When Roger Lingard comes to England in 1914, it is to look up his ancestry, for he is the descendant of the Lingard of St Dyfrigs’ Park, who years before had eloped with Charity Turle, his cowman’s daughter, and emigrated to America. The modern Roger finds Dorothy Lingard and another Charity Turle interesting representatives of the family in the present generation. Before he has revealed himself to them, the war breaks out and he enlists. At the end of four years, he returns to his ancestral acres, to find himself, by the death of the male line, their owner. Then follows the interesting question, what shall become of the female line. Roger offers himself to Dorothy, that thus she may not be deprived of her birthright. But he finds himself superseded in her affections by another and when he turns to the humbler Charity, he finds a similar situation to exist. But the telegram which he sends to the mysterious “girl on the hilltop” reads “The third time’s lucky!” and so it proves to be.
“Mr Gambier has built up a very alluring story.”
“An interesting picture of rural England in wartime and unusually entertaining.”
“‘The girl on the hilltop’ has the virtue of being uncommon, but it is not very satisfactory. The author’s method of story-telling may be described as spasmodic; there is no ease in the course of his recital. He jumps along in a fashion quite disconcerting to the reader and insists on creating about certain of his characters an air of mystery that is annoying rather than interesting.”
“Incidentally the novel gives a realistic picture of the war privations and provocations in remote English villages. The story is built on unusual lines and its originality makes it decidedly readable.”
GAMBLE, WILLIAM. Photography and its applications. il $1 Pitman 770
The book is one of the Pitman’s common commodities and industries series. It is not intended as a guide or text-book for those desiring to practice the art of photography, but as a popular outline of the subject for general information on “How it’s done.” Contents: The discovery of photography; The camera and lens; Dark room and its equipment; The sensitive plates: wet collodion process, and collodion emulsion and dry plates; Making the exposure; Development and after-treatment of the plate; Printing processes: carbon and other methods; Enlarging, copying, and lantern-slide making; Colour processes; Scientific applications of photography; Cinema-photography; Photomechanical processes; Industrial applications of photography; Photography in warfare; Illustrations and index.
GANACHILLY, ALFRED. Whispering dead. (Borzoi mystery stories) *$1.90 (3c) Knopf
Some years before the war, according to this story, there was a fire at the German embassy at Santiago, Chile, which completely destroyed the building. In the ruins were found the charred remains of a human body, and the mystery of the story is the identity of the man who so perished. Beckert, the German chancellor, was thought to be the unfortunate victim, but Rojas, the Chilean detective, has another theory which takes him on a wild chase in the Andes, resulting in the capture of the man who was responsible for the fire, and the murderer of the unknown person who perished in it. Stress is laid on the ruthlessness characteristic of the German nature even before the war.
“A well-told and well-constructed story.”
GANZ, MARIE, and FERBER, NAT. JOSEPH. Rebels; into anarchy—and out again. il *$2 (3c) Dodd
Marie Ganz, daughter of a Hester street pushcart peddler, came from Galicia to America in 1896, when she was five years old. After her father’s death in 1899, she never knew what it was to have time to play, tho she did not work the regular twelve-hour day in a sweatshop until she was thirteen. She made friends among Russian socialists and anarchists, joining the latter group, and preached war upon the capitalists. She organized strikes, led mobs, got into prison and out again, and finally broke her connection with the anarchist group. She tells us: “I had learned much and changed much since that day when I led the mob into the capitalist stronghold, and the old rancours were gone forever.... My work is not over ... but, in the effort to help the poor and downtrodden, it is to run in other lines hereafter.”
“Although the apostasy of Marie Ganz furnished the occasion for her book, it is the period of her rebellion that engages one’s interest and gives the book its attraction.”
“A vigorous and straightforward narrative.” H. W. Boynton
“Quite as authentic and interesting as other autobiographies of women who have risen from the Ghetto of the New York East side, the book by Miss Ganz, nevertheless, does not range with them; It is too much concerned with only one aspect of life to paint either accurately or convincingly the throbbing vitality and beauty of that most colorful of American neighborhoods.” B. L.
GARBORG, ARNE. Lost father. $1.25 Stratford co.
