Transcriber’s Note:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

This ebook was created in honour of Distributed Proofreaders 20th Anniversary.

THE
BOOK REVIEW DIGEST
SIXTEENTH
ANNUAL CUMULATION
REVIEWS OF 1920 BOOKS

EDITED BY

MARY KATHARINE REELY

AND

PAULINE H. RICH

DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY

EMMA HELLER SCHUMM

AND OTHERS

THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY

NEW YORK

1921

Contents

[Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made]

[Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1920 Books]

[List of Documents for Use in the Smaller Libraries]

[Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books]

[Subject, Title and Pseudonym Index To Author Entries, March, 1920—February, 1921]

[Directory of Publishers]

THE BOOK REVIEW DIGEST

Vol. XVI      February, 1921      No. 12

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY

New York City      958–964 University Avenue

Entered as second class matter, November 13, 1917 at the Post Office at New York, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Terms of Subscription

Terms of Advertising

Combined rate for Book Review Digest, Cumulative Book Index and Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature $60 per page per month; two of these publications $50; one of these publications $40 per page per month. Smaller space and contract rates furnished upon request.

The editorial staff for the year has consisted of Mary Katharine Reely, Pauline H. Rich, Emma Heller Schumm, Elsie Jacobi, Wilma Adams and Selma Sandler. Acknowledgments are also due to Miss Corinne Bacon who contributed the classification numbers for the first months of the year, and to Miss Eleanor Hawkins who succeeded her; to Miss Mary E. Furbeck of the New York Public Library for the list of documents for small libraries; and to the Applied Science reference department of Pratt Institute Library for the quarterly list of technical books.

In addition to the periodicals listed on the reverse side of this page the following magazines have been drawn on for occasional reviews: Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Social Hygiene, Mental Hygiene, Socialist Review, Nation [London], Theatre Arts Magazine, Drama, World Tomorrow, Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering, and a few other technical journals. The literary supplement to the New York Evening Post, now issued under the editorship of Professor Henry Seidel Canby of Yale University, is an important permanent addition to the list of periodicals. During the year the magazine which began its career as the Review, changing later to Weekly Review, has been listed under its original name.

The year just past has been notable for a number of novels of unusual quality. Among them is a group of books by and about women: Clemence Dane’s “Legend,” Catherine Carswell’s “Open the Door,” Miss de la Pasture’s “Tension,” and Mrs Holding’s “Invincible Minnie.” Three others are novels of the Middle West: Sherwood Anderson’s “Poor White,” Floyd Dell’s “Moon-calf,” and Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street.” Zona Gale’s “Miss Lulu Bett” might be named in either class.

“George Santayana has recently spoken of the barbarian realities of America. ‘The luckless American who is born a conservative, or who is drawn to poetic subtlety, pious retreats, or gay passions, nevertheless has the categorical excellence of work, growth, enterprise, reform and prosperity dinned into his ears: every door is open in this direction and shut in the other; so that he either folds up his heart and withers in a corner—in remote places you sometimes find such a solitary gaunt idealist—or else he flies to Oxford or Florence or Montmartre to save his soul—or perhaps not to save it.’ That is and has been the traditional conception of aesthetic fate in barbaric America, especially in the hinterland beyond the Hudson. But the past ten years, and particularly the years since the war, have shown new possibilities to the present literary generation. The Bohemian immigrant in Nebraska, the local dentist in Wisconsin, the doctor’s wife in a small Minnesota town, the young newspaper man in Iowa, the co-educated farmer’s daughter in Ohio—all these figures can be seen with the same meditative zeal, the same creative preoccupation, as the ripened spiritual personalities of Europe.”—New Republic.

We now have anthologies and year books for the short story, for the best plays, for magazine and even for newspaper verse. The annual volume of the Digest might be added to the list as the year book for book reviews. Without entering into elaborate summaries and statistics we may say that the two most reviewed books of the year are Keynes’s “Economic Consequences of the Peace” and Wells’s “Outline of History.” And without attempting to create a new category of “best” reviews we may suggest that the following will be found well worthy of reading: Richard Burton’s review of “The Ordeal of Mark Twain” by Van Wyck Brooks in the Bookman of January, 1921; W. S. Braithwaite’s review of “Smoke and Steel” by Carl Sandburg in the Boston Transcript of October 16, 1920; the reviews of Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street” by Carl Van Doren in the New York Evening Post, Nov. 20, 1920, and by Francis Hackett, in the New Republic, Dec. 1, 1920; and J. Saywyn Shapiro’s review (with footnotes) of Wells’s “Outline of History” in the Nation of Feb. 9, 1921.

Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made

Am. Econ. R.—American Economic Review. $5. American Economic Association, New Haven, Conn.

Am. Hist. R.—American Historical Review. $4. Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., New York.

Am. J. Soc.—American Journal of Sociology. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Am. J. Theol.—American Journal of Theology. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Am. Pol. Sci. R.—American Political Science Review. $4. Frederic A. Ogg, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Ann. Am. Acad.—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. $5. 39th St. and Woodland Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.

Astrophys. J.—Astrophysical Journal. $6. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Ath.—Athenæum. $5.60. 10 Adelphi Terrace, London, W. C. 2.

Bib. World—Biblical World. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Booklist—Booklist. $2. A. L. A. Publishing Board, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, Ill.

Bookm.—Bookman. $4. G. H. Doran Co., 244 Madison Ave., New York.

Boston Transcript—Boston Evening Transcript. $5.50. (Wednesday and Saturday). Boston Transcript Co., 324 Washington St., Boston, Mass.

Bot. Gaz.—Botanical Gazette. $9. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Cath. World—Catholic World. $4. 120–122 W. 60th St., New York.

Class J.—Classical Journal. $2.50. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Class Philol.—Classical Philology. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Dial—Dial. $5. 152 W 13th St., New York.

Educ. R.—Educational Review. $3. Educational Review Pub. Co., care of G. H. Doran Pub. Co.

Elec. World—Electrical World. $5. McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 10th Ave. at 36th St., New York.

El. School J.—Elementary School Journal (continuing Elementary School Teacher). $2.50. Dept. of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Engin. News-Rec.—Engineering News-Record. $5. McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 10th Ave. at 36th St., New York.

Eng. Hist. R.—English Historical Review. $6. Longmans, Green & Co., 4th Ave. and 30th St., New York.

Freeman—Freeman. $6. The Freeman, Inc., 116 W. 13th St., New York.

Hibbert J.—Hibbert Journal. $3. LeRoy Phillips, 124 Chestnut St., Boston, Mass.

Ind.—Independent. $5. 311 Sixth Av., New York.

Int. J. Ethics—International Journal of Ethics. $3. Prof. James H. Tufts, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Int. Studio—International Studio. $6. John Lane Co., 786 Sixth Av., near 45th St., New York.

J. Geol.—Journal of Geology. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

J. Home Econ.—Journal of Home Economics. $2. American Home Economics Assn., 1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Md.

J. Philos.—Journal of Philosophy. $4. Sub-Station 84, New York.

J. Pol. Econ.—Journal of Political Economy. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

J. Religion (Bib. World and Am. J. Theol. merged under this title Ja ’21) $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Lit. D.—Literary Digest. $4. Funk & Wagnalls Co., 354–360 Fourth Ave., New York.

Modern Philol.—Modern Philology. $5. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

Nation—Nation. $5. Nation Press. 20 Vesey St., New York.

Nature—Nature. $14. Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., New York.

New Repub.—New Republic. $5. Republic Publishing Co., Inc., 421 W 21st St., New York.

N. Y. Times—New York Times Book Review. $1. N. Y. Times Co., Times Square, New York.

No. Am.—North American Review. $5. North American Review, 9 East 37th St., New York.

Outlook—Outlook. $5. Outlook Co., 381 Fourth Ave., New York.

Pol. Sci. Q.—Political Science Quarterly. $5. (including supplement). Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, New York.

Pub. W.—Publishers’ Weekly. Zones 1–5, $6; 6–8, $6.50. R. R. Bowker Co., 62 W. 45th St., New York.

Review—Weekly Review. $5. National Weekly Corporation, 140 Nassau St., New York.

R. of Rs.—American Review of Reviews. $4. Review of Reviews Co., 30 Irving Place, New York.

Sat. R.—Saturday Review. $5.60. 9 King St., Covent Garden, London. W. C. 2.

School Arts Magazine—School-Arts Magazine. $3. Davis Press, Inc., 25 Foster St., Worcester, Mass.

School R.—School Review. $2.50. Dept. of Education, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago. Ill.

Science, n.s.—Science (new series). $6. Science Press, Garrison. N. Y.

Spec.—Spectator. $7.80. 13 York St., Covent Garden, London. W. C. 2.

Springf’d Republican—Springfield Republican. $10.50. The Republican, Springfield, Mass.

Survey—Survey. $5. Survey Associates, Inc., 112 E. 19th St., New York.

