Chapter I: of this book indicates the need of a study of business (2)

“Mr Beck has produced in these dialogues a kind of literature that is
not often written after so much cool, thoughtful preparation, and that
is seldom found to be, as in this case, profound and exact as well as
amusing.”

+ =No Am= 212:859 D ’20 850w

“‘The passing of the new freedom’ gives him some claims to rank as a
political satirist—that rare bird in American letters.” E. L. Pearson

+ =Review= 3:419 N 3 ’20 140w

=BECKER, CARL LOTUS.= United States; an experiment in democracy. *$2.50 Harper 342.7

20–13591

The book gives all the outstanding facts of our political history with
such impartiality as to appeal to the reader’s critical faculty and to
challenge independent conclusions. A “habitual dislike of thinking”
the author holds to be a characteristic of Americans, which at the
present time exposes them to the danger of mistaking the “form for the
substance of democracy” and may prevent America from being in the
future what it was in the past—“a fruitful experiment in democracy.”
Contents: America and democracy; The origins of democracy in America;
The new world experiment in democracy; Democracy and government; New
world democracy and old world intervention; Democracy and free land;
Democracy and slavery; Democracy and immigration; Democracy and
education; Democracy and equality.

* * * * *

“It is to be hoped that the inaccuracies will not seriously injure the
usefulness of a readable book, which is on the whole filled with
sagacious comment and treats in a telling way a number of traits and
tendencies of American democracy.” A. C. McL.

+ − =Am Hist R= 26:337 Ja ’21 560w

+ =Booklist= 17:10 O ’20

“The author has given a valuable sketch of the political history of
America.”

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 18 ’20 580w

“Keen, clear, impartial analysis of American institutions and
traditions, reminding the reader in many ways of Bryce’s ‘American
commonwealth.’”

+ =Ind= 103:292 S 4 ’20 30w

Reviewed by C: A. Beard

=Nation= 111:sup416 O 13 ’20 450w

“Interesting, and would be valuable as a brief and rapid résumé of
America’s early history and political problems were it not for one
fatal defect. It lacks that aspect of detachment which we used to
expect from college professors in dealing with debatable topics. Such
a book must be read with the same caution with which the wise man
reads the current political press during the presidential campaign.”

+ − =Outlook= 126:334 O 20 ’20 270w

=Wis Lib Bul= 16:232 D ’20 50w

=BECKWITH, ISBON THADDEUS.= Apocalypse of John. *$4 Macmillan 228

19–16729

“This book is a veritable encyclopedia of information regarding the
interpretation of Revelation. A series of introductory studies deals
at length with a history of eschatological hopes among Hebrews, Jews,
and Christians. An extended description is given of apocalyptic
writings among the Jews. There is also a detailed account of the
occasion, purpose and unity of John’s apocalypse. Other topics
discussed minutely are the literary characteristics of the author, the
content of his composition, the permanent and the transitory elements
in his book, the main features of his theology, the different methods
that have been used in the interpretation of the book, its circulation
and canonical recognition in the early church, the question of
authorship, the two Johns of the Asian church, the meaning of the
‘beast,’ and the condition of the Greek text of the book. The
commentary proper, which embraces slightly less than half the volume,
is of the usual analytical and statistical type.”—Bib World

* * * * *

+ − =Bib World= 54:428 Jl ’20 550w

“It is a real service to religion and sanity when a scholar equipped
with common sense as well as knowledge provides a good commentary on
the book of Revelation. This has been done by Professor Beckwith. The
book fills a real need.”

+ =Nation= 111:163 Ag 7 ’20 250w

“A splendid treatise it is upon a splendid book, and a fresh honor to
American scholarship.”

+ =Outlook= 124:29 Ja 7 ’20 280w

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p243 Ap 15 ’20 70w

=BEERBOHM, MAX=, comp.[2] Herbert Beerbohm Tree: some memories of him and his art. il *$7 Dutton

“The volume is at once a biography and a tribute. The first half of
the book is written by Lady Tree. After short contributions by Sir
Herbert Tree’s two daughters and Max Beerbohm (who, it will be
remembered, is his half-brother) come A sketch, by Edmund Gosse; A
tribute, by Louis N. Parker; From the stalls, by Desmond MacCarthy;
Herbert Tree—my friend, by Gilbert Parker; From the point of view of a
playwright, by Bernard Shaw; and An open letter to an American friend,
by W. L. Courtney. By no means least in interest are the appendices,
which contain Sir Herbert’s ‘Impressions of America,’ as written for
London papers in 1916 and 1917, and some extracts from his
‘Notebooks,’ as well as the speeches made at the unveiling of the
memorial tablet at His Majesty theater and the sermon preached by the
Bishop of Birmingham at the memorial service.”—Springf’d Republican

* * * * *

“Why did not Mr Max Beerbohm give us a whole book himself instead of a
‘carved cherrystone’ called ‘From a brother’s stand-point’? That, no
doubt, is his business. But why did he not persuade (or bully) Lady
Tree into writing the whole work and inserting his and Mr Shaw’s
contributions at the appropriate places? Certainly the half of it
which she has contributed under the title ‘Herbert and I’ is
delightful, in style and individuality.” D. L. M.

+ − =Ath= p519 O 15 ’20 880w

“When all is said this book serves its purpose. It is readable; it
contains the facts; it gives personal anecdotes; it has a host of
portraits in character and out; it provides a variety of points of
view.”

+ =N Y Times= p7 D 19 ’20 1250w

“A most interesting book about a great actor. Throughout, it is
informal and lively.” E. L. Pearson

+ =Review= 3:648 D 29 ’20 90w

“Lady Tree’s portrait of Tree is the most vivid and the most life-like
the world is likely to possess.”

+ =Sat R= 130:318 O 16 ’20 920w

“The whole book—all the contributions from all the different sources
are in the mass so sparkling, that it is clear that for so many hands
to write so amusingly, they must have been inspired by a thoroughly
witty and amusing subject.”

