The Case of Mr. Cassidy, A Murder Mystery about a Chicago book collector, [by] William Targ and Lewis Herman. New York: Phoenix Press, Publishers, [1939.] 255p.

Murder and book collecting mix, though not always well, with fat and unkempt detective Hugh Morris as catalyst. Unusual methods of investigation remove the novel from the realm of true plausibility, but details of scenes in and about Chicago make it a prime target for local color enthusiasts.

N. Y. Times Book Review, 11/26/1939, p. 18. Saturday Review, 9/23/1939, p. 20.

One Woman, by Tiffany Thayer. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1933. 435p.

The murder of a prostitute in a West Madison Street hotel receives only cursory attention by the Chicago police department, but reporter Abe Adams discovers a small red address book among the woman's possessions, and with its assistance is able to piece together the circumstances of her life and death.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 934.

Murder in the Fog, by Paul Thorne. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, [1929.] 307p.

A Great Lakes freighter, abandoned and adrift in Chicago's harbor, is discovered to contain one mutilated and very dead body. As blundering Chicago police detectives, Conroy and McCarthy, investigate, they inadvertently find more than they expect, including opium running and international intrigue.

Spiderweb Clues, by Paul Thorne. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1928. 304p.

The abduction of Edith Lowell, daughter of a wealthy financier who has become involved in a shady deal on the Chicago Stock Exchange, puzzles family and police. The most likely suspect is John Craig, an Englishman in the United States on a secret mission, but the reader knows that he is much too personable to be the villain.

N. Y. Times Book Review, 7/1/1928, p. 16.

The Secret Toll, by Paul and Mabel Thorne. Authors of "The Sheridan Road Mystery." New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1922. 268p.

An extortion letter demanding $10,000 and threatening death for failure to comply, so enrages Robert Forrester that he vows to resist the demand in spite of a growing list of wealthy Chicagoans who have reacted in a like manner and died for their efforts. Not to be intimidated by past performance or present threat, Forrester turns amateur sleuth, and aided by an understanding and tolerably efficient professional detective, lays a plan to catch a murderer.

Book Review Digest, 1922, p. 530.

The Sheridan Road Mystery, by Paul and Mabel Thorne. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1921. 291p.

A murder without the presence of a corpse to lend credibility to the claims of neighbors and a policeman who heard the shot and scuffle, requires the expertise of Detective Sergeant Dave Morgan, darling of the Chicago police force, to piece together and solve the case.

N. Y. Times Book Review, 1/1/1922, p. 29.

Jake, by Eunice Tietjens. New York: Boni and Liveright, Publishers, [1921.] 221p.

See No. 733.

In the Dark, [by] Elias Tobenkin. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1931. 311p.

Good family background, plenty of love, moral and ethical guidance, and a typically happy adolescence give Wally Brook the potential for a happy, productive life as an upstanding member of society. But the death of his mother and his move to Chicago in search of a better life, subject the youth to situations and surroundings for which he is ill prepared. A job driving a delivery truck supplies Wally the necessary security for contentment until he discovers that he is delivering bootleg liquor for one of the local suppliers. This causes him to do some serious soul-searching, but an unexpected raise in pay serves as a ready salve for an injured conscience, and Wally continues working, now knowingly, on the fringes of the underworld. After this small beginning Wally is hooked, and as time progresses, he becomes more and more involved. But Wally is never able to abandon fully his sound upbringing, and in a desperate attempt to extricate himself from a situation which he cannot justify morally, he kills a man. In the Dark is not as carefully constructed as Tobenkin's other works. Yet the author has told a touching story accurately depicting the psyche of a lonely young man surrounded by strange people, sights, and ideas; and in the process he has convincingly recreated one aspect of the Chicago community during the Prohibition era.

Book Review Digest, 1931, p. 1056.

O Canaan! A Novel [by] Waters E. Turpin. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1939. 311p.