The Times [London] Lit. Sup.—The Times Literary Supplement. $7.40. The Times, North American Office, 30 Church St., New York.

Yale R., n.s.—Yale Review (new series). $3. Yale Publishing Ass’n., Inc., 120 High St., New Haven, Conn.

In addition to the above list the Book Review Digest frequently quotes from New York Call; New York Evening Post; Bulletin of Brooklyn Public Library; Cleveland Open Shelf; N. Y. Best Books; N. Y. Libraries; N. Y. City Branch Library News; New York Public Library New Technical Books; Pittsburgh Monthly Bulletin; Pratt Institute Quarterly Book List; St. Louis Monthly Bulletin; Wisconsin Library Bulletin (Book Selection Dept.), and the Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books chosen by the Pratt Institute Library.

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations of publishers’ names will be found in the Publishers’ Directory at the end of this number.

An asterisk (*) before the price indicates those books sold at a limited discount and commonly known as net books.

The figures following publisher’s name represent the class number and Library of Congress card number.

The descriptive note is separated from critical notices of a book by a dash.

The plus and minus signs preceding the names of the magazine indicate the degrees of favor or disfavor of the entire review.

An asterisk (*) before the plus or minus sign indicates that the review contains useful information about the book.

In the reference to a magazine, the first number refers to the volume, the next to the page, the letters to the date and the last figures to the number of words in the review.

Book Review Digest
Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature
Reviews of 1920 Books

A

ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE). Happy House, il *$1.60 (2c) Lippincott

20–26557

When Anne Leavitt is invited to spend the summer with some hitherto unknown relatives in Vermont, she is just starting to Russia to teach. But there is another Anne Leavitt in her college class, whom she persuades to take her place. So Nancy comes to Happy House, a misnomer for the gloomy old mansion where Miss Sabrina, Miss Milly and B’lindy spent their embittered lives. The story tells how Nancy brings happiness to them, but how her sense of guilt at the deception she is practising keeps her from perfect contentment herself, until finally unexpected events clear up the situation, and all are happy together. Meanwhile a part of Nancy’s joy has come from friendship with the “hired man” next door, who proves to have been sharing the general deception and to be a very desirable suitor.

+ Ath p731 N 26 ’20 110w

“Girls from twelve to seventeen will like it as well as older women who like a sweet, pretty story.”

+ Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20

“Girls in their higher teens will enjoy this book.”

+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 3 ’20 320w

“We regret that deception plays such an important part in the plot. Nevertheless, and setting this aside, the story is well told and interesting, and will amply repay the reading.”

+ − Cath World 112:258 N ’20 170w

“It is possible that its maple-sugarish, sweet cake flavor may cloy the reader who enjoys more invigorating fare, but, as a sample of the ‘good’—‘goody-goody’ is perhaps a better word—style of story which has taken on added popularity of late, there is nothing to criticise in the offering.”

+ − N Y Times 25:17 Je 27 ’20 530w

Reviewed by Marguerite Fellows

Pub W 97:1289 Ap 17 ’20 280w

ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE). Highacres, il *$1.75 (2½c) Lippincott

20–20318

The author of “Keineth” and “Larkspur,” etc., has written another story for girls. Jerry Travis is the heroine of “Highacres.” She is a little girl of the mountains, who finds John Westley when he has lost his way. He recognizes that she is a child who should have opportunities for education and offers to send her to school with his own nieces and nephew. Then follows an exciting year for Jerry, working and playing with Gyp and Graham and Isobel and Tibby, and going to school at Highacres. Jerry is an unspoiled little girl, and the end of the year does not find all the benefits on her side. There is an element of mystery in the story, which works out to Jerry’s advantage, and she looks forward to another year of school with her new friends.

“This new juvenile by the author of ‘Keineth’ is full as it can hold of the things dear to the heart of normal girlhood.” R. D. Moore

+ Pub W 98:1202 O 16 ’20 350w

ABBOTT, KEENE. Wine o’ the winds. il *$1.75 (1½c) Doubleday

20–10311

A story of the plains in the days of pioneer settlement and Indian warfare. Dr Harry North, because of a professional error, feels himself dishonored and goes West to hide his disgrace. He leaves behind him the girl he loves and is resolved never to practise medicine again. But the new country puts new life into him. He meets a typical daughter of the prairies who attracts him greatly and thereafter there is an unexpressed conflict between this girl and Alice Arden, who, still true to her old love, has come West to be near him. The scene changes from place to place and many glimpses are given of the varied aspects of life along the frontier.

