Evening star., 1936-07-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
DOWN COME THE TREES. By Anthony
Thorne New York: Doubleday,
Doran & Co.

DOWN COME ldE lNEEo. by huILoiy
Thorne. New York: Doubleday,
Doran & Co.
Kravnik might be any one of the thou
sands of ultra modern communities which
punctuate the landscape in this modern
world But Mr.. Thorne has given it q
sun-drenched location on the coast OF
Albania, peopled it with Bulgars. Mon
tenegrins, Turks CZechs, Jews, Italians,
Greeks, French BritonS and AlbanianS,
and dedicated it to that Unsuitable god
of postwar civilization, Progress.
The site upon which Kravnik rests in
glittering splendor was once forest,
within the peaceful shelter of which an
Albanian peasant lad grew to manhood.
But now the trees are gone, and in their
place a great white forest of concrete,
erected almost overnight, gathers the
brilliant sunlight and sheds the reiec-
ton of its dazzling modernistic glory in
the sea.
Bitter rebellion against those whose
passion for progress, eff1clency and
wealth found expression in the destruc-
ton of the forest which he loved breeds
in the breast of the young Albanian a
form of hatred that grows beyond his
control. He knows no feeling that is
stronger than hate. He studies in for
eign universities for the sole purpose of
finding a means to an end. He makes an
extraordinary discovery and returns to
Kravnik intent upon destroying the city
which has robbed his people and his
country of the heritage which he believes
all men should hold sacred.
Lisa, an attractive Italian stenographer
who has come to KraVnik with her am
bilious, progress -Worshiping brother,
and who has learned to hate the city
and all that it stands for, becomes ac-
quainted with the young Albanian and
shares his secret. She loves him in
tensely and through her love undertakes
to diSsuade him from his program of
destruction. He understands the hatred
which is consuming him and is convinced
that he has a mission to perform. But
of love he is afraid.
There is madness in this fantastic
scheme to destroy, and he knows 1t.
But there is also madness in the modern
passion for power and efficiency and
money. In the war between these two
forms of mania, with the deep, self
sacrificing love of a wholesome girl in
the balance, Mr.. Thorne has drawn a
picture of the present age that strikes
at the root of the motives which drive
men to rebellion. It's significance lies in
the clarity of its translation of the emo
tions of the human race into action
when greed and wanton destruction rob
it of its priceless inheritance.
THE FEATHERLYS BY Virginia Wat
son. New York: E. P. Dutton g. Co.,
Inc.
A fictionized history of Virginia from
1924 to 1928, traced through the lives
of Succedent generations of the Featherly
family. is the subject of this entertain
ing story, which is styled by its author
as "A Virginia Tapestry"
The story is really a series OF episodes
which marked the respective eras in
which the members of the Featherly
family participated in the early history
of the Nation and the development of
the State. coupled with an interesting
and lively picture of the political and
social life which has from the earliest
days of the Commonwealth eXerted an
exceptional and peculiar influence upon
the affairs of the country.
AS an historic novel The Featherlys"
ranks with that large number of good
stories that do not attempt detailed
description of events of major i'm
portance, but keep to the human side
of the picture. and through it revive
an earnest interest in history itself.
From this point of view the tapestry"
is charming and picturesque tale of
drama and love, of politics and society,
of war and peace and of the decline of
the plantations and the rise of industry
Those who know Virginia, however, will
find a few errors which, though not
important, will almost surely bring some
criticism.
The story begins near jamestown and
the James River at that point is de-
scribed as the muddy James" in which
Ralph Featherly is accustomed to
"grope' for oysters and crabs. Also the
plantations in the vicinity are pictured
as being of rich req earth. Virginia has
an abundance of red earth in the Pied
mont and other sections, but there is
no red earth in the Tidewater region.
Grabs are not dug out of mud beds, as
are oysters, and the James River, no.
toriously muddy above the curls, is sell
dom discolored in the neighborhood of
jamestown except in times of flood.
X x ~
ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER.
BY Fred C. Kelly. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co.
Here is an interesting book in text and
picture which has for its sole purpose
the study of the growth of a business
corporation from small beginning into
a major industry Histories of railroads,
of business houses of one sort or an
other, of organizations and of industries
have become more popular in recent
years because more people have invested
in them and belonged to them than in
the years before the Great War, when
Mr.. Average Citizen had not learned his
first lesson in investment. War bonds
taught him that first lesson, and though
many thousands in the following years
learned to their sorrow that security and
faith were ephemeral, knowledge of the
business and industrial institutions upon
which the economic life of the country
depends increased. Histories of business
grew in demand, and many of them have
found popular favor.
How one thing leads to another in
any business is given graphic and in
teresting illustration in this well-set-up
volume, which begins with a large in
dustrial plant that sprang from an ear
of corn. 1t is the story of the Com
mercial Solvents Corporation, and of the
inconsequential incidents in the expert