Evening star., 1936-01-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margues Cermond.

Margaret Cermond.
CONCISE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION-
AIRY. BY Harriet Lloyd Ftzhugh and
Percy K. FitZhugh. New York: GroS-
set & Dunlap.
In announcing the advent Of this
splendid dictionary of biography the pub
fishers make no claim of superiority in
the quantity of its contents over the
mass information packed into works in
Guiding thousands of little Somebodies
and great NobodieS,' assassins, knaves,
madmen, traitors, spies and other tag
rag and bobtail.'" They confine their
statement of justification for the book
to q frank acknowledgement Of an ef-
fort to meet the constantly growing de-
mand for q volume limited to the really
famous men and women "who have stood
out head and shoulders above their fell
lows in their various fields of activity
in the long chain Of centuries that make
up the history of the world"
The compilerS have based their Selec-
ton Of subjects upon findings resulting
from painstaking study of what the
average citizen and the average student
in pursuit of knowledge needs to know Of
the lives of the truly great of past and
present generations. Consultations with
teachers, librarians and students brought
them to the belief that out of the thou
sands of individuals whose names have
figured in the making of history it is
actually necessary to be thoroughly fa-
miliar with the lives of only five hundred.
Covering a period of nearly three
thousand years, the FitzhughS have Sc
lected from the overwhelming number
of great kings, queens. presidents, scien-
lists, statesmen, composers, philosophers,
inventors, warriors. actors, engineers,
poets, writer's. adventures. humanitar-
ianS, musicians, clericS, artists, orators,
explorers and other personalities from
Homer to the present day the five hum
dred whose particular achievements have
warranted their inclusion in a handy
volume of tabloid biographies for quick,
concise and authentic reference. Each
life has been treated strictly upon its
merits, without political, racial or re-
ligious bias.
A key to pronunciation prefaces the
volume and all difficult names are given
the approximate pronunciation in Eng
liSh in accordance with the latest au.
thoritative opinion. In the back of the
book a complete index includes in ad-
dition to a list of the biographies the
names of scores of men and women who
are necessarily mentioned in the sketches,
and also reference lines to the particu-
lar activities in which the subjects were
and are engaged. The book is attractive
ly bound, is printed on good paper in
clear type and measures to the size of
an average novel. It's inexpensiveness
makes it available to every home in which
readers and students abide.
DUST OVER THE RUINS" BY Helen
Ashton. New York: The Macmillan
Co.
1t has often been said that every liter
ate human being possesses an innate
belief in Suitability to write book and
is confident that some day a startled
world will receive with acclaim the stu
pendous brain-child for which it has
been waiting. Upon such premise may
justly hang the excuse for so many of
the hopelessly bad books that the present
age of cocktails, jazz and crooners has
produced. Upon this premise also may
be draped the excuse for any first novel
that fails to take the public by storm
But there would seem to be little excuse
on any score for recognized writer who
puts either time or energy into the making
of story as inane and pointless as Dust
Over the Ruins"
The title and q glance at the jacket
announcement give promise of genuine
interest and adventure, and the story
gets of to good start with a party of
three on board ship, bound for an archie
illogical dig" in Arabia. Sir William
Crane, head Of the independent expe-
dition, and his competent, homely secre-
tary have gone ahead of the three who
will complete the party. The elderly
wealthy archeologist has been persuaded
by his secretary to employ her cousin
with whom she has been in love for
years but who has unfortunately married
some one else. Evan Meredith is bull
headed, bad-tempered, selfish egotist, If
teen years older than the beautiful, gold
en-haired Valentine to whom he has been
married for several years. Robin Cary,
an baked youth who seriously
hopes to become an archeologist. is the
victim of the ill-assorted quintet.
Valentine proves to be an utterly self
ish unscrupulous flirt who never loses
her head and whose ambition seems to
be to compel all men to fall in love
with her. The business of being a de-
voted wife to an intolerable husband
works like charm. Robin is two years
younger than Valentine and at just the
right age to suffer all of the agonies of
a first furious love affair. Evan is jealous
of every man and Olwen, his cousin, is
jealous of him. Sir william Is gentle
and mellow, with q liking for peace and
solitude and the flattering attentions Of
the pretty young wife whom his chief
assistant has refused to leave at home.
Transporting this group into the heart
of the ruins of Arabia and making them
do their tricks really gives promise of
something worth while. The elements
for romance, strife, interesting expert
ences in the search for lost art and ar
chitecture and the exotic appeal of a
ruined civilization are all present Clash
ing temperS predominant, just as they
should. But the romance drifts into
inanity, the young adventurer fails to
develop any substantial qualities of genu-
inc manhood, and the archaeological
operations are too thin to hold the plot,
if there is one, together.
Helen Ashton can do better than this.
Perhaps the story was intended to develop
into something more cohesive, but just
refused to gain strength as it grew. The
net result Of so much effort gives to the
reader merely an evening of useless en-
tertainment.
Survival in Ttalv