“In subject matter and in treatment it differs from the large numbers of new books. There is a power in the author which allows him to mold his material and to invoke an atmosphere which stirs and interests us.” D. L. M.

+ Boston Transcript p6 Jl 10 ’20 1000w

“‘Wine o’ the winds’ possesses the worst of faults—it is dull. This is partly because the plot is neither well presented nor well put together and partly because the characters, with the single exception of the minor one of little Matt, the hunchback, lack that vitality which wins a reader’s interest, his liking or disliking. Now and then, it is true, there comes a moment which seems to hold out promise of better things in future, and the last scene of all is not without a certain degree of impressiveness.”

− + N Y Times 25:27 Jl 25 ’20 350w

“Magic there is in this narrator’s vivid style, above all in the visual quality of his descriptions, which always remain a part of the narrative.” H. W. Boynton

+ Review 3:372 S 29 ’20 560w

ABDULLAH, ACHMED. Man on horseback. *$1.75 McCann

20–363

“A tale of a gold mine taken in exchange for a poker debt, and of results which bring the American cowboy owner of the mine into international complications and make him an actor in the great war.”—Outlook

“The excessive simple-mindedness of the hero, combined with the heroine’s complete failure to win the reader’s liking, does much to injure an otherwise interesting book.”

+ − N Y Times 25:64 F 1 ’20 500w Outlook 124:291 F 18 ’20 40w

ABDULLAH, ACHMED, and others. Ten-foot chain. il *$1.50 Reynolds pub.

20–17407

The sub-title, “Can love survive the shackles? a unique symposium,” indicates the trend of the book. The unnamed editor, in the introduction, states the circumstances of its writing. At a dinner where four distinguished writers were present, the question was raised, “What mental and emotional reaction would a man and a woman undergo, linked together by a ten-foot chain, for three days and nights?” The writers differed in their solution to this problem, according to their individual interpretation of human nature, and the result was that each consented to present his conclusions to the public in fiction form. This book comprises the four stories, which are: An Indian Jataka, by Achmed Abdullah; Out of the dark, by Max Brand; Plumb nauseated, by E. K. Means; and Princess or percheron, by Perley P. Sheehan.

“Interesting as an editorial jeu d’esprit, the experiment has also brought out four short stories of high quality.”

+ N Y Evening Post p10 O 30 ’20 190w

ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.[^[2]] Inflation and high prices; ed. by Henry Rogers Seager. pa $1.50 The academy 338.5

20–26746

“A series of addresses and papers among which are: Causes and progress of inflation, by E. W. Kemmerer; Treasury methods of financing the war in relation to inflation, by R. C. Leffingwell; The relation of the federal reserve system to inflation, by H. P. Willis; Remedies for inflation with special reference to the French situation, by M. Casenave; Remedies for inflation with special reference to the Italian situation, by B. Attolico; Inflation as a world problem and our relation thereto, by P. M. Warburg.”—Am Econ R

Am Econ R 10:848 D ’20 80w Booklist 17:8 O ’20

ADAM, H. PEARL. Paris sees it through; a diary, 1914–1919. il *$4 (4c) Doran 940.344

(Eng ed 20–4569)

Mrs Adam was an English resident in Paris before and throughout the war. Her book describes her Paris just before and at the outbreak of the war and follows its course in its reactions on the city until the signing of the peace. She gossips intimately about the effect of the war on the daily lives of the people and of the people’s interest or lack of interest in the political events. Among the contents are: The onslaught (1914); Endurance (1915); The distant guns (1916); The long wait (1917); Rationing (1917–1918); Boloism; Some war Parisians; Paris under fire (1918); Armistice; Paris in 1919: the making of peace. The appendix describes the Paris of today: a chapter for visitors. There are illustrations.

+ Ath p127 Ja 23 ’20 70w Booklist 16:272 My ’20

“This book by a lady who spent the period of the war in Paris writing for English newspapers is much better reading than many works of higher authority and greater importance.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p760 D 18 ’19 1000w

ADAM, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS. Whither? a human fragment of contemporary history. (1906–1919). *$5 Dutton 354

(Eng ed 20–6770)

“‘Whither? or, The British Dreyfus case,’ by Maj. W. A. Adam, is the story of a British officer who fancies that his case parallels that of the unfortunate Capt. Dreyfus of the French army. Maj. W. A. Adam, a staff officer of the British army, is practically dismissed from the service on secret evidence, which is not shown to the accused. After vainly seeking to be reinstated the author finally sues various officials of the British war office in a civil court and is awarded damages. In spite of it all, during the great war this ‘British Dreyfus’ is relegated to obscure positions in the army. In his opinion, he should have been leading divisions and army corps. This volume throws light on the circumlocution and red tape of the British bureaucracy—and, it might be added, of most government officialdom the world over.”—Springf’d Republican

“Major Adam’s statements are carefully documented. The book, as Major Adam has framed it, is undoubtedly an absorbing fragment of human history.”

