davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1939-04-30

with the subject matter. has SIM
plicity and directness that is def
nitely refreshing. The kinship with
earth and nature is manifest in
every line. Not love of the soil, as
exemplif1ed by the self-conscious,
back to- -the-farm writer's Of the last
few years, but feeling for the small
things of the real country, the shift
ing shapes of sky and water, the
exact moment of blooming of the
lesser known wild flowers, the feel
Of the different kinds of twigs and
soils, are all revealed in the course
of the narrative. Equally sensitive
is the authors feeling for the subtle
manifestations of mood and feeling
in his characters. The compare
lively simple folk Of his tale are
treated with an eye for the little
actions which betray mental make
up. Motivation comes from within
each personality. Outer circur-
stances may apply the goal, but does
not dictate the reaction. r. r. T.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Brief Reviews Of
New Books
Travel and Place.

Travel and Place.
CONNECTICUT RIVER. BY Mar
garet Allis. New York: G. P. Put
mans Sons.
An entertaining history OF the
Connecticut River Valley from its
first settlement down to the pres
ent. Illustrated with attractive
photographs.
IN NEW BRUNSWICK WE'LL
FIND 1T. BY Lowell Thomas
and Rex Barton. New York: D.
Appleton Century Co.
Guide to the Canadian provinces
attractive spots. Readable.
Young Lins.
OUR FAMILY. BY Adet and Amor
Lin. With a foreword by Meimei.
New York: John Day Co.
The young daughters Of Lin Yu-
tang write here the story of their
family life-travels in America and
Europe and memories of China.
Youthful and pleasant.
Biography.
HELEN HUNT JACKSON. BY Ruth
Odell New York: D. Appleton
Century Co.
Authoritative and informative his
tory Of the author of Ramona. "
Much hitherto unused material.
Americana.
THE RAMPAGING FRONTIER BY
Thomas D. Clark. Indianapolis
Bobbs- Merrill Co.
Examples of the manners and
diversions of the Middle West when
it was a frontier. drawn from con-
temporary writings. public and pri-
vate. Very interesting.
Humor.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CALLS ON
THE PRESIDENT. BY John De
Meyer. New York: Ives Wash
burn.
The learned doctor calls upon Mr..
Roosevelt and gives him piece OF
his mind. Not cut to New Deal
pattern.
CONVERSATION, PLEASE. BY
Loren Carroll. indianapolis:
Bobbs- Merrill Co.
A satirical guide on how to talk
and how not to. Reasonably anus
ing.
Novels.
LIZZIE BORDEN. BY Mrs. Belloc
Lowndes. New York: Longmans
Green.
A f1ctionized history of the famous
crime, with new twist in the ex-
planation. Interesting.
THE MAIN STREAM. BY Hilda
Morris. New York: G. P. Put
mans Sons.
A long, tedious novel about fam
lily growing up and going its ways.
ENHANCEMENT. BY George Bu-
chanan. New York: D. Apple
ton-Century Co.
A novel of social forces and move
ments in modern England-highly
placed ladies and commoner labor
ers thinking things over. Average.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
What Is Being Read odoy?
Best Sellers in Washington and Other Cities
Chicago.

SnlcaBO.
Fiction-"Wine of Good Hope"
"Wickford Point" The Grapes
of Wrath" THE Patriot" "Jubal
Troop" Paul I. Wellman.
Non -fiction-"Days of Our
Years" Reaching for the Stars"
Alone" Richard E. Byrd:
Through Embassy Eyes Martha
Dodd.
New York.
Fiction - "Wickford Point"
"All This and Heaven Too, The
Grapes of Wrath" The Tree of
Liberty" The Patriot
Non-fiction - Reaching for
the Stars" Autobiography With
Letters" Days of Our Years" +"
"A Peculiar Treasure" "Meip
Kampf.
San Francisco.
Fiction - The Grapes Of
Wrath "Wickford Point" The
Tree of Liberty" The Patriot" ="
"All This and Heaven Too"
Non-fction - Days of Our
Years" "Mein Kampf,' Through
Embassy Eyes Reaching tor
the Stars" Consultation Room"
Frederick Loomis.
Evening star., 1939-04-30

going to be about a strike and 1t
seemed dead pan comedy In the
most felicitous vein. 1t had all the
customary elements-the honest,
honest workers, the boss who lives
in an estate on the hill, the corrupt
press, the beautiful girl organizer
and the hero who Is a relative OF
the boss but whose heart burns
with brotherhood for the proletariat
Just the same. All the old props, in
fact, looking, If possible, even older.
These Mr.. Paul assemblies with
thought-provoking volume.
will suspect him of playing 1t double.
It simply does not seem possible
that he could produce these ancient
cliches and expect you 70 believe IN
them. You admire his solemnity
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Washington.

