I ' , THB NEW YORK TIMES

The 19~ Baacroft Praes, rtven annually ainee 11148 by Columbia University "for dis· tlngulshed writings 1n Amer• tcan history," were awarded lut Dliht to the author• or "Henry Adarna" and to "Last Full. Meuure : Lineohl the Pre~ldent."

"Henry Adams" wu writ-·

I ten by Elizabeth Stevenson and waa publlshed by the Mac­millan Company. Mias Steven·

'

son Is the first woman to win the Bancroft award.

"Last Full Measure: Lincoln I the President," wu written by

tbe late J, G. Randall and Richard N. Current. It was published by Dodd, Mead A: Co.

Dr. O~ySGn KirK, the pres·

!dent or Columbia, presented the awards at a dinner 1n the Men'a Faculty Club, 400 West 117th Street. Thf' awarda carry a stipend ot $2,000 for each book. The apeaker at the dinner waa Oscar Ham· mersteln 2d. August Heck· acher, chairman of the Council ot the Frienda of the Colum­bia Libraries, wu master of eerel'rn)nies. The council wu sponsot ot the dinner. . Miss Stevenson ill a library assistant at the Carnegie Ll brary in Atlanta. Professo Current 11 head ot the Hlsto and Polltlcal Science Depart ment of the Woman's Coolleg at the University of No Carolina.

\.

•

,.

Atlantian Gets Bancroft Prize For Writing

Miss Elizabeth Stevenson, Parker Ave., SE, and one oi lanta'• Women o! the Year 1955, was an­nounced 1\londay mght at b I a Univers1 New York, winner of 1955 B an c r o ft Prize. She won the a ward for he r biography, "Henry Adams," p u b li shed last N o v e m ber by l , 1 the Macmillan li!:llraMUI Ste•' r1110n Company. -. , .

Columbia University gives two Bancroft Prizes annually "for dis­t inguished writings in American h istory." They. carry a stipend of $2,000 each. The other 1955 prize went to "Last F).lll Meas­ure," by the late J. G. Randall and Richard N. Current It was published by Dodd, Mead.

• • • STEVENSON'S first full·

length book was "The Crooked Corridor: A Study of Henry J ames." It was publislled ln 1949. Miss Stevenson Is a grada­a te of Agnes Scott College.

" Henry Adams" was the rtrst comprehensi\e account of Adams' liCe and work that has been written of this most enigmatic American. He was historian, novelist and author ot one of the rreat autobio&nphies.

ELIZABB'nl STBVBNSON •. loq-dme Atlanta resident and the &rat woman to will tbe coveted Bancroft Prize (for her 1qraphy of Henry Adams)

"Miss Stevenson's nconstnction of tills tonnated, irritatint, dauntless· little man is an admirable piece of work." -THE ATlANTIC Elabeda Stmuoa aow lanllller ualque taleata to dilatory of pedlaps the IDOit ecaatric, IDOit IOIDIDtic --IDOitlllllected-lauN iDA..-IitllntUre. ...... allnlted..., ....., .. IOIJa of ........ .. .,._..., Yilltecl Ill lbl far ..... places ... Wllldedq lllbjec:t IMd. to briq JOU tbia cWnitiYe padralt ol:

• the loaely, ODMJed aepcnr of OaciaDatra laity bact ....

• die -- daniDicler of colorful Creak !MD& iD New Orlelu and Mutiaiq•

• tbe restless romantic wbo foancl bawD at last iD Japaa and became that country'a eatbusiutic dis­coYCrer for moat of the West-

LAFCADIO HEARN llluatrllted ..... ........ ,.,. •. ~

10 ri"M AVINUI. NIW '\'Oitlt ll, N.Y. A Dlw .. lell of TM Ctewiii.COHier 1'111111thlnc ~'

'"'

PAPER/A.. 7Z~37A

DAft ~ /~.f J-

Henry Adams Was a Man Who· Looked Idler Than He W tu

-· ....... .,. t: .. ._. s.u..-. as ,. ....... ,,_. -. ..... -- ... He tonthe •• ._. ..................... ........ ......... ==~=-.... hlna -.. • thit • ...._ er ..,....

... t'M .. ......, ........

.., atr•••• •• t • :ot'r ............... ..... -- ... ~ St~ h .. Mt •t

--... fNt q ......... c-. ~~Adam~ ttv.-1 Jo11c ..._.... Wl38 to 1918 to pi'Oo YiM .. ,.. '"• t@rlal fOf" her .......

A'r • A a V A a D, Henry Brooa Adams. •rand110n of .J•n Q u l n c: y AdarM .... ct a.tdly, ct.heted, wrote for the Harvard M a r a z l n • · made frWndahl~ that would Lut a JiltttJM.

.Afteor Harvard, he ~arnad c.nn.n bv attendlnc a !(Tam­mar ~ool lft Berlin. He re­turned to Waahln«ton only to tlnd hla father wttln~ out for London u Minister to Bntatn. Henry went all'nf as hl.a eec­~ry.

