorful, cross-section of the hectic war and
post-war fragments of European civilization, it lacks the directed
drive of the ‘Four horsemen’ and ‘Mare nostrum,’ as well as the
concentration of theme and treatment of the Spanish stories.” Clement
Wood
+ − =N Y Call= p10 Ja 16 ’21 200w
“The book is so full of splendid, glowing color, so rich in
characters, each one clearly set forth and individualized—it has so
many dramatic scenes, so many statements upon which one would like to
comment, that to choose among them is extraordinarily difficult. That
the book is beautifully written, and the descriptions of scenery
remarkable, goes, of course, without saying.”
+ =N Y Times= p22 O 31 ’20 1300w
“Blasco Ibáñez has, with master hand, painted a broad, crowded canvas,
teeming with life and glowing with primary colors. It is undeniably a
strong book and thoroly characteristic of the author, tho with rather
an over-emphasis on the sensual side and coronetted classes, and with
different ethical values from those to which the Anglo-Saxon mind is
trained.” Katharine Perry
+ =Pub W= 98:1888 D 18 ’20 410w
=BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE.= Mexico in revolution; tr. by Arthur Livingston
and José Padin. *$2 Dutton 972
20–12284
“The author of the ‘Four horsemen of the Apocalypse’ happens to be one
of the few Spaniards of distinction who have recently visited the
United States. That he should prove to be a journalist as well as a
novelist occasioned some surprise among his admirers in this country.
His visit to Mexico was distinctly a journalistic enterprise, the
outcome of which was a series of articles printed in the New York
Times and other important newspapers and now brought out in book
form.”—R of Rs
* * * * *
“Statements cited as facts are sometimes based on hearsay, or
incomplete knowledge. The style is that of a vigorous piece of
reporting, particularly in the vividness of the personalities
portrayed.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:24 O ’20
=Cath World= 112:401 D ’20 260w
“It is interesting reading, and is, of course, excellently written.
The book is of only temporary interest, however, and from the
standpoint of historical study will be of little or no value.”
+ − =Grinnell R= 15:262 O ’20 100w
“His shrewd, quick-glancing political insight, his wit, his sense of
the picturesque, his fundamental common sense views of life and the
smooth, even flow of his style are all illustrated at their best in
his little book on ‘Mexico in revolution.’”
+ =Ind= 104:244 N 13 ’20 320w
“Señor Ibáñez owes a great deal to his translators. They had an
inspiring task, for Ibáñez is a born journalist of the highest type,
and the swift rush of his narrative, the power of terse description,
the characterization, the wit to ‘make you see it,’ should be a spur
to any translator.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:10 Jl 25 ’20 3800w
“Ibáñez will seem to the friends of the Mexican people to have erred
as badly in going to the opposite extreme [from the radical position].
Yet Ibáñez’ picture, even if overdrawn, is an honest one. It is a
depressing picture if one accepts it as it stands. But the artist has
overcharged his canvas.” W. J. Ghent
+ − =Review= 3:212 S 8 ’20 800w
“Señor Blasco Ibáñez is gifted with a ‘nose for news’ and an unusual
ability to give literary form to his observations and impressions. In
short, he is a first-rate reporter. He employed his time in Mexico to
good advantage.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:333 S ’20 140w
=BLASCO IBÁÑEZ, VICENTE.= Woman triumphant (La maja desnuda); tr. from
the Spanish by Hayward Keniston; with a special introductory note by the
author. *$1.90 Dutton
20–7292
“The central theme concerns the intimate tragedy of a great painter,
Renovales, who, beholding the loveliness of his young wife, persuades
her to pose for him, promising that the picture shall be destroyed.
But when his inspired hand has added the last brush-stroke, Renovales
knows that this is his master piece, and when exhibited will bring him
fame. The wife, however, in a sudden revulsion of outraged dignity,
flings herself on the picture and slashes it into ribbons. Her act
cleaves asunder the artist’s two-fold worship. Meanwhile, a blight has
fallen upon the wife’s former beauty. With pitiful futility she admits
to herself that he might freely paint and exhibit her if only it would
bring back her vanished charm. Yet she clings to life until the day
when she becomes aware that even his technical fidelity is at an end.
