The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-01
ION EMAN."


 THE GENUINE CONFESSIONS OF A
 REAL MAN" By Robert Steele.
 Mitchell Kennerley publishers, New
 York.
 No book like. this has ever come out of America; it is hard to compare it with anything in the English language It recalls Dostoievsky with its passion ate searching of the human soul, It's relentless analysis of human motives and ensuing acts. "One Man" reads not like fiction, but like an unvarnished autobiography. Bob tells his story simply and straightforwardly in the language of the man of the street lie is mercilessly honest and hides noth- ing And so his life passes before you, one of crime and punishment. alternate worldly success and failure, but with always certain degree of moral growth. And when the end is reached it is a man who has passed through the crucible of suffering. who has come to grips with life in all its hideousnoss rather than its joys, who is looking forward to new and freer existence
 Of One Man." noted minister of the gospel has said:
 The fercest light that a man can turn on himself is "One Man" 1t is not orthodox literature. Ii is life. The plain reality of this confession grips. Only q hypocrite will turn away. Robert Steele can communicate. any man can com municate, only what q reader has ex- perienced. Some strong for the instinct of silence, will be shocked dumb. Oth- CTS will say this is Just another push into the coming era where ali of life Is open and unashamed. The last eitadei of secrecy tand thus of filth) must one day be taken. It must be that offenses come but not, in "One Man." with woe. The end is absolutely true to human natures law. Decency is regnant; tine best is dead the man is alive"
 Again well known critic has said:
 The rare quality which One Mar possesses is that of almost uncanny reality. Here, indeed, is the real story Of a real man, told simply, artlessly and genuinely. I know of no book more persuasive. save it be the auto biography of Benvenuto Cellini. By comparison, the Journal of Marie Bash kirtseff seems a studied and artificial thlng-as it is, l suspect, in fact This man is vastly less clever than Marie and vastly less self-conscious. He reels on his astounding confessions in a way so gu1leless and so matter -of-fac that no doubt Of their literal truth ever en- ters the readers mind. But they are by no means the confessions of a com monplace and uninteresting man. This fellow, In his small puddle, has clashed
 
 sordidness of his life, there Is stlli something fine in it. He has faced stag gerlng disasters; he has grappled with titanic problems. And so a vaguely he- role quality gets into his story His , ioeals, as he reveals them, may be petty, but they are nevertheless ideals and he has fought for them manfully. AS Tor his writing. 1t Is full of that instinctive art which always passes beyond conscious effort One never feels 7 that ne Is trying to get an effect bat , only that he is trying to tell the truth 10 describe his feelings as he experi- enced them. and to account for his acts - as he accounted for them while th,v were in progress. His last chaptor. , straightforward. unaffected description of great mental struggle, is one o1 V the best things I have read for manA !, a long day"
 MT. J. B. Kerfoot of Life" read "Ont d Man" twice and says of it. @ Thousands upon thousands of ius A such lives as this One Mans are beine = lived here in America The thing. In if deed, is of the essence of America. Ant yet no one-perhaps because no one na s dared, but much more likely becars = no one has seen anything in it'-n, & one has set 1t down.
 And there is, of course, presumnbl, 2, nothing in it. Only those to whom life r even though it be human life is tn l. most interesting thing in the world IS will find it interesting. Although wer e the life of one spider. or of one Coyote u or even of one cockroach laid befcr II us as forthrightly and impersonally a ., this One Mans life 1t laid before u.
 thousands would read it with engross T. ing interest.
 's ,s "so self-conscious, as yet, is our ow 'a1 hypocrisy
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