This is a prose poem interspersed with verse in the form of prayers by a lost soul seeking an unknown god. Gunnar Haave had left his native land in search of life. He has squandered it and at the end returns home in search of the Father. His brother Paul has also thrown away his life to become the servant of his Master, Christ. It is Paul who finally succeeds in bringing the peace of the Father to Gunnar. An autobiographical sketch precedes the story and the translation from the Norse is by Mabel Johnson Leland.
GARDNER, AUGUSTUS PEABODY. Some letters of Augustus Peabody Gardner. *$2 (8½c) Houghton
The letters are preceded by a short sketch of Major Gardner’s career by Mrs Gardner who has edited the collection. They are grouped under the headings: The Spanish war; Congress and politics; War-time activities; The army again. The volume contains four fine portraits of Major Gardner at various stages of life.
“These letters are glowing with American idealism.”
GARDNER, GILSON. New Robinson Crusoe. *$1.25 (6c) Harcourt 330
“A new version of his life and adventures with an explanatory note.” (Sub-title) In this new version all of Robinson Crusoe’s reflections are along economic lines. His first musings on “Why does man work?” are answered by his own efforts to supply himself with shelter, food and clothing. He soon discovers of how little avail his labors are without the cooperation of his fellow-men. This is later supplied by a colony of refugees on a neighboring island and with cooperation come the needs of specialization and organization. As the story proceeds all the features of a capitalistic society develop. Robinson becomes a power, the chief exploiter and ruler of the realm in which there now are rich and poor, exploiters and exploited. Then some of the younger blood become wise to the fact that “a man may own what he produces,” and no more. They lay in wait for him one dark night on the beach and instead of drowning him outright mercifully ship him off to England.
“The ‘New Robinson Crusoe’ is interesting as an economic tract.”
“Mr Gardner has made a distinctly novel contribution to the literature of economics, but it will be an unhappy day for children when they are given this primer of economics disguised as a story to read in place of the good old fashioned tale of Robinson Crusoe.”
GAREY, ENOCH BARTON, and others. American guide book to France and its battlefields. il *$3.50 Macmillan 914.4
Part I of this guide book is devoted to general considerations with chapters on: Things to consider and to do before you sail; A special chapter on passports; A few important points that should be understood before arrival in France; Conditions that will confront you upon landing; Paris and its life; Amusements, shopping, side trips, etc. Part II is composed of chapters on: Paris—a brief sketch for tourists; History of the world war; Château-Thierry, Soissons, and Rheims; British battle fronts and Belgium; Verdun, St Mihiel, and the Argonne-Meuse; Coblence, Switzerland, Provence, the Riviera, and Italy; The château country of France; England and London. Part III is devoted to Divisional histories of American divisions in France, and an Appendix presents statistics. There are numerous maps, illustrations and an index.
“This guidebook has several valuable features.”
“The ‘American guidebook’ is not compact. It is badly organized and repetitious. Of the 20–odd maps in the book, not one is of practical value to the tourist. The only worth-while section of the book is the part devoted to brief tabular histories of A. E. F. divisions. The information given in this department is compact, well-presented and satisfying.” J: T. Winterich
GARIS, HOWARD ROGER. Rick and Ruddy. il $1.50 (2½c) Bradley, M.
The story of a boy and his dog. Rick wants a dog but his mother is obdurate. She does not like dogs and is afraid that even the best of them might be tempted to bite Mazie, Rick’s little sister. Then Ruddy, the red setter, is washed up out of the sea and since he seems to have come in direct answer to Rick’s prayer, she cannot turn him away. Boy and dog have happy adventures together. Ruddy guides Rick home when the two are lost and he rescues the little sister from drowning. The tramp sailor who had been his former owner returns and tries to gain possession of him but Ruddy is recovered and returned to his true master Rick.
GASS, SHERLOCK BRONSON. Lover of the chair. *$2.50 Jones, Marshall 814
“Mr Gass turns over from many angles the leading problems of education in a democracy, and the wider problem of democracy itself. The matter is generally cast in dialogues, with the disillusioned scholar described in the title as arbitrator. On the side of education the author has no difficulty in showing that the present lurch towards vocational training in the public schools is really not democratic at all. It assumes that a child is to be fitted for a place in which he shall stay—an aristocratic assumption. The book closes with an autobiographical fragment which is its best literary feature and has the advantage of bringing the various problems involved to a moral focus.”—Review
Reviewed by Mary Terrill
“Despite the friendly humor and gentleness of the essayist there is the iron of sharp experience and the steel of strong convictions to give point and edge to his critical depictions of men and manners.” H. A.
