The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-07-13
. Literary
Guidepost .

One of the chief pleasures
of book reviewing is the dis
covery" of many entertaining
volumes which might otherwise
pass unnoticed in the catalogs.
Released with a minimum of
fanfare, these books often top
those much ballyhooed but less
valuable products. This weeks
selection contains several such
finds.
Keep an eye on Columbia
University Press issuances for
these "sleepers." One that every
fiction reader will enjoy is
Whats in a Novel; columbia:
S2.75). Readers of fiction have
been subjected for too long q
time to the somewhat superior
attitude of their non fiction
reading friends. At last they find
an eloquent spokesman in Helen
F. Haines.
This valuable book is written
from and for the readers point
of view and is perhaps the first
critical study of the field made
from that vantage. Everyone
who already has a book should
have this one. Two other titles
merit consideration:
1.-THE Clubs of the Georgian
r AXE s" columbia: $2.75), a
readable study of the Georgian
extremists who lived riotously,
and "The Christian Approach to
the Moslem" (Columbia: $3.75),
a history of Mohammedanism
which gains Importance with the
turn of war into the Near East.
That rare and happy combi-
nation of good reporting and
exciting writing is found in Ben
Lucien Burman's Miracle on
the Congo" John Day: $1.75).
This story of the Free French
in Africa is one to bring new
faith in the ultimate victory at
time when the United Nations
face peril farther north in Egypt.
1t is also story to teep alive
the love of all free men for the
word France. Some Of Burman's
African material has been car
ried in the Daily Monitor-Lead-
or as dispatches from NEA Serv-
ice.
NO SLEEPER
Certainly not in the "sleep-
er" class is James Streets Tap
Roots" dial: $2.75), a first-rate
historical novel. Readers have
been waiting for this story of
the descendants of Sam Dabney,
whom Street admirers will re-
member from ooh, Promised
Land" The Dab neys move
against the background of Jones
county, Mississippi's CORY rebel
lion against the rest of the Con-
federacy during the Civil War.
The tale of this abolitionist
rebellion in the very heart of
the fighting South is a thrilling
one and the people who were
its e a ders were a Jealous,
swashbuckling lot.
MacKinlay Kantor's "Gentle
Annie Coward MeCann- $24,
is a western thriller, full of gun
fights and outlaws, written with
enormous wit and skill. There
isn't a dull or expected moment
in the tale of Armies adven-
lures. It's a made-to-order script
for Ann Sheridan.
Each character in "Clark Cliff
fords Body" (Random House:
$500, tells his own story of
the future civil war Kenneth
Fearing predicts for America.
This novel treatment robs TIE
story of easily followed CONT
nuity but lends distinction to the
yarn.
LINCOLN'S FRIENDS
Out in central Illinois, on the
banks of the Sangamon river, is
a pre-Civil War village. Lin
coins New Salem, restored by
the government, maintained as
a memorial to Lincoln's early
life there. II is 70 the original
New Salem that Rufus Rockwell
Wilson takes you in Lincoln
Among His Friends" (Caxton:
So to uncover new facts about
the great President. Many of the
old stories are retold, and sew
eral new ones, in the words of
the men and women who knew
Lincoln personally.
"The Hour Before the Dawn"
doubleday Doran: $3.50 lat
est novel to come from the pen
of w. Somerset Vaughan. tells
the story Of the effect of the
present war on one of England's
old county families.
The Hendersons have lived
peacefully in their country home
for 20 years, when the invasion
of Poland looses the tidal wave
of war. and the elder members
of the family sit helplessly by
watching the deluge sweep over
their children their plans, and
all their security. Mr.. Vaughan