During World War I, poor crops and a lack of job opportunities in the south, coupled with stories of freedom and prosperity in the north cause thousands of Negroes to migrate to Chicago in search of Canaan--the promised land. In 1916 Joe Benson, tired of being a Mississippi field hand, makes the trek north to settle on Chicago's south side. During the first years, Joe sees thousands of his race fail to adjust to the city. Others fall victim to police harassment, other Negroes, liquor, pimps, con-men, or any one of hundreds of adverse influences. Still others struggle, as they always have, never prospering, but never abandoning hope. Only a few succeed. Joe Benson, with a few dollars brought from Mississippi, opens a store, moves into real estate, makes a fortune in liquor during Prohibition, and helps finance a bank before the crash of 1929 wipes out his wealth. Unable to begin again, Joe settles for a job as a Pullman porter and watches his youngest daughter, Essie, scratch her way to the top as he had before her. In O Canaan! Turpin employs a style in which much of the action is discussed and analyzed by his characters after the fact, causing the feeling of immediacy to be lost and the story to drag. But he approaches his story with complete candor, carefully avoiding any indulgence in self-pity, thus creating a strong and compelling novel which, despite its faults, is an important milestone in Negro literature because it is one of the pioneering efforts in Negro writing.

Book Review Digest, 1939, p. 977.

Sideshows of a Big City; Tales of Yesterday and Today, by Jack Tuthill... [Chicago: Kenfield Leach Company, 1932.] 275p.

Containing stories of the travelers, hustlers, immigrants, blacks, teen-agers, young married couples, and elderly who inhabit Chicago, Sideshows of a Big City represents various aspects of city life, inclining heavily toward the seamy. Twenty-four short stories make up the collection.

CONTENTS: A Clear Havana Cigar.--Verboten.--A Touch of the Orient.--The Ghetto.--Phantasia.--Competition from Memphis.--Finale.--"Biffs".--The Shelf.--Big Blue Eyes.--Sealed Lips.--Circus Day.--An Opium Den.--Winford vs. Winford.--"Personality".--Conscience.--A Barrel House.--The Newsboys' Home.--The Unbeaten Path.--A Yellow Manila Necktie.--An Incident in Chinatown.--Rotten Row.--The River.--The Badger Game.

The Ninth Wave, by Carl Van Doren. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1926.] 226p.

Designing his book around the old superstition that the ocean's waves move in series of nine, with the ninth wave being the peak, Van Doren metaphorically links nine significant episodes in the life of Kent Morrow that together build to the climax of his life. The episodes are ordinary enough--the cementing of a friendship, the first stirrings of desire, the awareness of professional boredom, the realization of a depth of feeling in his wife that he had never seen before, the first awareness of the mystery of birth and parenthood--together depicting nothing more than the life of an average man. The tenth episode, in which he has achieved the fame and success for which he has worked, brings Morrow to the realization that life is more pleasurable in anticipation than in retrospect. Set in Illinois during the first quarter of the twentieth century, the novel is vague concerning specifics of locale and setting, but conveys a strong impression of Illinois life despite ambiguities.

Book Review Digest, 1926, p. 708.

The Last Doorbell, [by] John K. Vedder. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1941.] 294p.

A murder in the offices of Business Journals, Inc., a fly-by-night Chicago publishing firm, is solved by newly hired editor Frank Sargent, who knows no more about detecting than he does about editing.

Book Review Digest, 1941, p. 916.

Even in Laughter, by Constance Cassady, [pseud.] and Ruth Cardwell. Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1935.] 359p.

Even in Laughter contrasts the effects of the Depression on some Chicagoans, representatives of various social levels, who are in one way or another associated with each other. Major emphasis is on a married social worker and a wealthy business man, each of whom is having an extramarital affair, then there are subplots that vie for the reader's attention in this busy story of romance, hard times, and the fringes of Chicago's criminal world.

Book Review Digest, 1935, p. 168.

Dalesacres, by Florence Ward. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., [1939.] 308p.

The history of the Dale family and with it the family homestead, Dalesacres, is revealed through Birgit Criswell, great-granddaughter of Silas Dale, the founder of the dynasty. After a year in Paris, Birgit returns to Dalesacres secretly loving and hoping to marry Chris Dale, a distant relative and childhood sweetheart, only to find that he has married someone else in her absence. In addition to her own disappointment, Birgit's return causes discontent among others of the family and eventually brings to light a family feud and more than a little scandal. Set some fifty miles west of Chicago, Dalesacres is a revealing chronicle of Midwestern family life from the 1930s, which delves into history covering the previous hundred years.

Book Review Digest, 1939, p. 1005.

