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42 ,_ BOOKS King's Pleasure Ida Zeitlin T he Serbian N ational E pic, beautifull y illustrated in colors by Theodo re N adejin. Harper's ........ .. ..... $4.00 WILMETTE · LIFE November 29, 1')2f:.l Comment on Books and Authors n:M r. LeMay does very, very we ll in ltis effort to give us the life of these pirates. Loafing on shore, waiting for another voyage to be started or for ~he payment of share-money, ever y captain, every man is made to seem part of an authentic mode of life and thought. No les·s skilfully drawn :ue the characters of Madame De Verniat and her daughter; they are intense, fantastic-much like Conrad's women. The who le De Verniat outfit and its influence on the various tllCn is almost purely Conradian. E ll ery Queen. S t o k es. This "Problem in Deduction" intr ~ duces two new det ectives, t he Queen :< father and son. One is a genial snu ll addict, the other a philovancish honk worm. They are agreeable enough, ir somewhat too coy and too chorus -lik t· in their repartee. Their business her , is to learn who poisoned Monte Field as he sat in an or chestra seat at tht· Roman Theater wat ching t he second act of "Gunplay," and what happened to his top hat. The suspects prc se:n at the same perfor mance includ.e th1 dead man's former part ner, who h:Hi threatened him: a gangst er who had been one of his clients: and 1fisFrances I ves-Pope, whose hand hag was found in his pocket. In spite o i minor defects-such as a theatcr-ma!\ager who doesn't know wh<>thcr he haa seat-plan used and a motive u ·ed 'lC· long ago in another theatrical mysten -this is a competent piece cf wnrk for those who like their clc-tl' cti\',. stories straight, though shrc\·: d c u~ tnmers will be prettv \':ell alor,~ th·· right rack by the time they reach th e Interpolated note that tell:; tlH' Ill tht· evidence is all in. DEMOCRACY. By Edward McCiws- men to sweat for his selfish int erests. THE ROMAN HAT MYSTERY. ney Sait. Century. Avowing as his purpose "to indicate the existing clash of opinion over the fundamentals of democracy and to fix attention on the more prominent writt rs and their \·arying points of view," Professor Sait says that he has attempted "on ly a most su perficial inquiry." H is characterization of his attempt, unfor tunat ely, is fairly accurate. He presents bri~f extracts from forty current writers. some of which he 'lppraises. some of which he does not, so that at certain points his book seems to be analysis and criticism, at others mere ly a survey. Moreover, he leaves unchallenged some of the citations which go farthest toward sheer ahsurdity, like Frank Evline's precious dictum, .. Democracy, in so far as it exists in fact, is Anarchy . . . . as a form of government, it is impossblc"; or Norman Angell's portentous pronouncement, .. The hope of democracy lies in fully realizing the truth that the voice of the people is usually the voice of Satan." Professor Sait's own comments are apt to be more relative than this. To him, denwcracv is neither heaven nor hell. but a mu;1dane instrument of government which, with all its limitations, is our best hope. His hook would be greatly improved by a steadi<'r cross-examination i)i the \ritnesses he puts on the stand. tUVNWN SQVAR[. · l:VANSTON Wilmette J700 FAMILY GROUP. By Diana Patrick. Dutton. The Harlyns, a well-bred English provincial family in moderate cirq.tmstances, include the parents, staid, ineffectual people in their mid-fifties, and their five youthful, grown children. These latter range, in age, respectively Meredith, Bayard, Irene, Patrick, Rosalind, the youngest of whom, due to her beauty and sterling fineness of character, stands forth admirably distinguished from the others. The earlier half of the book presents full-length, physically individualized portraits of the entire flock and e stablishes uncertain sentimental ties between the eldest three and the objects of their love, then radicallv reverses the worldlv position of tlie family through· sucldei1 inheritance bv Harlyn perc o.f .£150,000 and a countrv-house in Cornwall. Comparative " ·calth at once exerts meanlv negative influences on the personalitics of all the young folk but the incorruptihle Rosalind, and it rcquir~s the occurrence, in their midst, of a dual tragcdv to reawaken their better natures of earlier. impecunious days. The story is gracefully \\'rittcn, pleasantly entertaining, and \\'Orkccl out with a semblance of consi stency. hut try as Miss Patrick does to suggest the psychologv of her creations. little deept~ r than impression:; of t.hcir surfaces is ronveved. D iana Emil Ludwig A novel in two volumes. trans.lated by Eden and Cedar Paul. V iking 'Press .... ..... ... Ss.oo F ra nklin Bernard Fay Link Brown 8 Company .. $).00 CONTEMPORARY AM E R 1 C A. N PORTRAIT PAINTERS. By Cuth hert Lee. Rudge. Tlli s carefully made album in quart n offers as its cl1ief aHraction its excel lt>nt typography and fifty g-ood P,late!' .from a. manv of our cnntemporan· portraiti sts. The text, judiciously ri c~criptive, balances the cuts page for page, and the reader is left to draw his own critical conc lusions. The scru tinv of ths welt chosen gallery leavc c:. at -least one critic more cheerful ahnut our portraiture than he was before. The sheer power and insight of an Eakins arc absent, as are the supreme f'legance of a Whistler or a Chase a~ their best, but there is much honest and vigorous work from our younger men, and withal assurance that the tra dition of Copley, Stuart, and Mors~ i~: not in abeyance. Foch Major General Sir George G. Aston, K. C. B. Macmillan ... .. ..... ... Ss .oo The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkley The Crime Club ..... . .. $2.00 Carl Akeley' s Africa Mary L. Jobe Akeley, F. R ., G. S. Dodd. Mud ............ Ss.oo By Alan LeMay. Doran. This is a very full novel-full of tall doing-s, odd people, strange sights. Mr. LeMay tells us about Jean Lafitte, the pirate chief, who flourished off the coast of Louisiana and in the bayom south of New Orleans over a C'entun· ago. If we arc to believe the pres~t1t account, Latitte never hoarded a merrhantman nor personally superintended a plank-walking party; he was, rather, the general behind the lines, the executive watching- the salesmen's reports. But he was crafty, plausibk, :md hardly less than a genius in getting Doublcda~·. P ELICAN COAST. j' The Crusades Konrad Bercovici Cosmopolitan Press ....... Ss.o o ·· MAKE CHRISTMAS Laughing Boy Oliver LaFarge Houghton , Miffl in ....... S 2. 5o Live by giving photographs photographs of children, RAY family, yourself, in studio or home surroundings will carry your Christmas years. sentiment through the '~ The Shopping Book - tells how to judge qu ality of mtrchandise. William H. Baldwin Macmill an ............. $ 2. so The Story Teller and His Pack A handbook of sto ry- tell ing for children . including stlect ions of stories to tell. · Suggestions Christmas photographs with your greeting - home portraits - YOUR picture in a leather portfolio-our special Christmas miniature, handcolored in oil, at only $12.50. The gift you alone can give. I Clifford H. Nowlin Bradley .. .. . . ......... $2.0 0 The Sea Devil's Fo'c' sle Lowell Thoma s Doubltd3y, Doran ... . .... $2.50 EuoENE L. Phone Univ. 2238 RAY PHOTOGRAPHER 1606 Chicago Ave q Evanston Lord'a- First Floor l11 a few days tile Cllrist· mas rusll will begi·- PIIo·e today for your ajljloifltme,t.