ISSUE: Spring 1943
a Danish sailing vessel. His eventual success comes after an exciting series of hand to hand fights and mysterious encounters. The dash and airiness of the author’s style make the reader forget his inadequate characterization and swecjis him along into a world of vigorous men.
Scribner’s $2.50
0. Hairy Memorial Award Prise Stories of 194%, edited by Herschel Brickell.
The current volume of the O. Henry Prize Stories is more notable for the skill and competence of the craftsmanship of the writers presented rather than for any positive distinction or merit. The stories of the first and second prize winners, Eu-dora Welty and Wallace Stegner, are highly bucolic in setting and atmosphere. In this volume one finds William Faulkner in a strangely sentimental mood, while John Steinbeck is whimsical. Carson Mc-Cullers is gratifyingly psychopathic. One is inclined to agree with Mr. Brickell in preferring Nancy Hale’s “Sunday—1918” over the judges’ choice as the prize winning story. Doubleday, Doran $2.60
The Best American Short Stories and the Yearbook of the American Short Story, Edited by Martha Foley.
The new editor of this volume follows O’Brien’s principles of selection. In her introduction, she says that the most exciting story writing is found in the small regional magazine, and also mentions the excellence of The New Yorker short stories, often overlooked. These 30 stories cover a wide variety and include such authors as Nancy Hale, John Steinbeck, William Saroyan, and James Thur-ber. Houghton Mifflin $2.75
WAR fc? PEACE
A Study of War, by Quincy Wright.
Mr. Wright has presented in these two volumes a summary of the results of a fiftccn-ycar research project conducted at the University of Chicago. The book covers every conceivable aspect of war, ranging from prehistoric war to modern battle and including animal warfare and
methods of eliminating war. In it the, methodologies of sociology, international law, political science, and history pre. dominate, although all disciplines are em-ployed in an effort to secure a comprehensive treatment. The two most notable influences on the author in constructing the ideological edifice of his book are the concepts of Arnold J. Toynbcc and Pitirim Sorokin. As an effort to relate fully the phenomenon of war with the larger problem of the history of civilization the book suffers from the rather heterogeneous organization. As a work of reference and guide for scholarly students the work will immediately secure a prominent position.
Chicago 2 vols. $16
Principles of Poxocr. The Great Political Crises of History, by Guglielmo Fer-rcro.
Although this is an easy book to praise, it is much more difficult to understand or agree with it. Ferrero’s historical studies have covered widely divergent periods. As a young man he made an intensive study of imperial Rome, while in his later life after his exile from Italy he turned his attention to the history of the nineteenth century in an effort to understand his own times. But this book is more than a statement of what he believed to be the fundamental pattern of the historical process. It is equally significant as one of the most impassioned and moving testimonials of faith in liberal democracy of our day. Put nam $3 AO
Sea Lanes in Wartime, the American Experience 1775-19.1,2, by Robert Grccnhalgh Albion and Jennie Barnes Pope.
For all those interested in the significance and status of sea routes in the present conflict this book cannot be too highly recommended. Although half the book is devoted to American experiences prior to 1.017, the material is used to illuminate later phases of sea warfare. The hook is well organized; and while it is sober in its approach, the dramatic incident has not been neglected. The greatest defect lies in the absence of maps.
Xorton $3.50
iVtVtviv Utncralt and Geographers, by Hans W. ft’eigert.
This German liberal, who served as a tmber of two Prussian ministries before living Germany in 1938, brings Geopol-jjjcs to the support of the United Nations ID this book to which he has given the subtitle, “The Twilight of Geopolitics.” Pf Weigert clears away some of the misconceptions regarding Geopolitics. He devotes a considerable part to explaining lj,e ffork of Halford McKinder and Karl Hsushofer, the development of Geopolitical thought in Germany, and its influence on military strategy. In his contusions, however, he differs from the authors of other hooks on this subject. Dr. ll’eigert believes it is time for us to learn j lesson in humanized Geopolitics. If the United Nations arc to build a lasting peace he sees a necessity for an understanding of the Weltanschauung of Ilaus-tofer. He believes that not so much the Imd-masses as the people of the nations told the power of the future, that “in the land-masses of North America, Asiatic Russia, and China the trails of mankind’s future will be blazed” with democracy becoming a world cause as global as the vanishing imperialism of f;hc Totalitarian powers. Oxford $3
.V «w h a Weapon, by Matthew Gordon.
This is not so much an analysis of propaganda as an exposure of Axis moth’s for using news as an integrated weapon over the radio and in the press. It is written by a man who thoroughly understands both media, for Mr. Gordon was s newspaper writer and editor before he taamc news editor for the Columbia Broadcasting System in New York. lie is now chief of the Foreign Service of the Office of War Information and his book das the endorsement of an introduction by Elmer Davis. While he was with C. B. S. Ihe author was able to make systematic notes on how the news weapon of the Axis is put to work and he quotes freely from his case histories. The focus of this Wok is on the enemy’s use of news, but a concluding chapter suggests methods for parrying this weapon and for turning it against the Axis. Knopf $2.50
A Week with Gandhi, by Louis Fischer. Mr, Fischer, who visited Gandhi in the
A wholly new picture that answers an historic riddle
JEFFERSON ROAD TO GLORY 1743 TO 1776
By Marie Kimball
This freshly written, revealing biography goes deeply into the early period of Jefferson’s life fr;- the explanation of this born aristocrat’s democratic convictions. The humanitarian who wrote the Declaration of Independence at the age of thirty-three is here shown, in the formative years that led to that event: Jefferson the schoolboy and heir to great estates, the student, the gay young blade and boon companion, the lover and devoted young husband, the lawyer riding circuit and, finally, the aristocrat transformed by reflection, on natural laws and government into the friend and champion of human rights. JEFFERSON: THE ROAD TO GLORY: 1743-1776 is a biography that portrays the man and his thinking as few have done before. Illustrated. $4.00
Marie Kimball is a well-known Jefferson scholar, the author of many monographs on Jefferson and his period, and the editor of the Martha Washington Cook Book.