+ Ath p95 Ja 16 ’20 120w + Spec 124:175 F 7 ’20 1650w

“Reading between the lines of his book, one gains the impression, that the gallant major is one of those unfortunate persons who ‘seize the hot end of the poker,’ or, in other words, are their own worst enemies. But this volume is interesting.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a O 24 ’20 210w

ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS; ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS, jr., and ADAMS, HENRY. Cycle of Adams letters: 1861 to 1865; ed by Worthington Chauncey Ford. 2v il *$10 Houghton 973.7

20–21411

The editor of these two volumes of family letters has selected them from many others for their description of social conditions, discussion of public questions and contribution to the social, military and diplomatic history of the War of secession. With the great conflict as a back-ground, they supply “no little new history, much untold detail, much discussion, many rumors and predictions, expressed with individuality and in a literary form.... It is an old story, but the manner of telling it is new, all the more remarkable because unstudied and spontaneous.” (Introd. note) The books are illustrated and indexed.

“The two volumes are not merely interesting, but fascinating. Of their contributions to history, aside from the personal views here quoted or described, there is not space to say anything, but they are important and valuable. No better book about the war of secession has come out in many a year.”

+ N Y Times p6 N 28 ’20 2000w

“The editor of these letters would have enhanced the value of the collection for the general reader if at certain points (not many) he had added a brief note indicating the event out of which the letter grew or to which it referred. The reader gets from these letters a much pleasanter portrait of Henry than from his autobiography.” Lyman Abbott

+ Outlook 127:149 Ja 26 ’21 2150w

“It would be difficult for a master hand at fiction to devise for his own purpose a better stage setting, and a more ingenious relationship of leading characters to the end of developing the intricacies of a big international drama.” F: T. Cooper

+ Pub W 98:1892 D 18 ’20 470w + R of Rs 63:109 Ja ’21 170w

“The ‘Cycle of Adams letters’ is all very interesting, if only as correspondence, and parts of them will add authentic material to the history of the Civil war—all the more so that the letters were probably written without idea of future publication.”

+ Springf’d Republican p8a D 5 ’20 1150w

ADAMS, FRANKLIN PIERCE. Something else again. *$1.50 Doubleday 817

20–7285

“The editor of the Conning Tower, New York Tribune, amuses himself writing verses in the styles of Horace, Longefellow, Amy Lowell and others and by writing desk copy for the tragedies which formed the subjects of some famous old ballads.”—Booklist

“Good fun.”

+ Booklist 16:304 Je ’20

Reviewed by R. M. Weaver

Bookm 51:454 Je ’20 50w

ADAMS, HENRY. Degradation of the democratic dogma. *$2.50 (3½c) Macmillan 901

19–18407

Brooks Adams has edited some of the literary remains of his brother Henry and published them with a long introductory essay on The heritage of Henry Adams. In introducing the work he writes: “I want to make it clear, once for all, that I am not proposing to write anything approaching to a memoir of my brother.... Nor do I suggest any criticism of his essays which are annexed.... I am seeking to tell the story of a movement in thought which has, for the last century, been developing in my family, and which closes with the ‘Essay on phase,’ which ends this volume.” The essay in which this purpose is embodied is devoted to the principle of democracy which John Quincy Adams upheld and which in the estimation of himself and his descendants received its death blow with the triumph of Jackson. The writings of Henry Adams included in the volume are: The tendency of history (1894); A letter to American teachers of history (1910); and The rule of phase applied to history (1909).

“The title seems ill suited to the papers that make the substance of the volume. The degradation of the democratic dogma which is here in question is thus far from being a general movement of thought; it is a movement within the Adams family, exemplified chiefly in Brooks and Henry.” Carl Becker

− Am Hist R 25:480 Ap ’20 1500w

“Readers of this volume are advised to omit the essay at the end, entitled ‘The rule of phase applied to history.’ Henry Adams had all the virtues of the great amateur—penetration, aloofness, style. It is sad to record that in the end he did not escape the pitfall of most amateurs. He began taking himself seriously, and that as a prophet!” E: S. Corwin

+ − Am Pol Sci R 14:507 Ag ’20 1000w Ath p665 My 21 ’20 2000w + Booklist 16:189 Mr ’20

“Whoever takes up this book in the expectation that he has been invited to a sort of second table of the wondrous banquet spread before the readers of ‘The education of Henry Adams’ will soon learn his mistake. Not that it is not as marvellous in its way, but that it is a separate and distinct production of a mind as varied as it was powerful.” L. S.