Fiction - The Grapes OF
Wrath" John Steinbeck; Wick
ford Point John P. MarQuand;
"All This and Heaven Too"
Rachel Field; Guns of Bur-
goyne,' Bruce Lancaster; THE
Tree of Liberty" Elizabeth Page;
Wine of Good Hope David
Rame; THE Patriot Pearl Buck.
Non -fiction-"Designs in Scar
let" Courtney Riley Cooper;
Autobiography With Letters"
William Lyon Phelps; Betrayal
in Central Europe" G. E. R.
Gedye; Days of Our Years"
Pierre Van Paassen; Death of
Yale Man." Malcolm Ross.
Boston.
Fiction - "Wickford Point"
Three Harbours," F. Van Wyck
Mason: Wine Of Good Hope"
Seasoned Timber Dorothy
Garfield; "All This and Heaven
Too"
Non -fction-"Take 1t From
Me-" Neal O'Hara; Reaching for
the Stars" Nora Vain; "A Pecu-
liar Treasure, Edna Ferber;
"Mein Kampf," Adolf Hitler;
Days of Our Years"
Evening star., 1939-04-30

and you keep on waiting for the gag.
But it never comes. He Is not play
ing it double. He Is playing it
straight. His book reads like Uncle
Toms Cabin" and you are expected
to take it down in like spirit. The
reviewer can only say that that can
not be done.
And that is all. There Is a strike,
to be sure, and there is a lockout
and a picket line and thugs brought
in as strikebreakers and the beau
full girl organizer bopped on the
head with a gas bomb. Mr.. Elliot
Paul seems to have read all the
novels recently written on labor
troubles and then decided that he
could do Just as well. His decision,
Of course. Il perfectly understand
able.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
So This Is Religion
By Joseph Lowrey Fendrich

By Joseph Lo1Drey Fendrich.
Washington: James C. Wood.
The author of this book has been
since 1887 pastor of the Metropoli-
tan Presbyterian Church of Wash
ington. The work is an examina-
ton of the state of the church
today, a statement of the needs
which the church must meet and
a setting forth Of the authors views
on the methods which must be
adopted If the church is to con-
tinue to be effective. In the main,
Dr. Fendrich feels that the social
problems which occupy so much
attention today cannot be solved
without the application Of Chris
tianity. He also feels, however, that
the church needs revitalizing If 1t
is to carry on as social force,
and he urges stronger relation
ship between church and man and
the adoption Of positive kind of
Christianity by church members.
He considers that questions of dog
ma have occupied an unduly promi-
nent place in modern churches,
suggests that the church grow with
the age and that its great concern
is simply the unchanging teaching
of Christ. It is thoughtful book
and one which the student of mod
ern religion would read with profit.
Evening star., 1939-04-30

satirizing the same theme. 1t is a
refreshing habit and as long as we
have it we have no real need, as
a Nation, to worry about the rise of
Nazi-ism in Des Moines or the
ominous growth Of Communism in
Salt Lake City. Those things will
Just take care of themselves.
And so the reviewer has been, as
said, looking out for a novel which
would poke fun-not at the honest
troubles of labor and -capital-but at
the entrepreneurs in novel writing
who have been using public interest
in those troubles to justify their
deadly dull books. As SO, as also
said, she thought that Mr.. Paul had
fulfilled her expectations. His book
from IT. drst page on was plainly
Evening star., 1939-04-30

in recent years. And, as the most
happened in Europe. the books in
question have naturally been written
from the point of vantage of Euro
pean residence. Here, on the exact
opposite, we have a book on the
events which happened in our own
land during the mad decade. More
than that, we have the accounts
of these events just as we read them
years ago with our morning coffee.
For Mr.. Greene's book is an as
sembling, with interpretative notes,
of the actual news stories which
the papers featured back In those
dear dead days. A readers impress
sion today will probably be two
fold; 1t will partake of amazement
that a Nation could ever have gone
in for such undiluted sensational
ism. and it will also contain a
substantial measure of admiration
for the magnificent newspaper writ
ing by which that sensationansm
was set forth. Paste jewels in plati-
mum setting-that Is the likeness
which inevitably suggests itself.
The stories are a parade of one
time Americanism. The Scopes trial,
the kidnapping of Aimee Semple Nc
Pherson, the heroism of Sergt. York,
the Vaccinations of Ponzi, the Ku
Klux Klan revival, the Loeb-Leopold
murder, the Lindbergh fight to Paris,
Sinclair Lewis monkeyshines in de-
flance Of polite respectability, the
Hall-Mills case, Al Capone-these
are only a few. From madness to
madness the volume carries one on
persuasively. And. as already said,
how gorgeously the reporters did
write in these days when the sky was
only the beginning of the limit!
H. L. Mencken's mendacious but
fascinating stories of the Scopes trial
will take perhaps the palm in the
collection. There you have person
ality writing at its peak. And all
through the collection this is the
keynote-the newsmen of the 20s
put themselves into their work and
their by-lines had some significance.
1t may not have made the American
papers of that time the most accu-
rate in the world, but it certainly
made them the most entertaining.
1t will do you nostalgia good to read
through the collection of great stor-
les which Mr.. Greene has here as
sembled,
Evening star., 1939-04-30