+ =Spec= 125:569 O 30 ’20 1150w

=Springf’d Republican= p8 O 23 ’20 40w

=Springf’d Republican= p8 Ja 8 ’21 150w

“It is an amusing macédoine, never insipid, giving all the flavours of
the subject, without perhaps any one flavour that can be called
dominant. And that is right, for Tree’s was a ‘mixed’ temperament, and
his art was a good deal ‘mixed’ too.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p633 S 30 ’20 1350w

=BEERBOHM, MAX.= Seven men. il *$3.50 Knopf

20–19582

Six men and the author make seven. The book contains six imaginary
sketches of six imaginary men: Enoch Soames; Hilary Maltby and Stephen
Braxton; James Pethel; A. V. Laider; “Savonarola” Brown; with an
appendix of drawings of these men by the author. As the drawings are
caricatures so are the pen sketches satires on human vanities,
weaknesses and foibles, literary and otherwise.

* * * * *

“In none is the author’s authentic touch wholly absent, but there are
tedious pages.”

+ − =Ath= p1138 O 31 ’19 80w

“Our only regret on finishing the book is that he might have paraded
his seventh, and after all his most amusing puppet, himself, a little
more lavishly.” S. W.

+ =Ath= p1186 N 14 ’19 720w

“The motif of each story in ‘Seven men’ is slight, the working out of
it spread thin—very thin.” C. K. H.

− + =Boston Transcript= p6 D 4 ’20 480w

+ =Nation= 111:785 D 29 ’20 560w

“Another thing that gives feature to four of the five stories in
‘Seven men’ is their author’s love of design. Even upon his essays
this love has left its mark, less distinct upon whole essays than upon
single pages now and then.” P. L.

+ =New Repub= 21:386 F 23 ’20 1500w

“Max is more than a humorist—he is an ironist. His irony is exquisite
in its nuances, a carefully wrought method of workmanship that grows
almost precieuse at times. ‘Seven men’ is assuredly one of the most
amusing books of the year. It will recapture an undefinable atmosphere
that could only go with youth that was audacious and laughable, and,
by strange flashes, poignantly serious.” H. S. Gorman

+ =N Y Times= p9 Ja 2 ’21 2150w

+ − =Sat R= 128:465 N 15 ’19 240w

“Not even a good comedy is so rare as genuine satire, and when an
example of the latter is produced some indulgence in superlatives may
well be excused. In the case of Mr Max Beerbohm’s new volume, which
brilliantly achieves what ‘Zuleika Dobson’ as conspicuously missed it
is difficult to restrain praise within the bounds of judgment, for its
beneficent, limpid ridicule is an undiluted joy.”

+ =Spec= 122:19 Ja 3 ’20 1500w

“The fragrant quality of the book, the solemn malice of the papers on
Brown and A. V. Laider; the imaginative subtlety of the account of
Enoch Soames, and the glorious remedy of the rivalry between Braxton
and Maltby—they all show Max at his best.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ja 25 ’20 270w (Reprinted from
London Observer)

“Not only are his characters interesting in themselves but Mr Beerbohm
depicts them with such skill that the book is a welcome relief from
the work of less accomplished writers.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Ja 3 ’21 300w

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p627 N 6 ’19 810w

=BEERS, HENRY AUGUSTIN.=[2] Connecticut wits and other essays. *$2.25 Yale univ. press 814

20–22823

“Mr Henry A. Beers’s ‘Connecticut wits’ consists of eleven brief
literary essays on subjects whose diversity is undisguised. He has
found nothing in the tradition or the atmosphere of his Yale habitat
to discourage the inclusion of an essay on Cowley and an essay on
Riley in the same volume.” (Review) “He unearths Joel Barlow and those
other neglected spirits of old Connecticut; and then allows his fancy
to range over such themes as the poetry of the cavaliers,
Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Thackeray and Sheridan.” (Freeman)

* * * * *

“In manner, these essays are scholarly, informative, and suavely
graceful.” L. B.

+ =Freeman= 2:358 D 22 ’20 170w

Reviewed by Brander Matthews

+ =N Y Times= p2 Ja 16 ’21 1150w

“Scholarship and humor are admirably blended in these essays.”

+ =Outlook= 126:470 N 10 ’20 30w

“Mr Beers is a clear expositor, is at ease with facts, and can make
them agreeable by almost imperceptible departures from the jogtrot of
chronicle. Without humor, he has something of the buoyancy of humor.”

+ =Review= 3:506 N 24 ’20 180w

“In his essays there is no trace of a professional tendency to carry
on with the class room manner in one’s relations with the world beyond
the class room.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ja 31 ’21 310w

=BEGBIE, HAROLD.= Life of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army. 2v il *$10.50 Macmillan

20–5263

In the preface to this life of the founder of the Salvation army, the
author says: “William Booth is likely to remain for many centuries one
of the most signal figures in human history. Therefore, to paint his
portrait faithfully for the eyes of those who come after us—a great
duty and a severe responsibility—has been my cardinal consideration in
preparing these pages. Only when circumstances insisted have I turned
from my attempt at portraiture to examine documents which will one day
be employed by the historian of the Salvation army.” The work opens
with an account of social conditions in England at the time of William
Booth’s birth and reflections on the probable effects of his early
surroundings on his mind and character. Volume 1 covers the years up
to 1881 and volume 2 continues the story to his death in 1912. There
are a number of portraits and other illustrations and an index.

* * * * *

“The world may be divided into people who pray with General Booth,
people who are angry with General Booth, and people who turn their
face away and look out of the window. Mr Begbie, unfortunately, seems
to have considered that it was necessary for his official biographer
to pray perpetually with the General, and his 1,000 pages of biography
even conform to the tradition of prayer in their repetitions,
vagueness, and verbosity.” L. W.

