Evening star., 1935-07-14
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

Part One: Our Oriental Heritage.
Being a History of Civilization In
Egypt and the Near East to the
Death of Alexander, and in India,
China and Japan From the Be-
ginning to Our Own Day; With
an Introduction on the Nature and
Foundation of Civilization. BY
Will Durant. New York: Simon
& Shuster, Inc.
rN HIS well-recognized, sedate and
mellow manner, Mr.. Durant offers
us this Part One Of his newest
i undertakings literary synthesis
of the world. At five-year intervals,
beginning in 1910, he promises to issue
four additional volumes Their main
titles will be "Our Classical Heritage"
"Our Medieval Heritage" Our Euro
pean Heritage" and Our Modern
Heritage" According to the plan,
these, together with the present vol
ume. will make up the complete
"Story of Civilization"
A staggering project, this would
seem to be, certainly. But Mr.. Durant
approaches it with urbanity and
avowedly without illusion. In his
preface he remarks, "A history OF
civilization shares the presumptuous-
ness of every philosophical enterprise;
1t offers the ridiculous spectacle OF
a fragment eXpounding the whole"
And, to point his moral, he quotes
the words uttered 5000 years ago by
the Egyptian, Ptah-hotep, to the same
effect, Consider how thou mayest
be opposed by an expert in council
1t is foolish to speak on every kind
of work" But Ptah-hotep notwith-
standing, synthetic reconstructions Of
the life of mankind have continued
to be written, and Mr.. Durant himself
speaks of his present undertaking as
pleasant assignment" to which he
has been wanting to attend for 20
years.
The sales of the present volume
may we'll be an index to current in
terest in world affairs, for, as the
author points out, study Of the
Orient at this time has more than
traditional significance. No longer
can the East be regarded simply as
the receptacle of the past. Today
it holds the future as we'll. "The
theme of the twentieth century," says
Mr.. Durant, seems likely to be an
all-embracing conflict between the
East and the West The future
faces into the Pacific and under
standing must follow 1t there" 1t is
in this light, to some degree, that
he has prepared the present work,
to the end that We may realize how
greatly our supposedly Occidental CIV
ilization is indebted to pioneering in
the East.
It is inevitable that the progress of
the projected series should be watched
with interest. At the present moment
and for some years past history has
enjoyed a revival in the popular taste.
This may be due essentially only to
the paradox of our intense Self-pre-
occupation; absorbed in our peculiar
day we are apt to be surprised, and
even pleased, at the news that human
beings have existed in the past and
had problems to deal with, too. But,
again, it may be due to real hunger
for understanding of the times drift.
The popular nature of those histories
which have achieved recent success
would seem to incline toward the
former explanation. In Will Durant
there is a happy combination of the
popular quality with genuine schol-
arship. Interest shown in his work
may possibly be significant thing.
SOLOMON, MY SON! BY John Ers-
kline. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill.
THE ingenious Mr.. John Erskine
- talks to himself again, and his
remarks, as placed between the covers
of this novel, are as entertaining as
they have usually been when he has
obligingly compiled them into book
form in the past. This time he speaks
through the mouths Of puppets taken
from the day of King Solomon, and
utters observations on the difficulties
of raising public moneys in periods of
unemployment and general depres-
sion. His public, however, will not
be too astonishedeat learning that no
severe regard for historical limita-
tionS has crippled his habitual agility.
In Solomon, My Son!" Mr.. Erskine
talks as he always has.
When that is said, all Is said. The
popularity Of Mr.. Erskine's past works
might seem to demand more expan-
sive treatment for the new one-but
to what end? 1t is true that they
are unique among the contemporaries,
but they are so only as a class. AS
individual books they cannot claim
the distinction because they are too
much alike. In other words, Mr.. Err
skine is his own and only rival.
Let it not be thought that this is
said disparagingly. Many men in the
past have written the same book again
and again, but not so many have con-
trived to keep it fresh. Solomon,
My Son!" trips along from its first
page to its last in the engaging man
ner Of an entirely new creation. The
preservation Of the tone through all
these years since Menelaus encoun-
tered Helen in the ruins of Troy is
In itself no mean accomplishment.
THE JURY. BY Gerald Bullet. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
THE squaring Of the human triangle
- being nothing new in novel writ
ing, Mr. Bullett has in his latest work
varied the tradition of the theme by
the treatment he has given it. From
the three original points, husband,
q wife and the other woman-he ex-
pands the old formula to take in
dozen more. We then have one of the
originals (the wife) found mysteriously
dead and the husband on trial for her
murder. The other IL make up the
jury which hears the case. BY this
time we know something Of their own
experiences in love, marriage and
manners, and we are permitted to see
how these memories influence their
Interpretation Of the evidence.
1t Is a form which has required con-
siderable technical skill. 1t Is well
done and sustains the interest. "The
Jury" is good book for entertainment