+ Boston Transcript p6 Ja 28 ’20 2100w

“Of interest to historians, scientists, and educationists.”

+ Brooklyn 12:89 F ’20 50w

Reviewed by C: A. Beard

New Repub 22:162 Mr 31 ’20 1800w

“Why have they been resurrected, and why are they published at the present time, with this preposterous introduction and with a misfit title? The uninitiated will say that the popularity of Henry Adams’s ‘Education’ furnishes the answer.”

− N Y Times 25:323 Je 20 ’20 950w

“We took it up anticipating pleasure if not profit in getting Henry Adams’s views on democracy. We have been disappointed. Whatever views on this subject Henry Adams may have elsewhere expressed, he expresses none here. He discourses on views of the universe in general, and the philosophy of history in particular, but he has nothing to say of the degradation of the democratic dogma, or of the democratic dogma itself. Nor do we find that Mr Brooks Adams increases our knowledge of these subjects.” D. McG. Means

− Review 2:255 Mr 13 ’20 2400w

“A curiously interesting and depressing series of historical papers, which serves to explain some of the author’s pessimism. Henry Adams makes some rather unwarranted historical generalizations. His papers are a remarkable example of the method by which an unscientific mind may apply scientific conclusions to unrelated data.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p6 Ja 15 ’20 600w

“‘A letter to American teachers of history’ is a brilliant achievement. It is single and swift and passionate, as an exclamation or a command. Nervous and mordant in style, it rises often to eloquence and is illuminated by flashes of ironical humor.” C: A. Bennett

+ − Yale R n s 9:890 Jl ’20 2350w

ADAMS, HENRY. Letters to a niece and Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres; with A niece’s memories by Mabel La Farge. *$2.50 Houghton

20–19770

These letters are introduced by “A niece’s memories” which together with the letters, reveals a side of the heart and mind of Henry Adams veiled to the world and to the readers of the “Education,” but poured forth to the young. “To them all he was the generic Uncle, the best friend—to whom they not only could confide their innermost secrets, their perplexities, hopes and aspirations, but also at whose feet they could sit endlessly, listening to the most thrilling talk they had ever heard, or were likely to hear again.” The table of contents is: Henry Adams: a niece’s memories; Letters to a niece; Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres. Under the last heading is included: Prayer to the dynamo.

+ Dial 70:108 Ja ’21 40w

“A book of undeniable savor. The Adams pickle is everywhere. They are very kind letters—lazily, unconcernedly, uncommittedly kind. That he writes very good English will surprise nobody, and his faculty is brought out by a certain waywardness in its exercise.”

+ Review 3:564 D 8 ’20 320w R of Rs 62:670 D ’20 50w

ADAMS, KATHARINE. Mehitable. il *$2.50 Macmillan

20–21185

To Mehitable in her Vermont home comes the opportunity to go to school in Paris. Mehitable has just passed her sixteenth birthday and it all seems to her like a dream, so quickly is she whisked away from familiar scenes to find herself in a strange land. In spite of the little home-made frocks with which Aunt Comfort and the village dressmaker have fitted her out and which make her look old fashioned and quaint to the other girls, she makes a place for herself in the Chateau d’Estes and finds friends. Irish Una is the dearest of them and Mehitable spends a happy vacation at her home. The story ends with the outbreak of the war.

“The book is singularly pleasing, the heroine a living creature good to know, and there are many interesting characters and situations. A book all girls in their late teens will delight in.” Hildegarde Hawthorne

+ N Y Times p9 D 19 ’20 70w

“Her school life near Paris, her trips to other lands, and her fine love story form a superior kind of story for older girls.”

+ Outlook 127:110 Ja 19 ’21 60w

ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS. Wanted: a husband. il *$1.75 (4c) Houghton

20–7140

This story falls into two parts. The first tells of the transformation of Darcy Cole from a peevish, spoiled, unhealthy, unhappy girl into a radiant and captivating bit of womanhood. Physical culture plus grit does the trick. In the old days Darcy had been so unattractive that she had had to invent a fiancé and the second part of the story is taken up with the adventures into which this mythical person leads her. He is a certain Sir Montrose Veyze, selected from Burke’s Peerage. Fortunately he never appears in person and the attractive American lover who acts as his substitute proves perfectly satisfactory as a permanent feature.