− =Ath= p365 Mr 19 ’20 1800w

+ =Booklist= 16:343 Jl ’20

Reviewed by O. L. Joseph

+ =Bookm= 52:76 S ’20 550w

“There can be no doubt that Mr Begbie has laid us all under immense
obligation through the unusual blend of candor, insight, and reverence
with which he has limned the picture of this noble soul. And yet we
must confess to a feeling of disappointment. At important places the
story lacks clarity. Perhaps the most serious disappointment of all is
the paucity of reference to General Booth’s immediate touch with the
outcast. We miss the bugles and the tears of the Army too much.” A. W.
Vernon

+ − =Nation= 111:507 N 3 ’20 2000w

“Mr Begbie has done his work well. We could have dispensed with some
of his own observations concerning Darwin, Bergson, Nietzsche, and
other figures of interest which are unhelpful to the story and whose
omission might have sensibly reduced the size of the volumes. But
where he has been content with simple narration of events and the
selection of letters and writings, he has proved himself a good
biographer.”

+ − =Nation [London]= 26:778 Mr 6 ’20 2100w

“Every small detail is entered into sympathetically and fully. This is
a human document worth the reading.”

+ =N Y Times= 25:191 Ap 18 ’20 120w

“The life-story of the man who created the Salvation army, written
with a sympathy and understanding such as Mr Begbie puts in it, is an
extraordinarily welcome book.”

+ =N Y Times= 25:210 Ap 25 ’20 2200w

“Mr Begbie’s life of William Booth would be for the general reader
twice as good if it were half as long.”

+ − =Outlook= 125:679 Ag 18 ’20 3500w

“For the general reader there are rather too many ‘interesting cases’
of conversion described in the more or less technical diction of
revivalism, too much journalism in the way of press clippings and
tributes from royalty. But the record as a whole is an inspiring one
of heroic achievement.”

+ − =Review= 2:680 Je 30 ’20 680w

+ =R of Rs= 62:334 S ’20 130w

“These portly tomes on the founder of the Salvation army are
torrential in their eloquence and typhoon-like in their denunciations.
They resemble nothing so much as an exceptionally lively rally at the
Army headquarters, with the penitent-form in full view. Apart from his
exuberance, Mr Begbie has an interesting tale to tell.”

+ − =Sat R= 129:230 Mr 6 ’20 1150w

“Though to the modern man this modern story has more to say than most
of the annals of hagiology, it is as a romance, as a love story, that
William Booth’s ‘Life’ is perhaps most to be valued. The pawnbroker’s
assistant and the half-invalid girl from Brixton are the hero and
heroine of a love romance which for passionate intensity, for
sublimity, for tempestuous vicissitude, stands head and shoulders
above the tales of Paris and Helen, of Tristram and Iseult.”

+ =Spec= 124:584 My 1 ’20 1600w

“The biography is a thorough, exhaustive, vividly personal piece of
work.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ja 14 ’21 530w

“In spite of a tendency to repetition, his book will be welcomed
widely as the good thing which it undeniably is—a book frankly written
and free from prejudice or exaggeration.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p121 F 19 ’20 1850w

=BELL, JOHN KEBLE (KEBLE HOWARD, pseud.).= Peculiar major. *$1.75 (2½c) Doran

19–15567

“An almost incredible story” says the subtitle, and so it is. The
major had been given a ring by an old Turkish priest in ransom for his
life. This ring was found to possess the magic property of making its
bearer invisible. It first brought the major into repute as a lunatic,
then into all manner of scrapes and out again and so from one Arabian
nights’ entertainment into another until the war was over and we leave
him returned to England and in the arms of his best-beloved.

* * * * *

=Boston Transcript= p4 My 26 ’20 300w

“Mr Howard has produced a book that will be a welcome relief from much
of the dreary fiction of the day.”

+ =N Y Times= 25:71 F 8 ’20 600w

“A book of irresponsible fun.”

+ =Outlook= 124:336 F 25 ’20 70w

“We thought the humours of the ring that makes the wearer invisible
had certainly been pretty well worked out by now. But this was a
delusion.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p414 Jl 31 ’19 100w

=BELL, WALTER GEORGE.= Great fire of London in 1666. il *$6 Lane 942.1

20–19932

The book comes with forty-one illustrations including plans and
drawings, reproductions of English and foreign prints, and
photographs. It is the first authentic account of the fire resulting
from thorough historic research. The sources have largely been
manuscript and the subject matter includes measures taken for meeting
the distress occasioned by the catastrophe, the temporary housing of
the citizens, the restoration of trade and the work of rebuilding.
Among the appendices are letters from residents in London and
contemporary accounts (English and foreign) describing the great fire.
There are also notes, a list of authorities consulted and an index.

* * * * *

“In every chapter sidelights are cleverly thrown upon the habits and
daily lives of the rather unpractical citizens.” E. G. C.

+ =Ath= p613 N 5 ’20 1200w

+ =Outlook= 126:654 D 8 ’20 70w

“Mr Bell had, of course, previously proved himself a scholarly and
responsible historian, a good literary craftsman, and an excellent
guide to old London. Here we have all his qualities at their best,
lighted up with an enthusiasm which good Londoners at any rate will
find exceedingly sympathetic. Now and then, perhaps, he allows his
fervour to run away with him.”

+ =Sat R= 130:320 O 16 ’20 640w

“We commend Mr Bell’s excellent book, with its wealth of new material
and its many illustrations and maps, to all who are interested in the
history of London.”

+ =Spec= 125:403 S 25 ’20 1850w

“The book is well and accurately referenced throughout.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p609 S 23 ’20 1900w

=BELL, WALTER GEORGE.= Unknown London. il *$1.50 Lane 914.21

20–5387

“In the eighteen essays which make up this book—for most of them are
sufficiently personal to be given that name—is nothing that is not
interesting. Mr Bell has chosen, for the most part, from among those
antiquities of which everybody has heard but of which most people know
nothing. His ‘Unknown London’ deals with very familiar things—with
such things as Domesday book, the shrine of Edward the confessor,
London stone, the wax works in the abbey, the Roman baths, the bells
of St Clements, the bones of the mummy of Men-Kau-Ra in the British
museum, and London wall.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup D 11 ’19

* * * * *

=Ath= p734 Je 4 ’20 1400w

=Ath= p763 Je 11 ’20 1250w

+ =N Y Times= 25:279 My 30 ’20 800w

“His book, while necessarily desultory, is readable and full of
information gathered at first hand.”