“Despite a certain crabbedness and inflexibility of literary form, the book is a notable one. It is thought through, and has flights of grave eloquence. As a survey and estimate of modern society, as offering a tenacious criticism which is ever tinged with human sympathy, the book is a true landmark.”
GASTON, HERBERT E. Nonpartisan league. *$1.75 (2c) Harcourt, Brace & Howe 329
The author of the present volume is thoroughly acquainted with the history of the Nonpartisan league from the inside, and tells the story of its foundation and growth sympathetically but dispassionately, leaving the reader to make his own estimate of its importance as a political and social movement. In his final survey the author says: “Any cult or propaganda becomes dangerous if it comes close to the truth. ‘Menaces’ to the existing order of society are born of the evils of existing society in conflict with human needs and natural human desires. To brand a group, a cult, a society, a religion, as disloyal or disreputable is one way of fighting it, but it need not forever damn it.” Contents: The Nonpartisan league—what it is; North Dakota; Seeds of rebellion; Breaking ground; Terminal elevators; The leader for the occasion; Applied psychology; “Six-dollar suckers”; Publicity; The enemy opens fire; Choosing the candidates; The first campaign; Leaguers in power; The League becomes “national”; War issues; Producers and consumers; “Patrioteering”; Growth and power; The second big battle; League democracy at work; “The new day in North Dakota”; Another crisis passed; Organization changes; Survey and forecast.
“Three years’ employment on the publication controlled by the league has given Mr Gaston an intimate knowledge of the organization, and, although the reader is assured of a ‘conscientious effort to make a faithful report of facts of essential interest,’ favorable conclusions are the rule. This point should be kept in view in judging the matter presented.” G: M. Janes
“A very readable history of North Dakota’s recent interesting contribution to politics.”
“This book is an authoritative and to a certain extent an unbiased statement of the genesis and growth of the movement.” G. M. J.
“An extremely lucid, vigorous, well-written account of one of the most extraordinary movements in our political history. The league is fortunate in having an apologist as clear-minded and as fair-minded as Mr Gaston: his book has the character not of propaganda but of history.”
“An indispensable book for the study of middle western politics.”
“A severe critic will find in it much to praise, little to blame. Of course certain transactions are glossed over. All important events are given ‘with bright protective coloration.’ While the book has historical sequence, it lacks philosophical unity.” J. E. Boyle
“The Nonpartisan league has been the victim of an unconscionable amount of lying. The more notable, therefore, is the service performed by Mr Gaston in writing a book that gives not only the facts, but the truth, concerning this remarkable political organization. Mr Gaston writes with sympathy for the league, yet with scrupulous fairness to its opponents. The story is told simply, directly, and with an absence of partisanship and bitterness remarkable in view of the fierce struggle of the past five years.” H: R. Mussey
“Admirable account.” James Oneal
“Although the author warns the readers of his possible bias, he has nevertheless written dispassionately and in good spirit and, on the whole, accurately.”
“His book is as readable as it is earnest. In his own language, he ‘puts it across.’ It is a great pity that one must lay the book aside with the thought that though it is interesting it is little more than an excellent piece of campaign apologetics.”
“His narrative throws much light on agrarian conditions in the Middle West and Northwest.”
“No doubt the impartial and critical historian of the future will discover that the narrative is colored in favor of the movement the author traces. Nevertheless, the work is a worthy one and gives a fairly reliable account of a most interesting experiment.” J: M. Gillette
“It is so simply and directly written, with such an evident desire to be frank and honest, with so little rhetoric and apology, that we must accept it as being about as fair an account as we could hope for from an insider adequately informed for his task.” W: E. Walling
GATLIN, DANA. Missy. il *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday
Missy, short for Melissa Merriam, is ten when we first make her acquaintance in this book. Some of her adventures and experiences in the years between ten and seventeen are told in chapters entitled: The flame divine; “Your true friend, Melissa M.”; Like a singing bird; Missy tackles romance; In the manner of the Duchess; Influencing Arthur; Business of blushing; A happy downfall; Dobson saves the day, and Missy cans the cosmos. Missy is the kind of girl who had “been endowed with eyes that could shine and a voice that could quaver; yes, and with an instinct for just the right argument to play upon the heart-strings.” From the day when, in childish religious fervor, she prays publicly “O Lord, please forgive me for being a spy-eye when Cousin Pete kissed Polly Currier, and guide me to lead a blameless life,” her mental processes are original. Some of the chapters have appeared in short story form in various popular magazines.