movement was one filed with dan
ger. He maintains that the original
idea had some merit, but he is un-
able to justify everything that was
done in the name of the Klan. His
book Is as factual and documentary
as possible considering that the Or
ganization he writes about was
secret one. He gives State by State
accounts Of the Klan's history ana
his book is a valuable addition 10
knowledge of the sorriest era in our
hiStory.-E, T,
Evening star., 1939-04-30

Navy began at this time and to these
three men they give the credit for 1t.
Attitudes Outlined.
Their work is skeletonic outline
of the attitudes toward our Navy
which have been held by the success
sive administrations from Washing
tons down to the end of the World
War. Just the meat of the question
is given in each case and when read
thus, condensed and without super
f1uous verbiage, our naval history
reveals curious pattern indeed. 1t
| is a pattern of advance and retreat
advance in times Of danger and
retreat in times of peace. Unnap-
PLY, as the Sprouts show it, the ad-
vances have usually been helter-
skelter and directed chiefly by
panics, while the retreats have been
all too often determined by political
expediency. The work shows success
sive energetic Secretaries and Presi-
dents striving to build up Navy
and naval program, and successive
Congresses countering their efforts.
To the public school student who
has merely been taught that the
United States has never been
whipped there is much that is start
ling in this book-revelations that we
Jagged far behind the European ma
tion5 is adopting steam and armor,
that we clung tenaciously to out
moded patterns in ships and that at
several times in our history we had
no sea force capable of meeting even
the weakest of the foreign countries
These unpleasant charges are, more
over, all drawn from source material
and are fully documented. Naval
men are unquestionably aware OF
the facts set forth, but it is unlikely
that the ordinary citizen, patrioti-
cally remembering that we licked
England twice and remembering
nothing more. knows what a vacillat
ing course our country has pursued
in relation to naval affairs
Recommends Reading.
The reviewer recommends that
readers who want some background
material for helping them to better
understanding of the present dispute
about the big Navy program read
first the Sprouts and then Capt.
Puleston. Tie former work will sup
ply picture of haphazard past
which, Providence helping, has still
contrived to work out successfully.
The latter will furnish theory of
what naval policy should be. Be-
tween the extremes of practice and
principle reader may work out
some understanding for himself.
Meanwhile, such a reader may
wonder just how the actual men Of
the Navy have carried on-while
Secretaries and Presidents have
dreamed dreams and Congresses
have feared fears. He will find this
story in James B. Connolly's Navy
Men," Mr.. Connolly is real Navy
journalist-he has spent much OF
his life on our ships and knows the
life of the sea as real seamen know
it. He has written here of existence
on board-and by that one should
understand ION board" to include a
wide variety of ships, from subma-
rines to dreadnoughts. He tells us
of the sports, the fights, the person.
alities and the day-by- day ship life
as he has known it for the past IS
years, and his book is racy and hui
morous reading. When one has gone
through 1t, after finishing the grave
histories listed above, one will un-
questionably decide that the men
who do the fighting are ali right
be Appropriations Committee what
1t may.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
By NC. r.
The Stars and Stripes Forever

BIZ Elliot Paul. Ne1D YORK;
Random House.
The reviewer, taking up this new
novel by Mr.. Paul, thought for the
first so pages or, 50 that she had
found at last the book which, for
more than q year now, she has been
confidently expecting. That is, the
novel to end novels on strikes. For
1t is an unvarying pattern in our
American life that we can hold the
pose only 80 long, and when there
is q steady how of humorless books
on any subject for Q certain length
Of time. It 10 reasonably certain
that there viii presently b one
Evening star., 1939-04-30
view United States Navy and History in Three Recent Books