COWARD-McCANN 2 W. 45th St., N. Y.
ODXSCV summer of HH2. here gives a hrief and skillfully uncmbroidercd aeeount of tlieir conversations together. An interesting final chapter is composed of tlie author’s sympathetic and incisive comments on Gandhi’s character. The portrait throughout is of a great man possessed with hut one idea, the freedom of India.
Dncll, Sloan «$ Prarce $2
Warning to the Went, by Shridharani.
An eloquent summary of the failure of western civilization to recognize the reawakened Asia of Chiang Kai-shek, Nehru, and Gandhi, an Asia which wishes to dispel the western conqueror but keep the western friend. iSh rid ha rani, the author of “My India, My America,” gives a vital picture of these men and their political views. Emphasizing the trends in India, he warns the West of the need for a revolution in its insular psychology. His lucid prose and candid expression gives force to his arguments and strength to his thesis. Duel], Sloan $> Pearce $2.50
The British Colonial Empire, by W. E. Simnett.
Any survey of the forty odd British colonics must necessarily have an encyclopedic flavor, but the brevity of this volume accentuates that condition. Most of this book is devoted to a hasty survey of each colony. A few extremely general chapters on administration, pioneers, imperialistic organizations, and colonial systems of other nations complete the account. Those who are seriously interested in the subject may find the bibliography useful. ’ ’ Norton $3
“Freely to Pass”, bv Edward W. Beattie, Jr.
This is the record of a reporter and his passport. The reporter is now the head of the London Bureau of the United Press, While he held the passport, he was free to pass from country to country, at first ahead of war, then in its midst. This is no “think piece” on why war came, but a news correspondent’s report of what he saw as it came: Chamberlain losing his umbrella at Munich, Czechs
singing their national anthem as Hit|e> entered Prague, France fleeing before tht invaders, Londoners stiffening under tin blitz. Mr. Beattie, has crowded his record with details, colored it with intiniaci « and lightened it with humor.
Crowell ft
Bnlconn Empire, by Bey nobis and Klcanor Packard.
A crack newspaper team give a round by round account of three and a half vein of Fascist Italy at war as seen from their ringside seats as United Press correspondents in Rome. They have looked behind the dignity of the Roman portico into tti{ sham and intrigue of Mussolini’s vanish’ ing empire. No less interesting than theit inside view of events that have shaken the world is their account of how news h gathered, censored, and distributed in an Axis nation. And they are now able to include many details, some grim, some humorous, kept by the censors from their cabled correspondence, Oxford ft
A Latin American Speaks, by Luis Quid-tanilln.
The former Counselor of the Mexican Embassy in Washington and now Minister to Russia, an authority on inter-Amor-ican affairs, interprets in this timely volume the spirit and facts of our relations with the twenty republics south of lis. Pointing out the popular misconceptions of each other by the North and South American peoples, he asserts that America is really one, or ought to be. The “good neighbor” policy, he thinks, will make this unity of aim and action all the more realistic. He feels that the divisions and irritations caused by the Monroe Doctrine are disappearing and that a “blali-blali Americanism” has been followed by a practical Pan-Americanism. Simon Bol-ivar was the first to have a great dream of the United Americas and Franklin D-Roosevelt the first to make it come true. Mr. Quintanilla, a strong internationalist, is not content with inter-Americanism but pleads for extra-Americanism as the fulfillment of our “united destiny”: the aspiration of democracy is world unity. “The League of Nations,” he declares, New Books front
CHAPEL HILL
“is not dead, and we cannot conceive the world of today, much less the world of jonlorrow, without the existence of the League or a similar body.” This is an eloquent hook by a scholar and diplomat who has spent many years in the United States and who thoroughly understands the history of this country as well as that of our Latin-American neighbors.
Macmillan $2.50
Man anil Society in Calamity, by Fitirim A. Sorokin.
Professor Sorokin writes of war, pestilence, and famine, and of their effect on individual and social behavior. I low and when and why these calamities modify behavior, the author makes clear in generalizations that are supported by striking examples drawn from great historic calamities and that are applied, finally, to today’s calamities. The student of sociology will find little news in the generalizations, and may decry the scarcity of experimental and statistical evidence. The general reader may find much that is not only interesting but instructive.
Button $8
A Time for Greatness, by Herbert Agar.
If as a pamphleteer Mr. Agar does not rank with such an impassioned humanist and intellectual as Lewis Mumford, his exaltation of “the American idea” is none the less worthwhile. And if his advice to business, labor, government, and Americans generally is so undetailed as to seem in many instances without force, it may succeed nevertheless in inducing proper attitudes from which proper thinking and action will come. At least he does a good job of convincing us of our past sins, and his advocated means of atonement for them are sound and commendable. Little, Hi VIK’H $2.50
let the People Know, by Norman Angcll.
Mr. Angcll’s formula for a better postwar world calls for an international body sufficiently effective to administer a police We that would preserve the rights of a weak nation against powerful aggressors. His argument is frankly built on the analogy that national law and order is to Jhc defense of the individual’s rights as international law and order is to the dc-
FREEDOM FORGOTTEN AND REMEMBERED
By HELMUT KHUN. What is this freedom about which we hear so much tnlk? If it is something worth lighting for, would it not he well for us to know what freedom is? Here is an informed statement on this subject, one which exposes the shallowness of current views, how their German versions prepared the way for Nazism, and how the winning of the war is dependent on recovery of that idea of freedom embodied in 2,500 years of western civilization. April 24. $2.50
THIS IS LORENCE
fly LODWICK HARTLEY. For a century and a half the Reverend Laurence Sterne has been an enigma to students of English letters. This delightful introduction tr> his life mid works reveals Sterne the urtist—an tin forgettable and gullant figure.