“What Booth Tarkington did for the growing boy with ‘Penrod,’ Dana Gatlin has written for the girl, with the difference that ‘Penrod’ is done with broad effects for humor, while ‘Missy’ is a more delicate piece of workmanship.” I. W. L.
“This book is an almost perfect example of the department store romance. There is not a glimmer of anything that might disturb the picture. The book is fairly well written and many will like it.”
GAY, ROBERT MALCOLM. Writing through reading. 90c Atlantic monthly press 808
This “suggestive method of writing English with directions and exercises” (Sub-title) has for its object the acquisition of a command of language and discipline and drill in clearness, vigor and conciseness. The author believes that the problem of teaching writing as an art and a tool of expression can be greatly simplified by retelling the thoughts of others and the methods considered in the book are: translating; paraphrasing; condensing; imitating prose, and imitating verse. Contents: Introduction: reading and writing; Transcribing and writing from dictation; Translating; Paraphrasing; The abstract; Imitation and emulation.
“Suggestive to anyone interested in effective writing.”
“Beyond all question ‘Writing through reading’ is the type of textbook which eleventh and twelfth-grade classes in composition ought to be able to follow with great profit.”
GAYLEY, CHARLES MILLS, and FLAHERTY, MARTIN CHARLES, comps. Poetry of the people. 88c Ginn 821.08
This volume has now been enlarged by the addition of a section devoted to Poems of the world war: historical and patriotic. There are also added four pages of notes on Popular songs of the world war.
GAYLEY, CHARLES MILLS, and KURTZ, BENJAMIN PUTNAM. Methods and materials of literary criticism. $3 Ginn 808.1
“This book is the second of a series entitled ‘Methods and materials of literary criticism’, the volumes of which, though contributory to a common aim, are severally independent.’ The first volume (Gayley and Scott, 1899) was an introduction to the bases in aesthetics and poetics, theoretical and historical. The present volume applies the methods there developed to the comparative study of the lyric, the epic, and some allied forms of poetry. A third volume, approaching completion, will present tragedy, comedy, and cognate forms.” (Preface) The book is made up of two parts: The lyric and some of its special forms; The epic and minor forms of narrative poetry. Each of these subjects is considered under two aspects: Theory and technique, and Historical development, and a list of general references is provided for each, in addition to frequent references in the text. An appendix contains a brief bibliography of the history of poetry (60 pages) and there is an index.
“The work here accomplished is an honor to American literary scholarship and is of great and enduring value.”
“The helpfulness of such a compilation can hardly be overestimated. Testing the book from the standpoint of a student of the classical types of literature one is impressed by the completeness of the bibliographical material and by the discrimination of the editors when selection is necessary.” H: W. Prescott
“Nothing could be more comprehensive; and it is difficult to see how the scheme could be improved. To say this is not to assert that absolute perfection has been attained. That is beyond human power; and, as Professor Gayley frankly confesses, ‘the citation of references is nowhere as complete as the compilers could wish.’ The index, it may be well to note, is ample and excellent.” Brander Matthews
GENUNG, JOHN FRANKLIN. Guidebook to the Biblical literature. $2.50 Ginn 220
“The Bible as a literature, as a library, and as a book—that is how the point of view is stated at the beginning of this treatise, which offers systematic guidance to the study of the growth of the Bible, the historical development of the Hebrew mind, the particular tendencies and needs of the successive eras represented in Biblical literature and the particular genius of the writers, and the spiritual nature of their message.”—Ath
“The point of view of the treatment is rather confusing. The method is in a broad way historical, but in detailed application it contents itself with acceptance of traditional views to such an extent as almost to vitiate the usefulness of the book for historically minded students.” J. M. P. S.