Writers Review u
Volume on Mahan Recalls
His Views on Sea Power
This Country Has Had No Navy
Capable of Meeting Weakest
Powers in Several Eras
By Mary.Carter Roberts.
The Life and Work of Capt. Alfred Thoyer Mohon, U. SN
By Capt D. Pueston, u S. N. New Hauen: Yale Unuer-
The Rise of American Naval Power
By Harold Margaret sprout Princeton unt
Navy Men
BY James B Connolly New York: John Day.
Alfred Thayer Mahan have II,
aen9n a d from on m bo
1889 and 1914 subject Of and influence
one might think yet Mahan
0s "ss
his h nd
mis- 1 e M Seoe1e ra rt the h
his hi p0 ~ while the M & for their noer v so s
the wish that the captains books
aa M sse s
boh nis
called forth by the big
Navy fuousy ahtype AnglophIe and
responsible the abandonment of America
Americas
captains counsel in
and trade
ahng points Of
Mahan life and certainly
badly
fortunately 1t takes sides in the
mperaists follows instead
object exposition
his field OF study
the writing, which cold and dull
regular invocation of Mahans
reader wishes inform himself WILL
material Puleston's book.
implication frequently charge
Angoph Mahan work acclaimed
this he adds than
Mahans theory that
depended upon acorsforen fleet strong
colonies naval
naturally used British history the
soundness of his contentious
began his believing in isolation He
entered his
naval historian His first attitude based the typical American
would military establishments which, in
would lead to central administration with the CONSEQUENT
however
convinced him that based on powerful navy and
realized that these institutions did
produce domestic oppression He became convinced that the bsn
general welfare
Of the world He thought that Americans had similar aptuoe o
could in external affairs without FISK TO
institutions and with benefit to the world at large
Evening star., 1939-04-30
The Era of Wonderful
konsense

By Laurence Greene. Indian
dpolis:: Bobbs Merrill Co.
Books, mainly by journalists, re-
capitulating the political events Of
the 20s, have been fairly common
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Peter the Wild Boy

BIZ G. M. remnant. Ne1D York:
Harper Bros.
Peter the Wild Boy" Is an in
triguing title that almost sells the
volume before the cover Is cracked.
It is a purely flctional novel based
OF, the historical fact Of the finding
of q wild boy in the woods near
Hamelin, Hanover, in July of 1725.
He was brought to England, pre-
Evening star., 1939-04-30
The British Common PeopJe

By G. D. H. Cole and Raymond Postoae York Alfred
Knopt.
This the of the labor
period which
become the dominant voice in the affairs of the
This advance parallel advance
the development Of the factory
portalon
conferred riches
got his share, but without
lmpossibty which
the present making quick adjustments conditions
At the worked from l8 hours
considered dangerous radicals protesting
should
under extremely unheahul conditions the
could
dsloyaty
for him obtain the rudmens
from search of Manufacturers
floating labor supply. The laws
In the face of all the worker
forward the point where the British Isles least the
relative thrilling
than the military political history
volume explains why
It has sudered-and suffered plenty T.RH
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Democratic Sweden

Edited BY Margaret Cole and
Charles Smith. Neu York:
The Greystone Press.
The Scandinavian Peninsula has
been an exceptionally fortunate
corner of the world in the last two
decades.
More and more less fortunate
peoples are turning envious eyes on
Sweden and Norway which appear
on the surface either to have solved
or avoided the most distressing
problems which trouble other ma
tions. Perhaps they have been ex-
aggerated as Utopias. The study
reported In the present volume was
conducted by members OF the New
Fabian Research Bureau OF Great
Britain and attempts to cover
briefly and realistically the political.
economic and sociological aspects
of life in the largest Of the Scand1-
navian countries.
One gathers that life in Sweden
is not altogether Utopian after ALL
There, as elsewhere, one meets
grinding poverty and insecurity, es-
pecially In the country districts.
But, all in all, Sweden has been
very fortunate. 1t stayed out of the
World War and hence avoided the
aftermath of debt, grief and hatred
which came to the participants. 1t
has a relatively sparse population.
homogeneous as to both race and
culture. 1t has abundant natural
resources and recovery from the
worldwide depression has probably
been more rapid and complete than
anywhere else on earth.
The New Fabians are enthusiastic
over the way Sweden has solved its
economic problems. but apparently
feel that with all its advantages 4
should have done even better.
T. r. Il.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Social Security Measure
Is Called Reactionary
Threatens to Unbalance Economic
Structure Through Tax on
LOw.Income Groups
Social Security