May i. 83.00
THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
fly C. HERMAN PRITCHETT. A brilliant analysis of the background of the T.V.A., its multiple-purpose program, its development as one of the greatest power agencies in the world, and its role as n regional planner. April 17. $3.50
WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANT TO THE GREEKS
Ity WALTER It. AGARI). A challenging, stimulating hook with :i practical application for us today. Ready. $2.50
THE BRIGHT PLAN
lly CHARLES EDWARD EATON. A volume of collected poems. Reudy. $2.00
THE INTERNATIONAL STEEL CARTEL
By ERVIN HEXNER. Ready. 86.00
The University of North Carolina Presj
CHAPIl Hill, N. C.
iiwtcvii fense of a country’s rights; ergo, what has worked in the one case is at least worth trying in the other. Particularly good is his interpretation of the causes of the present war and of current, fifth column criticisms that undermine Allied co-operation. As always Mr. Angcll writes clearly and with considerable conviction.
Viking $2.60
HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY
A Summary View of the Rights of British America, by Thomas Jefferson: with an Introduction and a Biographical Note by Thomas P. Abernethy.
Thomas Jefferson’s important “Summary View” was printed in Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and London in 1774. The rare Williamsburg first printing by Clementina Rind has been reproduced in facsimile, together with the letter “To the King” by Arthur Lee, which formed the preface to the London edition. The introduction is altogether satisfying. It gives a complete orientation for the pamphlet even to the identification of the owner of the John Carter Brown Library copy from which the facsimile is made. Professor Abernethy is able to establish the high probability that it was on September 23, 1774, over the breakfast table that this man received his copy from the hands of Patrick Henry. The format of this edition is admirable.
Scholar’s Facsimile «y Reprints $2
The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution, 1763-1789, by Freeman II. Hart.
No section of the United States holds more of historic interest than the verdant Valley of Virginia, made famous by the events of two major wars. Settled largely by men who were alien to the English of Virginia, it became intensely American; a frontier region when the Federal Constitution was adopted, it was strongly nationalistic and conservative in its political attitudes. Dr. Hart has studied the annals of the Valley with great care and has written what is perhaps the most illuminating account of the life of its
people during the stirring period of our War for Independence.
North Carolina $3,51)
Mr, Rutlcdge of South Carolina, by J, Richard Barry.
John Rutlcdge was first President of the Republic of South Carolina—virtually its dictator—and later Governor of the State of South Carolina. He was for a brief time Chief Justice of the United States; but perhaps he performed his most important service to posterity as chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, the final draft of which, containing corrections and additions in Rutlcdgc’s own handwriting, was unearthed by the author of this biography. Rutlcdge was a man of great political ability and executive force and one to be reckoned with in the councils of the founding fathers. He generally placed the good of his country above his own selfish interests and when, at the first Continental Congress, it became necessary for South Carolina to choose between an embargo on rice and one on indigo, Rutlcdge said abruptly, “All right. We take rice,” although the choice meant the risk of his own personal fortune and that of his family. His most deplorable action was his “deal” with the hard-fisted, pleasure-hating Connecticut Yankee, Roger Sherman, which resulted in the continuation of the slave trade: Massachusetts and Connecticut combined with Georgia and the Carolinas to win a five to four decision for it at the Constitutional Convention. The decision was to the monetary advantage of both sections. In the hands of his present biographer, Rutlcdge seldom comes to life as an individual, although his importance as a force in the molding of our national government is clearly shown. Duell, Sloan cy Pcarce $3.75
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, by Ellen Hart Smith.
In this conscientious, straightforward biography of the outstanding Revolutionary statesman from Maryland, the personality of the man is somewhat obscured by a multitude of facts about his family and his times. Like his father and his grandfather he was at first deprived of
the * ° °^ee ‘nco^onm^ America because he was a Roman Catholic. The political freedom and public recognition which he finally gained were won the hard way—by sheer ability—and the fight which he was obliged to make for his own rights made him battle all the more vigorously for the rights of others. Although bis tastes were scholarly and his nature retiring, he, like Washington and Jefferson and many another Revolutionary patriot, sacrificed his personal desires for the sake of public duty. He loved his country .well but his State more; and when the choice was forced upon him, he did not hesitate to resign his seat in the Senate of the United States in order to hold one in the Senate of Maryland. It is perhaps more surprising than significant to learn that Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived long enough to be apostrophized by Daniel Webster as a “venerable object” and to lift the first shovel full of earth in the construction of the B. & 0. Railroad.
Harvard $3.75
The Culture of Early Charleston, by Frederick P. Bowes.
It is not often that a doctoral dissertation represents such extensive research, careful analysis, and lucid interpretation as docs Dr. Bowes’ work, which deals with the religious, educational, literary, artistic, and scientific interests of the people of Charleston. The final chapter discusses the Charleston aristocracy, and the economic basis of the social organization of the community is cogently presented. One would wish to know more of the part played by minority elements in Charleston society, yet a small book cannot cover everything.
North Carolina $2.50
America. The Story of a Free People, by Allan Ncvins and Henry Steele Com-mager.