“Those who are not discouraged by the preface and the abstract style of the whole work will find the matter instructive.”
GEORGE, WALTER LIONEL. Caliban. *$2 (2c) Harper
Richard Bulmer’s career in many respects parallels that of Alfred Harmsworth but frequent reference to Lord Northcliffe as a contemporary shows that it is not intended as a portrait. The story begins with Richard’s boyhood and covers his early amateur attempts at journalism, his first daring venture into the publishing world with “Zip,” a sensational monthly that gives the public what it wants, and his subsequent rise to the peerage and ownership of a chain of newspapers. He marries early and after seven years separates from his wife. Women mean little to him for he is too deeply absorbed in his career, but late in life he meets Janet Willoughby and at her hands suffers his first defeat. The story begins in the eighties of the nineteenth century and runs thru the world war.
“We know no more or less about Bulmer on page four hundred than on page forty. He is a type brilliantly projected as a George or a Wells or a Walpole or a Mackenzie knows how to project him,—and there is no more to say.” H. W. Boynton
“In ‘Caliban’ Mr George cannot convince us for a moment that his Richard Bulmer is doing anything more than to obey the commands of his creator. A puppet in a marionette show has as much initiative of his own as is possessed by this Richard Bulmer.” E. F. E.
“It is superior in many ways to Courlander’s ‘Mightier than the sword’ and has nothing whatever to do with Gibbs’ ‘Street of adventure.’ But it is a falling off from Mr George’s superb ‘Blind alley.’”
“As a portrayal of Bulmer, ‘Caliban’ is convincingly done; as a novel, it is disappointing. For the book, despite Bulmer’s portrait, is perfunctory.” R. S.
“Mr George has grasped in its concrete terms one of the fundamental things in our civilization—the press. His report may not be faultlessly accurate; there may be depths he has not reached, complications he has not disentangled. But his account has great fulness of matter, dogged closeness of observation, fine solidity, and burning candor.”
“Mr George has neglected the difficult and more interesting half of his subject. He has not tried to answer the most puzzling of the questions that yellow journalism raises. Not everybody, however, cares to investigate the differences which separate the successful wooers of ‘Caliban’ from the unsuccessful, and in Mr George’s novel there is cleverness enough to reward all readers who do not care.” P. L.
“They who happen to enjoy Mr George’s essays as much as I do will ‘get’ with particular satisfaction certain qualities of ‘Caliban’ that give it freshness, energy and a peculiarly British tang.” Alexander Black
“Bulmer is not developed as a character, he springs full-grown from Mr George’s top compartment; and after a time his dutiful gyrations become a sad bore. A thousand irresponsible brilliancies about nothing make for me a dull book. ‘Caliban’ is not a story or an interpretation, but a commonplace theme with endless more or less clever variations.” H. W. Boynton
“The story of Richard Bulmer’s boyhood is quite as good as, perhaps better than, anything Mr George himself has yet written. But the whole business of newspaper founding and managing has been done before too often and better, and the crude introduction of real names into the narrative does nothing to heighten illusion.”
“He only succeeds in producing a masquerade—a disconcerting muddle of truth and fiction. Unfortunately there is no lightness of touch to redeem it. The story is over-written, and Mr George’s cleverness runs away with him into a tireless and feverish elaboration of detail which would be exhausting even if he kept to the facts of history.”
GEORGIAN poetry, 1918–1919. *$2.50 Putnam 821.08
The writers represented in this fourth volume of Georgian poetry are: Lascelles Abercrombie, Gordon Bottomley, Francis Brett Young, William H. Davies, Walter de la Mare, John Drinkwater, John Freeman, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Robert Graves, D. H. Lawrence, Harold Monro, Thomas Moult, Robert Nichols, J. D. C. Pellow, Siegfried Sassoon, Edward Shanks, Fredegond Shove, J. C. Squire, and W. J. Turner.
“The corporate flavour of the volume is a false simplicity. Of the nineteen poets who compose it there are certain individuals whom we except absolutely from this condemnation, Mr de la Mare, Mr Davies and Mr Lawrence; there are others who are more or less exempt from it, Mr Abercrombie, Mr Sassoon, Mrs Shove, Mr Nichols and Mr Moult; and among the rest there are varying degrees of saturation.” J. M. M.
