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PHILOSOPHY

By BERTRAND RUSSELL

If you would understand the world in which we live and how it differs from the world in which we seem to live, you must have a new philosophy. All the traditional philosophies - all the old viewpoints, the old theories must be discarded or modified in the light of the disclosures of modern science. You must start afresh, with as little respect as possible for the systems of the past. Here at last is the philosophy which modern men and women have been seeking, written by one of the most brilliant minds of the age. Get the book today, use it in your daily life. Love, beauty, knowledge, and the joy of life - it will help you to feel the value of these things and to play your full part in man's collective work "of bringing light into a world of darkness."

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THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY says: "Written in a style simple and lively, such as only Russell can write . . a most brilliant outline, written to help man know the structure and elements of life." - Manuel Komroff.

THE NEW YORK SUN says: "There is no more vigorous or acute philosopher thinker alive today. And this volume is the most mature and most complete statement of his philosophy that he has given us.' Henry Hazlitt.

THE DETROIT NEWS says: "In terse sentences and language so simple that even the philosophically untrained may read, the English philosopher leads to his final discussion of man's place in the universe."

THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB NEWS says: "A fair description of this book would be to call it an outline of scientific thinking . . . an introduction into the very heart of modern thought.". Henry Seidel Canby.

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expression, must thoroughly enjoy and approve. Notable are many of the fragments of translation contained in it some from already published sources, some original with this book. Often the translations are themselves English poetry of unusual excellence, giving fresh poetic pleasure to the reader of the book.

In their final chapter the authors discuss interestingly and sensibly the future of poetry. They discern several losses which the domain of poetry has suffered since its origin - losses coincident with the rise of other arts and of the sciences and with the development of prose. They observe reluctantly the extent to which poetry has fallen into neglect, and declare that a new attitude toward it must await 'the shock of a great poet's personality.' But the office of poetry still lives and enjoys its privilege. 'Poetry speaks most fully and briefly as much of the high mystery and meaning of life as man can utter. To speak in its fashion is the most difficult way of talking. It is also the most glorious.'

THEODORE MORRISON

The Letters of Gertrude Bell, edited by Lady Bell, D.B.E. New York: Boni and Liveright. 1927. 8vo. xvii+400+375 pp. Illus. 2 vols. $10.00.

THE first volume, with its talk of clothes and dizzy mountain climbing and journeys to the Near East, prepares us somewhat for the energy that was focused so fiercely on the problems of the war and the problems that came after.

Pitchforked into the dirty mess of war and politics in Arabia, the reader is first of all impressed with the depth of Miss Bell's scholarship. He then pauses to admire her rare quality of human understanding. 'Unless I am very much mistaken we have got the confidence of the people we are working with.' These people, with whom we take tea daily in her letters, turn out to be learned Doctors of Islamic Divinity or bloodthirsty border chieftains coming to her, as a trusted friend, for advice on war and peace and the probable attitude of the British Government. To win their confidence meant, first of all, a remarkable fluency in the vernacular; next, a mastery of the details of local customs, religious prejudices, the whereabouts of well water, and the mating season of camels, which perhaps no other white person but Lawrence could boast. Last, and most important of all, it meant sympathy. It was probably this quality more than any other which raised her mere information concerning facts to a level where it became of national - even international -- importance.

It has been commonly said of Miss Bell that she did a man's work for the Allied cause and for Arabia. But the astonishing thing is that she did a woman's work as well. It speaks volumes for her superior officers and for that unexpectedly adaptable machine, the British Empire, that she was allowed to make use of her particularly feminine gifts. Wisdom, political acumen

amounting to statecraft, and even an amazing adroitness in languages were probably all traceable to this same quick sympathy that never failed. Lawrence, important as a fighter, was chiefly useful for his feminine qualities - - tact. sympathy, and incurable love of intrigue. He and Gertrude Bell took an unmannish joy in personalities. Both appreciated that a leader is more significant than a cause in the East.

