calmness with which the argument is followed gives a force to the book
which passion itself could hardly sustain.”
+ =Cath World= 112:259 N ’20 500w
+ =Cleveland= p76 Ag ’20 50w
Reviewed by Preserved Smith
+ =Nation= 110:768 Je 5 ’20 550w
“‘Ireland a nation’ stands above and apart from the vast majority of
books on the subject. It owes this distinction not only to its
author’s brilliant handling of a complicated theme, to his sense of
selection, and to his gift of distilling the essence of long-drawn-out
controversies into a witty phrase, but primarily to the fact that he
lifts the issue to a new and higher plane. Where other writers take it
for granted that the dispute is one between two nations. Mr Lynd
confronts the rulers of Great Britain with their pledges not to
Ireland but to the civilized world, and insists that an Irish
settlement is to England’s allies, no less than her enemies, the ‘acid
test’ of whether these pledges are more than mere empty words.”
+ =Nation [London]= 27:50 Ap 10 ’20 1250w
=N Y Times= 25:192 Ap 18 ’20 100w
=N Y Times= p1 Ag 1 ’20 750w
“He is well informed and presents his views with clearness and force,
as befits an editor of the London Daily News. But his book will fail
through over-statement to carry conviction to his opponents.”
+ − =Outlook= 124:431 Mr 10 ’20 100w
“If his pages have at times the intractable vehemence which belong to
his nationality, they are no less lit up with the wit and sparkle that
seldom desert a man of his race.” H. L. Stewart
+ − =Review= 2:461 My 1 ’20 600w
=R of Rs= 61:446 Ap ’20 120w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Mr 30 ’20 280w
=LYNDE, FRANCIS.= Girl, a horse and a dog. il *$2 (2½c) Scribner
20–14290
When Jaspar Dudley’s will was read, instead of the fortune which his
grandson Stanford Broughton expected, he received only a vague legacy
which at first he chose to disregard entirely. For it read something
as follows: “Your portion ... was worth, at its latest valuation,
something like $440,000.... When you find it, you will be able to
identify it by the presence of a girl with brown hair and blue eyes
and small mole on her left shoulder, a piebald horse ... and a dog
with a split face—half black and half white.” With just this
information and certain indefinite geographical data, “Stannie”
finally starts on the trail of his inheritance. He has less trouble in
locating it than might be expected. But then his troubles begin, for
he finds it to be a flooded mine, which is nevertheless highly
desirable to a certain mining engineer. He determines to pump it out,
and ascertain its value. His attempts to do this, and the efforts of
his rival to thwart him, and gain possession himself, make the story,
with, of course, some rivalry for the blue-eyed girl as well.
* * * * *
“Rather well told and interesting to readers of western stories.”
+ =Booklist= 17:71 N ’20
“Plenty of dash in this story, and genuinely interesting from
beginning to end.”
+ =Cath World= 112:554 Ja ’21 110w
“‘The girl, a horse and a dog’ is a book built frankly for amusement
purposes, but it is more substantial than the usual run of adventure
stories. Mr Lynde possesses the power to develop character in a
consistent manner, to afford the reader glimpses of types which live,
and to do this without halting the steady flow of a narrative that
steadily rises in its interest.”
+ =N Y Times= p24 Ag 29 ’20 650w
“A lively tale.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a S 12 ’20 270w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:194 N ’20 60w
=LYNDE, FRANCIS.= Wreckers. il *$1.75 Scribner
20–5584
“Graham Norcross, whose private stenographer and confidential clerk,
Jimmie Dodds, tells the tale of their adventures, was anything but
anxious to become general manager of the much-abused Pioneer short
line. That unfortunate railroad had for some time been nothing but an
instrument for a little group of Wall street speculators to make money
with; they juggled its stock about, stinted it in equipment and
everything else, and abused it generally. Now, squeezed dry, it was on
the verge of bankruptcy. And to make bad matters worse, at its
headquarters in Portal City every wellpaid post was filled by some
cousin or nephew or brother-in-law of the stock speculators who
controlled the road. This was a part of the proposition which faced
Graham Norcross when he started out to make the Pioneer short line an
honest and a paying concern. By the scheme finally carried out, it was
arranged that one section of ‘the country—and the employes—had a
railroad of their own,’ a railroad whose stock was controlled by the
people most interested in its welfare.”—N Y Times
* * * * *
“A railroad story which will interest men and boys.”
+ =Booklist= 16:282 My ’20
+ =N Y Times= 25:153 Ap 4 ’20 700w
“The story maintains the author’s reputation as a teller of
entertaining tales.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 18 ’20 140w
=LYNN, MARGARET.= Free soil. *$2.50 (2c) Macmillan
20–20945
A story of the fight for free soil in Kansas in the fifties. Among the
New England recruits to the free soil population are John and Ellen
Truman, who give up ease and security and take their two young
children into the new and strange land. With them goes Ellen’s cousin
Harvey Sayre, young and high-spirited and ripe for adventure. Later
another cousin, Phoebe Murray, comes for a visit, and refusing to be
sent back to safety, remains to play her part with the other women.
Even before reaching Kansas the Trumans have a taste of the tense
relations between North and South and they are in the heart of the
struggle from the moment of their arrival. Another struggle no less
interesting is revealed within the ranks of the free-soilers, between
the advocates of violence and those who stand for peaceful methods.
The figure of John Brown as he moves through these pages differs
somewhat from popular legend. The love story of Phoebe and Lewis
Hardie, the high courage of the women, and the author’s very evident
love for the prairies lighten the somberness of the story.
* * * * *
“Miss Lynn has not only made her story interesting and her characters
alive; she has pictured the country itself as few writers have
pictured it. ‘Free soil’ is a noble book, a living book, a book to
read and to remember. In its blending of fiction and history it is a
notable achievement.”
+ =N Y Times= p24 D 19 ’20 550w
“As fiction pure and simple the novel has no great art, but it has
historical reality and wide human sympathy. As a sketch of western
living conditions in early days the book is also satisfying.” E. C.
Willcox
+ − =Outlook= 127:109 Ja 19 ’21 140w
=LYTLE, JOHN HORACE.=[2] Story of Jack. il $1.50 Pettibone-McLean co.,
Dayton, O.
20–10081
“The scene of the title story is laid in the Klondike land in the
Klondike days. Jack is a real dog, and a great one, who will win
straight to the heart of every reader.” (Cath World) “The tragic
adventure of Jack is followed by other stories, each directed to a
particular foible of the dog-lover—the pioneer dog who spends his life
by racing with a message of an Indian uprising, the unwelcome mongrel
who rescues a child from drowning and is welcome ever after, the
spaniel who is taught to point golf balls and so saves his master in a
desperate match, and so on.” (Review)
* * * * *
“These are stories of live people and live dogs told in a live way.”
+ =Cath World= 111:838 S ’20 100w
“They are capital tales, all of them; and if the limits of canine
intelligence are overstepped, what harm is done?”
+ =Review= 3:626 D 22 ’20 190w
M
=MCAFEE, CLELAND BOYD.= Christian faith and the new day. *90c (4c)
Macmillan 230
20–6365
The author’s subject is theology—theology as adapted to the needs of
the day. He says in his preface, “Visitors to theological seminaries
often tell young men they are not to preach their theology, whereas in
any sound way of speaking it is the only thing they are to preach.”
The book is addressed “not to technical theologians but to working
ministers and thoughtful laymen.” Contents: The call to
reconstruction; The Christian theology of God; The Christian theology
of salvation; The church; A concluding word. The author is a professor
in McCormick theological seminary, Chicago.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:327 Jl ’20
=MCARTHUR, PETER.=[2] Affable stranger. *$1.50 (4c) Houghton
20–20446
The author is a Canadian farmer and journalist who visited the United
States in the capacity of friendly observer. He was interested
particularly in the state of public opinion as it concerns Canada and
Great Britain and his method was to keep as quiet as possible and let
the other person do the talking. Some of his chapters, which were
contributed first to the Toronto Globe, are: Back to the primitive;
Registering reform; A burden of farmers; Organized for profit; Old
home week; The ward leader; The soul of Canada; A land of upper
berths.
* * * * *
+ =N Y Evening Post= p12 N 27 ’20 80w
=MACAULAY, ROSE.= Potterism. *$2 Boni & Liveright 20–19045
“‘Potterism’ is a newspaper novel. The idea is Potterism. It is a more
inclusive idea than the one which was once covered by the word
‘bromide.’ Potterism also takes in the bromide, but generally speaking
it means ‘muddle and cant—second-rate sentimentalism and cheap
short-cuts and mediocrity.’ It is personified in Mr Potter (afterward
Lord Pinkerton) owner of the Pinkerton Press, and in his wife, ‘Leila
Yorke,’ the novelist. But the Potters are such perfect symbols that
even their own children, Jane and Johnny, help to form the Anti-Potter
league. There are three or four other members of the league, and the
book follows their fortunes, which take a slightly melodramatic turn.
In the end the president of the league is killed in Russia and the
Potter-Pinkerton Press goes on forever.”—New Repub
* * * * *
“In this new novel by Miss Macaulay it is not only her cleverness and
wit which are disarming. It is her coolness, her confidence, her
determination to say just exactly what she intends to say whether the
reader will or no.” K. M.
+ =Ath= p736 Je 4 ’20 380w
“Shrewd, vigorous and interesting to many readers. Most amusing to
those who can appreciate subtle humor.”
+ =Booklist= 17:117 D ’20
“Even to a confirmed Potterite the keen thrust of Miss Macaulay’s wit
must afford a fearful delight. Here is a good antidote for the
oversexed novel.”
+ =Bookm= 52:272 N ’20 220w
“There is no doubt but what Miss Macaulay looks at her day and its
state of mind much as Cervantes looked at his, and her result in
fiction is in kind if not in degree the same. In degree it is far
ahead of its kind beyond anything done by her contemporaries. For all
its clever caricature and exhilarating interest the story is downright
English.” W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p1 N 27 ’20 1150w
“As a sophisticated picture of modern life the book is exceedingly
well done; as a solution of the problem it sets before us it fails,
chiefly because in the author’s philosophy there is no solution—at
least no workable solution.”
+ − =Cath World= 112:694 F ’21 300w
“It is cleverly conceived and cleverly written, but it is a little too
hasty to be complete.” E. P.
+ − =Dial= 70:107 Ja ’21 50w
“In ‘Potterism’ Miss Macaulay has sketched for us a clever, amusing,
and, on the whole, convincing picture of the state of the British mind
during and immediately after the war. Her book pushes as close to the
current hour as it can without lapsing into mere journalism.” Edwin
Björkman
+ =Freeman= 2:429 Ja 12 ’21 490w
“Miss Macaulay’s narrative technique shares the keenness and
distinction of her intellectual outlook. Each section of the book is
told by one of its characters and thus the characterization is of a
rare completeness and inwardness. The section written by Lelia Yorke
is masterly.” L. L.
+ =Nation= 111:sup428 O 13 ’20 620w
“Miss Macaulay is so competent in reaching her aim that one is forced
to wonder why she didn’t make her book a little smoother and more
varied in style, and a little less awkward in form.” S. T.
+ − =New Repub= 24:280 N 10 ’20 460w
“The story is taken up at different stages by the principal figures,
and Miss Macaulay shows real skill in her power of representing the
facts as they appear to each, colored by the style and the
preoccupations of the individual.” E. A. Boyd
+ =N Y Evening Post= p5 N 13 ’20 1050w
“Add to this penetrating observation and trenchancy of expression a
finished style and good powers of characterization and it is not
difficult to understand why Miss Macaulay’s fictional commentary on
present day foibles was praisefully acclaimed in London, where it has
already run into several editions.”
+ =N Y Times= p22 O 31 ’20 850w
Reviewed by Caroline Singer
+ =Pub W= 98:1887 D 18 ’20 340w
“What gives it distinction is the range and flexibility of its idea.”
H. W. Boynton
+ =Review= 3:384 O 27 ’20 550w
“In these days of Potterism, trade-union tyranny, and fiscal
oppression, we are not often, as they used to say in the eighteenth
century, ‘merry.’ Yet Miss Macaulay’s novel amused and refreshed us.
The satire is playful, delicate, and mordant.”
+ =Sat R= 129:543 Je 12 ’20 800w
“The book is rightly named ‘tragi-farcical,’ and therein lies its
weakness, for the abruptness of the alternations are extreme. The
greatest tragedies have not excluded comedy, but the introduction of
farce produces a confusion of tones.”
