THE " Progress of the World," in the REVIEW OF REVIEWS for January, 1897, gives an admirable résumé of the great world-events of 1896. Among the articles in this number are " How Not to Better Social Conditions," by Theodore Roosevelt, - Some Reputations in the Crucible of 1896, "by Wm. T. Stead, and " Voice-photography," by Laura Carroll Dennis. ONE of the first articles in the January number of THE CENTURY likely to attract the attention of the reader is a new story by Chester Bailey Fernald, author of "The Cat and the Cherub." The title is « The Lights of Sitka," and it exhibits this already versatile story-teller in an entirely new vein. The number also contains a novelette of a wholly different sort by Hamlin Garland, entitled "A Girl of Modern Tyre," and depicting life in a Western town. Gen. Horace Porter, in his •• Campaigning with Grant," continues his series of anecdotes, incidents, and de scriptions of the movement upon Richmond in 1864. A paper, richly illustrated by Mr. Castaigne, on " Pub lic Spirit in Modern Athens "is contributed by Mr. D. Bikélas, the leading literary man of Greece.
OUR brilliant and compact contemporary, LIFE, has recently grown larger, and now contains several pages more reading matter than formerly. LIFE we have always regarded as being the most artistic and readable of the illustrated weeklies, but lately it has surpassed itself, and it is difficult to see now how any further improvement could be made. In the great mass of indifferent current literature it is a pleasant relief to pick up a copy of LIFE, with its genuine refinement, its charming pictures, and its clever text matter. WHAT SHALL WE
READ?
This column is devoted to brief notices of recent pub lications. We hope to make it a ready-reference column for those of our readers who desire to in form themselves as to the latest and best new books. (Legal publications are noticed elsewhere.) THE most powerful novel which has appeared for manya long day is Quo Vadis? by the famous Polish writer Sienkiewicz. The author's portrayal of life and customs in Rome at the time of Nero is marvelously impressive, and the dramatic scenes with which the book abounds are described with a vividness and intensity which are almost unequaled in modern ' Quo VADIS. A narrative of Rome in the time of Xero. By Henry K. Sienkiewicz. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Cloth. £2.00.
literature. In every respect it is a most remarkable book, and one which will make a deep and lasting impression upon the reader. Mr. Curtis has done his part as translator most admirably. Equally interesting, but in a different way, are the Memoirs of Mgr. de Salai/ion? who was an eyewit ness of some of the most remarkable events in the French Revolution, and who was brought into close contact with the social life of the times. The Mem oirs remained unpublished for nearly a century, but were fortunately discovered by Abbé Bridier, who edited the manuscript in 1891. The Memoirs abound in anecdotes. " Without any premedita tion," says a writer in " Les Etudes," " in quite an off-hand way, just as if he were merely chatting or telling a piquant anecdote, M. de Salamon causes a numerous gallery of scamps, rascals, tremblers, das tards, ingrates, and assassins to defile before us; then, with sudden changes of the scenes, a number of admirable figures, — Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, and so many intrepid and faithful men and women of the people." The extent and character of juvenile crime are dealt with in an interesting manner by Mr. Morrison in Our Juvenile Offenders? How largely the physi cal and mental characteristics, and the social, paren tal and economic conditions are instrumental inform ing our young criminals, the author shows by a start ling array of facts, and he makes many valuable sug gestions as to the best methods for reclaiming them. The work comes from one who knows whereof he speaks. There is a peculiar fascination to both old and young in so-called " detective " stories, and no writer succeeds better in mystifying the reader to the very end than Anna Katherine Green. Her latest book, That Affair Next Door,* is absorbingly interesting. The plot, — no, we will not spoil the reader's en joyment by divulging it. Suffice it to say that it is a tangled skein and very .skillfully unraveled. No writer better appreciates the humor and pathos of the Irish people than Miss Barlow and her pic tures of Irish life are remarkable for their truthful ness. Her latest work, Strangers at Lisconiu'l," is the best that has come from her pen, and establishes her right to be considered one of the most able writers of fiction of our day. 2 MGR. DE SALAMON. Unpublished Memoirs of the Internuncio at Paris during the Revolution, 1790-1801. With Preface, Introduction and Notes by the Abbé lîridier, of the clergy of Paris. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Cloth.?2.oo. ч OUR JUVENILE OFFENDERS. By W. Douglas Morrison. D. Appleton & Co., New York. Cloth. {1.50. « THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR. By Anna Katherine Green. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Cloth, Si.oo. Paper, 50 cts. 6 STRANGERS AT LISCONNEL. By Jane Barlow. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.