A short narrative account “of a people intelligent enough to want freedom and willing to work for it and to fight for it,” authentic, yet lively and dramatic, by two eminent historians who have distinguished themselves by their ability to present graphically the colorful panorama of American history. One of the very best
John Dewey
PHF.SKNTS
The Living Thoughts of THOMAS JEFFERSON
In this volume of about 60,000 words, John Dewey gathers from the voluminous letters, writings and other records the essence of the universal genius that was Jefferson. Both the introductory essay and the selection give point to the near miracle that “a single person could find time and energy for such a range of diverse interests.” “It is extremely doubtful whether airy other living man could or would have made a better selection.”—Southern Literary Messenger. $1.50
LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. 55 Fifth Avenue, New York
Thomas Jefferson’s
GARDEN BOOK
Edited by Edwin M. Betts
of the University of Virginia
A timely book, built about Jefferson’s manuscript record of the garden he loved, and revealing many interesting chapters in the early development of American horticulture and agriculture. The extensive annotations by Dr. Bctts include an outline of Jefferson’s principal activities for each of the 59 years (1766-1824) during which the Garden Book was kept, as well as quotations from his correspondence on gardening and farming and the introduction of useful foreign plants. The Sully portrait of Jefferson, facsimiles of certain pages of the Garden Book, photographs of Monticello, and Jefferson’s own, diagrams of the garden are among the illustrations.
American Philosophical Society Memoirs Vol. 21. About 750 pp. 1943- $5-00
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Independence Square Philadelphia, Pa.
xooxix introductions to the subject for the student and the layman. Little, liroxcn $3
Lincoln and His Parti/ in the Secession Crisis, by David M. Potter.
This is a careful and interesting study of the Republican party’s policy from the election of Lincoln to the fall of Sumter. Clearly explained and fully documented is the story of the party leaders’ disbelief in the threats of secession, their mistaken confidence in the strength of Southern Unionism, and their strategy of silence and delay in the hope that Southern sentiment against secession would soon set in. Such a stand accounts for their refusal to consider seriously the essential issues, particularly the territorial question. A scholarly account, dispassionately and ably presented. Yale $3.75
Voices of History, edited bv Franklin Watts.
This (550-page collection of some of history’s materials for 19-tl deserves attention and praise. Aided and directed by Charles A. Beard, Mr. Watts has reprinted, from official and responsible sources and in unabridged form, many of the speeches, messages, special letters, and orders of the world’s chief political rulers. Included, also, arc a few international pacts and agreements, although the bulk of the materials arc speeches. The selections seem to represent fairly and accurately Axis policies and intentions as well as those of the United Nations. The arrangement is by months, each month being preceded by a brief calendar of events. Subsequent volumes are planned. Franklin Watts $3.50
The Mad Forties, by Grace Adams and Fdward Ilutter.
To the student of the. United States of Edgar Poe’s time a number of very minor names are familiar, among them Mrs, Mary Govc-Nichols, Mrs. Louise Shew, Colonel W. L. Stone, Andrew Jackson Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith, and some of the mediums in whom Mrs. Whitman of Providence was interested. These are some of the people whose erratic pursuits of nostrums, Utopias, and new
n
“ideas” form the subject of this amusing ” story of “The Mad Forties.” Here enter J also the venerable Bronson Alcott, the ” father of the great Henry James, and tne t’l redoubtable Arthur Brisbane. The an- 5 thors of this entertaining book have not I? taken their scholarship too seriously or 18 their inhibitions too prudently to inter- 11 fere with the enjoyment of the mildlr ^ scandalous subject matter. Harper $2$ i
The English Yeoman under Elizabeth and !(
the Early Stuarts, by Mildred Campbell. 1
The walls of the National Gallery and of great men’s houses show us the faces ^ and the garments of England’s gentry. To know “the mettle of pasture,” the yeo- ” men of England, it is necessary to rum- ^ mage, in “local archives, the muniment rooms and attics,” in old diaries and records. Mildred Campbell’s book for the (| historian and the student of literature lias ^ gathered material, with profuse docu- ^ mentation, to show the yeoman, “bed, j board, and roof-tree,” earning a living, | at school, and at church. This hook is j( an important addition to the Yale His- (( torical Publications. It is interesting for j what it contains, but is not light reading [ for the curious. Yale $3.75 j,
The (irent (YWeill, by Sean OTaolain. J
This carefully and knowingly written I life of the wild Irish prince, Hugh O’Neill, amounts to more than just biography ; it depicts the life and death struggles of the Celtic and English, mediaeval and renaissance worlds, and should add immeasurably to one’s understanding of at least one set of problems confronting the Virgin Queen.
Dueil, Sloan cy Pearcc $3.75
(1. B. S„ by Hesketh Pearson.