+ − =Spec= 124:833 Je 19 ’20 640w
“The effect of abstraction is unfortunately heightened by the author’s
device of telling part of the story in her own person, part in the
persons of the different characters, a proceeding for which we can see
no good reason. It would have been better if she had written all in
the person of the unworldly Laurence Juke. In his instalment we have
the Miss Macaulay whom we knew before, afraid neither of pity nor
enthusiasm.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p348 Je 3 ’20 950w
=MCAULEY, MARY ETHEL=, ed. Wanderer; or, Many minds on many subjects;
with an introd. by Charles Alexander Rook. *$2.50 Boni & Liveright 040
20–11654
“In the Pittsburgh Dispatch, Miss Mary Ethel McAuley, calling herself
the ‘Wanderer,’ showed an extraordinary ingenuity in putting nice
questions in casuistry and in eliciting a wide variety of answers to
them, many of which now appear in this volume.” (Review) “‘Can a
radical be a Christian?’ ‘Is our present marriage system perfect?’ ‘Is
it possible for the dead to materialize?’ ‘Should we have birth
control?’ ‘Is the mystic a human need?’ ‘Are the ministers more
muzzled than the editors?’ ‘Would George Sand be received in genteel
society today?’ ‘Was Tolstoi a prophet?’—these are a very few of the
many vital or bizarre questions asked by Miss McAuley and tackled by
Sir Tom, Doctor Dick, and Plain Harry and Lizzie.” (N Y Call)
* * * * *
=Freeman= 2:46 S 22 ’20 250w
“Nobody could possibly accept half the opinions in this book, but some
of them are enlightening, many are interesting, and the “‘Wanderer’
idea is excellent.” A. W. Welch
+ =N Y Call= p10 Jl 25 ’20 360w
=Review= 3:424 N 3 ’20 240w
=MCBRIDE, ISAAC.= Barbarous soviet Russia. il *$2.50 Seltzer 914.7
20–12209
“Favorable pictures of present-day life in Russia under the Bolshevist
régime, as sketched by an American traveler. Mr McBride gave special
attention to labor conditions, education, the status of women, and the
character of the soviet leadership. Interesting documents, including a
report on the financial situation of Russia, are included in an
appendix.”—R of Rs
* * * * *
=Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 7 ’20 500w
“What we have not yet seen is a book which combines a frank
confrontation of the point of view of the Soviets with a clear-eyed
estimate of its principles and a fair description of the successes or
failures resulting in the operation. Mr Isaac McBride has failed to
write such a book, but he has at least shown that the materials for it
are not lacking.” Jacob Zeitlin
+ =Nation= 111:566 N 17 ’20 1400w
“Not the least attractive feature of the book is a number of excellent
illustrations. A great deal of valuable and interesting information
about the labor laws and the industrial condition of soviet Russia is
contained in a long appendix.” A. C. Freeman
+ =N Y Call= p10 Ag 15 ’20 680w
=R of Rs= 62:221 Ag ’20 50w
=MCCABE, JOSEPH.= Taint in politics. *$2 Dodd 172.2
“This anonymous attack on the political world of the day deserves
attention as a searching and forcible exposure of many undoubted
abuses. Lack of principle, lightly disguised corruption, privileged
incompetence, a pampered and leisurely civil service, slavish
adherence to party, the substitution of oligarchy for any true
democracy—these and such like features of public life are trenchantly
and often convincingly attacked; and some historical chapters at the
beginning trace the evolution of political corruption back to the
middle ages. Though the writer has some suggestions at the end as to
shorter parliaments, saving of parliamentary time, and, more broadly,
the fundamental need of popular education, he is almost solely
destructive; he is ‘not so much concerned with the method of
purification as the establishment of the disease,’ and it is a real
merit that he is absolutely impartial in his onslaught on the two—or
three—parties and on the coalition.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“The value of this anonymous criticism of present-day political
affairs would be greatly enhanced were the writer able to confirm the
hope held out at the commencement, that in spite of his summary
dismissal of politics as everywhere and always more or less tainted,
his attitude might eventually be something more than negative.”
− + =Ath= p50 Jl 9 ’20 200w
“The reader is likely to find, in this volume, additional reasons for
congratulation that America has not become a partner in the
international gaminghouse. The chapter on American conditions is
disappointingly superficial.” C. N.
+ − =Freeman= 2:454 Ja 19 ’21 280w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
=Review= 3:229 S 15 ’20 80w
=Sat R= 129:565 Je 19 ’20 700w
“The thoughtful reader will not, of course, forget that there is
another side to the question.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p286 My 6 ’20 280w
=MCCALEB, WALTER FLAVIUS.= Present and past banking in Mexico. *$2 (3c)
Harper 332.15
20–4614
On the ground that the degree of banking development of a country
measures the degree of civilization, comfort, and economic
development, the book attempts “to trace the history of the credit
institutions of the country from their initial stages down to the
present time. Effort has been made to stress the salient facts in the
extraordinary story of the rise and fall of banking in our neighboring
republic.” (Preface) The book is published under the auspices of the
Doheny foundation and a partial list of the contents is: Early stages
of banking and finance; Through the crisis of 1884; Origin of the
Banco nacional; High tide of bank concessions; General law for
institutions of credit; The transition period; Adoption of the gold
standard; Eve of the Madero revolution; Huerta and the banks; Regime
of the Constitucionalistas. There is a bibliography and an index.
* * * * *
“Dr McCaleb has succeeded in furnishing the only comprehensive account
of banking developments in Mexico. It is not easy for American readers
to understand the statements of Mexican banks because of the
differences in the terminology used, which grow largely out of
differences in banking practice. Dr McCaleb has done much to make
understandable the statements which he cites.” A. N. Young
+ =Am Econ R= 10:844 D ’20 940w
+ =Booklist= 16:330 Jl ’20
=Cleveland= p75 Ag ’20 30w
=R of Rs= 62:448 O ’20 50w
=MCCARTHY, JUSTIN HUNTLY.= Henry Elizabeth. *$2 (1½c) Lane
20–13543
Henry Elizabeth’s mother had wanted a girl and her name was to have
been Elizabeth. When he was born a boy the Elizabeth stood with the
addition of Henry, Young Braginton, for he was the master of the
manor-house, grew up a country bumpkin much given to drinking, eating
and women. He was a young giant. One day, after a drunken bout, he
encounters a most beautiful woman, such as he had never seen. It
changes his career. He resolves to give up his old life, go up to
London, become one of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers, and make himself
worthy of his beauty. He falls in with a former court jester who takes
his education in hand, and little by little makes himself master of
all the gallant practices, including swordsmanship. He has many
adventures, serves Elizabeth and is granted favors, and has the
opportunity, most coveted, to champion the cause of his lady love and
rid her of her enemies. Although he had not won her at the end of the
story the reader hopes that he will yet succeed. The picture of London
in Elizabeth’s time is one of the quaint features of the story.
* * * * *
+ =Ath= p307 S 8 ’20 160w
“It is characteristic of Mr McCarthy that it has all the excitement
and rapidity of a good swashbuckling tale with a most polished
workmanship and better style than is the case of most books of the
kind.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 O 13 ’20 420w
“The story is written in that leisurely way that enables the author to
reproduce in fine detail much of the social background of the time
with which it deals and also to accentuate the feeling of its
unhurrying pace. But this is all done without apparent effort and as
an integral part of the story, which moves swiftly enough when the
time for action comes.”
+ =N Y Times= p26 Ag 22 ’20 650w
“A capital tale of the days of Queen Bess. It is just historical
enough and not too much so. A tale which has incident, action, humor,
and character depiction.”
+ =Outlook= 126:238 O 6 ’20 80w
“Mr McCarthy is one of our most acceptable historical novelists. His
people are real; and neither they nor he drop into the mannerisms of
style or the pat dialogue too common among his rivals.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p426 Jl 1 ’20 140w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:195 N ’20 90w
=MACCLINTOCK, LANDER.= Contemporary drama of Italy. *$1.50 (2c) Little
852
20–1987
The book is one of the Contemporary drama series edited by Richard
Burton. Comparatively little is known to the English-speaking public
of modern Italian dramatists. The object of the book is to fill the
gap. The author holds that the Italian is realistic rather than
romantic and his modern literature is characterized by fidelity to
life and the intellectualization of its themes rather than by
emotionalism. Even romanticism contained the germs of the modern
movement and an increasingly intelligent public demands more and more
discussion and solution of vital questions and urgent problems. The
contents are: The foundations; Giuseppe Giacosa; The early realists;
Gabriele D’Annunzio; The later realists; Roberto Bracco; Actors and
acting, the popular theatre, the dialect theatre; The younger
generation; Futurism and other isms; Bibliographical appendix; Index.
* * * * *
“Without that special charm which transforms such a book into one of
popular appeal, but still interesting and useful in its suggestiveness
to the drama student and general reader.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:195 Mr ’20
=Cleveland= p42 Ap ’20 70w
“Mr MacClintock is very agile, very well-informed, his touch is light
and his taste is catholic.”
+ =Freeman= 1:70 Mr 31 ’20 200w
“His book is excellent in every way, a model for the other
contributors to the Contemporary drama series. It is founded upon
indefatigable investigation, at once broad and deep. It is informed
with a fine critical spirit. It is logically planned and proportioned.
It is written in clear English. And it is as unfailingly interesting
as it is unhesitatingly instructive.” Brander Matthews
+ =N Y Times= 25:226 My 2 ’20 2100w
“In spite of occasional infelicities of expression and errors of fact
or of judgment, it is a distinctly valuable contribution to the study
of modern Italian literature. Dr MacClintock’s first chapter, and his
last, ‘Futurism and other isms,’ are the least satisfactory part of
his book, since they involve broad generalizations based on a profound
knowledge of the background. This knowledge he does not yet
sufficiently possess, if one may judge from his tendency to accept and
incorporate the views of previous writers.” K. McKenzie
+ − =Review= 3:452 N 10 ’20 1000w
=MCCONN, MAX.= Mollie’s substitute husband, il *$1.75 (2c) Dodd
20–14216
“Professor” John Merriam, principal of the Riceville high school, on
account of his startling likeness to the “Boy senator,” George Norman,
was induced to represent that gentleman under rather amazing
circumstances. The Reform league of Chicago was trying to secure
better traction conditions in that city and upon Senator Norman rested
the decision, and it was his intention to veto the measure. Then what
was simpler than for the enterprising Reform league to kidnap the
senator and substitute his double—John Merriam, who would put the
thing thru for them in short order. He agreed to play the part, which
involved playing husband to Mollie June, with whom he had been in love
since she was a school girl. The situation naturally led to
complications both public and private, and all the people concerned
were led a merry chase escaping detection. A happy outcome at times
seemed impossible—but at length it is achieved for all except the
unfortunate Senator Norman himself—and perhaps he deserved his fate.
* * * * *
“The story is brisk and brilliant, if complicated in plot.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 S 8 ’20 290w
“A certain levity of style with which he writes disarms criticism and
adds to the entertainment he has provided.”
+ =N Y Times= p29 Ag 15 ’20 550w
=Springf’d Republican= p9a O 24 ’20 120w
=MCCORD, JAMES NEWTON.= Textbook of filing. il *$2 Appleton 651
20–4539
“Based on our experience in training thousands of girls and women for
filing positions no matter what methods were involved, or what
particular manufacturer’s system was employed, this book has been
compiled.... Its purpose is to instruct in the different methods of
filing, which are limited, while the different systems are numerous
and must be reduced to a possible four methods.... Office routine,
short cuts, cross reference and different refinements and
ramifications all come in for proper consideration and the volume is
equally as valuable as a reference book as a textbook.” (Preface)
Contents: Filing equipment; Routing; Alphabetic methods; Numeric
filing; Geographic methods; Subject and decimal methods; Automatic
system; Card indexing; Transferring; Legal filing; Insurance; Real
estate; Follow-up methods; Banking; Sales; Manufacturing; Stocks and
bonds; Card ledgers; Appendix; Index. The author is director of the
New York school of filing.
* * * * *
“A clear, simple presentation.”
+ =Booklist= 16:334 Jl ’20
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 18 ’20 120w
=MCCORMICK, ROBERT RUTHERFORD.= Army of 1918. *$2 Harcourt 940.373
20–19162
A work by a member of General Pershing’s staff, with chapters on: The
background of the army; The inspired ambassador; Early days of the
A.E.F.; The great division; Germany’s last offensive; A few technical
points; The pursuit from the Marne; The American offensives; Some
elements of national defense; New weapons and their use; The general
staff; The crime of silence; The only solution. The solution offered
in the concluding chapter is a strong military establishment with a
trained army based on European, preferably French, models.
* * * * *
“It should be read by everyone who is interested in our future
military policy.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:671 D ’20 100w
=MACCRACKEN, JOHN HENRY.= College and commonwealth, and other
educational papers and addresses. *$3 Century 378
21–159
The collection consists largely of college addresses delivered at
opening or commencement exercises, including, as the title essay of
the book, the author’s inaugural address as president of Lafayette
college. One of the leading ideas in this collection is the
superiority of individualism to conformity, communism or state
control. Even the desirability of cooperation is set forth with
certain reservations. The war with its problems furnishes some of the
topics. Among the titles are: The college and the individual; Liberty
and cooperation; War and education; The college and the shadow of war;
Federal leadership in education; Why the trust idea is not applicable
to education; The college man and freedom; The education of women;
Broader education of engineers; Scientific method and therapeutic
impulse; Religion and education.
* * * * *
+ =N Y Evening Post= p10 D 31 ’20 240w
=MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR.= Anderson Crow, detective. il *$2 (3½c) Dodd
20–4957
Anderson Crow, besides being the detective of the title, held a number
of important municipal offices in the town of Tinkletown, including
those of deputy marshal, deputy superintendent of the fire department,
commissioner of water-works and others. His zeal on the trail of crime
was therefore keen, and he rarely was outwitted, whether he was
capturing German spies, or solving the mystery of a suicide or
following up the effects of hard cider in the Foreign missionary
society. His understudy was Alf Reesling, the village drunkard, who
had been sober for twenty-five years, but who was living on the
reputation of one hilarious week of his youth. Harry Squires, the
editor of the weekly Banner, was a thorn in the side of the detective,
although but for him some of his successes would have been failures.
* * * * *
+ − =Booklist= 16:313 Je ’20
“The tales are written in a farcical, extravagant style which, when
applied to characters obviously intended to represent everyday human
beings, needs a strong dash of humor to make it palatable. Mr
McCutcheon has not made them funny enough. The illustrations, by the
author’s famous brother, are full of ‘pep’ as one would expect them to
be.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:199 Ap 18 ’20 300w
“Good fun.”