“It is a profound labour to read this book. Not because, let me hastily say, there is nothing good in it, but because it is all so dreadfully tired. Here are nineteen poets, in the heyday of their creating years, and scarcely one of them seems to have energy enough to see personally or forge a manner out of his own natural speech.” Amy Lowell
“It would, we think, be just to assume that there are three themes which belong to poetry above all others—God, man, and nature. But after reading the fourth book of ‘Georgian poetry’ from first page to last, one would never have guessed it. We feel especially drawn towards Mr Robert Graves. He is obviously at odds with the Georgian complacency and conventionalism, particularly in the matter of language. Mr Brett Young, again, a long way the best of the five newcomers, reacts against the tenuity of the others and their careful avoidance of reality.”
“Among the others, it is good to see the name of D. H. Lawrence, although he contributes but one poem, ‘Seven seals,’ a magnificent thing, worthy of his wild unhappy genius.” Siegfried Sassoon
“These poets have unquestionable merits. Their temper is calm, measured, resolute—almost an eighteenth century temper. Their ideal is the vivid, the striking, the extreme—almost an Elizabethan ideal. Naturally enough, their eighteenth century temper is not quite at home in the handling of this Elizabethan ideal. Hence the vividness, which is by no means altogether wanting, comes to reside less in the ideas than in the language, less possibly in the language than in the vocabulary.” O. W. Firkins
“In ‘The sprig of lime’ and ‘Seventeen,’ which are his two long poems this year, Mr Robert Nichols reaches a far higher platform in his ascent of Parnassus. ‘The sprig of lime’ is an exceedingly beautiful reflective poem.... Mr Shank’s ‘Fête galante, or The triumph of love,’ is a longish poem of quite extraordinary and peculiar attractiveness.... Alas that Mr Squire’s ‘You are my sky’ has not been included! His beautiful poem ‘Rivers’ is, as ever, most delightful reading. Mr Harold Monro’s ‘Dog’ is a cunning piece of realism.”
“The character of the collection has altered slowly till this last volume is least like the first: in fact, quite different. Long poems are fewer and shorter, and the bulk of the contents has acquired a strong family likeness. The original group of authors was more varied in aim and achievement.”
Reviewed by E: B. Reed
GERMAN days. *$3 Dutton 914.3
“The author, a Polish Jewess born at Posen, describes her experiences at various Prussian schools, ending with a finishing school in Berlin.” (Spec) “The latter half of the book gives the reader a clear picture of commonplace life in Germany today—the homes, the food, the amusements. The author is continually contrasting them, greatly to the disadvantage of Germany, with what she has found in England.” (Springf’d Republican)
“She writes temperately, and her indictment of the relentless Prussian school system is all the more effective on that account.”
“Among the books which aim to give enlightenment regarding prewar Germany one volume stands out for the seemingly naive impression of unpleasantness that it gives. This is ‘German days.’”
GEROULD, GORDON HALL. Youth in Harley. *$2 (1½c) Scribner
After Stephen Quaid graduated from college he became principal of Harley academy and for a year was a part of the New England village life that soon will be but a tradition. In the picture unfolded by the story many types of New England character are seen and old customs, time-honored sports and celebrations and a town meeting are described, and in the romance of Stephen and Cynthia Darrell, with the ups and downs of their courtship, glimpses are given of the New England conscience in both its feminine and masculine aspects.
“Interesting and wholesome but not a plot novel.”
“Though too abstract for great art, Mr Gerould’s novel represents an intellectual honesty which fiction lacks in America, and which for great art is requisite.”
“The action is slow at times, and readers who desire plot above all and breathlessness while reading will hardly feel themselves wholly in sympathy with the book. It is, first of all, an effort in characterization, and in this field Mr Gerould is always successful. For readers who desire to taste the quality of excellent writing at their leisure ‘Youth in Harley’ is to be recommended.”
“Certainly the narrative is not exciting, nor is it rapid in movement, but it is sincere in its mild realism and finished carefully in its detail workmanship.”
GEROULD, KATHARINE (FULLERTON) (MRS GORDON HALL GEROULD). Modes and morals. *$1.75 (2½c) Scribner 814