+ =Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 70w

=R of Rs= 61:559 My ’20 100w

“If Mr Bell is so human and hearty an antiquary it is that in him the
antiquary and the journalist are admirably joined. The one gives to
his book the gusto of an enthusiast. The other prevents him from ever
forgetting, in his accumulation of knowledge, the art of interesting
others.”

+ =Sat R= 128:492 N 22 ’19 950w

=Spec= 123:585 N 1 ’19 110w

=Springf’d Republican= p10 Jl 1 ’20 170w

=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p615 O 30 ’19 60w

“The merit of his book is that the stories are retold here in a
simple, personal, and most attractive way. From first to last Mr Bell
is an admirable guide to old London, an enthusiast, well stored,
humorous and unfailingly entertaining.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p731 D 11 ’19 950w

=BELLAIRS, CARLYON WILFROY.= Battle of Jutland; the sowing and the reaping. il *$5 Doran 940.45

(Eng ed 20–8002)

Lord Jellicoe has written his own account of the Jutland battle. This
book is by one of the critics of his policy, who says: “The ban on
discussion, which was felt by many as applying right up to the time of
the surrender of the German fleet, no longer exists. Nothing that can
be done now can remedy the past; but much that can be said may
safeguard the future. Hence this book, which must stand or fall in
proportion to its influence on future thought and action. It is not
intended to be any more than a critical survey. It is not a full
history of the battle of Jutland, for the policy of secrecy pursued by
the Admiralty, and the failure to hold an investigation, have made an
accurate history impossible for the time being.” (Preface) The book is
illustrated with diagrams and there is an appendix containing a
chronology of the battle; also an index.

* * * * *

“It has the authoritativeness that will give it value to historians.”

+ =Booklist= 17:23 O ’20

=Review= 2:677 Je 30 ’20 1400w

“For the general reader it has less value than for the naval expert.
Yet it is an interesting example of the kind of criticism which seems
to be encouraged among British naval officers, not for the sake of
mere controversy but in order to draw conclusions that may be useful
in the future.”

+ =R of Rs= 61:670 Je ’20 120w

“We do not quarrel with Captain Bellairs’s main conclusion, ... but we
could wish that his tone did not sometimes suggest that he fails to be
judicial.”

+ − =Spec= 124:277 F 28 ’20 1300w

“If his captious tone be ignored, there is much in Commander
Bellairs’s criticism in his more general chapters on the sowing which
is well said and is well worth saying. But we cannot commend his tone
and temper; and for the reasons we have given we can attach very
little weight to his onslaught on Lord Jellicoe.”

− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p115 F 19 ’20 1700w

=BELLOC, HILAIRE.= Europe and the faith. $2.25 Paulist press 940

20–15729

“Mr Belloc’s essay may be regarded as having a twofold aim, although,
to the mind of its author, this aim appears to be one and indivisible.
The first, and more narrowly historic aim of the essay, is to present
a new picture of the decline of the centralized Roman empire and the
subsequent building up of Europe, and the second, more obviously
philosophic aim, is to account for the modern European consciousness
in terms of (1) the Catholic faith and (2) the reformation. To Mr
Belloc these two objectives are not really distinct. An account of
Europe is an account of the Catholic faith, and an account of the
Catholic faith is an account of Europe.”—Ath

* * * * *

“The most convinced opponent of Mr Belloc’s views of the historian’s
qualifications will probably agree instantly that an acquaintance with
the Catholic faith is necessary to writing a history of Europe,
although he may not agree that the historian must be a Catholic. But
the strangest part of Mr Belloc’s assumption is that he regards this
condition as sufficient. We feel that Mr Belloc, although a Catholic,
has not understood European history, and that he does not understand
the modern European consciousness.” J. W. N. S.

− =Ath= p406 S 24 ’20 1150w

“If many points of detail are not new, the explanation of their import
and bearing is original. In some cases the author’s critical
examination of sources is particular and minute.”

+ =Cath World= 112:535 Ja ’21 900w

“Mr Belloc writes with great earnestness. One could wish that the
solution of civilization’s difficulties were as simple as he judges it
to be; and that for the strength of his argument history were as
universally confirmatory of his preconceived thesis as it seems to
him.” Williston Walker

+ − =N Y Evening Post= p9 O 23 ’20 950w

“Our real objection to him is not that he has twisted history to his
own view—everybody does that—but that he has given us an incomplete
book, and even on his own showing he has left out the vital part. He
discusses at length the unified Roman state of Europe. He discusses at
length the unified Roman church of Europe. But he omits to discuss the
relations between the two.”

− + =Sat R= 130:338 O 23 ’20 1150w

“It is needless to say that from Mr Belloc’s whole conception of
Protestantism we profoundly dissent. He cannot conceive of men opening
their eyes and realising that they were serving an institution and not
the cause for which the institution stood. This fatal lack of insight
and comprehension effectually disqualifies him from giving the
impartial presentation of European history which he is desirous of
exhibiting, and almost completely nullifies the graphic force and
admirable clarity of his narrative.”

− + =Spec= 125:858 D 24 ’20 1050w

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p603 S 16 ’20 30w

“He has the courage of his consistency and the merit of a principle;
but neither is adequate to the perplexities of the modern world.”

− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p661 O 14 ’20 2100w

=BEMAN, LAMAR TANEY=, comp. Selected articles on the compulsory arbitration and compulsory investigation of industrial disputes. 4th ed, rev and enl (Debaters’ handbook ser.) *$2.25 Wilson, H. W. 331.1

20–18153

Altho issued as a revised edition of the handbook on compulsory
arbitration first published in 1911, this is practically a new work.
The explanatory note states: “This volume is compiled according to the
general plan of the Debaters’ handbook series, but it differs from
other members of the series in that it covers two questions.... In
this case the two questions are closely related, and much of the
literature deals with both, so that it is impracticable to present
them in separate volumes and yet impossible to combine them into one
question.... The volume contains a full general bibliography revised
to the date of this issue, but not separated into affirmative and
negative references.... It also contains briefs and reprints of the
best material on both sides of each question.”