The Flame of Happiness, by Florence Ward. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company, Publishers, [1924.] 357p.

Reared by a maiden aunt and the ladies of an all-girl boarding school, Barbara Fallows is ill-prepared when cast headlong into the rigors of college life. As may be expected, she succumbs to the charms of big-man-on-campus, Ruddy Gannet, who takes full advantage of her naiveté. Even after she realizes his purpose and determines to free herself of him, it is Ruddy's influence that drives her to marry Geoffrey Hale and settle down to a loveless marriage in which she eventually discovers the potential for a truly happy life. The Flame of Happiness is set in the Chicago and northern Illinois area during the 1920s, although time and place have little influence on the plot or theme of the novel.

Book Review Digest, 1925, p. 730-1.

Phyllis Anne, by Florence Ward. Author of "The Singing Heart." New York: The James A. McCann Company, Publishers, [1921.] 245p.

Phyllis Anne, vivacious teen-age daughter of stage star Richard Sherrill, possesses a natural talent for acting--a talent that she uses for her own amusement and advantage. To escape from the convent where she is a student, Phyllis Anne impersonates her older sister and travels to Chicago, where she lives for several days with family friends before the ruse is discovered. Later, she again leaves the convent and assumes a part in her father's play; an act that launches her career in the theater. On one of these escapades Phyllis Anne meets Randy Fosdick of Chicago, and the two fall in love. But circumstances, mostly contrived by the author to prolong the novel, prevent them from marrying for well over one hundred pages after each has admitted a passion for the other. The novel is light, easily predictable entertainment. The scene is Chicago around 1920.

N. Y. Times Book Review, 1/1/1922, p. 29.

Second Eden, by Florence Ward. Philadelphia: Macrae-Smith Company, Publishers, 1928. 314p.

Diana and Robert Wayne, with Kent Amlie, have owned the Anchorage Journal for ten years, devoting all of their energy and capital to making it a success. But when success at last appears imminent, the happy threesome is broken up by Robert's deception and infidelity. Through the dissolution of business and marriage, Kent sticks steadfastly to Diana, offering loyalty, support, and guidance that eventually blossom into love. Although located near Chicago, the setting of Second Eden is a small town, and the concerns of the novel--politics, ethics, morals, and journalism--reflect small-town attitudes.

Book Review Digest, 1928, p. 802.

The Singing Heart, by Florence Ward. Author of "Phyllis Anne." New York: The James A. McCann Company, 1919. 308p.

A simple story of family life and love, The Singing Heart focuses on Janey Macallister, whose frequently uttered phrase, "When I marry ..." sums up her every ambition in life. However, Janey has the misfortune to be a part of the talented Macallister family--artists, writers, and musicians--who totally overshadow her until one man recognizes her fine qualities and proceeds to draw her out. The setting is a suburb of Chicago prior to 1920.

Wild Wine, [by] Florence Ward. Philadelphia: Macrae-Smith Company, 1932. 318p.

Teen-agers Shard McLean and Sabra Nason fall in love, but are kept from marriage by youth, social status, and his precarious financial state. Ten years later, they meet again without the same barriers, but each is about to be married to another. To allay forever her love for Shard, Sabra renews the acquaintance--with predictable results. Set in Chicago during the 1930s, a background encompassing the construction boom of the 1920s, the maneuverings of the moguls of big business and finance, and the influence of the Depression on the city lends realism to a somewhat romanticized interpretation of life.

Women May Learn, [by] Florence Ward. Philadelphia: Macrae-Smith Company, 1933. 312p.

A light romance of the 1930s, Women May Learn concerns Jill Talcott, a sweet ingenue from the wrong side of town, and the three men who fall in love with her: Mal, young, wealthy and selfish; Stephen, successful mature and divorced; and Rufus, the adventurous bachelor. This saccharine little story is set in Fairfield, a fictional suburb of Chicago.

N. Y. Times Book Review, 2/11/1934, p. 13.

The Wax Apple, by Mary Jane Ward. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1938. 312p.

Having lived in the same duplex for twenty years, the Scherer and Lundmark families know each other very well. Dozie, Art, and Kath Scherer and Aggie and Cliff Lundmark played together as children, and now, as young adults, they find there are still ties between them that cannot be disregarded. This convincing portrayal of two lower-middle class families and several ill-fated romances takes place in Chicago during the 1930s.