SOCIAL SecuHty
By MarpeH S. SteDart. Nep York: ". W. Norton Co.
security through eyes
friendly q that excellent textbook welfare
developments social security both
outlines adoption
shortcomings
demonstrated its
His criticism Of briefly:
Hailed in this
in thoroughly reactionay Intended
raise purchasing stabilize
threatens to unbalance the economic through
income Its unemployment insurance
the unemployed Its considerably
less liberal for many years to come despite its compxy
the country"
The odage insurance and unemployment
and rolls which will
in living
arguing instead for
g inheritance corporation levies
He danger oldage
100000 by 1880 under the schedule
grounds that the transfer OF such huge
IS the law provides cannot help but have profound
reverberatons.
system of social security
States which would
according to their regardless
Federal
for health insurance noting that
forms of social
Interestingly the writer
rests on the efforts made by labor advance this prncp A.
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Russia and the Approach
Of Armoqeddon
Bu 1t. Comdr. Charles S. See
ley. Philadelphia: Dorrance

By 1t. Condr. Charles S. See
ley. Philadelphia: Dorrance
e. Co.
Comdr. Seeleys thesis that the
world faces a struggle to the death
between Rightists and Leftists is not
new, but his approach is an unusual
one and his own position entirely
| unexpected.
A retired naval officer of independ-
ent means, Comdr. Seely is member
of the Founders and Patriots of
America, Sons of the American Rev.
olution, Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, Military Order of Foreign
Wars and the American Legion.
In an effort to learn something
about world trends in politics and
sociology, Comdr. Seeley made a
year-and-a-h half trip around the
world, talking to more than 1000
people-not to the political leaders
but to the man on the street.
The results of his method appear
in his 10 chapters on Russia He
visited the Soviet Union as an eX-
perienced traveller and impartial OBJ
server What he saw there con-
vinced him that the people of Russia
were fighting not Only their own bat
ties. but the battles of the down.
trodden masses the world over. He
came away feeling that civilization
is making its greatest progress in
Russia, and that sooner or later the
people of the world will wake up to
the fact, and other nations will be
forced by the pressure of public
opinion to adopt many of the Rus
slams ideas.
The best way for the United States
to avoid both Fascism and Commu-
nism, Comdr Seeley believes. is to
avoid war-by keeping out of the prl-
vate affairs of other nations, by re-
fusing to use our armed forces to
protect our citizens who insist on
staying in danger zones, and by
maintaining a strong national de-
fense.
Comdr. Seeley's book pretends to
be no more than the views of one
American who has made hobby Of
travel and study Of political trends.
AS such, considering the authors
background, it is an unusual and
thought-provoking volume.
C.B.M.
Invisible Empire
The Story OF the Ku Klur
Khan, 1866-1S71. By Stanley
F. Horn. Boston: Houghton,
Mi67in Co.
This is the story OF the original
Ku Klux Klan of Reconstruction
days and has nothing to do with
the organization which was revived
disastrously in the 1920s. The orig
inal Klan was a direct outgrowth
Of the Civil War. It was the answer
Of the Southern States to their dis
franchisement and the evils of car
pet-bagger government. 1t was in
itself, Of course, an evil, as any
legal movement is bound to
be. But there are those who hold
that 1t was necessary evil. Ger
tainly those were dark days for
the defeated South. BY organizing
themselves into vigilante groups
! they enforced simple Justice in
a few cases, but they opened the
way to great danger which
promptly appeared. The under
cover organization ran away with
its organizers and the cloak Of
anonymity covered outrageous abuses
and miscarriages Of justice. Klans-
men fought fire with fire, but they
started a blaze they could not con-
troll and the history of what hap
pened to them is a lesson in mass
psychology.
Mr.. Horn, the author of this book,
Is sympathetic chronicler Of the
Khan. but he IL impartial and ju-
dicious enough to realize that the
Evening star., 1939-04-30
Remember the Maine
By Gregory Mason. Neu

By Gregory Mason. Neu York:
Henry Holt G. Co.
Reading Mr.. Mason's not too tech
nical history of the Spanish Amer
lean War, one gathers the impress
sion that the only reason the United
States emerged victorious was be-
cause the Spaniards were even more
inefficient, fumbling and unprepared.
Except for Admiral Dewey, who
emerges from Mr.. Mason's clutches
with his colors flying high, the pop
ular heroes of our rather romantic
fracas with the Dons fare very
poorly at the authors hands. In
fact, the baseball stars of those days
Mr.. Mason appears to have been
a better baseball fan than most
fare better in his book than do the
military leaders, even the ebullient
Theodore Roosevelt. who to Mr.. Ma
son was a rather vain. shallow soul
with a knack for playing the grand
stand.
Although quite readable. with
some very good background material
concerning social and political
trends of the period, Mr.. Mason S
book will not rank as a definitive
treatment of the Spanish War.
J. S. E.