Evening star., 1926-04-25
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

author or 'Up-Streiknl, etc. view
York: Boni and Liveright.
ri SRAEL" stands as a body of
80 concrete reasoning whose goal
is a justification of the re-
i building of Jerusalem by Jew.
ish coloniZers from every part
Of the world. The Instruments en-
ployed in equal facility by Mr..
Lewisohn to meet this purpose are,
chiefly, three. History is first among
them. Besides this ranks the political
theory of the sovereign state In it's
effect upon the minorities within that
state. To these is added the psychol-
ogy of a race bent upon self-preserva-
ton and spiritual survival.
Within the broad domain of his
tory the author confines himself to
picturing the Jews domiciled in many
countries-Germany, Russia, Poland,
France, England, America. These
are, unvaryingly, law-abiding people,
contributing markedly to the material
around them. Notably people of
peace, these Jews.
Upon this foundation Mr.. Lewisohn
discusses minorities in the sovereign
state. Every minority within this
state must yield to the will of the
majority. An alien minority must do
more. 1t must assimilate itself to the
race texture and spirit of that major
ity. Many aliens succeed in doing
this. The Jews have honestly tried.
But the processes of assimilation are
often highly exacting. even brutal. In
respect to the Jews they have been
conspicuousiy unmindful of the tena-
cious spiritual fiber of this race, un-
mindful of the Jewish sense of racial
pride and high mission. Oppression
has been their general lot. Affronts
against age-old religious outlook and
custom have been many and deep.
Social yearnings have been carelessly
flouted. The majority has thrust deep
and hard into the heart of sacred Jew.
ish tradition.
The long assimilative oppression of
the Jews by majorities has served
not to change the Jewish nature.
not to divert it into other racial chan
nels, but rather to emphasize it's own
mental and spiritual possession,
rather to rouse this nature to an in
creased ardor of self-preservation, to
a new zeal toward national solidarity
once more.
And so the New Jerusalem is COM
ing into life out of renewed and
enlarged and deepened sense on the
part of many Jews that the mission
of this race is not practical servitude
in strange places. Rather is it its
mission to reorganize the scattered
Jewish people into a national unity
devoted to the pursuits of peace, pur-
suits under which the desert shall
bloom into fruitfulness, under which
the waste places shall become oases
of structural beauty and usefulness.
where industry, art, letters and sci
ence shall minister steadfastly to a
world too deeply buried in national
MISUNDERSTANDING and over-reach-
ings.
Such. so sketchily. is the sum of
this brilliant study of the long.exiled
Jews, scattered over the earth. Pic
lures multiply here under the hand
of Ludwig Lewisohn. Little dramas
exemplifying this point or that one
spring up at his bidding. Great men
of his own race march beside him,
agreeing to his general claim by the
genius Of their own works in many
lines.
An exciting experience waits upon
the reader of this book. The sound
of it alone Is biblical in sonorous and
rhythmic beauty. No, one doesn't al
ways agree. However, the point is
that here is a brilliant philosophic
outlook upon subject of highest
Importance and interest.
X x X X
UNCHANGING QUEST. By Philip
Gibbs, author of Heirs Appar-
ent." etc. New York: George II.
Doran Co.
"T INCHANG1NG QUEST" is the
~ quest of brotherhood and
peace throughout the world. And
this great pursuit appears to have
become the pre-occupation of Philip
Gibbs by way of his literary work.
The war under his own eyes gave
immediate direction to his work. Its
effect upon the homes Of England
France and all the combatant coun-
tries gave strengthened purpose to
this new direction of thought and
effort. The sad futility of the war
in all the ways for which it was said
to make good the claim of a war to
end war-these have added point and
purpose to the literary production of
this writer.
Here again by way of English life
he presents the new world that war
creates. Fathers and mothers. sons
and daughters, lovers welded and
unwed, these are the human material
by way Of which Mr.. Gibbs projects
the bewilderment and confusion of
thought that usurp the old certain
ties and composures when war besets
a land. Here are lusty sons and
radiant daughters. Here, too, is the
impartial destruction of war itself,
sweeping away the young and brave
and beautiful, sweeping away the
future Of land as it brings desolation
to the present. With his heart Mr..
Gibbs has made the picture of Eng
lish life that this story portrays.
Within it Is a truly tragic figure who
is going to live long in the memory
of many. This is Katherine. the
mother Of Michael, her half-Russian
son. But it is the picture, also, of
life wherever the shadow of war may
fall. Not clearer in purpose than the
other work Of this author. More in
tensely dramatic, though, cleaner of
line, more triumphantly centered In
movement. more beautifully human,
more clearly prophetic than even his
other significant work has been is
this story of the unending search for
human understanding and human
unity. A strong and beautiful story
Of deep meaning and appeal.
X X
THE LANDMARK. BY James Lane
Allen, author of "a Kentucky
Cardinal" etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
THIS group Of stories, the last writ
ten by James Lane Allen, is sc
Characteristic Of the authors out
look upon life, so of a piece with his
lifelong mode Of literary expression
McCollum, E. v. and Simmonds. N