Book Review Digest, 1938, p. 1008.

Yesterday's Children, [by] LaMar Warrick. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1943. 202p.

Yesterday's children are the high school boys of the late 1930s and early 1940s, who are thrown, ill-prepared, into a grim war that is not of their making. Randy Weaver is such a boy. He grows up with loving, permissive, and overprotective parents, doing all the things that teen-agers are supposed to do. The Weavers work hard at rearing their only son, pushing him in school so that he can get into a good eastern college, sending him to a military summer camp when they see the need for discipline and maturity, and watching silently as he errs then struggles to correct his mistakes. Randy Weaver is an average teen-ager who might have gone through four years of college, married, and become a very average adult, except for the bombing of Pearl Harbor six months before his high school graduation. Randy finishes high school and starts college, but enlists on his eighteenth birthday. The novel ends there but not before giving an in-depth picture of the makeup of the young soldier and the home for which he is fighting. Yesterday's Children is set in a Chicago suburb that the author calls Elmwood, but Elmwood seems to be a thinly disguised Evanston.

Book Review Digest, 1943, p. 846-7.

Such Waltzing Was Not Easy, Stories by Gordon Weaver. Urbana, Chicago, [and] London: University of Illinois Press, [1975.] 132p.

Memories are the bases for these ten short stories collected from literary magazines published over a twelve-year period. A fight with one of the Polish boys in the neighborhood, a shopping trip with an estranged parent, a hunting trip with Father, a visit to Mother's grave--these are the memories, altered by time, that the author describes. One story tells of a youth, accustomed to viewing life at a distance, who is forced at one point to get involved. Weaver faithfully maintains this distance in all his stories, telling each with the precision of a practiced writer and the neutrality of an interested bystander. All are stories of Illinois or Illinois people, although three, "Granger Hunting," "I Go Back," and "Cemetery in Winter," are actually set in Wisconsin.

CONTENTS: The Day I Lost My Distance.--Low Blue Man.--Granger Hunting.--The Two Sides of Things.--I Go Back.--Wave the Old Wave.--Gold Moments and Victory Beer.--Cemetery in Winter.--When Times Sit In.--Kiss in the Hand.

Book Review Digest, 1976, p. 1267.

The Beginners, A Novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1927.] 308p.

Firmly ensconced in middle-age, and thoroughly disgusted for having gotten there with no visible return for his efforts and no opportunity for advancement, Edward Patterson searches desperately for a chance to alter the humdrum course his life has taken. An impulsive trip to California, a mild flirtation with a neighborhood widow, and a prolonged quarrel with his wife only make matters worse. When he sinks the family savings into a questionable business operation then quits his job to help salvage the venture, he seems destined for further disappointment. But the struggle, the adventure, and the uncertainty give him a new lease on life and bring love and understanding back to his waning marriage. Set in the Lakeside district of Chicago during the early 1920s, the novel gives some insight into manufacturing and business operations of the period but the timbre of the entire novel is gloomy, for the reader senses from the beginning that the enterprise is destined for failure.

Book Review Digest, 1927, p. 792.

The Corbin Necklace, by Henry Kitchell Webster. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1926.] 303p.

The most exciting news surrounding Judy's wedding is the announcement that Grandmother Corbin is going to give the bride her pearl necklace, a family heirloom worth many thousands of dollars, as a wedding present. But before the gift can be presented, it disappears from Gran's safe; and amid the frantic speculations that follow, some curious behavior is observed among Judy, her fiancé, and his cousin. Judy's thirteen-year-old brother, Punch, and Mr. Ethelbert, an elderly relative who comes for the wedding, are particularly helpful in finding the pearls and solving the mystery. A neighbor on crutches narrates the story. This catchy little mystery is set in a rich farming area somewhere in Illinois

Book Review Digest, 1926, p. 733.

The Innocents, A Novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1924.] 345p.