In London. Henry'a pl"edOI!<:­tlon for wrltln~P soon P.ot him Into troub~. He ~uldn't re· al.tt •ndln« back artie~ crlt1-dzlnr the British. He Intend· ed anonymity, hut a Bnston IW'Wifllel"t!r u~ hla bylln<'

Tht> London ,m .. a took him to task. HenrY's father was tmbarraa..ed ; Kftlry, c:haf!rln · ed An oflleto m a t t' trtf'<'l to cheer Henry by polntlnv out, *It'a not ewry boy of 25 who can In alx month · residence h..-. extort a leader from the n-.H

WWKN Henry's father re­tumed to AIIW'rict, Henrv be­e.me a Wutlbltrton repOrter but found lt le6cftnc to a dead end After his a1stft' Louisa's death ln Italy (h. waa at her bedside) hie iunllv penu,.df'd him to tMch history at Har­vard

He found that 14-arnln~t to tMdl ~uw ""' fun. Each night he cerrlect horRe armload~ ot books. In onWr to 1<~ 'lhead ot hls C'laiiiH. At thi111 time he _.. alto f'dltor of th~ "lorth Amerinm R.vl..,,

Soon he m a r r I • d Marian HOOI)er and took a wave from Harvard They went to Europe and Africa. W h • n they re­tumfd Henry taucht a '"' Yftft lon1er, then dewrted Harvard to live In Washlnflon.

For awhl~. the Wuhlnrton aodal whJrl almost awallowed I!Mr and Mrs Adami espedally Marten bUt thf-v had their own

1

Intimate tilde within whk:b ttt.y "'* Nlax T'IUa circle In· .... J • h n HaJ Clarence ~ Henry Hobeon Jllt.lcftllrd­eoft •;a .Joh'l'l T..a P'arce.

I •ae•• pUWiahed two.,...._. 41uietly wo"'-1 ,. W. Wlllwy of the Utdte4 ...._ file aAd ht. wife were extrwDiiy ~ ~ ....... '-'• ,.._ ... -and she nev• r •• al • • 4 lflel' happlne.a. Tn - · 11M ._ltted 1ulclde . ..._. waa CT. N. didn't c.re ~ he ltved or 41e4. He --. ~ to U'lle • lonr tu.e, alone

To an ou...._ tw .eemed ~al. JIQII~. auoertle­IAI. But fw wu a true fr~nd. w..n Oaftf'lce Xln~ n~d to c: • n v a 1 • 1 c t' ln Cuh.i It wu H~nry Who took him thH"e He ~thn~ had plenty of hm~ to ran-y out his t!Wnc1a' requests. to write lt'tters. to .-nter1111n f'\lt=Stl

He and John LaFarge vlsltt'd Japan, thf'n Samoa. On Af'"eral oc:culona. Henry and R L S. met. They apparentlv d•shkPd one another on sight Henry also trawlled to Hammerfut and other outlylmr t>olnts. He could take only a little of cl'-'ili· zatlon. or Washlnlrtnn poll t •rs. at a time, then hf' 'd !'lave to get away from It au.

But M always came ba<·k. 1118 • I 8 T 0 K V long ... ,, ce

publlahC!'d. he lt't'med 1!11P. Then, while vblltlng. like anr. othn touriat. churchf'!l In Chart rN and :Wont-Saint ·Micht>l. he h11d an &n.piratlon Ht> would w rite about ttoese churchu ani! ~ ' nt they had mf'ant to the un f l'd society of the 11th anrt 12t h centur1Ps Whf'n the \'II rln .,.. ... predomJnantly powerful

He apent tht> next M"VI!'n sum­mers Ill Fa anoe w•>rk iu~: or has book. When "Mont-Salr•t·Mict-.,.1 and C"tu•rn·ea" ap(X'ared, Ita first re.dt'n lwlrdly kl"lew 'lio h.at to make of It· ~Beton? he aot well Into the! book. the re•der was pemaps qulzzJcal; after­ward. aur.ly half 'ltunned and shocked tly ~aatlon and Idee.'"

Not oa{y cUd Henry Adanw ~ntraat hla own century with the 11th and 12th, thua galnlnf penJ)«'tlve, but also tnc!udt'd, tor food measure a C! .. ~!ll.lon o! belard. Saint Franca ot AM!al, .ad Saint Thomas Aqu­lML

WBD thia book was tln· !shed M benn Its S('q~l and anti'*· tie tamoua .. Educa· ttoa.•

. ~years ln w...a.. 1naton. filled a cert&bl rUeba. John Hay •• Seera~ of State, he relied on ~ t-ar. a walk with him e a e h aftemoon. Ustenln• but not ac~Qina, u he talked over hla problema. When President ftooaeovelt wantl'd to see a diplomat unoffldal4', he asked

.. •

epor t by Walter Paschall Elizabeth Stevenson

Elizabeth Stevenson, a native Atlantian, locally educated and

locally employed, has in her second book "Henry Adams, a Biography",

brought forth from the most significant group of critics a national

recognition of Southern scholarship.