+ =Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 50w
“While sketchy and episodical, the narrative is well knit. It is,
perhaps, not far from the truth to say that Mr McCutcheon’s story is a
satire on the detective creation of the fiction writers.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 9 ’20 280w
=MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR.= West wind drift. *$2 (2c) Dodd
20–18655
The Doraine, in the treacherous days of the war, sailed one day from a
South American port carrying a thousand souls. And from that day she
was never seen again, and was eventually reported lost with all on
board. But two German spies might have given a fuller report if they
had told of their work before they dropped off onto the launch that
was awaiting them in the middle of the South Atlantic. The Doraine was
left to helplessly drift, at the mercy of wind and tide. So finally
she was borne to the shores of an uninhabited island. And there the
six hundred or so human beings who had survived the rigors and
exposure of the trip, landed and made a settlement. All the elements
in human nature which men are familiar with in normal circumstances
made themselves felt here, capacity for leadership, love, jealousy,
temptation, treachery, justice, but strongest of all, hope in the
future. Algernon Adonis Percival, in spite of his name and the fact
that he was a stowaway on the doomed ship, is the strongest character
of all, and his career is the most interesting as he rises to the
governorship in quite Admirable Crichton style.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:117 D ’20
=Boston Transcript= p8 D 11 ’20 210w
“George Barr McCutcheon, the facile creator of mythical kingdoms, has
invented a new ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ quite stupendous enough for
production by Mr Griffith.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p10 N 6 ’20 150w
“There is a straightaway yarn, which, if not particularly original or
strikingly dramatic, at least leads one logically from the first
chapter to the last with the feeling that one has been in company of a
good-humored entertainer. Brightly written throughout, Mr McCutcheon’s
latest novel is worthy of his reputation.”
+ =N Y Times= p25 D 26 ’20 480w
“The book is worth reading for itself and also because it brings
saliently to mind some of the things which are essential to liberty
and combined effort in civilized countries, as well as in desert
islands.”
+ =Outlook= 126:600 D 1 ’20 90w
“The book was not written to prove anything for which many will be
thankful.” Caroline Singer
+ =Pub W= 98:1190 O 16 ’20 180w
“It is an entertaining tale which holds the reader enthralled through
its various stages.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 31 ’20 200w
=MACDONALD, GREVILLE.= North door. *$2 (1½c) Houghton
20–26987
This romance, whose scene is the coast of Cornwall more than a century
ago, has a historic background. It shows us the dawn of modern
industrialism and how a country’s prosperity may be paid for with the
blood of a once prosperous peasantry. The central figure is a saintly
but rather unorthodox priest who puts his faith in the good to the
supreme test by himself crossing the threshold of the accursed “North
door” of the church in search of the reality of sin and evil. He finds
both only to see it vanish before the higher reality of a divine
goodness. A two-fold romance runs through the story, that of a peasant
girl’s heroic love for a giant fisherman and smuggler and the highly
spiritualized romance between the priest and Lady Evangeline.
* * * * *
“In this attempt to reproduce the life of a Cornish parish during the
first decade of the nineteenth century some faults of construction are
redeemed by much charm and sincerity.”
+ − =Ath= p815 Je 18 ’20 130w
“Something of Hawthorne’s moral sense, his superstitious awe, his
sternness, his artistry, and, to a certain extent, his power of
construction are more than noticeable—they are outstanding. George
Brandes once declared that literature’s task is to give a ‘condensed
representation of a people and an age.’ If this is true, then ‘The
north door’ is surely entitled to consideration as literature.”
+ − =N Y Times= p24 Ag 29 ’20 640w
“The book has a marked character of its own, it is unusual and
arresting.”
+ =Sat R= 130:262 S 25 ’20 90w
“The portrait of Christopher Trevenna is a real, if slightly
sentimental, piece of character drawing. The author’s rather verbose
and involved style places an unnecessary obstacle in the way of the
reader’s enjoyment.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p370 Je 10 ’20 150w
=MACDONALD, JAMES RAMSAY.= Government of India. *$1.50 Huebsch 354
(Eng ed 20–509)
“The appearance of this informative book is stated by the author to
have been delayed by the war. He reviews the origin and evolution of
the links which connect India with ourselves, and reminds readers that
the needs of that empire cannot be met by an adjustment here and an
adjustment there: ‘they have to be viewed in their wide sweep.’ Mr
Macdonald discusses with considerable fullness the Montagu-Chelmsford
report, deals with the religious problems in India, and remarks that a
very common opinion of both Indians and English is that the Christian
missions in India thwart the nationalist movement—partly by implanting
in the minds of the people thoughts which lead them away from Indian
leadership and ideas. In the author’s judgment, the Legislative
councils should have more authority, especially in finance, and the
Viceroy’s council be made more representative.”—Ath
* * * * *
=Ath= p1272 N 28 ’19 200w
=Booklist= 17:66 N ’20
“This new volume has been produced in an international milieu which is
characterized by at least two sets of conditions. The first are those
generated by the talk of a league of nations, and the second is the
fait accompli of a socialist state in bolshevik Russia. And it is
because the author seeks to harmonize his theories with these novel
phenomena that his book acquires an importance such as is hardly
indicated by the limitations of its title.” B. K. Sarkar
+ − =Freeman= 1:476 Jl 28 ’20 1200w
“The trouble about Mr Ramsay Macdonald’s book on India is that
portions of it are obsolete. He describes a form of government which
is about to undergo great modifications. Little further need be said
by the way of criticism. Mr Macdonald writes with a practised hand,
sometimes even with charm. He has handled his theme with moderation
and restraint. It is a pleasure to pick up a book about India which
contains no word of bitterness, no trace of violent controversy, no
exaggeration or over-statement.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p723 D 11 ’19 950w
=MACDONALD, JAMES RAMSAY.= Parliament and revolution. (New library of
social science) *$1.50 Seltzer 335
20–26685
“‘Parliament and revolution’ is a careful comparison between the
existing government in England and the aims and projects of the
Bolshevists. While the book is antibolshevist, Mr Macdonald is quick
to recognize any sound reasoning in the bolshevist theories to
denounce the flaws in the rule of Parliament. He includes a
description of the working of the soviet system in Russia, and a
discussion of ‘direct action,’ the name under which bolshevism is
discussed and advocated by the British labor party.”—Springf’d
Republican
* * * * *
“Not in any sense an objective scientific study, but an assertion of
principles that deserves attention.”
+ =Booklist= 17:54 N ’20
Reviewed by Ordway Tead
+ =Dial= 69:412 O ’20 640w
+ =Ind= 104:247 N 13 ’20 60w
“As a piece of argumentation ‘Parliament and revolution’ leaves a good
deal to be desired. Its logical texture is not of the finest; too
often it gives us assertion where we want demonstration; and as for
‘scientific’ and ‘unbiased,’ these adjectives, by which the book is
described in the publishers’ advertisement on the paper cover, have no
more to do with the case than the flowers that bloom in the spring.”
R. L. Schuyler
− =Nation= 110:826 Je 19 ’20 850w
“In a measure, Mr Macdonald’s book is a salutary corrective to a good
deal of loose vituperation. But there is another aspect to the matter
with which he has failed to deal. Granted the ignorance and inertia of
the modern electorate what, at bottom, are its causes?... The trade
unions have an importance which Mr Macdonald altogether fails to give
them in this study.” H. J. L.
+ − =New Repub= 22:383 My 19 ’20 1800w
“The book is one that, we warrant, will not fully satisfy any single
Socialist. One feels himself at times tantalized between enjoyment of
some excellent statement of principle or fact or analysis of some
particular question, only to draw a conclusion here and there that
appears to be a concession to conventional opinion. Yet the book will
appeal to all but the romanticists and those of fixed opinions.” James
Oneal
+ − =N Y Call= p10 Jl 25 ’20 1000w
“The first volume of the New library of social science seems to me the
most straightforward treatise on government which has come out since
the beginning of the war.” M. H. Anderson
+ =Pub W= 97:998 Mr 20 ’20 320w
“It is to be hoped that this contribution may stimulate a further
discussion on these important questions of the technique of
revolution.”
+ =Socialist R= 10:28 Ja ’21 920w
“It is forceful in logic and classic in clearness.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Je 27 ’20 100w
“The whole book is a careful study of dangerous political tendencies
of the times and well worth reading by adherents and opponents of
socialism alike.” B. L.
+ =Survey= 44:417 Je 19 ’20 450w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p615 O 30 ’19 240w
=MACDONALD, ZILLAH K.= Eileen’s adventures in Wordland. il *$2.25 (5c)
Stokes
20–17532
“This is the story of a little girl who visited the land behind the
dictionary and found out for herself that words are alive.” Eileen was
sitting in the schoolroom writing out the words she had misspelled and
trying to remember that syntax doesn’t end in tacks, when the letter X
suddenly jumped out of her inkwell and confronted her. Under his
guidance she visited Dictionary Town and there met the words who live
in English Wordland, “plain strong Anglo-Saxon words, French
aristocrat words who came over with William the Conqueror, the old
giant Greek and Latin words, foreign words from every land who have
been adopted by Mother English Language, and the happy-go-lucky slang
words who live in a gipsy camp outside of Dictionary Town.” The
whimsical illustrations are by Stuart Hay.
* * * * *
“A very clever little idea, this. With all her fun, the author tries
to be soundly etymological, which will please the educators, without
annoying the children. The illustrator, Stuart Hay, adds much with his
line-drawings to a book which is bound to give its readers a good
time.”
+ =Lit D= p90 D 4 ’20 270w
“It will be an excellent book for supplementary reading in the
elementary grades. The story moves with much briskness and variety.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p14 N 13 ’20 220w
=MACDONNELL, JAMES FRANCIS CARLIN (FRANCIS CARLIN, pseud.).= Cairn of
stars. *$1.50 Holt 821
20–9075
A second volume of poems by the author of “My Ireland.” As in the
previous volume lyric verse predominates and the themes are drawn from
Irish landscape and custom and fairy lore. A few of the titles are:
The cairn of stars; A girl’s song; The black swans; The market town;
The seventh son; A Munster marriage; An Irish madonna; For a
god-child; The queen of Kerry; The coming of the fairies; The
herdsman’s son; The beggar’s blessing.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:337 Jl ’20
“There is more pure poetry to the square inch of expression on the
printed page of Francis Carlin than there is on the whole leaves of
printed pages by any Irish-American poet of today. ‘The cairn of
stars’ is far better than the earlier book. In the nearly three years
since ‘My Ireland,’ Mr Carlin has added a deliberately finished
technique to the instinctive technique that was his original gift. He
has learned to manage his metres in a way to bring out all the finer
shades of his moods and without impairing the spontaneity of feeling.
At the same time he has greatly broadened the scope of his interests.”
W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p11 My 22 ’20 1450w
“Very tuneful and pleasurable and wholesome even if the more rare and
mysterious promise of certain earlier poems is not entirely
fulfilled.”
+ =Cath World= 112:397 D ’20 190w
Reviewed by Mark Van Doren
+ =Nation= 111:sup414 O 13 ’20 140w
“A book that is delightful to read from beginning to end. Mr Carlin
will never be a great poet, but he will always be a sincere and honest
poet of indubitable talent.”
+ =N Y Times= p16 N 7 ’20 490w
=MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM.= Group mind. *$5 Putnam 301
20–13131
“A sketch of the principles of collective psychology with some attempt
to apply them to the interpretation of national life and character.”
(Sub-title) The author holds that “a society, when it enjoys a long
life and becomes highly organized, acquires a structure and qualities
which are largely independent of the qualities of the individuals who
enter into its composition and take part for a brief time in its
life.” Thus a collective mental life is not merely the sum of the
mental lives of its units but is a “collective mind” or, if one
prefers, “a collective soul.” The book is a sequel to the author’s
“Introduction to social psychology” and assumes the reader’s
acquaintance with it. The contents fall into three parts: General
principles of collective psychology; The national mind and character;
The development of national mind and character. There is an index.
* * * * *
“Soundly empirical as his methods are, Mr McDougall may well fail to
convince the ardent humanitarian of the error of his ways....
Nevertheless, the problem of a national eugenics must be faced and
solved, not simply burked on sentimental grounds. Meanwhile, whatever
moral be drawn from them, the facts must first be reviewed
impartially; and Mr McDougall’s book is the model of a treatment
conceived and executed in the dispassionate spirit of science.” R. R.
M.
+ =Ath= p834 Je 25 ’20 1000w
“The rule which prevents a physician from operating upon a member of
his own family because his emotion would interfere with his judgment
is one that no scientist can afford to ignore. Mr McDougall has
ignored it. That is to say he has not searched his heart to free
himself from his own group affiliations sufficiently to approach his
subject with a clean and clear mind.” Walter Lippmann
− =New Repub= 25:82 D 15 ’20 1600w
“There are one or two of Mr McDougall’s statements to which we might
take exception; but they are few in number and of no importance to his
main argument. He is invariably impartial, lucid, and candid, making
use of no theory, however plausible, unless it will bear the strictest
scrutiny, and advancing no conclusions as proved so long as any
reasonable doubt may be entertained of their soundness.”
+ =Spec= 125:214 Ag 14 ’20 1050w
“The book is well worth reading, but the student will look in vain for
any considerable contribution or stimulating suggestion.” J. K. Hart
+ − =Survey= 45:547 Ja 8 ’21 470w
“The three chapters on ‘The race-making period’ and the following one
on ‘Racial changes during the historic period’ form a singularly
illuminating study of race problems.... The defence made on page 174
of the maxim ‘My country right or wrong’ suggests that his enthusiasm
for the virtue of group loyalty is a little in danger of obscuring to
his eyes the rights of the individual conscience. A Treitschke might
with a little sophistry subscribe it.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p730 N 11 ’20 2000w
=MCDOWALL, ARTHUR SYDNEY.= Realism; a study in art and thought. *$4
Dutton 701
(Eng ed 19–12352)
“Mr McDowall makes his position clear. The material world has, he
believes, a real existence apart from man. At the point of
consciousness its circle and our apprehension intersect, but they
remain separate circles. The problem of realism is to represent this
world that our senses claim for us, not, as Zola supposed, by a
literary photograph, not scientifically, but by ‘truth of impression
in which feeling and imagination play the essential part.’ ‘Truth for
the realist artist can never consist in ... a simple correspondence
with facts. He is an observer, but he is not a reporter. He does not
copy, but he creates a world which refers us back to our own world and
shows it to us more truly.’”—N Y Evening Post
* * * * *
=Boston Transcript= p8 S 15 ’20 980w
“Often the book is murky with the philosophical abstractions,
crystallizing into dogma. He has the caution of the scholar, and not
the audacity of the artist. He avoids the impertinences of brilliance,
but also its decision.”