But when the prematurely old and faded wife is dead and buried, the
memory of her comes back to haunt Renovales with the elusive charm of
her girlhood. And it is borne in upon him that while pursuing
unattainable desires he has missed the best life had to offer, and
that now it is forever too late.”—Pub W
* * * * *
“‘Woman triumphant’ is, if one may say so without sounding dogmatic,
one of the three great novels by Blasco Ibáñez that will endure. There
are power, irony, depth and greatness in this novel. Josefina is one
of Blasco Ibáñez’s few convincing portrayals of women, and Renovales
is not merely an artist type, but a flesh and blood creature. The
atmosphere is vibrant with interest, there are admirable pages of
art-criticism, and the ever attractive scenes out of Bohemia.” I:
Goldberg
+ =Boston Transcript= p10 My 1 ’20 1300w
=Dial= 69:102 Jl ’20 130w
“It shares the vivid pictorial quality, the sweeping rhetorical
strokes characteristic of his fiction, but the slightness of its
structure, tenuity of its philosophy and a certain morbidity of theme
relegate it to the secondary rank among his novels. There is too much
in the book that has this charnel-house atmosphere, and while it has
unmistakable power, power does not redeem it.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p2 Ap 24 ’20 850w
“Vicente Blasco Ibáñez is the great storyteller of today. In sheer
ability to narrate, to make even the minutest analyses of the
thought-processes of his characters part of his action, he stands
peerless. ‘Woman triumphant’ only serves to emphasize those traits
which have brought him enthusiastic homage before. The translation,
like the original, is far above the average.” T. R. Ybarra
+ + =N Y Times= 25:198 Ap 18 ’20 950w
Reviewed by F: T. Cooper
=Pub W= 97:1287 Ap 17 ’20 450w
“What moves us in it is that for all their blundering and wantonness
something real and abiding has sprung from the union of Renovales and
his maja.” H. W. Boynton
+ =Review= 2:520 My 15 ’20 500w
“Despite an inherent tendency to sensationalism, ‘Woman triumphant’
may be enjoyed for keen interpretation of human nature, sustained
romantic creation, strong plot and vigorous action.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 30 ’20 500w
=BLEYER, WILLARD GROSVENOR.= How to write special feature articles.
*$2.25 Houghton 070
20–5605
“A handbook for reporters, correspondents and free-lance writers who
desire to contribute to popular magazines and magazine sections of
newspapers.” (Sub-title) “The book is the result of twelve years’
experience in teaching university students to write special feature
articles for newspapers and popular magazines.... The success that
these students have achieved leads the author to believe that others
who desire to write special articles may be aided by the suggestions
given in this book.” (Preface) A careful analysis of current practices
is the basis of the methods presented and an effort has been made to
show the application of the principles of composition to the writing
of articles. The book falls into two parts of which the second is
devoted to a collection of typical newspaper and magazine articles,
with an outline for the analysis of them. Part 1 contains: The field
for special articles; Preparation for special feature writing; Finding
subjects and material; Appeal and purpose; Types of articles; Writing
the article; How to begin; Style; Titles and headlines; Preparing and
selling the manuscript; Photographs and other illustrations. There is
an index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:47 N ’20
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a Ap 4 ’20 240w
=BLISS, DANIEL.= Reminiscences of Daniel Bliss; ed. and supplemented by
his eldest son. il *$2.25 Revell
20–20532
“Daniel Bliss is not a name of resounding fame, and yet the man who
bore it lived a long and useful life, reaching well into its ninth
decade, and this long life was for the most part spent in doing good
to his fellowman. This book is largely an autobiography written, it is
believed, wholly from memory, in his eighty-second year. His life was
the life of a missionary, a teacher and the founder and president of
the Syrian Protestant college at Beirut. He was born in August, 1823,
in Vermont, the son of a farmer of the olden time. In his own language
Mr Bliss records many incidents of his childhood. He follows these
anecdotes with the story of his school life, his apprenticeship to a
tanner, his course later at the academy and at Amherst, where he was
graduated in 1852. It was during his college course that he became
interested in missions and resolved to become a missionary. Soon after
his graduation he received ordination to the ministry. Three years
later he was married, and with his wife sailed for his lifework in
Syria.”—Boston Transcript
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 O 9 ’20 340w
=N Y Evening Post= p9 O 30 ’20 120w
=Outlook= 126:421 N 3 ’20 1450w
“Exceedingly readable book. There is something extremely restful and
benign in the manner and matter of the narration.”
+ =Spec= 125:674 N 20 ’20 300w
“One of the most interesting biographies of the year.”