Perhaps the most significant way to present the impact of the

favorable publicity she has produced for her city and state is simply

to summarize the reviews which have already been published: three

full columns in the New York Times Book Review; a two-column review

· in the Daily New York Times; three columns in the New York Herald

Tribune Book Review; significant space in the Chicago Tribune

Magazine of Books, the Cleveland Press, Associated Press Newsfeatures

the Boston Sunday Post; and impressive reviews in American Heritage

Magazine, Newsweek, Time Magazine and the Library Journal.

Among the critics who have recognized Miss Stevenson•s work

as a major contribution to American letters are Allan Nevins, Henry •

Steele Commager, Louis Gannett, Katherine Thompson and Orville

Prescott.

Miss Stevenson is strictly an Atlanta product and got her

English training at old Girl's High and at Agnes Scott College wherP

she wrote for the student newspaper and magazine and graduated Magna

Cum Laude with membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

In the statement accompanying Miss Stevenson's nomination is

this passage 11It has been pointed out that Henry Adams would be in

line for the Pulitzer Prize for 1955. It would seem that with such

national recognition already started, it would be fitting that Miss

Stevenson's home town might recognize her as Atlanta's Woman of the

Year in Arts". P.S. The Committee is lndeb~ed to Mr. Frank ~owzey, editor of the Coca Cola Bottler, for sending us photostated copies of l~ss Stevenson•s reviews. ·

THB NEW YORK Tl

};Iizabeth Stevenson

'nle 1155 Bancroft PriZes, rtven annually since lMI by Oolumbla University .. tor dis· Ungutllhe4 wrttiDgs 1Jl Amtr· lean hlatory,'' were awarded Jut. ruJht to the authora of "Henry Adama" aad to "Last Full Measure: Lincoln the PreslMnt."

"Henry Adams" was wrtl· ten by Elizabeth Stt'fMJOn and wu published by the Mae· mlllan Company. Mt11 Steven• aon Is the first woman to wtn the Bancroft award.

"Lut 11'\lll Keuure: Lincoln the Preaident," was written by tilt .late J. G. Randall and Rkhard N. Current. It wu publiahld by Dodd. Mead 1J Co.

Dr. G ... yiGJl Kirk. t.be pru·

Richard N. Current

tdent of Columbia, presented the awards at a dinner in the Men'a Faculty Club, 400 We1t 117th Street. The awarda carry a attpend of $2,000 tor each book. The apeaker at the dinner waa Oscar Ham· merstaln 2d. August Heck· acher, chairman ot the Council of the Friends of the Colum· bla Libraries. was master or ceremonies. The council wa.s apon.sor of the dinner.

Miss Stevenson is a library assistant at the Came(le Ll· brary in Atlanta. Profeuor Current Ia head of the History and Political Science Depart· JMnt of the Woman's Coller• at tha Uniftnslty of North Carolina.

Atlantian Gets Bancroft Prize For Writing

Miss Elizabeth Stevenson, 502 Parker Ave., SE, and one ot At· lanta'a Women ot the Year for 1955, ~as

nounced mght at Co b i a University, New York, as \\-inner of the 1955 B a n c r o l t Prite. She the award her bi<>~:r ''llrnry Adams, p u b ll shed last N o v em ber by t •

the Macmillan 1m .. ~ stn"""" Company.

Columbia t;nlversity gives two Bancroft Pritea annually "for dis· tmguishPd writings in Ameri<'an h istory." They carry a stipend of $2,000 each. The other 1955 prize went to "Last Full Mea<>· ure." hy th~ latP J . G. Randall and Richard N. Current It was . publishtd by ])odd, ~lead .

• • • IIISS STEVENSON'S first fllll·

leneth book was "The Crooked Corridor: A Study ot Henry James." It Wl\s published In 1949. Miss Stl'venson ls a iradu· ate of A&nes Scott College.

"Henry Adams" wa1 the flr.!lt romprchen!>ive account ot Adams' IJCI' and work that has been written of th1s most enigmatic Amerlran. He was histOrian, novelu;t and author of one of the Jreat autobio~:raphics.

THE UST OP' prize-winnlnc Southern writen must now be extended to in­

dude the name of Miu Elizabeth Stevenson, a modest Atlanta woman who has written one of the moat distinguished biocraphiea of recent years.

Miu Stevenson has captured the eoveted Bancroft Prize for 1955 with her ••Henry Adams," a work of broad scope and penetratln& insi&ht.

In her book, the authoress has sought to illuminate a figure who haa always been somewhat mysterious for most Americans­a thorou&h-going intellectual who made hia mark as a sort of lone wolf in the 19th cen­tury.

The writer has already been honored in her own city by being named one of At­lanta's Women of the Year tor 1955.