+ − =Dial= 69:547 N ’20 130w
=New Repub= 24:150 O 6 ’20 430w
“Mr McDowall’s book should be read. It has the awareness, the keen
interest in living problems, of the work of William James.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p3 O 23 ’20 700w
“Mr McDowall approaches his topic from many angles and cites a wealth
of relevant illustration, but finally leaves the impression that he
has failed to get at the heart of it. One reason of his inadequacy is
the ease with which he dismisses as obsolete the older uses of the
term realism.”
+ − =Review= 4:58 Ja 19 ’21 1200w
=MCEVILLY, MARY A.= Meslom’s messages from the life beyond. *$1.50 (6c)
Brentano’s 134
20–6732
The book is a record of automatic writing executed by the author and
bearing messages from the beyond by Meslom, an ancient Hindu, and,
with the aid of Meslom, by “L,” a victim of the war, to his mother. In
the introduction the author relates how she developed her gift. The
messages are chiefly confined to spiritual problems, to God’s creative
force and love and the growth in spiritual power and peace of both “L”
and his mother.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:327 Jl ’20
“The ‘messages’ have no evidential value whatever—there is not a
single test of ‘identity.’ There are vastly more verbal expressions
than thoughts expressed. Is it not safe to assume that the central
element in the treatise, the love of God, is part of the author’s
conception of Christianity, and that the ‘messages’ simply are
subconscious elaborations of her mind? Everything points in that
direction.”
− =Cath World= 111:552 Jl ’20 550w
Reviewed by Joseph Jastrow
− =Dial= 69:208 Ag ’20 290w
“The messages are expressed with simplicity and clarity and reveal
ardent spiritual aspiration.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:18 Jl 4 ’20 200w
=MCFADDEN, GERTRUDE VIOLET.= Preventive man. *$1.75 Lane
20–8449
A story of smuggling on the Dorset coast a century ago. The
“preventive man,” in the vernacular of the time, is a government
agent, who comes into the neighborhood to run down the law breakers.
In truth however, he is less interested in the smuggling than in his
own more weighty private concerns, for he has reason to believe that
his loved brother has met foul play in this very community. By a trick
he gains admittance into the house of Simeon Coffin, the miser, and
begins to gather the evidence that confirms his suspicions. At first
he associates Simeon’s niece, Horatia, with the crime and attributes
her confusion—which is really due to the possession of a piece of
smuggled silk—to her guilt. She is cleared in his eyes however and he
is ready enough to atone for her suffering and his cruelty.
* * * * *
“In spite of improbabilities, the book is well worth reading.”
+ =Ath= p226 F 13 ’20 100w
“Miss McFadden is quite successful in developing her atmosphere of
mystery, and her characters, although all of them are severely shaped
into well-known types, manage to convey a certain sense of reality.
The action of the story is swift enough to sustain the interest and it
rises at times to several thrilling scenes.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:273 My 23 ’20 220w
“The story has everything that is necessary to make it fine, except
that touch of ability which turns a credible narrative into a romantic
one. The landscape writing is recognisably good.”
+ − =Sat R= 129:478 My 22 ’20 70w
“The work is not without merit, but would benefit greatly by pruning
the description and adding to the action.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a Je 13 ’20 200w
“A capital adventure tale of the days when smuggling was a respectable
pursuit.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p126 F 19 ’20 40w
=MACFARLAN, ALEXANDER.= Inscrutable lovers; a tragic comedy. *$1.75 (4c)
Dodd
(Eng ed 20–5589)
Margaret, the daughter of Count Kettle, Irish patriot and champion of
lost causes, has been nourished on romance. As Count Kettle’s daughter
she is pointed out as the most picturesque and romantic figure in
Ireland. But she hates her position and she marries Charlie Macaig to
escape it. “I could have loved a grocer,” says Margaret in
extenuation, “just any grocer.” Charlie Macaig is the youngest member
of a firm of shipowners. He is steady, he is practical, he is
reliable, he is everything that Margaret’s familiar associates are
not. But, as it turns out, his own dreams for all his practical
business years have been of romance and adventure, and Margaret is the
fulfillment of his dreams. There is mutual shock of discovery when the
truth comes out, and then love, abetted by the Catholic church—which
is practical or romantic as you happen to look at it—triumphs.
* * * * *
“To crispness of visualization, the author adds crispness in dialogue.
Novelists cannot eschew some description; here Mr MacFarlan is little
gifted.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p11 Ap 17 ’20 430w
“‘The inscrutable lovers’ is Mr MacFarlan’s second book and he is said
to be very young. It is a very modern sort of youth that is his. His
perceptions are very sharp, but his nature seems wintry. The book is a
study in contrasting temperaments. The contrasts are very clear. They
are indeed too clear and their edges are too glittering. People are
not as simply made as all that.”
+ − =Nation= 110:305 Mr 6 ’20 240w
“It has not only brilliancy but a delicate completeness comparable to
(not like) that of Mr Hewlett’s earlier bits of romantic comedy. A
delightful piece of literary comedy.” H. W. Boynton
+ =Review= 2:334 Ap 3 ’20 700w
“This charming little tale must be classified rather as an essay in
pure comedy than as a reproduction of actual life.”
+ =Sat R= 128:229 S 6 ’19 450w
=MCFEE, MRS INEZ NELLIE (CANFIELD).= Boy heroes in fiction. il *$1.75
(2c) Crowell
20–17319
The stories of seven boy heroes in fiction are here presented in
condensed form. The foreword says, “Some of these boy heroes of
yesterday may not be known to boys of today, partly because their
stories are imbedded in extra large volumes, which do not stop with
boy life, but include many other things. It has been the happy task,
therefore, of the present editor to disentangle and condense these
stories, presenting only the portions which pertain to the boy life of
each hero.” Contents: Little Gavroche (from “Les misérables”); David
Balfour (from “Kidnapped”); Oliver Twist; Jim Davis (from Masefield’s
“Jim Davis”); David Copperfield; Jim Hawkins (from “Treasure island”);
and John Halifax.
* * * * *
=Lit D= p90 D 4 ’20 50w
“Her volumes would have gained as much in effect as they would have
lost in length had she limited herself to quotations instead of
supplementing them with paraphrases.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p25 O 23 ’20 70w
=MCFEE, MRS INEZ NELLIE (CANFIELD).= Girl heroines in fiction. il *$1.75
(2c) Crowell
20–17320
The six girls chosen for this volume are Little Dorrit, Maggie
Tulliver, Ellen (from “The wide wide world”), Little Nell, Eppie (from
“Silas Marner”), and Cosette (from “Les misérables”). “Each girl is
introduced in very nearly her author’s own words, and thus preserves
her own individuality.” As in the book of boy heroes, the editor
expresses the hope that the stories as presented here may serve as an
introduction to the full-length versions.
* * * * *
=Lit D= p90 D 4 ’20 50w
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p25 O 23 ’20 70w
=MCFEE, WILLIAM.= Captain Macedoine’s daughter. *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday
20–26979
The story of Captain Macedoine’s daughter is told by the “quiet and
occasionally garrulous” Chief of H. M. S. Sycorax, detailed to escort
convoys through the Ægean in war time. The Chief had known the
Mediterranean in the days of peace and this is a peace-time story of
plotting and intrigue, involving Captain Macedoine’s great
international bubble, the Anglo-Hellenic development company, in which
his daughter is used as a tool. From her mother the girl had a mixture
of dark blood. Mr Spenlove, the chief, who had been one of those who
fell under her spell, tells all that he knew of her tragic life and
death, drawing from it his own conclusions on the nature of love.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:117 D ’20
“A tale of strange people, strange places, strange motifs, strange
morals told with brilliant effect and satisfying completeness.” S. M.
R.
+ =Bookm= 52:370 D ’20 360w
“This well-written novel, broader in its scope than Mr McFee’s
previous books is strong not only in its character portrayal but in
the philosophy interspersed throughout its pages.”
+ =Bookm= 52:367 Ja ’21 90w
“While ‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ is not so good a story as either
‘Casuals of the sea’ or ‘Aliens,’ it has in it all the original
qualities of unconventional fiction that long ago established Joseph
Conrad and that is placing Mr McFee in the same rank of novelists.” E.
F. E.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 N 3 ’20 1200w
“William McFee’s new novel has the same elusive perfume as Conrad’s
‘Arrow of gold.’” A. W. Welch
+ =N Y Call= p7 Ja 9 ’21 380w
“‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ gladdens the heart of the serious
lover of English prose, for it proves that in Mr McFee we have no mere
casual of the pen, no fortunate adventurer upon ink who triumphed by
chance, but a soberly devoted novelist from whom many years of fine
work may confidently be expected.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p5 N 13 ’20 1100w
“‘Captain Macedoine’s daughter’ is, first of all, a masterful
portrayal of two colorful personalities.... But it is far more than
that; it is, too, a contrast between occidental and eastern
civilizations and philosophies, a commentary on human nature,
particularly an analysis of love, and an achievement in beautiful
prose.”
+ =N Y Times= p18 N 7 ’20 1000w
“There is less sea and more siren in this novel than Mr McFee’s
readers would perhaps expect. Few readers will resist the charm of the
style; some will think the dénouement unsatisfying.”
+ − =Outlook= 126:515 N 17 ’20 80w
“Unmistakably a big, compelling, haunting book.” F: T. Cooper
+ =Pub. W= 98:1190 O 16 ’20 420w
“The outstanding impression is the sense of atmosphere which the
narrative imparts to the reader. The narrative has many curious
ramifications, but each is an important part of the whole, and the
reader will find himself enthralled from the first to the last scene.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p7a N 28 ’20 640w
=MCGIBENY, DONALD.=[2] 32 caliber. *$1.75 Bobbs
20–18770
“Although the author is unusually progressive in having his villain
operate with the aid of airplane and machine gun, the general plot and
the situations created are such as might be encountered in every-day
life and modern crime. An attorney and his wife, on the way to keep an
appointment that involves the domestic happiness and honor of both,
are found at a lonely spot, the car wrecked, the man dead from a
bullet wound, the wife unconscious in the tonneau. Was it another
automobile accident, was the man murdered by the wife or did an
outsider have a part in the tragedy? These are questions that
perplexed the authorities and will perplex and mystify the
reader.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“The basis and material used in the tale is excellent and would make a
capital short story.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p9 Ja 26 ’21 150w
“A not too lurid mystery interestingly built up and broken down, in a
rapid, easy narrative style.”
+ =Ind= 104:383 D 11 ’20 20w
“The only marked defect is the author’s attempt to force the reader’s
suspicions on characters whose guilt, if ultimately proved by the
story, would shock any decent sense of plausibility.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p11 N 27 ’20 70w
“He has written so well, made his people so living and so pleasant,
handled his subject so surely, that it is difficult to think of this
book as a maiden essay.”
+ =N Y Times= p25 D 19 ’20 580w
“Among the better of the new detective tales, ’32 calibre,’ early
arouses the interest of the reader and holds it through a series of
adventures, with the solution of the mystery not even indicated until
the close.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 31 ’20 150w
=MACGILL, PATRICK.= Maureen. *$2 (1½c) McBride
20–13698
Mr MacGill’s new story of Donegal is a mingling of pathos and humor,
hard toil and grim poverty, beauty and stark tragedy. Maureen, the
daughter of Kathleen O’Malley, tastes all the sorrow and loneliness of
an illegitimate child and after her mother’s death leaves the parish.
She has won the love of young Cathal Cassidy and he would have her
stay, but long before her mother had warned her that her only
happiness would lie in marrying a man outside the parish who would not
have to suffer for her shame in the eyes of his neighbors, and to
spare Cathal this she leaves him. She meets experiences that are
bitterly cruel, but after them finds a haven with kind people and at
the end of two years returns. Cathal has been faithful and it seems
that their love is to bring them happiness, but tragedy overwhelms
them. The war and Sinn Fein have a place in the background of the
story.
* * * * *
“The characters in general are well drawn, and have that tragic
intensity which Synge and others have made us believe to be in the
Celtic blood.”
+ =Ath= p1242 N 21 ’19 120w
“Unmitigated truth and sincerity produce a strong reality of
characters and atmosphere though not a pleasant story.”
+ =Booklist= 17:72 N ’20
“Such a thing to be done at all must be done exceptionally well, and
Mr MacGill, with a good style at his command, has achieved a triumph.”
G. M. H.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 7 ’20 520w
“The minor characters are admirably drawn; the chief ones are less
vivid and convincing. The weaknesses of the story are glaring: it is
poor both in structure and in motivation. Keeran, in the final
chapters, is drawn on the lines of Dickens at his worst, and the
tragic conclusion brings the reader up with the jolt of an express
train coming to a violent halt.”
− + =Cath World= 112:547 Ja ’21 220w
“The chief and tragic emphasis falls upon youth, in spite of which the
best of the story lies in the penetrating, vivid, and thoroughly human
presentation of the old people.” E. P.
+ =Dial= 70:107 Ja ’21 50w
“Much of the power of the story lies in the intermingling of quite
Russian realism, with an idealism which bursts flamelike through the
recital of brutal details. ‘Decent’ is the salutation of the people of
Dungarrow for the strangers they meet, and decent is the epithet
uppermost in the mind of the reader, in spite of Mr MacGill’s frank
exposure of the vices of his own people.” E. L.