Booklist 16:311 Je ’20

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

+ − Bookm 51:585 Jl ’20 110w

“Of course he does the thing well, but it hardly seems worth the doing when the author is capable of so much better things.”

− + Boston Transcript p4 Je 2 ’20 220w + Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 100w

“It is by no means as good an example of its type as his earlier book, ‘The unspeakable Perk,’ but it is entertaining in its way, and presents a fervent plea for athletics.”

+ − N Y Times 25:220 My 2 ’20 480w

“Its humor and gaiety compensate to some extent for the lack of plausibility.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 350w

ADE, GEORGE. Hand-made fables. il *$1.60 (2½c) Doubleday 817

20–4894

“The studies in American vernacular which comprise this volume first appeared in the Cosmopolitan Magazine.... Although the period in which these fables appeared enveloped the great war and lapped over on the great unrest, the author has proceeded upon the theory that old human nature continues to do business, even during a cataclysm.” With this introduction Mr Ade proceeds to his fables, which are in his old manner and are accompanied by John McCutcheon’s pictures.

+ Booklist 16:280 My ’20

“Barring his treatment of this arid topic [prohibition], the rest of the book is sheer delight.” G. M. Purcell

+ − Bookm 51:568 Jl ’20 340w

“Here Mr Ade once more demonstrates that the American slang vernacular has capacities for clearness, force, and (yes!) elegance that quite escape the base-ball reporter.”

+ Dial 68:665 My ’20 80w

“Isolated and perused at the rate of one a month, they yield a sharp and pungent flavour; bunched thus for permanence, they are flat.” L. B.

+ − Freeman 1:526 Ag 11 ’20 230w

“A great deal of it is amusing, poking fun in a way provocative of chuckles, and giving new point to the old saying that there is many a true word spoken in jest.”

+ N Y Times 25:228 My 2 ’20 350w + Review 2:402 Ap 17 ’20 120w + Review 2:461 My 1 ’20 1050w + Springf’d Republican p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w

ADLAM, GEORGE HENRY JOSEPH. Acids, alkalis and salts. il $1 Pitman 661

20–11164

In this volume of Pitman’s common commodities and industries series, the author has endeavored “to give prominence to the commercial and domestic importance of the substances dealt with.” He has also “included some considerations of a theoretical nature which may well be taken as a first step towards the continuation of the study of chemistry.” (Preface) Contents: Introduction; Sulphuric acid and sulphates; Nitric acid and nitrates; The halogen acids; Carbonic acid and carbonates; Phosphoric, boric, and silicic acids; Organic acids; Mild alkali; Caustic alkalis; Electrolytic methods. There are diagrams and other illustrations and an index.

“This book aims at being not only instructive, but also interesting.” C. S.

+ Nature 105:706 Ag 5 ’20 190w + N Y P L New Tech Bks p47 Jl ’20 60w (Reprinted from Nature 105:706 Ag 5 ’20)

AGATE, JAMES E. Responsibility. *$1.90 (2½c) Doran

20–7651

An English novel in which the author discourses at large on matters of art, morals and life. The scene is laid in one of the northern industrial towns and it follows the hero’s story from childhood on, depicting his escape from business into letters as a profession. In his early manhood he has a love affair with a young dancer, who when she sees that his love is waning writes to tell him she is to bear a child and disappears out of his life. Twenty years later he is confronted by his son, who is on the point of enlisting for the war. Both recognize that the usual parental relation is not to be looked for, but they become friends. The son is totally disabled in the war, the father partially so.

Ath p1304 D 5 ’19 100w

“It is a brave theme, but the author’s treatment of it is a deal too confident to be successful. He cannot resist his hero’s passion for display. And this passion is so ungoverned that we cannot see the stars for the fireworks.” K. M.

− + Ath p79 Ja 16 ’20 750w

“Not for the average reader. Good work but not remarkably good.”

+ − Booklist 16:345 Jl ’20

“The novel as a whole is excessively chaotic and immature, an obvious attempt at a youthful smartness which seems incapable of artistic restraint. Mr Agate has been a wide reader, but he shows at the present moment little power of assimilation.” E. F. E.

− + Boston Transcript p7 My 8 ’20 900w

“A first and promising novel.”