National honor has now come, bringing well-deserved recognition to Miss Steven­son and deep-felt pleasure to all who re-joice in her auccesa. (u/ ~

WOMAN GIVEN BANCROFT P R I Z E FOR F I R S T T I M E ~R her biography of Henry

Adams, Ellrabeth Eltevenaon 1a the wtnntr o! a 1955 Bancroft Pr!U. the first woman to recelu this top literary a ward

TWO BANCROFT Prlr:rs of equal rank and carrymg a atl~nd of $2.000 each, are given annually by Columbia Unlverblty •·tor dis· tmguished wrlllnes In American blBtory."

HENRY ADAMS was published laat November by The Macmillan Company. The other 185~ winner, LAST FULL MEASURE: LIN­COLN THE PRESIDENT, by J. 0. Randall, and Richard N. Current, wu published by Dodd, Mead.

HENRY ADAMS haa been wide-ly commended by ertua for Ita freah evaluation ot the mind and peraonaUty of Ita enltmaUc aub-Ject, u well aa for Ita criUcal judi11\enta. Her first book, THE ~ CROOKED CORRIDOR: A STUDY OP HEI'I"RY JAMES, pub- ~ llahed In te•e attracted tmmedl· '­ate attention to the work ot this ~ younr author and acholar. '0

Miss Stevenaon live~ in J.tlanta, '-Ga.. and works In the Atlanta ~ Pubhc Library.

~ *

Elizabeth Steve11sou

Wi1u a Literar~y Awllrd Another honor has come to Miss

Elizabeth Stevenson, Atlanta librarian and writer and scholar of real note.

Columbia University has announced she is a winner of one of its two Bancroft Prizes, awarded annually for outstanding works .in the field of American history. Her winner was "Henry Adams," a deep study of a little-understood figure.

Mills Stevenson also is the author ot a study ot Henry James, "The Crooked Corridor." This book was published in 1949 and attracted the attention of Eng~ lish speaking literates everywhere.

Cel"tainly one ot the most distin­guished of Southern writeu, which menns national distinction in these days ot Southern literary leader::hip. Miss Ste­venson wears her honors lightly. For she ill as mode:.t as she is de~n·ing.

•

Henry James THE CROOKED CORRIDOR: A. Study of Henry James, By Elizabeth Stevenson, l7Z pp. Ne~~~ York: The Macmillan Cm"· pan;r. $2.15.

Reviewed by MILTON RUGOFF

AS JAMES himself describes 1\. tt, the crooked corridor was the long way around that he de­libera~ly took his readers before he led them into the "Presence" which was the Heart of his story. The ann of lighting the way through this corridor and into the sanctum is hardly a novel one in literary criticism; in fact, the cor­ridor has for some years been so crowded with guides that there is a danger we shall soon not be able to see the master'for the disciples.

What is novel about this partic­ular exploration is that it tends to ignore those that have preceded it, disdaining all floor plans, keys, clews and .figures in carpets prof­fered in the last twenty-odd years

""by Messrs. Brooks, Lewisohn, Blackmur, Matthiessen and others. Working from within the mass of James's work, the author prefers to 'go it alone.

Approaching James as though his work ·had only recently been rediscovered; the author eonside:rs his life and then proceeds to his scope, themes, attitudes and means. After a brief but discern­ing analysis of his background she flrst sums him up negatively as not a Bohemian, a man of a particular class, or a democrat, and then positively, in h1a own words, as "that queer beast the artts,t," the alchemist who murmured to himself, "Convert, convert."

Concerning James's scope Miss Stevenson points out that it Jay in the drama of relationships among the few wflo had the leisure to'de­velop such relationships fully; but this is a section of the corridor that is not obscure and about which it becomes increastnely dif­ficult to say anything• fre.sh. James's underlying theme she de­fines as the colllsion resulting when an individual, generally an uninitiated person, "attacks the citadel of society in order to enter it and complete himself." Pasci­nated by this relationship James turned it over and over llke a precicms stone, making it yield new lights and depths with each turn.

The chapter of James's attitudes is concerned not so much With his · reactions to the world as with his use of reality, his transmutation of fact into fiction, his fusing of the beautiful and the tragic to achieve the ambiguities of a world in which ev~ry quality partakes of every other one. Finally, in ~aling with his means and techniques. Miss Stevenson avers that James's so­called difficult style is always a disciplined attempt to meet the challenges presented by his mate­rial, but she is somewhat less ef­fective than others have been in demonstrating the many ways in 1 which his style is a, function· of I his approach. She recognizes in him a weakness for the melo­dramatic but makes interesting use of this as part of her proof that he is much more the pure story­teller than is commonly reall,zed.

Miss Stevenson generally nails her quarry with sure,.ftrm thruats, but here and there she resorts to a· combination of slow stalking, , feints, and frontal assaults that smack, s0 to speak, of critical op. -portunism. As an exercise in cr-iti­cism "The Crooked. Corridor" is re­freshing and perceptiv~: as a book about Henry Janiea it suffers from its 'self-imposed disregard of what others have said about him.