+ =Grinnell R= 15:283 N ’20 240w
“‘Maureen’ is the story of a peasant girl in Donegal, a terrible story
in many ways and a curiously fascinating one. Mr MacGill knows how to
flash a scene so vividly before your mind that it haunts your visual
memory for days afterward.”
+ =Ind= 104:242 N 13 ’20 120w
“In ‘Maureen’ there is considerable alloy, yet much good metal and
some precious. But the whole thing needs fusing.” J. C. L.
+ − =New Repub= 23:261 Jl 28 ’20 400w
“‘Maureen’ is not up to ‘Children of the dead end’ or ‘Rat pit,’ but
it is well worth reading, especially to Irish folk and the legion that
love the Irish.” S. C. Daljord
+ =N Y Call= p11 Ag 1 ’20 600w
“There are very few figures in the story that evoke admiration; most
of them, to be quite frank, suggest the opposite. But their vitality
is amazing, and because of this authentic possession of the power to
make his characters live and breathe, Mr MacGill takes a prominent
place with those other admirable Irish fictioneers, St John Ervine,
Shaw Desmond, James Joyce and James Stephens.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:279 My 30 ’20 1150w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ =Review= 2:679 Je 30 ’20 500w
“Mr MacGill’s story is a stern presentation not only of characters,
but of racial characteristics and psychology. It is always real and
alive. The book unrolls before the reader’s eyes a segment of life
from rural Ireland with all the reality of a picture film.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Je 13 ’20 650w
“Nothing farther removed from the individualist English novel could be
imagined. It is not that the characters are in any way lacking in
individuality. They are creatures of flesh and blood right enough,
terrible in their humanity. But it is as social rather than as
personal values that they count. There is little joy in Mr MacGill’s
book—one feels that the sun seldom shines in Donegal—but it has
creative richness and the supreme quality of truth.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p712 D 4 ’19 400w
=MCGILVARY, MARGARET.= Dawn of a new era in Syria. il *$2.50 Revell
940.356
20–20216
“Miss McGilvary during the progress of the war was the secretary of
the Beirut chapter of the Red cross and hence had unusual
opportunities for following the trend of events. The story which she
tells, and of which she herself was a part, is of deep interest; how
an American printing house was converted into a relief bureau; how
American philanthrophy did its part in ameliorating the condition of
the unhappy people; how difficulties were thrown in the way by the
Turks; culminating presently in the arrest of the entire American
mission. She tells in thrilling language of a year of horror, and
toward the end, of the collapse of the Central powers, the decline of
German prestige, and lastly of the end of Turkey.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“Hers is a story very well worth the reading, for it is the story of
one who was upon the spot and was a witness of all of which she
writes.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 O 27 ’20 330w
“Her book contains vivid notes on the personalities of Enver, Talaat,
and Jemal.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p638 S 30 ’20 140w
=MCGOVERN, WILLIAM MONTGOMERY.= Modern Japan; its political, military
and industrial organization; with a preface by Sir E. Denison Ross. *$5
Scribner 915.2
(Eng ed 20–9379)
“Dr McGovern spent ten years in the Far East, ‘six of which were
devoted to school and college studies in Japan.’ He is, therefore,
eminently qualified as an interpreter of Japanese thought and Japanese
ideas. He begins with an ethnographical, geographical and historical
introduction. Having discussed the early history of the Yamato race,
he proceeds to give a summary of the evolution of the country since it
was opened up by Commodore Perry’s famous visit. He tells of its
constitution and political parties, of its organization and
government, of its finances, of its efficient bureaucracy (as compared
with the cumbrous British form), its imperial socialism (as he calls
the centralization of all economic activity), of its military
efficiency (based on German models), of its naval menace, of its
industrial and commercial development, its banking system, its
agriculture, its foreign trade. The concluding section is a very brief
statement of the language and literature, the arts of sculpture,
painting, the drama, poetry and religion in its three-fold
phase.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“His book is distinctly illuminating, although we may complain that
too much space is devoted to the dry bones of political and military
matters, and not enough to the psychology of the people and its
expression in literature and the other arts.”
+ − =Ath= p528 Ap 16 ’20 100w
“A clear, forceful condensation.”
+ =Booklist= 16:342 Jl ’20
“Much of Dr McGovern’s book is the expression of a full knowledge and
an open mind. It is perhaps the fairest exposition of the whole field
of Japanese thought and accomplishment to be found in the vast number
of books which have been written about Japan. Dr McGovern’s style is
not noticeable for grace.” N. H. D.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p11 My 1 ’20 900w
“To those who wish to gain an insight into the potentialities of this
forward pushing nation Dr McGovern’s book offers information that is
well worth having.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:18 Jl 11 ’20 1550w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p159 Mr 4 ’20 80w
“We are grateful to Mr McGovern for this book, but we should have been
more so if he had facilitated its use as a work of reference by the
addition of an index. We should be still more grateful to him, if,
instead of going over old ground that is open to anyone, he used his
very peculiar qualifications in a field that is altogether
unexplored.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p247 Ap 22 ’20 850w
=MACGRATH, HAROLD.= Drums of jeopardy. il *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday
20–17960
The heroine of this story is Kitty Conover; it is hard to say whether
“Cutty,” war-correspondent and secret service agent, or Johnny
Two-Hawks, is the hero. They both aspire to be, but as Cutty is
handicapped by an extra score or so of years, he is at some
disadvantage. The theme of the story is Cutty’s attempt to capture a
band of “Reds” and to get possession of the “Drums of jeopardy,” a
pair of enormously valuable emeralds. Johnny Two-Hawks comes into it
because he is fleeing from this band of “Reds” and at one time
possesses the drums of jeopardy. Kitty tries to help them both, rather
blindly at first, succeeds in getting herself kidnapped and held for
ransom and is finally rescued by both heroes. The leader of the Reds
is killed and the end of the story leaves Cutty in possession of the
drums of jeopardy.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:158 Ja ’21
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 3 ’20 180w
=MACGRATH, HAROLD.= Man with three names. il *$1.75 (3c) Doubleday
20–26106
The man with three names was many things in one, besides his names. He
was a novelist, a romantic lover of unusual daring, and a crusader for
justice and right. He wrote a book, that went straight to the hearts
of sentimental young girls, over a pseudonym. He loved a millionaire’s
daughter under his mother’s maiden name, while he flayed her father
for the wrongs he had done to the poor. He was the son of a thief who
had died in prison for fraudulent business operations and whose
fortune he was devoting to expiatory purposes. He achieved all he set
out to do: won fame, won the girl, and helped to make over the girl’s
father into a good man, expiated his own father’s sins and restored
his family name to new honor.
* * * * *
“On the whole, however, his performances are mildly entertaining.”
+ − =Ath= p619 N 5 ’20 130w
=Booklist= 16:172 F ’20
=Boston Transcript= p6 Mr 31 ’20 480w
“It is a pleasant, readable little story, brightly written and
sufficiently rapid in movement.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:22 Ja 18 ’20 500w
+ − =Pub W= 96:1692 D 27 ’19 300w
=Springf’d Republican= p11a Mr 7 ’20 230w
“Here is the same flowing, almost racy style, which we recall in the
‘Private wire to Washington.’ There is no lack of humour.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p670 O 14 ’20 320w
=MACHARD, ALFRED.= When Tytie came (Popaul et Virginie); tr. by Howard
Vincent O’Brien. il *$1.75 Reilly & Lee
20–17171
A story of child life translated from the French. Popaul, a little boy
of ten whose father is at the front, adopts Marie, a Belgian refugee
and takes her home to Madame Medard. The two have many adventures,
humorous and serious, and a deep devotion develops between them. A
blinded soldier tells them the tale of Paul and Virginia and they see
the parallel to their own story. Deeply in love they go through a
marriage ceremony and regard the affair with great seriousness,
accepting Tytie, the American doll, as their child. Popaul, following
his father’s death, is adopted by a rich countess who, finally moved
by his sorrow, sees that the children cannot be separated and takes
Marie to live with her also.
=MACKAIN, F. E.= Buzzy; the story of a little friend of mine. il *$1.50
Jacobs
This story for little children relates the adventures of a teddy bear.
In the first of them Peggy, Buzzy’s little mistress, takes him out
into the snow and sets him up, back to a tree, while she makes a snow
man, and then the tea bell rings and she runs away and forgets all
about him. But Buzzy, left alone, enters into an interesting
conversation with the snow man and makes the acquaintance of a rabbit
who invites him to his home for the night. Buzzy has other adventures,
meets a princess and takes an unexpected journey to London in a suit
case. There are pictures in color and humorous drawings in black and
white by the author.
=MACKALL, LAWTON.= Scrambled eggs. il *$1.25 Stewart & Kidd 817
20–6377
“A diverting tale of barnyard life. Eustace the duck and his wife, who
believes in a communal incubator, Martha the hen who believes that the
female’s place is on the nest, and her frivolous husband Clarence, who
is always finding an attractive new pullet, have various adventures
that parody amusingly the complications of present-day
life.”—Cleveland
+ =Booklist= 16:377 Jl ’20
“The skillfully ludicrous is not half plentiful enough in this sad
world of printed pages. ‘Scrambled eggs,’ however, is just that.”
+ =Bookm= 52:348 D ’20 40w
+ =Cleveland= p85 S ’20 50w
“The satire is amusingly carried out, and the illustrations by Oliver
Herford help a great deal.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:209 Ap 25 ’20 190w
+ =Review= 3:48 Jl 14 ’20 130w
“Lawton Mackall, editor of ‘Judge’ gives visible proof of his
qualification to be in charge of a journal of humor by a delicious bit
of barnyard satire, ‘Scrambled eggs.’”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 18 ’20 100w
=MACKAY, HELEN GANSEVOORT (EDWARDS) (MRS ARCHIBALD K. MACKAY).= Chill
hours. *$1.50 (5½) Duffield
20–3265
Sketches of France in war-time, of the people who were left behind, at
home and in the hospitals, deep, sad, intimate things that grip the
reader with their poignancy of pain. The longest of these sketches,
Nostalgia, is a review of all the beautiful things that were once upon
a time, long ago before the war.
* * * * *
“The writer’s success is very definite in capturing the pensive and
romantic atmosphere. The stories are written with a tender, though
never sentimental or too slight touch, that gives the suggestion of
music heard in the twilight from an old harpsichord, and something of
the abiding fragrance.”
+ =Ath= p494 Ap 9 ’20 180w
“Will be liked by those who read for beauty of expression and
imagination. Nostalgia is one of the most poignant and revealing
sketches that has come from the war.”
+ =Booklist= 16:271 My ’20
“Helen Mackay has successfully performed the seemingly impossible in
‘Chill hours.’ To be able to write with the pathos and restraint used
in these sketches is to possess the technique of the skilled artist,
and the vision given to a chosen few.” C. K. H.
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 My 5 ’20 500w
+ =Dial= 69:321 S ’20 50w
“Miss Mackay is a poet first of all, and poetical values are contained
in all her bits of prose.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:25 Je 27 ’20 230w
=Review= 2:605 Je 5 ’20 130w
“The author carries the art of selection to a fine point, and there is
never a word too much in her terrible little sketches.”
+ − =Spec= 124:314 Mr 6 ’20 150w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p22 Ja 8 ’20 80w
=MACKAY, WILLIAM MACKINTOSH.=[2] Disease and remedy of sin. *$2.50 Doran
234
20–10742
“The author is pastor of Sherbrooke church, Glasgow. He has been
trained in medicine and theology. He approaches the subject from the
standpoint of a pastor, whose work has brought him into closest touch
with men. He holds that religion is of the very substance of life. He
examines the matter of spiritual health with the thoroughness of the
physician to the body. He describes his book as ‘an essay in the
psychology of sin and salvation from a medicinal standpoint.’”—Bib
World
* * * * *
“Preachers especially and all students of the phenomena of
Christianity will find this a fresh, stimulating book. It will add a
new accent to the usually dismal discussions of sin and salvation.”
+ =Bib World= 54:644 N ’20 190w
“The analogy between physical and spiritual conditions enables the
writer to offer counsels for spiritual treatment which are clearly the
result of a keen insight into the characters of men and the conditions
in which they live. Readers may not be able to accept some of the
author’s theories and tabulations, but the book is an important
contribution to the study of sin, its origin, its growth, and its
remedies.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p11 Ja 2 ’19 340w
=MACKAYE, PERCY WALLACE.= Rip Van Winkle. il *$1.50 Knopf 782
20–923
This version of the legend is in the form of a folk-opera in three
acts for which Reginald DeKoven has written the music. Like Dion
Boucicault’s drama, it is based on Washington Irving’s story but, the
author tells us, with more differences than resemblances to both. “The
differences have developed mainly from the consideration that I was
writing—not a story or a play, but an opera; and this constant
consideration has resulted in the two main contributions of mine which
modify the old legend—the creation of a new character, Peterkee, and
the introduction of a new element in the plot, the magic flask.”
(Preface)
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:195 Mr ’20
“It is fair, however, to warn the reader that he will find here some
graceful verse but little poetry, many characters, but little distinct
characterization, and hardly anything of either the pathos or the
humor of the old story beloved of all readers of English.”
− + =Theatre Arts Magazine= 4:260 Jl ’20 190w
=MCKENNA, STEPHEN.= Lady Lilith. *$2 (2c) Doran
20–18657
The sobriquet, Lady Lilith, is applied to Lady Barbara Neave, daughter
of a viceroy of India. From childhood on she has been a problem to her
family and has kept their nerves on edge with her surprising
escapades. Early accustomed to social prominence and adulation, her
craving for sensations soon seeks wider fields than through
conventional channels. Her excessive vanity makes her an adroit
actress, and her heartlessness enables her to walk roughshod over
everybody in search of new emotions and new rôles to play. She seems
vulnerable only in one spot: her superstition. Throughout the story
she toys with the sensation of Jack Waring’s blunt criticism of
herself and his persistent love-making. The reader is left somewhat in
doubt how much of her remorse after her final refusal of him is
genuine feeling, how much theatrical pose, and how much superstitious
fear.