‘Phis “full-length portrait” of George Bernard Shaw by Hesketh Pearson, author of many other biographical studies, is professedly Boswellian. Questions are fired at the old socialist, critic, and playwright, and in reply be coruscates in the witty, paradoxical monologue which has long been familiar to all the world. Letters are also freely used. But Shaw’s personality is more interesting than his opinions
and that is what his latest biog-
(3phcr 1ms succeeded
in revealing with marked success. His astonishing vitality jnd versatility, his irreverence, his sativi-tflhirnior (he resented the tongue-in-the-â– lieek accusation, protesting his serious-less), his aptness in puncturing inflated people and pretentious posturing, have juade him immensely popular with youth jnd other scorners of tradition. A very human and at times a very kindly individual is the Shaw of these, pages, frankly egotistic hut able to laugh at him-jtlf. His wife, he says, who “knows all nr old stories and conversational stunts jy heart,” often begged him to give other people a chance to talk; “and so I do; hut Ihc-y won’t take them: they conic to hear Bietalk—to he entertained by me, not to entertain me.” And surely G. B. S. has deen the great entertainer with a purpose of his generation. He has shown himself I social reformer, of course, and more than once has proved himself a prophet. When Hitler invaded Russia in 1941 Shaw at once predicted in a letter to a London paper a certain Russian victory, lie thought he knew Russia and Stalin, for had he not visited that Communist country and its leader some years before? His comments on his visit, along with Lord and Lady Astor, form an illuminating episode in the story of his life. There emerges from the pages of Mr. Pearson’s book a very life-like person whom this latest Boswcll calls “the greatest character” of his age. Harper $8.71”)
ilr. Justice Holmes, by Francis Piddle.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Civil War soldier, Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice for twenty years, and member of United States Supreme. Court for thirty years, was in active service as a jurist until he was ninety-one. He was a great philosopher, cultured humanist, very learned judge, easily one. of
lilt u
I nearly
and
the most honored and famous of the eminent men who have, sat in our highest court. It is fitting that the present Attorney-General, who was one of Justice. Holmes’ secretaries, should have produced this intimate portrait of the great judge. Wat he has done is to reveal through apt quotation, illuminating anecdote, and penetrating comment the salient qualities of
JEFIERSON
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tvli a man whose profound learning was equalled only by his large humanity. His judicial decisions, letters, and addresses were grounded in fundamental concepts and expressed in language of great richness with occasional poetic coloring. In a speech at the fiftieth anniversary of his class at Harvard Justice Holmes declared that philosophy tried “to find the unity behind the details, even if there were not unity.” “Life,” said he, “is painting a picture, not doing a sum . . . Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is bound to act.” His search for the underlying philosophy of an act has given his utterances, whether judicial or general, an abiding quality. He had, moreover, an eye for beauty in the passing scene. After wading through a long legal document, sent from the court for his approval or rejection, he wrote on the margin: “This afternoon I was walking on the towpath and saw a cardinal. It seemed to me to be the first sign of Spring. By the way, I concur.” Mr. Biddlc haj contributed a charming picture of his master, who memorably interpreted both law and life. ’ Scribner’s $2.50
Willard Gibbs, by Muriel Rukcyscr.
This work succeeds in impressing the reader with the imagination and mathematical genius of Willard Gibbs and indicates the general character of his contributions to the physical sciences. Although the reader unfamiliar with mathematics and science may hot fully understand Gibbs’ innovations, he is more than compensated by learning much of the seminal discoveries of other nineteenth century scientists. Despite the rhetorical lyricism of the opening chapter and a disposition to let Gibbs’ contemporaries push him off the stage, Miss Rukcyscr lias presented the scientific imagination with considerable interest and insight.
Doubleday, Doran $3.50
The Dark ltain Falling, bv Gilbert Maxwell.
The poems in this somewhat carelessly gotten together volume range, from ineptly
tela
sentimental to memorably genuine. Then is evident in most a melodic sense, which, however, compensates only in part for<k ficieiicies in thought. In some—fot (8. stance, the group called “Georgia”—!^ quality of experience embodied is iiniqm and haunting; and the love sonnets “Eighteenth Century Octet” are better than average. Deehr
Person, Place and Thing, by Karl J « Shapiro.
Although Audcn has not without reason been mentioned as the mentor of Karl Shapiro, the latter, as this book abundantly demonstrates, is himself first of ill and speaks with a clear, new voice, sometimes angry and hurt, “a tower of bitterness,” but always bravely unhesitant, “Nothing can escape the clean hard focus of the eye,” he says in one of his poems, and certainly very little has escaped his own vision of life and objects about him. With an often remorseless wit and with a remarkable technical exactitude and sense of form he has written of various localized aspects of American culture. A fw poems are included which have been written since he arrived in Australia as a soldier. They arc excellent war poem and show a tenderness hitherto absent from his work. Jicijnal § Hitchcoclt P.
Poems, by Stefan George. Translated br Carol North Valhopc and Ernst Morwitz.
This is the first English-German edition of a comprehensive selection of the poetry of George, who for many years was the inspirer and leader of a German cult of art for art’s sake like that of the English Pre-Raphaclitcs and the French Symbolists. Although reflecting a strict and indeed beautiful formalism, his lyrics are of n kind which he rightly allowed to be called “static.” a kind making next to no concessions to the reader. In view of the fact, the lengthy cxcgctical introduction by Ernst Morwitz, a past member of the George circle, is a welcome accessory, although it too has its obscurities. The translations usually succeed in preserving the rhythms and rhymes of the German. The format of the volume is handsome.
Pantheon $2M Mediaeval Art, by Charles Morcy.
This history of mediaeval sculpture and pictorial art has everything that impeccable I (aJ(eflnd profound scholarship can give it. ]t is a hook for sedulous reading, completely devoid of incidental comment, and virtually exhaustive within its comparatively short length. Any suggestion of popularized “interpretative approach” is avoided, yet the text is full of succinct, acutely perceptive,—frequently downright revelatory,—descriptive phrases.
Perhaps because of wartime exigencies, the hook is marred by the use. of line drawings for illustrations. These are particularly inadequate when they represent sculpture. Even so, there are 179 illustrations in half-tone, made from photographs of surprisingly uneven quality.
Norton $0.50
The Artist in America, by Cnvl Zigrosser.
Mr. Zigrosser deals with the work of only twenty-four artists. He has not selected the twenty-four “best” or best known. Furthermore, he deals with them only as printmakers (several of them happen to he painters also) and he uses prints alone as illustrations—all of which is preliminary to saying that nevertheless he has given a better all-round picture of the American artist than any of the elaborately inclusive books on American painting which have been appearing recently. The illustrations are superbly selected and hrillinntly reproduced, and the. book is good-looking in every respect. Any reservations made concerning it must be the result of personal bias. This reviewer is bothered by Mr. Zigrosser’s tendency to offer romantic symbols as criticism (Paul Landacrc is a wild petrel with a wounded M’ing); but, on the other hand, the device may be valuable in addressing the, layman, and for the layman this book is a first-rate picture of contemporary American art.