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AUTIIOR

TITLE

· ! PAPER ~""7· .)~7~ C"~.t-<. ~..?.thL..'-DATE /Y" Y7

ANew Study of Works of Hen~~J~s «THE CROOKED CORRIDOR,

A Study of HmT'JI James," bit EUsabeth Stevenson. [Macmii­Zota, $1.75.] Reviewed by Edward Wagenknecht

Tho Henry James' 1lction world is less a " crooked corridor ..

-the phrase is his own-than a winding one, Miss Stevenson has published under this title a book which is, I think, the best general ex• 1

tended commen­tary upon his work that has yet been made.

BlballeUa • ...,_ W h e n o n e thinks of the weird ideas that have been expressed with regard to certain other writers-and the labor lt has taken to get them cor­rected-one cannot be sufticlently gratefuf that James, upon his re­vival should, with one or two ex­ceptions, have had the good for­tune to attract such sane critics. As a matter of fact, he always did this. He was such a sane writer himself that it never became pos­sible to build a eult around him. This is one reason why he had such hard sledding for so long. Fol! the cult is always the easiest refuge of the writer of limited ap. peal.

• • • But if l4iss Stevenson's book is

comprehensive, my review cannot be; I must therefore content DJ¥· self by giving but one or two ll• lustrations of her fine quality. Some persons have tried to read a sexual signification into James' Civil war time accident. The acci• dent was to his back, but such a little detail never stops a really advanced critic. On this point Miss Stevenson remarks very sen­sibly that "in the stories and novels the tone of his treatment of the sexual relations is normal. .. Moreover the normal sexual rela• tionship " h~ the place of cen­tral and decisive importance in his fiction." " His fiction grows out of the passions. It feeds upon them as a source of vital good,"

• • • People who know nothing about

James generally reproach him for lack of action. Those who have read him with understanding know that he has so much action that he leaves· himself open to the charge of .being a melodra­matist.

Miss Stevenson is never more perspicacious than in her exami­nation of James' melodrama, which manifests itself' in "excessive ln~ terventlon, unusual mystery, CQin­cidental or fortuitous circum­stance, instrumentation of a 11'081 tb1q. arbitral}' violence."

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f~ 3 I f& ~ t~

I I I Elizabeth Stevenson ..

is awarded one of rwo

1955 BANCROFT PRIZES by

Columbia University

Thu dutinguuhed award u for

her magnificent biography

HENRY ADAMS A BIOGRAPHY

"Those interested in history. letters, and art will find Miss Stevenson's study not only full in its presentation of biographical fact, but rewarding in its critical judg· ments and psychological insights." $6.00

-Allan Nevins, American Heritase

Other recent Macmillan authors who have been Biven this award include:

1951

Merlo J. Pusey author of

1954 Leonard D, White

author of

Charles Evans Hughes 2 volumes S7 .95

The Jaeksonians A Study in Administrative

History 1829·1861 ss.oo

On sale at all bookstores

/!Tiw vlfacmillan ~~ 60 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 11, N.Y.

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f: l)y .tUI'IIlan WOGIIC, • .... ....... ...., by Elizabeth Bt.v• · enaon (lilaemtu.n U> , A.lthouch his autoblo&T&phy Sa an . American eluate, Henry Adams us · remained aJmoat a eomplete m:vateey

to the pUblic. Illes Stevenson hu · reetttled this eituatton with her ftne, · acholuly, :vet hll'bly readable 8toi'T

about tbe historian and novelist 1rboae complex, paradoxical character makes lim one ot the saoat latereat­lnc ttcurea 1D America's literary hJa. tory, . . --- ----...

~Henry Adams' Biography Of American Historian

Life Story of Member of Diatinruiahed Family Told By Elizabeth Stdve1110n, With Emphasis On Writinrs, Travels and Aaaociationa

he was first of all an Adams, and, like all Adamses, clever, and, like all Adamses, "he mad& (l_ sort of profession of ec­<~entricity." This is too brief a characterization; it may l!.UQ'I!'I!!;t\

a elue to Adams' lively ropm manner as a young Har­vard professor of history, but hardly to the bewildering course of his thought in his voluminous historical writing.

He had a keen mind, a bril· liant and soariiig imagination, a aenius for atsorbing knowledge and an exceptional gift oi ex- ' pression. He had a host of im· · portant friends; a list of them, would look like a complete ros­ter of the leading American lights in politics, history, litera­ture, science and art of his gen­eration. Many of them are pen­pictured in this book.