* * * * *
“If Mr McKenna’s novel were witty, amusing, an aspect of the human
comedy, or just nonsense—or even melodrama—we should not protest. But
to butcher his gifts to make a snobs’ banquet is surely a very
lamentable pastime. It would be interesting to know whether he has—a
dozen, say—readers of his own sex.” K. M.
− =Ath= p616 N 5 ’20 420w
“The author gives us a picture of present day social and political
life in London, but we sincerely trust that his heroine is not typical
of the modern English woman.”
+ − =Cath World= 112:553 Ja ’21 190w
“An engrossing picture of English society just before and during the
war.”
+ =Cleveland= p105 D ’20 40w
“Two solid volumes of Sonia richly sufficed us and we rather resent
having her served up to us again; even under another name. Lady
Barbara Neave is just Sonia, only more so.” V. G.
− + =Freeman= 2:358 D 22 ’20 220w
“The most striking thing in this novel is the fact that though we see
and know Barbara in all her shallow selfishness, we fall under her
spell, even as those who make the story with her fall under it.”
+ =N Y Times= p26 D 19 ’20 1800w
+ − =Spec= 125:675 N 20 ’20 150w
“Next to ‘Sonia,’ this is the author’s most finished and interesting
work. Indeed, he sometimes attains the high level set in that
admirable book.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a D 5 ’20 420w
“One cannot fail to recognize that artistically he is at home,
conveying always a very fair impression of reality in general detail,
writing with ease and often with wit, drawing characters which are all
recognizable as types. But the significance is the question, and here,
so far, he is not convincing.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p666 O 14 ’20 420w
=MCKENNA, STEPHEN.= Sheila intervenes. *$1.75 (2c) Doran
20–26313
The outstanding personages of this story are Denys Playfair, an
Irishman with a family history that has made resentment towards the
English governing classes a part of his inheritance; Sheila Farling,
also Irish, slight, black-eyed, clever, full of the joy of life, and
on occasion full of mischief, and scorn and a faculty for raillery;
and Daphne Grayling, Sheila’s cousin, daughter of an old-fashioned
mother who is keeping her in leading strings even to the choice of a
husband for her, and who condemns her to a life of boredom and
inactivity. Sheila’s exuberant spirit leads her to play providence for
her friends. She engineers Denys into a political career, and noticing
the blossoming out of Daphne under Denys’s friendship, does violence
to her own feelings for him, while she engineers the two into a love
compact. Fate intervenes in the form of a serious accident to Daphne’s
ex-fiancé, which brings the latter to a realization that duty is
stronger than love. It also intervenes to acquaint Denys with Sheila’s
true feeling for him for when he collapses before her eyes from the
effects of over-work and strain, her assumed indifference likewise
collapses.
* * * * *
“Her delightful grandfather is one of the best characters and Sheila
herself is irresistible.”
+ =Booklist= 16:245 Ap ’20
“Despite this slightness of plot, the story carries its own
sentimental interest and is continually a matter of touch and go.
Moreover the characters are delightful.” M. E. Bailey
+ − =Bookm= 51:205 Ap ’20 240w
“An earlier work has been resurrected from the obscurity of the
novelist’s earlier career to share the success of his later books. In
many cases the act is justified. But in Mr McKenna’s case it seems to
us decidedly a mistake.”
− + =Boston Transcript= p7 Mr 24 ’20 220w
“Yet in spite of its failings and its extremely weak—at times almost
ludicrously weak—motivation, the novel is not without its good points.
Sheila herself is attractive, and the dialogue is easy and not
infrequently even bright.”
+ − =N Y Times= p116 Mr 14 ’20 500w
“Imagine a new ‘Dolly dialogues’ with a serious motive behind it, and
you get somewhere near the aim and substance of this earlier work by
the author of ‘Sonia.’” F: T. Cooper
+ =Pub W= 97:998 Mr 20 ’20 400w
“It is all very interesting, for Mr McKenna’s people are brilliant,
and the dinner parties, social gatherings and political conferences
scintillate with wit and sharp exchanges of opinions on public
questions of the moment. Meanwhile, the principal romance is handled
with skill by the author.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a Ap 4 ’20 600w
=MACKENZIE, COMPTON.= Poor relations. *$1.90 (2c) Harper
19–19599
A successful playwright, suddenly grown rich, is surrounded by a host
of poor relations, brothers and sisters with wives, husbands and
offspring, all more or less failures, all tactlessly anxious to drink
at the golden fountain. They drive him from his country home, they
assail him in his town house, they turn against him their slanderous
tongues when their expectations are not fulfilled. He is a good sort
and goes the full length of the bearable, but at last, in desperation,
elopes with his long-loved secretary on a honeymoon to America after
committing one revengeful act. Mindful of the internecine warfare
among his relations, he makes a present of one-fifth of his country
home to each family group respectively.
* * * * *
“The Touchwood family is one of those detestable, fascinating families
that we cannot have enough of.” K. M.
+ =Ath= p1035 O 17 ’19 1000w
=Booklist= 16:245 Ap ’20
“Mr Mackenzie has here the material for a short story or, let us say,
a well-balanced novelette. But instead of selecting, and sorting, and
packing it down, he lets it take possession of him. There is of course
a lot of amusing stuff in it, no end of satirical material, no end of
clever and witty touches. But the book as a book is without form and
void.” H. W. Boynton
− + =Bookm= 51:341 My ’20 420w
+ =Cleveland= p83 S ’20 50w
“‘Poor relations’ is a farce. Any number of children and adults pass
through its pages, all acting exactly as children and adults act. A
plot of quite exceptional banality and incidents of incredible age and
vulgarity serve to display these life-like wares. It would be easier
to think lightly of Mr Mackenzie’s failure if one did not have to
remember what Henry James said of him. Remembering that, and
remembering Jenny Pearl, the brief story of Mr Mackenzie’s career
takes on some of the proportions of tragedy.” Gilbert Seldes
− =Dial= 68:611 My ’20 1100w
“‘Poor relations’ shows, moreover, that recognition of how strange
people really are which has always been one of Mr Mackenzie’s virtues.
He has resisted that persistent underwriting of character and
circumstance which has been the curse of refined English literature
ever since the days of Gissing, and has not been afraid to allow
fantastic people to do fantastic things.” Rebecca West
+ =New Repub= 21:362 F 18 ’20 1200w
“Written in a light ironic manner, with much deftness of phrasing and
a thorough understanding of the follies and meannesses and hypocrisies
to which his ‘poor relations’ are so exceedingly prone, it yet usually
and skilfully contrives to keep the reader in sympathy with its vain,
generous, sentimental and self-deceived hero.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:1 Mr 7 ’20 750w
“Though marred toward the end by that longwindedness which is his
besetting sin, it is exceptionally amusing.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 60w
“Mr Mackenzie may object to the expression: ‘this well known author
writes in an entirely new vein’ but it seems to fit the occasion. He
handles his hero with affectionate jocularity bordering on farce. Yet
the complete picture of John Touchwood is fine, human and
lovable—perhaps just because of its convincing defects.” Doris Webb
+ =Pub W= 97:994 Mr 20 ’20 260w
“It was with some trepidation that we opened ‘Poor relations.’ Our
delight was therefore doubly great on finding no taint of the Scarlett
novels marring its pages. Quite early in the book the principal
character remarks: ‘This passion for realism is everywhere.... Thank
goodness, I’ve been through it and got over it and put it behind me
for ever.’ Let us pray that he is speaking with the voice of his
creator.”
+ =Sat R= 128:319 O 4 ’19 1150w
“This is an ingenious and at times diverting recital, bordering on
extravaganza, but not too remotely detached from reality to be
incredible, and not too malicious in its satire to be unenjoyable.”
+ =Spec= 123:865 D 20 ’19 400w
“‘Poor relations’ is engagingly light-hearted in all its phases, with
a discernible grain of reality beneath the shell of comedy and
satire.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a My 2 ’20 600w
“The oppression which has seemed of late to brood over the work of Mr
Compton Mackenzie has cleared away, we hope never to return. In ‘Poor
relations’ the sun comes out brightly from the clouds, a gentle breeze
of humour blows the story along, and the reader from the first page to
the last enjoys himself immensely.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p513 S 25 ’19 850w
=MACKENZIE, COMPTON.= Vanity girl. *$2 (1½c) Harper
20–7724
It is the story of the clever scheming of a vain, selfish, heartless
but very beautiful girl. Her first step to use her beauty as an asset
was to go on the stage. As “Vanity girl,” opportunities offered to
cast her net for a titled husband. She captured the fifth Earl of
Clarehaven and was received by the family on equal terms. Her first
disappointment came when the fates denied her a son to inherit the
earldom, and her second when her foolish husband, with cards and
horses, succeeded in losing the family estate. When he is killed in
France, and the sixth Earl of Clarehaven at last arrives, the
impoverished countess still has one trump card left. She marries the
millionaire Jew, who is now owner of Clare, on the condition that he
make over the entire estate to her son.
* * * * *
“In whatever contempt Mr Mackenzie may hold his public—how is it
possible that he should dare to invite them to partake of such sickly
food? We should not waste space upon so pretentious and stupid a book
were it not that we have believed in his gifts and desire to protest
that he should so betray them.” K. M.
− =Ath= p639 My 14 ’20 760w
“This writer does have the instinct for action and, once you accept
his people as figures in a picaresque novel, you have something to tie
to, as you never do with Mr George. The ‘trouble’ here, indeed, is
that Mr Mackenzie, not being aware of his true job, deviates into
sense, that is, into interpretation, just often enough to queer his
real pitch.” H. W. Boynton
+ − =Bookm= 52:251 N ’20 300w
=Boston Transcript= p4 S 22 ’20 1200w
− =Dial= 70:107 Ja ’21 80w
“As his art approaches its maturity, he adds to his native wit and
cleverness a sure mastery of technique which puts him unmistakably in
the forefront of the English novelists of the day. So clever and
interesting is Mr Mackenzie’s new novel that one regrets the more to
find, if anything, an increase in the smart nastiness that
occasionally blemishes his writing.” Stanley Went
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p3 S 25 ’20 1500w
=N Y Times= p18 S 19 ’20 700w
“Mr Mackenzie handles it all in exactly the right spirit, never
mawkish and never brutal. He is satirical, but not youthfully cynical.
Although I think his clock struck twelve with the novel called ‘Sylvia
Scarlett,’ I wish that he may live a hundred years and go on writing
novels about every one of the Vanity chorus.” E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:269 S 29 ’20 160w
“For the reader, unless he likes flippancy and fireworks for their own
sakes, the end of it all is not much better than vanity. Mr Mackenzie,
at least, is a story-teller of a sort. However encumbered with facts,
his narrative always has the charm of an adventure which, if it never
quite gets anywhere, is at least always amusingly on its way.” H. W.
Boynton
+ − =Review= 3:296 O 6 ’20 450w
“That this plebeian girl should step into her exalted social station
and so speedily absorb the new life and arouse love and veneration for
the Clarehaven tradition and inheritance is little short of a miracle.
But Mr Mackenzie makes it seem natural.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a D 5 ’20 470w
“Mr Compton Mackenzie will receive praise for this new novel from
those to whom it was chiefly intended to appeal; it will receive
adverse criticism from those whose judgment Mr Mackenzie has by now,
perhaps, ceased to take into account. It will have earned the one and
thoroughly deserved the other. Deliberately he has written a story of
a snob for snobs.”
− =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p283 My 6 ’20 720w
=MCKENZIE, FREDERICK ARTHUR.= Korea’s fight for freedom. *$2 (2c) Revell
951.9
20–2360
Instead of a new edition of the author’s “Tragedy of Korea,” this is a
new book including some of the old matter and bringing the story of
Korea up-to-date. It is the story of the injustice and the cruelty
practised by Japan against Korea in its policy of imperial expansion.
“In this book I describe the struggle of an ancient people towards
liberty. I tell of a Mongol nation, roughly awakened from its long
sleep, under conditions of tragic terror, that has seized hold of and
is clinging fast to, things vital to civilization as we see it,
freedom and free faith, the honor of their women, the development of
their own souls.” (Preface) A partial list of the contents is: Opening
the oyster; Japan makes a false move; The Independence club; The new
era; The rule of Prince Ito; With the rebels; The last days of the
Korean empire; The missionaries; Torture à la mode; The people
speak—the tyrants answer; Girl martyrs for liberty; World reactions;
What can we do?
* * * * *
“This book deserves a wide reading. It breathes a real humanitarian
interest in the present unhappy fate of over ten million people; and
on its constructive side suggests a way out of a far eastern situation
full of dangers for the American people.” W. W. McLaren
+ =Am Pol Sci R= 14:518 Ag ’20 200w
“A well written account.”
+ =Booklist= 16:238 Ap ’20
Reviewed by W. W. Willoughby
=Review= 2:545 My 22 ’20 1400w
=R of Rs= 61:335 Mr ’20 20w
“It is impossible not to feel admiration for the Koreans in reading
the history of its people as written by an author who understands and
sympathizes with them.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 My 20 ’20 250w
“A few minor statements are incorrect. But none acquainted with the
situation can deny the accuracy of its statements of fact, or the
propriety of its positions.” A missionary
+ − =Survey= 43:657 F 28 ’20 300w
“Of Mr McKenzie’s trustworthiness as a witness there can be no
question.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p528 Ag 19 ’20 1150w
Reviewed by W. R. Wheeler
=Yale R= n s 10:431 Ja ’21 340w
=MCKENZIE, FREDERICK ARTHUR.= Pussyfoot Johnson. il *$1.50 Revell
20–20628
“William E. Johnson, familiarly called ‘Pussyfoot,’ as special agent
of the government is said to have put more saloons out of business in
a given time than any other man on earth. At one time he and his
assistants secured convictions for the illegal sale of intoxicating
liquors at the rate of 100 a month, month after month. How he did this
and other points in his career are set forth in a book entitled
‘Pussyfoot Johnson, crusader—reformer, a man among men,’ by F. A.