Knopf $5
The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, by .Salvador Dali.
Dali’s book, like Dali’s painting, irritates by boasting its debt to Freud, but never acknowledging what it has learned from Bamum. Several years ago Dali was an arresting novelty, but he has
(Continued in back advertising pages.)
WHERE YOUR COMFORT COMES FIRST
We think you will find the Prince George a bit different than moat ho. «e! «-an enjoyable home lor your New York visit. Quiet, yet within J minutes of the shopping district. Near to the theaters. Trained supervisors to entertain your children. Low rates make the Prince Ceorg-e New York’s most outstanding hotel value. Write for booklet V.
J3.S0 to $7M Double—1,000 Rooms . . .. l.tOt Baths
Prince George Hotel 1?’:’isv2hp,ivv
Ai:v ouk. A. l.
now is the time to catch up on your reading!
hooks, wore than ever, arc litis country’s first line of relaxation. If “pleasure driving” and oilier iiracrtitnc pleasures have interfered with your reading fun in the past, A’Oie is the time to turn to hooks. Sec your bookseller today. No matter what your rending tastes, he’ll show you hooks guaranteed to give you pleasure.
american booksellers association
Members liverywhere (Continued from fn
worked hard at wearing his own sensationalism threadbare, dust so, the first pages of his biography are fascinating, but his confessions .soon grow intolerably repetitious, and begin to appear interminable. A suggested subtitle: Paranoia Can lie Profitable.
This is a handsomely made volume, elaborately illustrated. For anybody not weary of DaHnian posturing, it is a must. For anybody else it has curiosity value. On page 291 Dali explains that certain bizarre inventions of his were never produced commercially because “everyone underestimated the unconscious masochistic buyer who wis avidly looking for the object capable of making him suffer.” If Dali has thus correctly analyzed the buying public, his book should have a tremendous sale, and many thousands of people will read it from cover to cover in exquisite agony. Dial $G
The History of Music in Performance, by Frederick Dorian.
In the time of Falestrina and Jlaeh, composers were more often than not their own interpreters. They were satisfied with scores which are no more than sketches for the modern performer. Hut even an elaborately punctuated Schonhcrg manuscript is only a little less elusive. It still leaves out of account intangibles that cannot be expressed by a method of writing music. Dr. Dorian has amassed the clues for tracking down these intangibles. Here are signposts for discovery of the inner language behind the symbols, evidences of the traditions, manners, and customs surrounding great musical scores of the various epochs at the time of their creation. His material is controversial, his sleuthing sound, the resulting book delightful. Required study for the singer and player, fascinating cover to cover reading for anyone interested in music, or indeed for anyone responsible for that recognizable intangible we call “style.”
Norton $Jt
The Hook of Modern Composers, edited by David Fiwen.
In an attempt to deal objectively with
ivlvi
advertising pages.)
the lives and works of twenty-nine content- ^ porary composers, the editor has compiled this series of biographical .sketches and analytical essays from various sources His attempt has been partially successful and while the book adds little to information already available, the average render curious about music of our own times, will find it useful. The best essay is the introductory one, “Modern music: its styles and techniques,” written by Slonimskv, Kxccllent plates and superficial lists of compositions and recordings are included.
Knopf .%
LITHKARY STUDIKS
The Tragical History of Christopher Marlowe, by John Hakeless.
This work, the. final one. to grow out of the author’s twenty years of research, docs not possess quite all the matter its title might lead one interested in the deeper problems of Marlowe’s life and art to hope for. There is indeed embodied here a kind of painstaking scholarship par excellence, however weakened it may be by lack of critical discrimination and shaping power. The first two hundred pages, which deal with Marlowe’s life, are weighed down with every available bit of documentary evidence; and the following five hundred, given over to a consideration of each of his works, arc filled with tlic usual discussion of sources, dates of composition, influences, parallel passages, and the rest. A bibliography of more than a hundred pages brings the book to an appropriate close. Harvard ;.’ vols. $1M
Will Shakespeare and the Dyer’s Hand, by Alden Hrooks.
The contention of Alden Hrooks’ hook is that the man, Shakespeare, was a trafficker in plays, a literary agent or broker, who became the figurehead of an Elizabethan hoax. As his candidate for the real author of the plays, Mr. Brooks brings forward Sir Edward Dyer as the real bard, not Hacon, Earl of Oxford, Earl of Derby, Karl of Rutland, nor any other. This is a long, tedious book filled with condescension toward all the scholars with ,rlio.sc erudition iss” puffed’out. To those who liavr been interested in the dull Mine of finding someone not named Sb «kc «prHrt: to father Shakespeare’s plays, here’s one more diversion. Others may perhaps find that though “reasons are as plentiful as blackberries” they lack all flavor if they lack reasonableness and logic.
Scribner’s $5
(liori/c Whetstone, Mid-Vlirjitbethan (ien-tlemau of Letters, by Thomas (‘.. Izard.
A very competent treatment of the carter and works of a minor Elizabethan, fl-lio the author admits had no great importance or influence, except that a play of his furnished Shakespeare the plot of “Measure for Measure.” However, this study is valuable in that it corrects a number of false statements which scholars, hitherto unwilling to examine Whetstone thoroughly, have made. Columbia $3.75
Stella, by Herbert Davis.
With acumen and uncommon :<>ed sense Dr. Davis rc-cvaluates, in this s” .1 volume, (he Swift-Esther Johnson friendship, emphasizing, through a careful consideration of the satire, comedy, and sentiment in Swift’s writings to “Stella”, his sane conception of the rising middle-class gentlewoman, wholly different from her namesake, the romanticized, aristocratic “Stella” of Sir Philip Sidney.
Mac 111 ill a 11 $1.75
Thr llackgmund of Thomson’s Seasons, by Alan Dugald McKillop.