Aliams'. youth was spent larg~­ly in Wlli&tAgton, ~ he was secretary to his father, Rep. Charles Francis Adams. Later he accompanied him as secre­tary· -when he became minister to England at the outbreak of the Civil War. After the war Ad­ams was active in Washington as a political reform wri~er. He traveled aftd studied in France and Germany, ,climbed the! Rocky Mountains and toured Ja­pan and other tar larsds. 1

During hJs whole career he J wrote much, frankly and often J eolorfully, to bis brothers and friends. Here is an extract from a, letter he wrote from London I in 1862 when he was 28 to his brother Charles : I

"Our great country the Unaed States is left t.o a career that is positively unlimited . except for the powers of the imagination. And for England there is still greatness and safety if she will draw her colonies around her and turn her hegemony into a confederation of British na­tions... j

"I firmly . believe that before many centuries more science! will be the master of man. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his strength to eontrol. Some day science may I have the existence of mankind I In its power, and the human race commit suicide by blowing up the world. •• 1

lUCHARD S. BR

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Books.of The Times··rl~ By ORVILLE PR~COTT 1

THlS has been a good year in the world of "Not Honour More," by Joyce Cary, a psy­books. More good books were published chological triumph and a gUttering technical than usual and far more books of all tour de force by one of the most brilHant .of

kfndl were sold than -usual. Fiction may still contemporary British novelists. be selling Jess well than nonficUoR, but the "An l!lpts.ode of Sparrows,'' by Rumer God­total volume ot business done by publhlbers den, a Wise, gentle and altogether enchantjng and booksellers was much more than laat y~ar's, story about two children In the London slums. which was excellent, and waa the bestslnce'the · "Apes, Angels and Victorians," lly William peak of the war years. The paper·boWld boOk Irvine, i.n elegant and witty double biography bullness has weathered· its overprOduction of Dai:win and Huxley. C\'lsls and has won an astonishing auccesa with "Sir Walter Scott,'' ~r, ¥es!_teth P~ a half•dozen different series of superior and. an ente~ act-wrtty biographt 'Of-a JJ,t-often scholarly books. er~g'enius who was also a good man.

This wq the year the Nobel Prize went to "Henry Adams," by Elizabeth Stevenson, a relatively unknown Icelandic author, .Baldo~; an admirable biography of one of th~ most Laxness. And it was the year in which three intellectually pl'Civocative of American writers. of the most eminent of modem writers died- "Inside Africa," by John Gunther, superb Thomas Mann, Bernard DeVoto and Robert €~al journalism. fC, Sherwoo(l. Probably the most controversial · ••'tft. ~pans~qn oL .Jiab:IIMthan England," book of the year, at least .among parent:i and by A. L. Rowse, lhe second volume c.! a mod­teachers, was ''Why Johnny Can't ;Rel4," by e~ masterfl.ece of historicar writing.

=:1~~~:~rh'~!hf:':f~~nt~:si:::.~e~~: S«Une Other Good Novels beautifully expressed the frustrations of hordes Among the other good novels of the year ot women. . were: ''The Man in the Gray Flannel Suft,"

Next in popularity' was Norm11-n VinCI!nt by Sloan Wilson; "Cash McCall," by Cameron Peale's ''The Power of Positive Thinking," Hawley; "'Waterfront," by Budd Schulberg;­Which was first published in 191i2 arid h&li :ft()w "Band of Angels," by Robert Penn Warren; · aold more than 2,000.000 copies in bookshops "The Stefmother," by R, C. Hutchinson; "Re· &Dd through book-club distributions. Other tum to tile Wood," by James L. Hodson; "The prosperous best sellers were: "How to Live 361i Siege," b1 Jay Williams, and "My Life for 'My Days a Year," by Dr. John A. Schindler; Sheep," ~.Alfred Duggan. ''Inside Africa," by John Gunther; "Year of This-ytar there were many more good biog­Deoisions," by Harry S. Truman, and ''Secret raphles than last year. Some of them were: of Happiness," by Billy Graham. "Jeffe~n: Davis,'' by Hudson Strode; "Young

Favorites in Fiction Sam Jahnson," by James L. Clifford; "The D!!sert and the Stars," a biography of T. E. LawreiJCe, by Flora Armitage; and "Alexandre Duma~(," by Andre Maurois, and "Julius Caesa:t," by Alfred Duggan, two of the best in. an excellent new series called Great Lives

In fiction the Wldisputel. populi.r favorite was ''Marjorie Momlnp(ar," by Merman Wouk. Also enormously successful were "Auntie Marne," by Patrick Dennis; "Bonjour Tristesse," by Fran~;oise Sagan; "Anderson­vUle,'' by MacKinlay Kantor; "The Tontine," ~y Tbom&s B. Costain, and "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," by Sloan Wilson.

How-to-do-it books continued to multiply . like rabbits in Australia. Books about the Civil War were more numerous than ever (at least twenty-two biographies and histories and nine novels), a.nd so were books about AfricA. (at least thirty ceneral work11 and ten novels).

Of all the books I read in 1955 the two 1 disliked most were "Something, ot l~e_;J~y R~ ftuam,""P'tt Hl1ll • D•r. " -"fnan Mailer. ·

Of the books I read (so few of those pub~ · ll1hed) the ten I remember with most personal ,pleasure and admiration are: ·

tiT ~ oL .Mall..:' ~~l;t'' II 'l"'ilih1 majestic and beautifully written novel abOut an Inarticulate couple on the· Australian tron-' tier.