* * * * *

=Booklist= 17:165 Ja ’21

Reviewed by S. M. Lowenthal

+ − =Survey= 45:672 F 5 ’21 390w

=BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT.= Heavens and earth. *$2 Holt 811

20–21994

This collection opens with a long poem in two parts, Two visions of
Helen followed by Chariots and horsemen; The tall town; Apples of
Eden; The kingdom of the mad. The tall town is made up of poems of New
York.

* * * * *

“So many moods and themes spread over the compass of this book,
riotous and rapturous, whimsical and ironic, and undulating on waves
of swift and thrilling music make ‘Heavens and earth’ an enjoyment to
those who admire poetry when it is first of all music and imagination,
and may be after these anything in the way of subject and ideal.” W:
S. Braithwaite

+ =Boston Transcript= p4 D 29 ’20 1300w

“He has a swirling dexterity in syntax and rhythm, and practices a
gorgeous, hot impressionism.”

+ − =Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 60w

“Originality marks his work in spite of the intimation that his themes
are somewhat threadbare. He possesses a virility that is manifest at
all times and a delight in swinging measures and emphatic rhymes.” H.
S. Gorman

+ =N Y Times= p11 Ja 9 ’20 100w

=BENET, WILLIAM ROSE.= Moons of grandeur. *$2 Doran 811

20–19072

This collection of poems is reprinted from contributions to various
magazines. With a few exceptions the poet takes his inspiration from
history: the renaissance, ancient Egypt, medieval England furnishing
him with subjects. Some of the titles are: Gaspara Stampa; Legend of
Michelotto; Niccolo in exile; The triumphant Tuscan; Michelangelo in
the fish-market; The ballad of Taillefer; The priest in the desert;
Dust of the plains.

* * * * *

“The rich color and vigor of his poetry have caught some of the
brilliance and romance of these times. The vocabulary and allusions
make demands upon the reader which to many will be a serious
drawback.”

+ − =Booklist= 17:104 D ’20

“A poet so fertile and diversified is bound to be interesting, and one
cannot but recognize Mr Benet’s gifts of streaming phrase and bannered
fancy; at the same time one often misses the clear, strong note of
nature, often feels the absence from this work of actual blood and
bone.”

+ − =Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w

“The vigor, the individuality, the natural sources of growth and
development in his work, deserve the first word. Mr Benet’s
limitations in making the renaissance, in its essence, live again are
inherent in his method and approach. There was a roundness of gesture
in these years which is missed by nervous actions and pouncing words.”
Geoffrey Parsons

+ − =N Y Evening Post= p8 Ja 8 ’21 720w

“In ‘Moons of grandeur’ he includes ten such poems that may be ranked
among quite the best things he has done. It is apparent in this book
that he has grown greatly in stature as a poet. An extravagance that
was once fatal to him as an artist at times has been finely curbed and
turned into channels where it becomes a virtue.” H. S. Gorman

+ =N Y Times= p11 Ja 9 ’21 480w

“Mr Benet’s poems possess the essential qualities of beauty and
imagination.”

+ =Review= 3:419 N 3 ’20 10w

“In these pictures of renaissance Italy Mr Benet proves his possession
of rhythm, of knowledge, of an allusiveness as ingathering as a
scythe, of energy, of a lambent and vibrant picturesqueness, of the
gait and swing, if not the soul, of passion. ‘Moons of grandeur,’ with
all its attractions, errs somewhat in the obscuration of the rhyme.”

+ − =Review= 3:654 D 29 ’20 290w

=BENET, WILLIAM ROSE.= Perpetual light. *$1.35 Yale univ. press 811

19–25952

“A memorial to the poet’s wife, who died early in 1919. ‘This verse is
published in her memory,’ says the poet in a foreword, ‘because I wish
to keep together the poetry she occasioned and enable those who loved
her—and they were a great many—to know definitely what she was to
me.’” (Springf’d Republican) “Some of the poems are reprinted from
former books of Mr Benet, and a few of the others have appeared in
American periodicals.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)

* * * * *

“Mr Benet has a great command of rich language and rich rhythms, and
many of his poems are of a high literary value.”

+ =Ath= p194 Ap 9 ’20 80w

“A tribute full of deep and delicate feeling.”

+ =Booklist= 16:122 Ja ’20

“Poems of much delicate beauty, tenderness and deep feeling.”

+ =Cleveland= p85 S ’20 30w

“Mr Benet has written no better lyrics than some of those included in
this volume. They are both brave and simple.”

+ =N Y Times= 25:173 Ap 11 ’20 180w

“Mr Benet has given his best to this little book.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p15a Ja 18 ’20 200w

=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p783 D 25 ’19 60w

“The dignity, the courage, the faith, the aspiration of these verses
are like a beacon in this time of unrest and uncertainty.” E: B. Reed

+ =Yale R= n s 10:205 O ’20 220w

=BENGE, EUGENE J.= Standard practice in personnel work. il *$3 Wilson, H. W. 658.7

20–102

A work which aims to cover the subject of personnel work thoroly,
showing what the standard practice at present is. “The author has
attempted to preserve an impartiality of viewpoint, not by evading
frank statement of conditions, but rather by presenting the pros and
cons on each side of the labor question.” (Preface) Daniel Bloomfield,
editor of the three volumes on industrial relations, contributes a
foreword. Contents: The personnel audit; Job analysis; Study of the
community; Labor turnover and labor loss; Organizing the personnel
department; The employment process; Selection by mental and skill
tests; Methods of rating ability; Education and training; Health
supervision; Maintenance of the working force; Incentives and wages;
Employee representation; Record keeping in the personnel department;
Personnel research; Index.