Tin’s learned study concerns itself with the relation of “The Seasons” to the intellectual currents of the early eighteenth century. After a general survey of the erudite Thomson’s philosophic ideas, Professor McKillop, thoroughly acquainted with nearly all possible influences on Thomson, turns to a painstaking examination of the poetry with the aim of tracing the poet’s interest and learning in eon-temporary science, and in geography, travel, and the history of society.
Minnesota $2.50
Wordsworth and the Vocabulary of Kmoiion, by Josephine Miles.
Somewhat worried bv the. acsthetieians
The books listed below are recommended as valuable to the war effort by
THE COUNCIL ON BOOKS IN WARTIME.
Imperative
TiiKV Wivniv Kxi’i’NiiAiu.K, by W. 1,. White, Harcourt, Brace. $2.00
Recommended
AmKKH’.V. Till; S’l’OltV 01’ a FlU’k Pkoim.h,
by Henry Steele Conunagcr and Allan Nevins.
Utile, lirown $.1.00. Pocket Books. 25c. Hatti.i-; i’ok rni; .Solomons, bv Ira Wolfcrt.
Houghton Mifflin. $2.00 Dkkss RiviiKAusAi„ by (v)ucntiu Reynolds.
Random House. $2.00 (iKkmany’s Mastkk Plan, by Joseph Horkin
in collaboration with Charles Welsh.
Ditcll, Sloan <*; Pcarcc. $2.75 GrAiiAu’ANAi, DiAky, by Richard Tregaskis.
Random House. $2,50 II. M. Cokvi’.’i’ii:, by l,t. Nicholas Monsarrat.
Uppincatt. $175 Haim’y Land, by MacKinlay Kantor.
Coward-McCann. $1.25 l,i;r TiiK ]’j;ori,iv Know, bv Norman Angcll.
The Viking Press. ‘ $2.50 Miuaci.KS 01’ Mii.ivaky Mkdicink, l>v Albert
(v). Maisel. Duett, Sloan & Pearc’e. $2.75 I’ui’i.iDr, to Victory, by James Keston.
Knopf. $2.00. Pocket Hooks. 25 cents Rki-okv i’kom Tokyo, by Jose|)li C. Grew,
Simon /” Schuster. $1.50 Si-iv Hi’iiK, Pkj vatic IIauckovk, bv Marion
Hargrove. Henry Holt. ’ $2.00
Social Insckanck and Ai.lii:i> ShkviciJs,
bv Sir William Hcverid)>e.
Macmillan. $1.00 Tims Ti.mk i’ok Ki-:i-:i »s, bv John Mni’Connac,
7Vic Viking Press. ’ ‘ $2,00
Tokyo Rkcomii, bv Otto B. Tolischus. h’eynul <’r Hitchcock. $.100
THE COUNCIL ON BOOKS IN WARTIME ,
347 Fifth Avenue, New York
cclvii who would dogmatize on “essentially poetic” language, Miss Miles studies the vocabulary of emotion that appears in Wordsworth’s poetry, observing words that name emotion (e. g., sorrow, pleasure) and phrases that eitlier contain the name of an emotion (laughed in glee) or manifestly point to an emotion (stifled in her bliss). She makes clear that such words make up about one sixth of the poet’s works, demonstrates that Wordsworth knew what he was doing when he used them, and that they had richer associations for the eighteenth century than they may have for us. In using quantitative methods sanely and in interpreting wisely. Miss Miles shows herself to be an extremely competent literary historian.
California $2
Frank Norris: A Stud if, by Ernest Mnr-ehand.
This book is the first fully detailed critical study of Frank Norris; it offers not perhaps a final estimate of the man and his work, but a welcome one even so. The author deals interestingly with Norm’s theories and practices as novelist and with his social ideas. There is a final chapter describing the body of criticism which has grown up about his novels, particularly his single masterpiece, “McTcague.”
Stanford $3
Marcel Proust; Reviews and Estimates in English, compiled by Gladys Dudley Lindner.
In a chronological and abridged form Mrs. Lindner has arranged the important English criticism of Proust which, with the exception of one piece, has appeared since his death in 1922. Such eminent writers and critics as Joseph Conrad. Arnold Bennett, Haveloek Ellis, Edmund Wilson, Anatole France, and Georges Lemaitre are represented. As Nr. Le-maitre points out in his Foreword to the book, this, better than any single study, initiates us into the “unbelievably complex and rich contribution that Proust was able to make to our culture.”
Stanford $8.60
GENERAL
Under a Thatched Hoof, by James Norman Hall.
Here, by a co-author of the Rountj trilogy, are not only a number of rathe exquisite and urbane examples of the ol<j[ time informal and very intimate essay, but also pleasing experiments in fantasy nnd the burlesque story. There is even a small patch of nonsense verse. One finds Mr, Hall, by implication or direct statement, throughout, hymning the blessings of leisure and idle contemplation; and one emerges from these whole delightful pieces.; with an understanding and appreciation o, his statement that he loves “a eircum* scribed world, small enough to he com-? prehended at a glance, so to speak, yett large enough to offer a certain amount of variety.” Houghton Mifflin $2.75
Charles Pegu if: Manic Ferities, translated by Ann and Julian Green.
In this selection of Peguy’s prose anil poetry, accompanied by the original text, the salient qualities of the genius that was Peguy’s stand forth. A sincere, religious person, a man of the people, he speaks simply and directly on such questions as socialism, the Jewish problem, freedom, war, and peace. Well chosen and excellently translated, these selections make clear the spiritual actuality of Peguy’s message to Frenchmen—to all men—at this time. Pantheon $2.75
Icelandic Poems and Stories, edited by Richard Reek.