"The Cornerstone," by Zoe Oldenbourg, a vast and stately historical novel about medie­val F:rance.

"Sincerely, Willis Wayde," by John P,. Mar­quand, an expert novel about bic business in the old master's usual sardonic vein,· not one of Mr. Marquand's best but still VMY rood; indeed.

In Br1ef. _ . .M~e good histories were published this

year than I can mention here. Four of the best were: "The King's Peace 1637-1641," by c, V. Wedgewood; "Cortez and Montezuma" by ~i.urice Collis; ''A Little Rebellion," by Mar1on L. Starkey, and "The Day Lincoln Was Shot,'' by Jim Bishop.

Books on war, p~ace, politics, racial con· filets and "the cold wa.r'' were as numerous as ever. Outstanding were: "France Aga.inst Herself," by Herbert Luetky; "The African Giant," by Stuart Cioete: "The P·ubllc Phi·

ophy," by Walter Lippmann, and "A Demo· era: Looks at His Party," by Dean Acheson.

d, as always, there were many fine books at I did not read or which I read and rell!lc­

tantly omit from thia column because of lack of space. But I can't conclude this brief salute to the books of 1955 without mentioning three exc~lent and engagingly written volumes of llterary criticism: "The Republic of Letteu;," by Louis Kronenberger; "How Not to Write &

Play," by Walter Kerr, and "The English Novel," by Walter Allen. ~ry book mentioned here would make a

fhie Christmas preaent, and so would hundreds of others I have had to omit. .

. ·v and Rare Book LibrarY -Emory Manuscnpt, Arc~ es, This JJ]Iterial may be protected University Archives- ,.._..~_)

by copyrigbt law (fitlc 17 U.S. \.A1U'>

lame: J}!ee f.S e I -•ate: ~ 1 ~ -C.-0 '~ .. ~ 12!\- ~ "ollection number: • M ~ . ( :S ,, "' S J'older: '\ fU--111 1,.../ ·

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' .

Was. Power · That F~scinated HENRY ADAMS. A t::t"J.· 1y

Eliubdh se....-.. I • 425 pp. New Yorl: Tire MeCIIIillen C-· peny. $6.

ly HENRY STHI.E COMMAGER 1 ONG before he came to wor­L llblp the VirBin u a II)'Jilbol of power, Beary Adams made a cult of admiratloa. for woman. He often admired the wlv• of bl8 triende more · tban the frleoct. tbemllelvea. It wu a woman. wbo dominated bl8 po­Utlcal DOvel, "Democracy," and the lleCODd novel, "Esther"­any page of tt wu .. worth more tban a volume of biB "Biatory," be aald-celltered entirely on a woman who waa palpably bl8 wife. Tbere Ia a certain propri­ety, thea. In the tact that be • found biB ftrllt btocr&Pher, ~ Ida moat IIJIIlpathetlc. in a woman. ,

The problem- the Uterary problem-of _Henry Adaaut Ia a twofold one. l:n the ftnt place. he wrote 110 much about ldiDaelf, and w.rote 110 well. that the bl­fographer de8palnl of the com­

Jpeltltloa ... Who, after au. can mat.eb the brUuance of the "Dl· ucatlclll of lleDl')' Ad&Dul" or the wlt and charm of tbe volumbt­ou letten' l:n the .ecoDd place Adams quite deUberately wrapped hlDulelt In layen of ot.curtty. It waa cllar'act8rUt1c that he publfahed both of hla novela aDODymoul.y, that he printed both the ~'Jioa~Batat· lllcbel and Claartr." aud '"Tile Blducatlon of Beary Adame" privately. Adami! often thouaht that hlatory wu a COIIIDlc joke, aud as he wanted to aiaare tn tbe work of the CGmlOII be 80IDeo

times helped alolig the joke. n .. easy to be awed Into a

reverential attitude or repelled Into an exasperated one by all tbia; 11188 8teveuoD has DOt yielded to eitller temptatioa. l:n· deed. ahe benelt rewal8 a pod

Prof..-w of BWOf'JI Cit Oo­,._,.1 .,.. eo.....,. ... GMtAor o/"2'._ 41. ........ •w-• fiiiiOIIg ..... took

deal of impatleace with overly much~. or with too Jle&loua a IMI&I'Ch tor minutiae. Thwl Adanul te11a ua that had he beea born In the 8)'11&80CU8 and clrcumclllecl by hla UDcle the lficb Priest be could not have been mon marked thaD he waa by belDg born an Adams In Qutacy, aud be aeema to want us to agree that it ta aot only a career but a tate to be a Adams what a traumatic ex· pertence the ~Y had. after all. But lllu BteveDIIOD takes him brlakly throulh hla cblldboocl, remark1na' that all ill all tt waa a very plearaat one, aviDg her ~ and her apace, for the more mature yean.