=BENNET, ROBERT AMES.= Bloom of cactus. il *$1.50 (3c) Doubleday

20–7647

Jack Lennon goes prospecting for a lost copper mine in the Arizona
desert. He encounters a fair amazon who, at the risk of her own
safety, tricks him into becoming a partner to her scheme of rescuing
her weak, drunken father from the clutches of a criminal white brute,
and “Dead Hole, dad’s ranch” from marauding renegade Indians. She
succeeds and so does Jack, after facing incredible dangers, cruelty
and all-round slaughter, for Carmena becomes his own dearly beloved.
She proves her metal by not only fighting her foes in the flesh but
her own jealousy of her much more femininely frail, clinging and
pretty foster-sister, Elsie.

=BENNETT, ARNOLD.= Our women; chapters on the sex-discord. *$2.50 (5c) Doran 396

20–18319

Sex-discord exists, the author avows; it will always exist; it will
continue to develop as human nature develops—but on a higher plane; it
is the most delightful and interesting thing in existence—a part of
the great search for truth. In this vein a mere man writes broadly,
sanely and humorously about women. Contents: The perils of writing
about women; Change in love; The abolition of slavery; Women as
charmers; Are men superior to women? Salary-earning girls; Wives,
money and lost youth; The social Intercourse business; Masculine view
of the sex discord; Feminine view of the sex discord.

* * * * *

+ =Booklist= 17:93 D ’20

“‘Our women,’ being witty, human, and full of challenging
contradictions, will bore no reader, but will interest everyone, if
only for the sake of that argument dear to every mind.” Dorothy
Scarborough

+ =Bookm= 52:363 D ’20 560w

“He is not always sensible when he is serious, and he is not always
funny when he seeks to be humorous. His discourse is merely the
attempt of a glib and facile writer to toy with a theme upon which he
can play endlessly, and at the end be no nearer his goal that he was
at the beginning.” E. F. Edgett

− + =Boston Transcript= p6 O 16 ’20 1400w

“The book is diverting to read, but is not without that vein of
vulgarity which mars so much of Mr Bennett’s work.” L. P.

+ − =Freeman= 2:190 N 3 ’20 270w

=Nation= 112:90 Ja 19 ’21 400w

+ =N Y Times= p1 O 10 ’20 1500w

“Mr Bennett writes as a novelist and more or less for the human fun of
it.” K. F. Gerould

+ − =Review= 3:377 O 27 ’20 900w

=Sat R= 130:279 O 2 ’20 500w

“We believe that most of his own countrywomen, though they may praise,
will not altogether like his book.”

+ − =Spec= 125:535 O 23 ’20 720w

“Though fresh enough in style and not philistine in precepts, ‘Our
women’ is as conventional as ‘Godey’s lady’s book,’ which regaled
several generations of young women; it is, however, a book modern in
sentiment.”

+ − =Springf’d Republican= p10 O 21 ’20 320w

“His pictures of the modern woman are kaleidoscopic—a medley of truths
and halftruths picked more or less at random from past, present and
future.”

− =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p678 O 21 ’20 1000w

=BENNETT, ARNOLD.= Sacred and profane love. *$1.50 Doran 822

20–1240

A dramatization of the author’s novel “The book of Carlotta.” The
story is that of Carlotta Peel, who as a young girl of twenty gives
herself for one night to Emilio Diaz, a world famous pianist. She does
not see him again for eight years and then, on learning that he has
become a morphinomaniac, goes to him and nurses him back to health and
manhood and restores him to his old place on the concert stage.

* * * * *

“It is, evidently, not the Arnold Bennett of ‘Clayhanger’ who plays
upon the glittering instrument of the theatre. And it is that Arnold
Bennett who could fortify the English drama.”

− + =Nation= 110:435 Ap 3 ’20 200w

“The dialog leaves us unconvinced and shadowed by the feeling that
sooner or later Carlotta will awaken to the futility of her task. We
glance with foreboding into the future. The present is temporarily
serene, but beyond the final curtain lurks a suspicion that the real
conflict of human emotions is still to come.”

+ − =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 25 ’20 520w

“Mr Bennett could hardly write a play without putting into it some
insight into character, some witty or suggestive comments upon human
life, at least one or two interesting situations and some passages of
good dialogue. Hence, this play is readable enough, but it is clumsy
and unconvincing.”

+ − =Theatre Arts Magazine= 4:174 Ap ’20 180w

=BENNETT, RAINE.=[2] After the day. $1.50 Stratford co. 811

A volume of poems written after the war, reflecting the impressions of
war of one who took part in it. The author is a Californian who has
written dramas for local groups and had one play produced at the Greek
theatre in Berkeley. The introduction, by George Douglas of the San
Francisco Chronicle, says: “These ‘after the day’ or ‘nocturnal’
impressions were all written with a view to their being read aloud,
and as dramatic reading they take on a singularly magnetic quality.”
Free verse is the form employed.

* * * * *

“The poems, dramatic rather than lyric, are an earnest expression of a
man—one who has something to say in free verse that is worth saying.”

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 N 20 ’20 120w

=BENOIT, PIERRE.= Atlantida (L’Atlantide). *$1.75 (2½c) Duffield

20–12951

This prize novel of the French academy is translated from the French
by Mary C. Tongue and Mary Ross. Two French officers engaged on a
scientific expedition into the wilds of Sahara, discover the mythical
island of Atlantis and find that instead of having been immersed in
the sea, the desert had emerged about it preserving it with all its
ancient treasures and through mysterious contact with the outside
world, making it a storehouse of all the sciences and lore of all the
ages. Antinea, its present ruler, a descendant of Neptune, is
continually supplied with men from the outside world, who all die of
love for her while she is unable to love. At last she loves one of the
two officers of our story, but being scorned by him, she compels his
companion to kill him. This one, by the aid of a slave girl in love
with him, succeeds in escaping, but ever after wanders about a
restless spirit, consumed with the desire to return.

* * * * *

=BooklistM= 17:30 O ’20

“There is a glamor of mystery in the story; there is a flavor of the
Orient, a glint of gold, an aroma of perfume which attracts the senses
and beckons the reader onward to the end. The French have a
fascinating way with them.”

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 25 ’20 200w

“Benoit has learned from Anatole France to display erudition but the
translators make a sad mess of it. What they do to classical names
should be a warning to reformers of the curriculum.”