It is an unusual book of letters, which is interrupted by chapters from a Major General and a British High Commissioner 'cordially welcoming this opportunity of paying tribute to the memory of a dear friend and a most devoted comrade.' Their chapters on the war and the post-war history of Arabia and Mesopotamia are added to elucidate the letters which Miss Bell wrote to her family and friends. These two famous administrators do her the honor of describing the campaigns and the complicated political situation rather than continually writing about her and her work. They take it for granted that we know how much she was in the thick of it and what a voice she had in making laws, crowning kings, advising H. B. M.'s government, and writing White Books to be read in England. So, too, Lawrence mentions her name with that of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt (and no other) in his preface to the new edition of Doughty. That fact alone is sufficient to prove what her place will be in history and in literature.

If 'letters are the only true reading,' these are indeed among the great examples of a great form of literature. Happily they are written with no eye on posterity and have no conscious style. Lady Bell has edited them so dextrously that, in the midst of Bagdad politics, an order to a London dressmaker or a message to a friend crops up to remind us that the author is, after all, an English woman of our own day who has been presented at court, climbed Swiss peaks, and taken a most brilliant First at Oxford. That Miss Bell was a poet could perhaps be guessed from her simple prose; but the few translations from Hafiz which are given in the preface leave one amazed that she did not devote her life to the practice of the art.

LANGDON WARNER

Red Sky at Morning, by Margaret Kennedy. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 1927. 12mo. x+331 pp. $2.50.

THOUGH the courts acquitted Norman Crowne, the question whether he did or did not murder his evil genius and familiar friend was sufficiently unresolved to force him into exile, where he shortly died, leaving a little brilliant verse, a really first-class scandal, and twin children. William and Emily, with whom Miss Kennedy's story deals. Saved from full consciousness of their situation by their own youth and their elders' vigilance, they spend an uneventful childhood in dreamy submissiveness to the tutelage of their cousins Trevor and Charlotte Frobisher.

A STATESMAN SAYS: "I am delighted with the way the authors have attacked this problem. I predict the book will set many men to thinking along new lines."-Frank O. Lowden, former Gov. ernor of Illinois.

A LABOR LEADER
SAYS:

"The style fascinates. The
book will stimulate all of
us in the trade union
movement to think
soundly."-John P. Frey,
American Federation of
Labor.

A BUSINESS MAN
SAYS:

"An important book that
every well-informed busi-
ness man must read.”—
Victor M. Cutter, Presi-
dent, United Fruit Com-
pany.

AN ECONOMIST
SAYS:

"Not only because of the
simplicity and far-reach-
ing significance of the
plan proposed, but also
because of the dramatic
interest of the story, the
book is bound to have a
profound effect.”—Virgil
Jordan, Chief Economist,
National Industrial Con-
ference Board.

AN EDITOR SAYS:
"Intensely interesting for
the average man, yet suf-
ficient to provoke the
deepest thought of our
best statesmen."-Henry
A. Wallace, Editor,
"Wallaces' Farmer."

$2.00 Houghton Mifflin Company

The Road to Plenty

(A New Pollak Foundation Book)

Is there any way out of "the Dilemma of Thrift?"
Any help for "Old King Cole in Trouble"? Any
solution of the economic difficulties expounded
in the two books, "Profits" and "Business Without
a Buyer"?

How do Messrs. Foster and Catchings themselves
propose to solve the problem which they have
expounded in the Atlantic Monthly and in their
books?

THE ROAD TO PLENTY is an answer. It
proposes a definite, constructive, practical plan; a
plan at once radical and conservative, revolu-
tionary and commonplace; a plan endorsed by
leaders in politics, business, and finance.

-a

The plan is set forth in the form of a story
story so fascinating that busy men (who have
time to read but few books) have read this book
at one sitting. The statements in the left-hand
column will give an idea of the importance and
broad appeal of this book.

WILLIAM T. FOSTER

and

WADDILL CATCHINGS

At twenty-one the emancipated twins take their very handsome fortune to London, where their brilliance and their father's unforgotten name bring them most of the pleasures that the world is considered to offer. Their fundamental. absorption in each other keeps quick the Ariel lightness of their childhood, and enables them to combine a passionate enjoyment of their surroundings with the airy detachment of the soap bubbles to which Trevor compares them. "They keep making incredible, miraculous escapes, but sooner or later they come into contact with the solid ugly things around . . . and then they'll just disappear.'

