The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1939-03-02
statement for which many of our
humoriStS strain.

With simplicity and informalit,
Mr.. Van Loon chooses to inter
prete all Of history, all of art, ant
all Of geography with accompany
ing sketches whose clarity ant
force make them indispensable. Hi.
page of drawing in the Geography
labelled Earthquakes" could bt
easily comprehended by natives OF
Chile or Japan without transla
ton of the text. Look through The
Arts for his sly dig at Impression
istic Art-made, however, only af'
ter he has very justly shown just
what constitutes that branch OF
modern art. He feels that the hui
man race has always been inclined
to take its petty advancements toe
seriously; by a few sketched lines
by few comparisons he can point
out the humor in a situation with
out acid and with a kindly verbal
wink at the usual narrow view of
most periods in history. He never
talks down." doesn't claim to be
the last infallible source on any
stated fact, and is quite pessimis-
tic about the modern age. His uni
versal thesis is, in effect, "Our age
in it's relation to all of previous
time, and just what good we seem
to be reaping from knowledge of
earlier mistakes"
A glance through his History of
Mankind is challenge. What have
we done to profit by the mistakes
of the ancients, to equal the beau
ty of the Golden Age of Greece,
to carry on in the spirit Of the
Age of Discovery? No light mat
ter to Mr.. Van Loon is the insist
ence of the human race on slaugh-
tering itself-an insistence which
has gathered force in the twentieth
century.
From his philosophic Geography
comes this statement: I'VE are all
of us fellow-passenger on the same
planet and we are all Of us equally
responsible for the happiness and
well-being of the world in which we
live" His chapter on the Japanese
Empire, written in 1882, is amazing
ly prophetic regarding the desire of
the Japanese for the happiness and
well-being of the Chinese in 1888
1889.
In The Arts his ten years of work
are enclosed in six hundred pages.
The book is not tome, but WV
idly illustrated lecture on the evolu-
ton of painting, sculpture, archi-
lecture, and music. 1t is source
book, in which you will find the
reason for the spire on your church,
the pillars which adorn your lib
rary, the strength of Wagner's mus
ic, the development of perspective
in painting-that depth in drawing
which only children and the Chin
csc lack, and for the beauty of
American bridge engineering. Here
is not, however, knowledge Which
Must Be Consumed.
In his eagerness to get a COM
plete view of things himself, he
has chosen to put the Van Loon
Interpretation on many evolutions,
habits, and developments which no
one else has desired or thought
necessary to interpret. That he is
criticized for his sweeping inform
atty, for his modern Interpretation
of such hitherto sacred things and
church architecture, symphonies,
and Florentine painting, is to be
expected.
These three books make good
foundation for any modern liberal
arts library-the world in which we
live; the races of men which peo-
pie it; the beauty which has been
sought and found by those races
in their various attempts to make
it a better place to live.
Pearl Swope.
Added as a feature Of this col
umn is the first Of series Of book
lists on "Ten Books I Liked Best"
Miss Swope, who reviewed the
book for the column this week,
has submitted such a list. Each
week a list of these books drawn
from local readers, will be posted
in the library, published in the
Herald. The library invites your
list of the ten books you liked best
Miss Swope's list follows:
"Alice in Wonderland" by Car
roll; 1.-THE Arts" by Van Loon;
Brazilian Adventure" by Flem-
ing; Green Mansions" by Hud-
son; "Microbe Hunters" by de
Kruif; "Paradine Case" by Hick-
ems; Return of the Native" by
Hardy; 10000 Leagues Under the
Sea" by Benchley; Romance of