+ − =Dial= 69:546 N ’20 90w

“The tale is told with an economy, a sureness and a subtlety that show
how a French writer can come near to salvaging for literature themes
which, in English, are condemned to a humbler sphere.” H. S. H.

+ =Freeman= 2:358 D 22 ’20 120w

“Excellent as Monsieur Benoit’s book is, it does not equal, either in
imaginative power, fertility of invention, ingenuity and abundance of
incident, suspense, dramatic effectiveness, construction,
character-drawing, sustained interest or the ability to make the
reader feel that the events narrated actually occurred, any save
perhaps some one among the lesser of the many romances written by Sir
Rider Haggard. This is not to say, however, that it is not an
admirable and very entertaining story, with a conclusion both artistic
and dramatic, and more than one scene of fine imaginative quality.”

+ − =N Y Times= p24 Ag 1 ’20 1050w

=BENOIT, PIERRE.= Secret spring. *$1.75 (3c) Dodd

20–7919

In this story within a story Lieutenant Vignerte tells his
brother-in-arms the story of his life, which is still casting a
melancholy spell over him. Just before the war he had been a tutor to
the heir of the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold. He had fallen in
love with the Grand Duchess, received much friendly encouragement, had
come on the track of a mystery which points to the murder of her first
husband—brother to the present duke—by discovering old records and a
secret spring opening a door into a hidden chamber. A conflagration in
the castle and the outbreak of the war prevented complete disclosure.
The duchess herself took him in her private car to the French frontier
and saw him safely into the hands of the French commander there. While
in action in the trenches a German prisoner of high rank is
discovered, by Vignerte’s confidant, to be the arch-fiend in the
Lautenburg tragedy, but here again a complete revelation of the secret
is foiled by a shell that kills both Vignerte and the prisoner.

+ =Cleveland= p71 Ag ’20 70w

“In spite of the involved plot, the annoyance of a story within a
story, and the somewhat cloudy narrative style—which latter may or may
not be partly the fault of the translator—the spirit of romance in
this volume makes it fairly acceptable to the leisurely reader.”

+ − =N Y Times= 25:21 Jl 11 ’20 550w

+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Ag 29 ’20 250w

=BENSHIMOL, ERNEST.= Tomorrow’s yesterday. *$1 Small 811

20–11179

Marsh dreams, The passing of a shadow, Morning and evening, Confession
of hope, Atonement, In the wilderness, The tale of the grey wolf, The
moon on the Palisades, At dusk, Evening, The end of the trail, are
some of the themes in this volume of poems. The author is a young
poet, a graduate of Harvard, class of 1917.

* * * * *

“It is pleasing to discover a poet today who thinks in every line he
writes. There is no superfluous word-painting in any of Benshimol’s
poems. They are the genuine and spontaneous expression of a highly
imaginative and reflective mind. Here and there, unfortunately, the
reader comes across an image that is obscure or jumbled.”

+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 250w

“The writer is a true poet and this first volume not only has great
promise for the author’s future development, but has great charm in
the present.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Ag 1 ’20 100w

=BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.= “Queen Lucia.” *$2 (1½c) Doran

20–15389

Riseholme was a strictly Elizabethan village, and “The Hurst,” the
Lucas’s house, more Elizabethan than all the rest, was its social
centre. Here Queen Lucia reigned. For ten years she had been the
undisputed ruler when the smoldering rivalry between herself and her
neighbor, Mrs Quantock, threatened open eruption. Not content with
having set the town’s pace with her classic taste, Queen Lucia must
also make herself the leader in each new fad discovered and introduced
by Mrs Quantock. With the coming of the famous singer, Olga Bracely,
as a resident of the town, all social observances, rules and
precedents are knocked into a cocked hat and one by one the bubbles,
in which Mrs Lucas saw her own greatness reflected, are pricked. She
no longer rules and social oblivion threatens to engulf her when Olga,
in large-hearted pity, executes a series of maneuvers which reinstate
a humbler and wiser queen in something of her former position.

* * * * *

“The dismallest feature of all is that Mr Benson’s humour should have
gone—not to the dogs, but to the cats.” K. M.

− =Ath= p241 Ag 20 ’20 700w

+ =Booklist= 17:30 O ’20

“Fantastic in the extreme, Mr Benson’s latest novel may be accepted
more as a light and airy fantasy than as a contribution to the study
of English social manners. It is, in fact, a merry farce transferred
from the lights of the stage to the printed pages of fiction and it
bears further tribute to the ingenious qualities of Mr Benson’s
humor.” E. F. E.

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 28 ’20 1150w

“A clever and amusing satire.”

+ =Cath World= 112:549 Ja ’21 170w

“The book is lacking in what we are constantly told is necessary for a
good novel. There is not much plot; there is no love interest; there
is no climax. But it is long since one has seen such a masterly bit of
satire, such a piece of character-study as Lucia.”

+ =Lit D= p101 S 18 ’20 1400w

“The book is a great treat from beginning to end.” E. L. Pearson

+ =Review= 3:249 S 22 ’20 480w

“Apart from its humor and comic sense of character, the narrative
emphasizes Mr Benson’s versatility and his mature art.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a S 12 ’20 400w

“Taken as pure farce, ‘Queen Lucia’ is an altogether satisfying
entertainment; full of humorous situations, sparkling with wholesome
wit. The characters, too, are for the most part consistent and
original. So very little restraint would have kept it within the
limits of comedy and we do not feel that it gains in any way from the
touches which incline to extravaganza.”

+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p502 Ag 5 ’20 480w

=BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.= Robin Linnet. *$1.75 (2c) Doran

19–19852

The book shows us English society “snug and comfortable and
stereotyped” in various aspects. First among the students and faculty
of Cambridge where, in the former, the spirit of youth occasionally
pierces through the stereotyped smugness doubly emphasized in the
faculty. There we meet Robin Linnet, nicknamed “Birds,” a lovable boy,
full of fun and horse-play with his chums, but fortified by a rare
love and respect for his mother. The latter, Lady Grote—brilliant
society woman, patroness of celebrities, shining center of an
aristocratic coterie absorbed in “a fever of mere living, a
determination to make the most of the present moment, whether bridge
or scandal or games”—has for her saving quality her great and sane
love for her son. The war-change that English society suffers, topples
Lady Grote’s world over like a house of cards, when her son goes to
France. She decides to superintend the Red cross hospital, into which
her husband converts their country house, in person. When Robin is
killed her spirit rises nobly to the occasion and what was a fill-gap
and a duty now becomes a work of love.