This volume of translations from modern Icelandic literature of the nineteenth mid twentieth centuries reveals along with unique national traits the dee.)) and lasting effect of European romanticism of tlic early nineteenth century upon Icelandic literature. The poetry is notable for both its deep religious feeling and its reserved interpretation of nature. The short stories with few exceptions are sensitive and tender in their exposition of the characters and emotions of the simple farmer and fisher folk. Princeton $$
iiiviii I MARY 15
eaih in the Blackout
MOW GILBERT
liyitwy os terrifying as it is timely, by an estab-toed writer, author of last year’s successful r/ «r/ Jn the Woodshed. $2.00
nlf Game
mom E. SMITH
m heroine of this novel was voted “most likely (succeed.” What happened to her afterward is ntlhlng else again! By the author of No Bed of W, $2.00
kWOT 22 Last Messiah
Alioqiaphy of TJieodor Herzl, by BUG GBEENBUflG
I Quixotic story of the founder of the Zionist owment, the first comprehensive biography in tyiih of a remarkable man. $3.50
i Second Supplement the Record Book
tr 25,000 owners of The Record Book will want }tj DAVID HALL. $1.00
PRIORITIES and limitations have carved our list to the bone. Only nine titles this Spring, but each one iepresents months of consideration and careful editing. We hope that these final selections appeal ‘to you as they do to us.
APRIL 5
The Neely Star-Finder
HENRY NEELY
Something new in sky guides. Size 12”’ x 12”, profusely illustrated, with six accurate charts. $2.00
The Living Dead of France
CONSTANTIN 10FFE
Introduction by LOUIS BRQMFIELD The first story of Frenchmen in German concentration camps, by a former prisoner. It’s torrificl $2.75
MAY 17
Hongkong Aftermath
WENZELL BROWN
Mr. Brown came back on the Gripsholm, but 2700 other Americans are still in Hongkong. This book reveals their fate. $2.75
Army and Navy: A History
FLETCHER PRATT
America’s liveliest, most stimulating military historian at his best. $2.50
Road of the Rickshaw Man
LAO SHZ
Another Village in August in the makingl An enthralling, contemporary Chinese novel brought ta us by T’ien Chun’s translator. $2.50
ft
SMITH & DURRELL, Inc., 25 West 45th St., New York
In Canada: George J. McLeod, Ltd.
You can order your books through the Virginia Quarterly Book Service, Xew Directions HU/2 (Number 7), edited by .James Laughlin.
A newly-translated Kafka fable, a play by William Carlos Williams, three umisttal essays by Paul Goodman, and a symposium, “Homage to Ford Madox Ford,” lend particular distinction to this annual anthology. The editor performs his customary task of presenting a varied selection of experimental writing—abstract, surrealistic, fantastic, and satiric.
New Directions $3/)0
Innocent Merriment, selected by Franklin P. Adams.
The selections in this anthology of English and American light verse were made by “F. P. A.” (of “Information Please” and “The Conning Tower”) on the arbitrary basis of purely personal taste. Although the compiler engagingly admits that his judgment is faulty, few readers will quarrel with it. The poets range from Robert Herriek to Dorothy Parker and the poems are classified as Hurlesquc, Parody, Innocent Merriment. Love. Nonsense, Panegyric, Satire, Song and .Story, Sport, and Translation—Paraphrase. A timely and cheering volume, a wholesome and delightful remedy for war nerves.
Whittlesey House $3
A Treasury of British Humor, edited by Morris Rishop.
After reading the editor’s witty and pleasant introduction, one is inclined to trust both his taste and risibilities, and one’s disappointments are few. He has given his anthology a simple chronological arrangement, with a justifiably large section devoted to the present. Mr. Hishop contends that American and liritish humor are one, but this collection is no match for its companion volume, E. 15. and Kather-ine White’s “Subtreasiiry of American Humor.” Coward-McCann -$3
The Wit and Wisdom of China, edited by Fin Yutang.
Eleven hundred pages about evenly divided between the great writings of India and the great writings of China. Con siderations of space have led the editor to exclude from this volume such readily
available, works as the “Mahabaratu” anj Kalidasa’s “Shakuntala,” but he has givn us the whole of the “Ramayaim,” and tk-“Rhagavad-Oita” together with a skillfull, chosen collection of other Indian wort In the section dealing with China, Laotse Confucius, Li Po, “The Rook of History’ parables and proverbs are chosen in ” « effort to unravel some of the mysteries ol the Oriental, and specifically the. Cliinesi point of view-—some of the basic ways of looking at things as revealed in natin Chinese literature and philosophy”. Th< editor’s introductory notes and translation seem excellent to this reader,
Random House
Christianity and Social Order, by Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Working on what he calls the fund; mental Christian postulate, that man wm lose his self-ceiitredness and understand himself a child of God, the Arclibislicj proceeds to a discussion of three derivative Christian social principles—freedom, fd lowship, and service. After an impressively thoughtful explanation of how sucl principles may he made to work prnctieallj for a better world, he concludes: “theain of a Christian social order is the fullest possible development of individual nor sonality in the widest and deepest possible fellowship.” Penguin Booh 2k
The Path to Reconstruction. A Brief Introduction lo Alherl Schweitzer’s Philoto-ghy of Civilization, bv Mrs. Charles I R.’ Russell.
For many years thinkers have been attracted by the figure of Albert Sell-weitzer, the German theologian, biographer, and musician who in 101.3 abandoned his European career and went to French Equatorial Africa, where lie li »s been engaged in humanitarian efforts mi since. He has shown himself a philosopher with the rare courage to shape life into at once a practical and beautiful illustration of his world-view, and therefore commands great respect. Mrs, Russell here expounds in simple terms and with almost undue brevity the ethics of Schweitzer’s “reverence for life.”
Holt
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