McKenzie, with introduction by Dr Wilfred T. Grenfell.”—Springf’d
Republican
* * * * *
“Lovers of adventure will enjoy this book.” F. W. C.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 4 ’20 560w
+ =Outlook= 125:714 Ag 25 ’20 900w
=R of Rs= 62:334 S ’20 70w
=Springf’d Republican= p6 S 7 ’20 240w
“The book sets forth the chief facts of Johnson’s life but fails to
give an idea of the man’s mind and how it works.” A. P. Kellogg
+ − =Survey= 44:732 S 15 ’20 460w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p602 S 16 ’20 250w
=MACKENZIE, SIR JAMES.= Future of medicine. (Oxford medical
publications) *$5 Oxford 610
26–26322
“‘The future of medicine’ is a plea for the simplification
of medicine, a reaction from the over-elaboration of
‘laboratoryism’—i.e., the instrumental and other laboratory aids to
diagnosis. Not that Sir James denies the usefulness of these methods
in research work, but he maintains that, while in some conditions it
may be necessary even in ordinary clinical work to use elaborate
instruments, it should be the constant aim of the medical man to learn
how to discard such instrumental aids, and claims that he is now able
to do so in much of his clinical work on diseases of the heart. What
the author is so strongly opposed to are the laboratory ideals
outlined in the syllabus for students recommended by the professor of
clinical medicine at the world-famous Johns Hopkins university,
Baltimore, reprinted in this book, and occupying more than four
closely printed pages.”—Spec
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:227 Ap ’20
+ =Sat R= 128:466 N 15 ’19 1200w
“One lays aside the book with a feeling of great respect and
admiration for this great and honest physician. All the same, one
cannot help feeling that the disadvantages of the present system of
teaching in the medical schools is exaggerated by the writer, and
that, were the attempt made so to alter it as to meet the demands of a
man of so keen an intellect as Sir James Mackenzie, a few giants might
be reared, but that the work of the average man would suffer.”
+ − =Spec= 122:476 O 11 ’19 1300w
“The social worker who expects to find in Dr Mackenzie’s book on ‘The
future of medicine’ a discussion of the socialization of medicine and
the solution of many of the medical problems of the future will be
disappointed. The medical and perhaps the lay reader, however, will be
amply rewarded by the brilliant and, sometimes, scathing criticism by
Dr Mackenzie of the present laboratory research and specialty aspects
of medical science.” G: M. Price
+ =Survey= 43:438 Ja 17 ’20 240w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p439 Ag 14 ’19 80w
“Much thought has been devoted to the composition of this attempt to
influence the future of medicine. A good deal of this material is
highly technical, which is doubtless unavoidable, but has the
disadvantages of making the weighing of the evidence exceedingly
difficult for any except members of the medical profession.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p493 S 18 ’19 1400w
=MACKENZIE, JEAN KENYON.=[2] Story of a fortunate youth. $1.25 (7c)
Atlantic monthly press
These “chapters from the biography of an elderly gentleman”
(Sub-title) are sketchy bits from the career of a minister who began
life as a little Scotch boy in the East Highlands. His first fortune
was a “bawbee” found in the dust, then came real earnings—beginning
with six-pence and the duties of a shepherd—to help eke out the family
income—until the great country across the water beckoned him. There
the usual course from farm hand and country school-teacher to college
and the ministry are gone through, all told lovingly and in whimsical
style by the old gentleman’s daughter. The chapters are: The boy and
the bawbee; The boy and the half-crown; The boy and the dollar; The
wages of youth.
=MACKENZIE, JOHN STUART.= Arrows of desire; essays on British
characteristics. *$3.75 Macmillan 914.2
“The title, borrowed from Blake, and suggesting a romantic novel, is
as misleading as Ruskin’s ‘On the construction of sheepfolds.’
Professor Mackenzie’s book consists, in fact, of essays on our
[England’s] national character. He discusses ‘Henry V.’ on the
assumption that Shakespeare regarded the king as a typical Englishman.
He then considers the English character, taking in turn each of the
reproaches hurled at us by native and foreign critics. He contrasts
the sister-nations with England, and incidentally repeats what we
believe to be the fallacious statement that the Scotsman is more
democratic than the Englishman. In the end Professor Mackenzie seems
to conclude that we are not so bad after all, and that our chief
danger lies in a ‘superficial optimism.’”—Spec
* * * * *
“An analysis of British characteristics by a British professor is a
difficult task for any fair-minded man, which is probably why Mr J. S.
Mackenzie draws upon a consensus of other people’s opinions with which
to support his own. This continual reference to authorities is a
little wearisome to the flesh, the more so since Mr Mackenzie shows
himself a really competent judge of the matter, avoiding
self-gratification without the obverse fault of detraction in order to
prove himself just.”
+ − =Nation= 111:19 Jl 3 ’20 350w
“He is too attentive to detail, too eager to back up what he has to
say with chapter and verse. The professor in him is uppermost, to the
detriment of the writer. Nevertheless, in spite of these handicaps,
there is acute analysis in Professor Mackenzie’s book. In its parts
his book is good; as a whole it lacks coherence and smoothness.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:296 Je 6 ’20 1100w
Reviewed by Archibald MacMechan
=Review= 2:546 My 22 ’20 1300w
− + =Sat R= 130:319 O 16 ’20 820w
“It is an entertaining book.”
+ =Spec= 124:215 F 14 ’20 160w
“With such fair promise it is the more regrettable that we should be
compelled, as we are, to admit that the performance is not answerable
to the high intent of the author. Not once nor twice, but repeatedly
throughout the book, we are confronted with a looseness of thought, a
disinclination to get to the heart of his subject which is certainly
surprising in an emeritus professor of logic.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p207 Ap 1 ’20 1950w
=MACKENZIE, KENNETH JAMES JOSEPH.= Cattle and the future of
beef-production in England. *$2.50 (3c) Putnam 636.2
Agr20–243
A British work growing out of the necessity of conserving and
increasing the food supply. The author is reader in agriculture in the
University of Cambridge, and late editor of the Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, and the preface and one of the
chapters are contributed by F. H. A. Marshall, lecturer in
agricultural physiology, Cambridge. Contents: Introduction; Store
cattle; Grass beef; Winter beef; Beeflings; Dual-purpose cattle;
Pedigree breeding; Possibilities of the future; Physiological (by F.
H. A. Marshall); Breeds of cattle (four chapters); Index.
* * * * *
“There are many signs that the line of reorganisation which Mr
Mackenzie indicates is the one which British agriculture is most
likely to follow, and it is sincerely to be hoped that his book will
circulate widely amongst the leaders of agricultural opinion and the
farming community generally.” C. C.
+ =Nature= 105:62 Mr 18 ’20 850w
“Mr Mackenzie’s book is all the more stimulating because he does not
profess to deliver a final opinion on any matters.”
+ =Spec= 124:278 F 28 ’20 1200w
“Mr Mackenzie is original and daring in some of his suggestions.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p549 O 9 ’19 200w
=MACKIE, RANSOM A.= Education during adolescence. *$2 Dutton 373
20–4028
“Basing his arguments very largely on Stanley Hall’s ‘Educational
problems,’ the author proceeds to describe what are the essentials of
a high school curriculum.” (Cleveland) “In the introduction, Dr Hall
states that interest is the very Holy Ghost of education and so-called
formal studies and methods of discipline are largely a delusion and a
snare. They make degenerate mental tissue. In chapter I the author
states that the purpose of education, based not only on the needs of
society but also on the needs of the adolescent, are, according to Dr
Hall, ‘to train character, to suggest, to awaken, to graft interest,
to give range and loftiness of sentiment of view, to broaden
knowledge, and to bring everything into touch with life.’ During this
age every effort possible should be made to ‘fill and develop mind,
heart, soul, and body,’ especially with a view to vocational training.
Such training demands vitalized and humanized materials of education
and methods of instruction.” (School R)
* * * * *
“A good summary written with forceful simplicity.”
+ =Booklist= 17:54 N ’20
=Cleveland= p91 S ’20 50w
=El School J= 21:158 O ’20 200w
Reviewed by Paul Shorey
− =Review= 2:433 Ap 24 ’20 1600w
“Taken as a whole, this book is quite suggestive and inspirational.
Those persons who find the original works of G. Stanley Hall a little
weighty will have their minds refreshed with some of his doctrines by
reading Mr Mackie’s book, in which Dr Hall’s philosophy is presented
in a very readable style, yet with less tonnage than is found in his
own works.” J: B. Clark
+ =School R= 28:717 N ’20 820w
=MCKIM, WILLIAM DUNCAN.= Study for the times. *$2.50 Putnam 150
20–21213
The author calls his study “an inquiry into thought and motive,” and
this he considers imperative in these post-war times of restlessness
and impatience, of fads and crazes, of hasty formulation of rights and
noisy demand for their concession. Although much in this mad onward
rush may be of lasting value and help towards a rejuvenation of the
race, the latter, he holds, can only be accomplished through careful
patient thought and a study of the limitations and frailties of our
own individual natures. The book deals largely with human psychology
and the findings of psycho-pathology. Contents: Introduction; Social
influences; The individual mind; The knowing function; The feeling
function; Conclusion; Index.
=MACKINNON, ALBERT GLENTHORN.= Guid auld Jock. *$1.75 (2c) Stokes
19–18839
Jock had a keen relish for other people’s affairs, especially those of
Scotchmen. At the military hospital he ferreted out all such and
became their father confessor, their lawyer and general confidant. The
book is a collection of such confessions, of wrongs committed, of
secret sins, of weighted consciences. And every story had its
complement. The other man always turned up and in his turn made a
confession, and, thanks to Jock’s discretion, quick wit and sense of
humor, there was always a righting and a smoothing over. Some of the
titles are: Jock’s neebors; How Jock healed his comrade’s worst wound;
The barbed wires of misunderstanding; A prank o’ the post; A maitter
o’ conscience.
=MCKISHNIE, ARCHIE P.= Son of courage. il *$1.75 (2c) Reilly & Lee
20–17187
Billy Wilson was one of the boys in a small settlement on the north
coast of Lake Erie. He was full of fun, always ready for some boyish
deviltry and the leader among his chums. The other side of his
character was love of nature and animals, undaunted courage and love
of fair dealing. He was afraid only of ghosts and even against those
he felt secure with his rabbit’s-foot charm. His exploits are many and
exasperating but he wins the heart of his stepmother and of the
prettiest girl in the settlement and becomes instrumental in solving
several mysteries and discovering a treasure.
* * * * *
“A satisfying story of outdoor life.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 31 ’20 70w
=MCKOWAN, EVAH.=[2] Graydon of the Windermere. *$1.90 (2½c) Doran
20–21188
Kent Graydon of the Windermere is a young Canadian engineer who has
gone West and made good. Since his schoolboy days he has cherished the
memory of Alleyne Milburne as his ideal of womanhood. Then one summer
he meets her again in his own western country. He woos her ardently
and it is not until he loses out to his rival of earlier days that he
realizes that it is not she who embodies his ideals, but her cousin
Claire, who is “honourable and generous, sportsmanlike and fair,
sympathetic and womanly.”
=MCLACHLAN, HERBERT.= St Luke, the man and his work. *$3 (*7s 6d)
Longmans 226
20–14133
“In a dozen chapters, Mr McLachlan, lecturer in Hellenistic Greek in
the University of Manchester, discusses St Luke, the man of letters,
the linguist, the editor, the theologian, the humorist, the letter
writer, the reporter, the diarist, etc. The work gives in brief the
views of German and English Protestants and Rationalists on every
phase of the Lucan problem—authenticity, language, accuracy, doctrine
and the like.”—Cath World
* * * * *
“This is a book from which the student of the Lucan writers will learn
much, whether he is among the conservatives or the revolutionaries in
textual criticism.”
+ =Ath= p540 Ap 23 ’20 800w
+ − =Cath World= 111:686 Ag ’20 320w
“This scholarly book is to be commended to the notice of New Testament
students.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p111 F 12 ’20 290w
=MCLAUGHLIN, ANDREW CUNNINGHAM.=[2] Steps in the development of American
democracy. *$1.50 Abingdon press 342.7
20–8377
“A small volume comprising the lectures delivered by Professor
McLaughlin at Wesleyan university. This series of lectures was the
first to be given on the George Slocum Bennett foundation ‘for the
promotion of a better understanding of national problems and of a more
perfect realization of the responsibilities of citizenship.’ The
author tells us in the preface that his purpose ‘is simply to recount
a few salient experiences which helped to make America what it is, ...
as also to describe certain basic doctrines and beliefs, some of which
may have had their day, while others have not yet reached
fulfillment.’”—Am Hist R
* * * * *
“In a work of this character, the presentation of new historical facts
is not to be expected, but rather a new and fresh treatment of them
and of their significance. This latter task is what Mr McLaughlin
essayed in this series of lectures and this he has most successfully
achieved. Mr McLaughlin’s firm grasp upon the history of the country
is apparent throughout his treatment, and his discussion is
characterized by brilliant exposition and frequently enlivened by
flashes of wit and even restrained sarcasm.” H. V. Ames
+ =Am Hist R= 26:344 Ja ’21 540w
+ =Am Pol Sci R= 14:739 N ’20 50w
“Necessarily, the treatment of the subject is broad but it is marked
by a sense of proportion and by genuine insight.”