* * * * *

“Full of bright and entertaining dialogue.”

+ =Ath= p1138 O 31 ’19 120w

“Parts of the book are so slow moving that some readers may not care
to finish it.”

+ − =Booklist= 16:242 Ap ’20

“The action moves cumbrously; too much time wasted in irrelevant talk
by superfluous characters. This tries the reader’s patience, and makes
negligible a book which might have been one of Mr Benson’s most
successful efforts.”

+ − =Cath World= 111:539 Jl ’20 210w

“The concluding pages of the book are beautifully written and very
moving, making the whole worth while. It is a book practically devoid
of even a slight thread of plot, and it is very much too long.” L. M.
Field

+ − =N Y Times= 25:1 F 29 ’20 1150w

=N Y Times= 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 70w

“Not Mr Benson’s best work in fiction. The whole [is] thrown together
rather than thought out.”

− + =Outlook= 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 70w

“The story is told with Mr Benson’s usual vivacity, but the conversion
of Lady Grote is far less convincing than the elaborate and often
acute analysis of her emotions in her unregenerate days.”

+ − =Spec= 124:179 F 7 ’20 500w

“The closing chapters are beautifully written. Mr Benson is deeply
sympathetic without giving way to the strong temptation to be highly
sentimental. The characters are excellently individualized.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 25 ’20 700w

“Has the same merits and weaknesses as Mr E. F. Benson’s previous
novels.... Mr Benson, in fact, is almost entirely preoccupied with the
superficial.”

+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p629 N 6 ’19 460w

=BENSON, STELLA.= Living alone. *$1.75 Macmillan

20–2266

“This little book describes the adventures of Angela and the
adventures of those with whom she comes in contact while she is
caretaker of a small general shop which is also part convent and
monastery, part nursing home and college, and wholly a house for those
who wish to live alone. She is an out-and-out, thorough witch, a
trifle defiant, poor, always hungry, intolerant of cleverness
and—radiant.... We have said that ‘Living alone’ is a book about the
war. There is an air raid described from below and from above,
together with a frightful encounter which Harold has with a German
broomstick, and one of the inmates of the house of ‘Living alone’ is
Peony, a London girl who is drawing her weekly money as a soldier’s
wife—unmarried. The story that Peony tells her fellow-lodger Sarah
Brown of how she found the everlasting boy is perhaps the highwater
mark of Miss Benson’s book.”—Ath

* * * * *

“We hardly dare to use the thumbmarked phrase, a ‘born writer’; but if
it means anything Miss Stella Benson is one.” K. M.

+ =Ath= p1187 N 14 ’19 440w

=Booklist= 16:203 Mr ’20

“Stella Benson possesses the rarest of attributes among writers—that
of personality.” D. L. M.

+ =Boston Transcript= p4 My 5 ’20 950w

“The particular merit of ‘Living alone’ is that it is a fairy-tale for
grown-ups, a piece of whimsical madness without rhyme or reason.” H.
S. G.

+ =Freeman= 1:406 Jl 7 ’20 200w

“No one but a poet could have written ‘Living alone.’ It is Barrie at
moments; again it is Chesterton, that preposterously humorous
Chesterton of the romances; and, after all, it is Stella Benson. It is
a book for the lonely and it is a lesson for the self-conscious. Best
of all, it can be read for the sake of the narrative by those who do
not care to trouble themselves with allegory.”

+ =N Y Evening Post= p2 My 1 ’20 720w

“It is a book to dally over and reflect on.”

+ =Sat R= 129:70 Ja 17 ’20 100w

“There are many amusing sketches of people.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 16 ’20 330w

“It is a pity that mere manner should so have marred this new essay in
beautiful nonsense. Beautiful is none too grand a word for ‘Living
alone.’ The book teems with beautiful ideas, beautiful imaginings,
best of all—beautiful feeling.”

+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p586 O 23 ’19 550w

=BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS.= Imperfect mother. *$2 (2c) Macmillan

20–8237

A story based on what the Freudians term the “mother complex.” Cecilia
Kirkwood, a woman of dynamic personality, is married to a sombre
little book-seller and is mother to three grown children. At forty-one
she falls in love with the cathedral organist and leaves her family to
go to London with him. Before taking the step she tells her story to
her seventeen year old son thinking him the only one who will
understand her. Stephen at this time is just beginning to fall in love
with little Margaret Weatherly and his mother, hungry for admiration
and sensitive to all shades of feeling toward herself, is conscious of
the slight change in his attitude, and the one bond that might have
held her to her home is broken. All thru his young manhood Stephen is
influenced by the tie that binds him to his mother and all his
relations with women, including his love for Margaret, are affected by
it. With the dissolution of the conflict her spell over him is broken
and he moves forward unhampered to business success and happy
marriage.

* * * * *

+ =Booklist= 16:346 Jl ’20

+ =Boston Transcript= p8 Je 12 ’20 950w

“Reads like a case book on the ‘Oedipus complex.’ But in spite of the
author’s effort to get everything right according to Freud it is not a
bad story.”

+ − =Ind= 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 110w

“The story is woven with great delicacy and with unobtrusive skill and
is remarkably interesting. Yet it is doubtful whether really great
fiction would thrive on so much scientific awareness.” Ludwig Lewisohn

+ − =Nation= 111:74 Jl 17 ’20 750w

“‘An imperfect mother’ is certainly one of the best of the recent
English novels. The author is secure in the consciousness of a ripe
and finely developed art.” W. H. C.

+ =New Repub= 24:52 S 8 ’20 900w