...

And it is the wise youth Trevor who effects this tragic contact. By making use of William's compassion to get the baggage Tilli Van Tuyl taken off his hands at a party, he paves the way for the lamentable abortion of William's first play. The greedy welcome which the Crownes' acquaintance extends to this disaster and to the opportunities it offers for reminiscences of the first 'Crowne show' awakens Emily to the burden of notoriety she must carry. She takes refuge in Philip Luttrell, a country neighbor of the Frobishers', who consents—though reluctantly, because he loves her - to help her turn into Mrs. Luttrell, the Rector's wife. So Emily Crowne disappears.

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William can take the Crowne scandal and the shock of his failure fairly elastically; but Emily's defection shatters his sinking bubble, and the small soapy drop remaining falls into Tilli Van Tuyl's plump, unscrupulous hand. She does n't want William; but she does very much want a husband, she would like to punish Trevor's elusiveness, and she desires to be mistress of just such a solid, comfortable country house as Monk's Hall, which William has lately bought.

Tilli, meaning to use William as the instrument of her vengeance upon Trevor, feels herself defeated by William's complete spiritual remoteness. She cannot realize what Trevor half suspects

that with Emily's renouncement of her

Crowne existence William's slender hold on everyday life has loosened dangerously. Unfortunately Trevor fails to see that William's growing indifference to his companions and to social sanctions generally does not necessarily imply emotional apathy; and surprise must have been faintly mixed with his terror and pain on the wet spring night when William, finding him in Tilli's room. shot and killed him after a confused pursuit through the fields.

There the story ends, while Philip, waiting in the cold red dawn for Emily to wake and hear of the Crowne show 'William must face alone this time,' wishes that day might never come.

'Il n'y a qu'une manière de refuser demain; c'est de mourir.' The effort to deny the morrow is not commonly made by minds wholly resolute and sound. As charming children or as lovely semiconventionalized rhythmic patterns, it is possible to feel both sympathy and admiration for the Crownes; but the more one considers them in relation to their surroundings, the more puzzling does the book become. If Miss Kennedy is really anxious to have us believe that the Crownes share with medieval rock crystal the power of exposing the black corruption of whatever poison they may touch, why is it that the poison persists in looking so wholesome? Not its subtlety, certainly. If, on the other hand, the Crownes are only stunted victims of maladjustment, why do Frobishers and Londoners both vary their aspects with the grotesque rapidity of figures seen in a convex mirror? Do we know them only through the distorting lens of the Crownes' bubble? In The Constant Nymph the balance between absolute and relative was implicit on every page; here it is a problem continually renewed, just disturbing enough to take the edge from one's pleasure in Trevor's model community, or the Crownes' Hampstead 'nursery,' or Philip's vision of Emily in her April meadow, or any other of the delightful pieces of writing animated by Miss Kennedy's powerful sense of the tragic. MARION VAILLANT

The books selected for review in the Atlantic are chosen from lists furnished through the courteous coöperation of such trained judges as the following: American Library Association Booklist, Wisconsin Free Library Commission, and the public-library staffs of Boston, Springfield (Massachusetts), Newark, Cleveland, Kansas City, St. Louis, and the Pratt Institute Free Library of Brooklyn. The following books have received definite commendation from members of the Board:

Andrew Jackson, by Gerald W. Johnson

MINTON, BALCH & Co. Illus. $3.50

The colorful life of one who fought his way to the Presidency

The Diary of Russell Beresford, ed. by Cecil Roberts
Dramatic portions of a sensitive and highly civilized journal

Ballyhoo: the Voice of the Press, by Silas Bent

A knowing analysis of contemporary journalism

Kitty, by Warwick Deeping

A novel of contemporary England and of a domineering mother

Alas, Poor Yorick! by Alfred H. Bill

GEORGE H. DORAN CO. $2.50

BONI & LIVERIGHT $3.00

ALFRED A. KNOPF $2.50

LITTLE, BROWN & Co. $2.30

These unrecorded and partly imaginary adventures of Sterne are charmingly in character

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