+ =Bookm= 52:368 D ’20 120w
=MCLELLAN, ELEANOR.= Voice education. *$1.75 (7½c) Harper 784.9
20–16097
The author claims to have discovered a system of scientific vocal
technique through many years of practical research work by beginning
with correcting abnormalities of speech and voice action. “This means
rectifying conditions such as hoarseness, thickness of the vocal cords
and surrounding muscles, nodules, paralyzed vocal cords, loss of high
or low notes, stuttering, and all allied phonation and action
troubles.” (Preface) The contents are: Breath; Tone versus vowel;
Attack and poise of tone; Consonants; Interpretation; Requirements of
a great career; Emotions and characteristics of singers.
* * * * *
“Every teacher and singer—and just people—would do well to take the
chapter on ‘Emotions and characteristics of the singer’ in this book
to heart. But there the practical help of the book to a singer or
teacher ends.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p27 O 23 ’20 150w
=MACMANUS, SEUMAS.= Top o’ the mornin’. *$1.90 (3c) Stokes
20–17081
A collection of old and new tales in the Irish dialect. Some of the
copyright dates go back to 1899. Others belong to the present year.
The titles are: The lord mayor o’ Buffalo; The Widow Meehan’s
Cassimeer shawl; The cadger-boy’s last journey; The minister’s
racehorse; The case of Kitty Kildea: Billy Baxter’s holiday; Wee
Paidin; When Barney’s trunk comes home; Five minutes a millionaire;
Mrs Carney’s sealskin; The capture of Nelly Carribin; The bellman of
Carrick; Barney Brian’s monument; All on the brown knowe; The
heartbreak of Norah O’Hara.
* * * * *
“Splendid for reading aloud and full of fun and good Irish wit.”
+ =Booklist= 17:118 D ’20
“Mr MacManus has a certain delicate whimsicality of utterance that
transforms his somewhat sordid characters into beings of real
interest. They provide a volume of extremely pleasant little stories,
all quite indelibly branded with the mark of the shamrock.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p5 N 20 ’20 220w
“Mr MacManus makes potent use of the folk-flavour: he draws his
inspiration from the touchstone of common humanity; but he never
hesitates to take what liberties he chooses with his material.” L. B.
+ − =Freeman= 3:238 N 17 ’20 170w
+ =Outlook= 126:378 O 27 ’20 60w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
=Review= 3:422 N 3 ’20 380w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 D 28 ’20 130w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:195 N ’20 90w
=MCMASTER, JOHN BACH.= United States in the world war (1918–1920). v 2
*$3 Appleton 940.373
20–12608
This is the second volume of Professor McMaster’s history of the war.
It deals with the work of the American troops in France and ends with
the peace conference and the rejection of the peace treaty by the
United States senate. Contents: Submarines off our coast; War work at
home; Fighting in France; Peace offensives; The armistice; The
president goes abroad; The peace conference; The treaty of peace; The
treaty rejected; Appendices; Index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:25 O ’20
“The arrangement may be registered at once as both logical and, within
the scope of logic, rhetorical, even dramatic. He did not make as good
use as he might have done of the reports of Pershing and March. When
the chapter ‘War work at home’ is so well written it is a pity that no
attention should be paid to the efforts the enemy was making to render
that work futile.” Walter Littlefield
+ − =N Y Times= p22 Ag 29 ’20 2500w
+ =Outlook= 126:202 S 29 ’20 100w
“The second volume is a distinct disappointment. Even considering the
haste with which it must have been prepared, the single chapter
devoted to the military phase of the war is almost absurdly inadequate
and our naval participation is snubbed still more severely. The
chapter headed ‘War work at home,’ however, is well done, and the one
entitled ‘The treaty rejected,’ considering all the difficulties of
the topic, is also handled with considerable skill.”
− + =Review= 3:508 N 24 ’20 220w
=R of Rs= 62:445 O ’20 160w
“We do not observe that Professor McMaster has utilized any sources of
information which are not readily accessible; he seems indeed to have
relied largely upon the reports in the newspapers. The book is
disfigured by some careless mistakes.”
− + =Spec= 125:643 N 13 ’20 170w
=MCMASTERS, WILLIAM HENRY.= Revolt. il *$1.60 Small
19–18647
“William H. McMasters has produced ‘Revolt,’ a tale of the
presidential election in the year 1940. The hero is Roger Morton, a
young multi-millionaire of thirty-eight, son of the world’s first
billionaire, John Paine Morton, president of the Universal trust
company, which has controlled both political parties of the United
States for many years. This marvelous young man, being urged to do
so by one of the professors on his death bed, forms the
revolutionist party, outwits his father at every point, and elects
Dan Holman, one of his Harvard classmates as president of the United
States.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
=N Y Times= 25:297 Je 6 ’20 340w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
=Review= 2:394 Ap 17 ’20 100w
“His characters are rather wooden at first, and he has to jerk hard on
the strings to make them do the next thing next, but as the story
gathers speed and momentum, they almost run away from him.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 30 ’20 280w
=MCMICHAEL, CHARLES BARNSLEY=, tr. Short stories from the Spanish. il
*$1.50 Boni & Liveright
20–8278
“The present volume is published with the intention of interesting
American readers in the Spanish short story—a form in which the
Spanish excel. There are three stories by Ruben Dario, three by
Jacinto Octavio Picon and one by Leopoldo Alas. In addition there is a
helpful introduction giving a short sketch of the life of each of
these authors.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“The translation is on the whole effective though sometimes awkwardly
literal.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:158 Ja ’21
=Boston Transcript= p6 O 13 ’20 320w
“Exquisite little word pictures of a way of living full of delicate
grace and beauty.”
+ =Cleveland= p83 S ’20 30w
“These seven tales are marked by charm and delicacy, rather than by
strength and passion. Judge McMichael’s translation is generally
effective, although it sometimes suffers from excessively
conscientious literalness.” W. H. C.
+ − =New Repub= 23:183 Jl 7 ’20 260w
“The publishers of this volume have performed a genuine service in
offering to American readers in an attractive form these literary gems
from a language in which public interest is constantly increasing.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:28 Jl 18 ’20 280w
“There is a clear simplicity and naive directness to be found in the
work of all three writers which marks them as of the same race.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 25 ’20 300w
=MACMURCHY, HELEN.= Almosts: a study of the feeble-minded. *$1 50 (4c)
Houghton 132
20–5606
The book is a study of “the fool” in literature, the author
maintaining that valuable suggestions for the treatment and care of
the feeble-minded can be obtained thereby. “Sometimes the poet sees
more than the scientist, even when the scientific man is playing at
his own game. The novelist can give a few points to the sociologist,
and the dramatist to the settlement worker.” The great writers have
studied the feeble-minded from life. They have “discovered long before
the modern ‘uplifter’ was born, that we must reckon with the mental
defective as one of those many things in heaven and earth that are not
dealt with by some philosophers, and yet that make a great difference
to the community and social progress.” The writers from whom the
characters are taken are: Shakespeare, Bunyan, Scott, Dickens, Bulwer
Lytton, Charles Reade, Victor Hugo, George Eliot, Joseph Conrad,
Robert Louis Stevenson, Hawthorne and others.
* * * * *
“The value of the book is perhaps the greatest in pointing out
concretely to the general reader the common characteristics of
defectives through these well known examples.”
+ =Booklist= 16:297 Je ’20
“It is not only valuable, but it has as the clever author doubtless
intended, the delight of recalling to one’s mind, old time favorites
and old familiar friends.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 S 18 ’20 360w
=Cleveland= p74 Ag ’20 40w
=N Y Evening Post= p11 My 1 ’20 600w
“Although slight and relatively unimportant, the book will doubtless
reach many persons with its message of the need for segregation and
institutional treatment who would not have been attracted by a work
couched in the more prosaic terminology of science.” K. M. G.
+ =Social Hygiene= 6:594 O ’20 130w
=Springf’d Republican= p8 Jl 2 ’20 180w
“‘The almosts’ will surely help the recognition and adequate care of
the feebleminded. It should help to form public opinion.” Alexander
Johnson
+ =Survey= 44:449 Je 26 ’20 550w
=MACNAMARA, BRINSLEY.= Clanking of chains. *$1.90 Brentano’s
19–17481
“The tale is called a story of Sinn Fein, yet it is not the history of
that party or a novel that deals primarily with party matters: rather
it is the study of an individual, whose finer instincts are never
understood by his daily companions and whose efforts do not prove
immediately fruitful. Michael Dempsey, the hero, we first meet taking
the part of Robert Emmet in an amateur play given in the town of
Ballycullen. The novel, then, is only incidentally a story of Sinn
Fein, and chiefly the tale of Michael Dempsey’s two loves—Ireland and
‘Mirandolina.’ In the first case, he wooes and loses; in the second,
his victory is, one is almost sure, partly defeat.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
=Ath= p258 F 20 ’20 80w
“An extraordinary and tragic book.” H. W. Boynton
+ =Bookm= 51:345 My ’20 250w
“On the whole, ‘The clanking of chains,’ though a very readable piece
of work, does not measure up to ‘The valley of the squinting windows’;
its characterization is less clear, its incident less varied, its
impress less lasting.” I. G.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p6 F 18 ’20 950w
=Lit D= p94 S 4 ’20 1650w
“The story is very vivid and very interesting. Irish village life is
satirized with considerable skill. But one wonders what exactly Mr
Macnamara intends us to infer.... Emigration seems to be his own
counsel to the better spirits, as it was Dickens’s counsel in ‘David
Copperfield’ to the disappointed English Chartist. But then, as now,
this was a counsel of despair.” H. L. Stewart
+ − =Review= 2:462 My 1 ’20 1050w
“This is a strong, sombre, and disquieting book.”
+ =Spec= 124:247 F 21 ’20 750w
“The picture is painted in drab colors, and in the narration of the
slender story the author is never at pains to cater to any party’s
sympathies or prejudices.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p8 Mr 30 ’20 180w
“The story is told in a confused way, and in several places the action
hangs fire. The book also contains too much rhetoric. But the analysis
both of the inhabitants of Ballycullen and of the problems which these
individuals personify is acute and honest. Mr Macnamara is, for a
writer on Irish topics, impartial, and he makes a great effort to
consider the case from every aspect.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p200 Mr 25 ’20 540w
=MACNAUGHTAN, SARAH BROOM.= My war experiences in two continents; ed. by
her niece, Mrs Lionel Salmon (Betty Keays-Young). *$5 Dutton 940.48
(Eng ed 19–8145)
“The late Miss Macnaughtan, we think, drew upon her Belgian diary to
some extent for her earlier book, ‘A woman’s diary of the war,’ but
there is plenty of fresh material for the new book, and the
description of her work in the hospitals and in connexion with her
soup-kitchen at Furnes, is vivid and moving. After a year in Belgium
and a short lecturing tour at home, Miss Macnaughtan went to give her
help on the Russian and Persian fronts. But the Eastern expedition
made too severe demands upon her strength. Depressed by Russian
dilatoriness and the consequent waste of opportunities, with her
physical strength severely impaired by the climate and the hardships
she had to endure, she was forced home by illness in the following
spring, and she died a few months later. If the chapters dealing with
this expedition are less vivid than those about Belgium, the reader
feels that it is because illness and depression had weakened her
pen.”—Spec
* * * * *
“Though one feels that her deliberate aim was to set down faithfully
what she saw—the result is infinitely more than that. It is a
revelation of her inner self which would perhaps never have been
revealed in times less terrible and strange.” K. M.
+ =Ath= p237 Ap 25 ’19 1200w
=Brooklyn= 12:43 N ’19 40w
+ =Pittsburgh= 24:612 D ’19 40w
+ =Sat R= 127:426 My 3 ’19 700w
+ =Spec= 122:637 My 17 ’19 200w
“The definite opinions she expresses are so often at variance with one
another that the reviewer must tear up his laboured analysis and plead
ignorance. But her inconsistency is only superficial; through it all
she is affirming her love for what is noble and disinterested.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p176 Ap 3 ’19 1100w
=MCPHERSON, LOGAN GRANT.= Flow of value. *$2.50 (2c) Century 330.1
20–1957
Proceeding from the premise that human energy ought to be directed to
the service of human kind, it is the author’s object to ascertain how
human activities can be so coordinated as to result in the general
good. His problem is to assemble the findings of economists and
sociologists into a body of scientific facts from which the trained
investigator can draw correct conclusions. The book is a continuation
of the presentation embodied in a previous volume: “How the world
makes its living,” and presents the sequence of cause and effect in
determining prices, wages, and profit. A partial list of the contents
is: Human effort and human wants; Property in matter and property in
force; Utility and utilities; The exchange of utilities and the unit
of exchange; The actual development of industry and commerce in the
United States; The relativity of human effort and the relativity of
human wants; The interrelations of effort, prices, and profit; Value;
Capital; The ultimate units of production and consumption; Money; The
trend of the monetary and banking system; Sound minds in sound bodies;
Index.
+ =Dial= 68:671 My ’20 80w
“The value of the present work lies in the clearness with which the
fact is developed that all commodities and services are the product of
human effort. The vigorous enforcement of this truth at a time when
the world seems bent on a hunger strike is a real service.”
+ =Review= 2:282 Mr 20 ’20 1000w
=R of Rs= 61:447 Ap ’20 140w
“Teachers of college courses in economics will find in Mr McPherson’s
‘The flow of value’ an admirable book for collateral reading. The
clarity of exposition, the wealth of concrete illustration, and the
refreshing novelty of some of the analysis deserve special
commendation.” E. R. Burton
+ =Survey= 44:541 Jl 17 ’20 170w