+ − Dial 69:102 Jl ’20 90w

“Undoubtedly Mr Agate has both talent and promise. Today he is not an ageless portent but a beginner with very much to learn.”

− + Nation 110:772 Je 5 ’20 850w New Repub 23:235 Jl 21 ’20 550w

“It is a sober-minded book, this novel of Mr Agate’s. But it is also a very rich book, rich in character, in thought, in understanding, in comment upon life and art, original in style and treatment. We are much mistaken if Mr James E. Agate has not definitely ‘arrived.’”

+ N Y Times 25:252 My 16 ’20 600w

“The book is a hodge-podge.” H. W. Boynton

− Review 2:573 My 29 ’20 370w

“The genius of the book might as well be a grown man’s as a boy’s—it is ageless as genius always is. But the faults—and they are grave—are a young man’s or at any rate a young writer’s, faults. We should plump for Mr Agate being, say, in the early thirties. We profoundly hope that we are right, because we want many more books from him. We do not ask for them to confirm our judgment, but because English literature is starvingly in need of a new and still young first-rate performer.”

+ − Sat R 128:535 D 6 ’19 1700w

“A novel which bears clear traces of models so diverse as Wells and James and, perhaps, even the author of ‘Tristram Shandy.’ But such strength as the novel possesses lies in what is simple and straightforward. There are good glimpses of character.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 300w

“The great quality of the book is a manly and vigorous brilliance, which is enough to supply ten ordinary novels; the chief faults are a rhetorical exuberance of style and an inability to see that the reader wants time to appreciate the really good passages, such as the page where Edward’s father sends him to school or the illegitimate son’s explanation of what moved him to join the army.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p629 N 6 ’19 750w

AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER. House of dust; a symphony. *$2 Four seas co. 811

21–968

A series of poems defining the delicate shadings of sense perceptions. They correspond to the so-called “tone poems” of music. Among the titles given to individual pieces are: The fulfilled dream; Interlude; Nightmare; Retrospect; The box with silver handles; Haunted chambers; Porcelain; Clairvoyant. Parts of the book have appeared in the North American Review, Others, Poetry, Youth, Coterie and the Yale Review.

“Mr Aiken possesses many poetical merits. He has a flow of language that is refreshing in this age of meagrely trickling springs. He has vivid sensations and a felicitous ease in exactly expressing them. But he has the defects of his qualities. His facility is his undoing; for he is content to go on pouring out melodious language—content to go on linking image to bright image almost indefinitely. One begins to long for clarity and firmness, for a glimpse of something definite outside this golden haze.” A. L. H.

+ − Ath p235 Ag 20 ’20 440w Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w

“He is not easy to understand, and some minds would doubt whether a drift of phenomena so irrational as this, however delicately and imaginatively it is described, can be worth describing, except from the point of view of scientific interest. That Mr Aiken’s work is both delicate and imaginative, there is no question.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p554 Ag 26 ’20 170w

AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER. Scepticisms; notes on contemporary poetry. *$2 (3c) Knopf 809.1

19–17334

For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.

“Mr Aiken is not quite a good enough talker; his gossip is entertaining, but he has not the knack of telling a story well, of putting an idea into a forcible and convincing form. A certain diffuseness—it is noticeable, but to a lesser degree, in his poetry—takes the edge and point off what he says; a fact that is the more regrettable, since we believe his psychological methods of criticism to be fundamentally sound and fruitful.” A. L. H.

+ − Ath p10 Ja 2 ’20 500w

“At times rather technical for the lay reader but worth while for all interested in contemporary poetry.”

+ − Booklist 16:160 F ’20

“It makes good sedative reading after you have got tired of Mencken, Cabell, Powys and some few others of the real brains of America—in the matter of the essay, I mean.” Mary Terrill

− Bookm 51:194 Ap ’20 600w

“The poets and the books that he makes an intellectual flourish of judging in the re-printed reviews which make up this volume have, for the most part, their fundamental purposes and qualities befogged and perverted by such critical charlatanry, no matter how brilliant the execution may be. Often Mr Aiken makes a most convincing case for or against a poet, but the average reader will be inclined to discount his own agreement because he cannot be sure of the critic’s motives.” W. S. B.

− + Boston Transcript p6 F 11 ’20 1300w

“One’s quarrel with Mr Aiken will be with his limits, not with his accomplishment within his limits. What in most instances he sets out to do, namely, to particularize (he says illuminate) with a careful casualness, he certainly does well. It is because he has done so much carefully that dissatisfaction arises at the incomplete significance of the whole work.” C: K. Trueblood