SBB give8 more emphula than 18. customary to Adams' normal and enerptlc attempt8 to play an important role In Alnerlcan poUtlca. Adams waa ·a~waya

fuclna~ by power, aad In hla youth did not tb1nk It merely rometh1ng to d.crlbe but SCJQle­

thlng to exerelae. She tellll the story "'of tbe courtrhlp and mar­riage aDd. the yean ill w......­ton quite .tralgbtforwardly; What she does not unclentalld­Krr. Adama' suicide. tor exam- · ple-llbe dot8 not tl'y to ezplaln but lllmply tell8. She knows that A.dala. wu important DOt only for htm8elt but for the In· terata he. reprellalted, aud rbe baa pv• ua a ·ptetu~e-Dot a full-leagth ODe to be sure. but 1Derely tni~ the .rted Adams clrcle.

11188 ~vearon ........_ that tuclnatbqr .. Adame wu, hla ultimate alp1ftcance u. not 110 much ill what he war aa ill wllat he wrote. She .therefore ~ the meJor part of her book to ...... JIIIDI what he wrote. '1'llelle aaalyrer do aot pretend to be ~ they are clear, renadble aDd retlective, and they embrace a larp body ot wrl~

-· Not only hu 11188 Stev-­ron COIIllllenta oa obvtou tlablp Ulre '"'l'ltem.terJ'• .... tile t.wla ''v.t-llabat-lllcMl" .... ..,.. llducatloa"; ...... toalul ....

for a tboalbttul cU...._ ol ".John Ruadolpb," for an aaab'­u of the neglected poem. "Buddha and Braluaa." ... the '"Prayer to the VlrliD ot auu-­trea" and tor 110111e of the more fragmentary contnboatto. to periodical& ApiD and ...... .... Uhun1natea the aatun of Ad&IU' Wl'ltbl&'. Tbe ''R&D­dolph,'' for exaaaple, takes GD a dark br1JUance, tor '"RuuJ.olpb f~ bt passion. a.ry .A.dala8 aiiiO . I*SMred pride, bn,.. tteace with cluiJaea, deldre to IMlt--but wldcb. uaJike Baa­dolph. he kept under contr'OL 'l'be terariCIIl In tbe book Ia a couequence ot the farelnrtiDD whlcb Adams felt. abDollt u If pviDg ill to Yl.ce--at tile ,.,.. peet of Jre&t &Uta unued."

11188 . 8tevearaa eYeD ralla bodily Into the nine 'VOIUIIM "RIItory," notbbtC' daunted b,v ltr rbre. lta cnmpla:lty. or ltr overtoue. She deala with lt Gil erch leftl--a aanattw. .. dra­ma, and .. ~. and doer DOt fall to note that it quaUtiM. too. .. autoblaprplly. She has caqbt wllat Adams Ia drlviDC at-lt Ia not wboDy clru, .... prQbably .... not to AdaiDa hbuelt-tbe,.... 8tUdy of power. the study ot the uae t1tat de­mocracy makea of ...-,y, the 11tuc1y ot «UmDusloameat wlddl had ., many IJDplieatloD8 tor the ~ family ltaelt.

JBJD laat two~ wodalue once a cballeap and a .U..

tractloD to the ltlopapbe' .... one Ia part of an autoiiiD8nPh­lcal wllole, but oaly ~ ly; tt Ia euy to .. the .,...._. iriD ill the .tully 4 Cllutrela

aad .A.belal'd. but dlftlault -to . take the "lldncrtloa,. tW what Ia ,...... to be-a Ntell­lne of. life. ... ......._ Ia happier with tile ......, llooll; - hall not had ..... ,... that careful dl..tloa ot tile ......_ e.tta.i1 tbat .. called fall-..e.Dd that ... aot yet ............... .., .. ....... Wllat Ia ....

poJ'tUt Ia that ........... -· a ana ....... - the -tiiiJ eiMtA»U..IIGob--tlle~ .-lt..._.~l4...­oMDIIt411 Ia .............. ..... ... tbe cllltnlctiDI' ...... plldty wldela olltaiM Ia ....... uaa... ~ Ia tile ..... of Hairy AdaiDa. w11o wu a ~ IIPOOI" -. w111cb to wind tile .... of JaWe17. ADd .... ~too. .......... of Adula' tuclaatloD wiUa Jill'• er.

'?ower leaped troaa ...., &tam. and ....... ot It to ..... ply tile ...... -"- ...... itllelt ~to .... at~ PGN oi matter. Kua could aot lollpr llold lt oiL.. ... ,.... ~ of fane, aot ol....., 01' NaMD Uld IIOt leut of them a.ry Aduu ......... It wu for W. NUOD t11at • tumecl. in Jda old ... to the­symbol of force that .......t to have heart, aot Jut ...-.;,­the VlrlbL "Her pity." ....... ''bad DO IIIDit." It Ia l'fllat that lOss Stewuon hu bnqlat ............ ,. to thla .tully ot • lll&ll wbo ... both DOble and tnctc.