The innocents of this tale are a father and son, Edward and Ed Patterson, who live together, share common experiences, and suffer similar disappointments, yet persist in mutual misunderstandings throughout most of the novel. Young Ed is absorbed in his study of radio and electronics to the obvious detriment of his school work. His father, an accountant for an insurance company, is aware of his own failure in providing adequately for his family, and is particularly severe with the lad for the boy's failure in school. Parallel love affairs lead the pair to a closer relationship than they have ever experienced, although it is through the efforts of the son rather than the father that the understanding grows. Young Ed's fascination with electronics provides an excellent view of early radio communication. Set in Lakeside, a Chicago suburb, around 1923, the action in The Innocents precedes by only a few weeks Webster's later novel The Beginners.

Book Review Digest, 1924, p. 615.

Joseph Greer and His Daughter, A Novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1922.] 489p.

A perceptive character study rather than a novel of intense plot and action, Joseph Greer and His Daughter focuses on a businessman who comes on the scene a generation too late. Joseph Greer, explorer and inventor, devises a fast and economical method of making linen from American-grown flax, but lacks the finances to begin production on a large scale. Seeking aid from the moguls of the Chicago business world, he finds them all too ready to assist him, but discovers too late that it is often the financier rather than the inventor who reaps the benefits of a new discovery. Big, boisterous, loud, often crude, Joseph Greer would seem far more at home with Chicago's new rich of the 1880s than with their elegant sons of the next generation. Yet one can admire his strength of will if not his character. His daughter Beatrice, a personality in many ways similar to her father, has strength and character sufficient to stand alone if she were not constantly overshadowed by the force of her stronger parent. Yet Beatrice's influence is a powerful force in the shaping of her father's destiny. Set in Chicago in the early 1900s, Joseph Greer and His Daughter is a novel of business and finance par excellence, for every phase of the business world from humdrum manufacturing to the intrigues of finance and stock manipulation are presented with interest, clarity, and just enough romance to hold the reader enthralled.

Book Review Digest, 1922, p. 562.

Who Is the Next? By Henry Kitchell Webster. Indianapolis: TheBobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1931.] 310p.

An old man's money is the apparent motive for murder in this suburban Chicago mystery, but far less apparent is the identity of the murderer who could be any one of several relatives, employees, or friends of the family. It is Pete Murray, trusted lawyer and guardian to the old man's granddaughter, who finally offers a solution to the crime; but not until after two more deaths have occurred, some family scandal has been unearthed, and the members of the household have been terrorized.

Book Review Digest, 1931, p. 1111.

The Line Between, by Arthur D. Welton. New York: Sears Publishing Company, Inc., [1933.] 317p.

A story of a mystic, her daughter who is a business-woman, and her neighbor who owns a gaming house and has a dual personality, this novel is concerned with illegal gambling and the practice of the occult on Chicago's Division Street.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 999.

Mr. Weld Retires, by Arthur D. Welton. New York: Sears Publishing Company, Inc., [1933.] 293p.

John Weld, a spry sixty-three years old, feels the pangs of forced retirement when John, Jr. pushes him into the Chairmanship of the Board--a position with ample prestige and an abundance of leisure--of his own John Weld and Company. Unaccustomed to idleness, Weld attempts to occupy his time first at the office, then at home, but feels unnecessary at each, so begins to loiter around a park where old and young, rich and poor seem to congregate, disregarding age, wealth, or social position. It is here that Weld decides to occupy his time during his retirement years, spending wisely the money he earned during his youth. The possibilities are endless: a former printer turned philosopher; a Salvation Army Captain turned racehorse handicapper; a soap-box orator who invisions himself a socialist; derelicts; thieves; hobos; and the most deserving of all, a fourteen-year-old talent named Mazie. Although he approaches his subject in the true spirit of the romantic, the author successfully portrays the diversity of people frequenting a city's neighborhood park--a park which can only be Chicago's Washington Square.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 999.

The Twenty-Seventh Ride, by Arthur D. Welton. New York: Sears Publishing Company, Inc., [1932.] 307p.

When John Mason, president of the Bank of Lawrence, fails to appear for work, the other bank executives decide to investigate his disappearance on their own. Only after a bank detective and a cab driver are found murdered and Mason's home is ransacked, do the bank executives realize the seriousness of the situation. The Twenty-Seventh Ride is a suspenseful, but rather commonplace novel of finance and the Chicago syndicate during the Prohibition era.

Book Review Digest, 1932, p. 1002.

The Red Carnelian (Original Title: Red Is for Murder), [by] Phyllis A. Whitney. New York: Paperback Library, [1943.] 176p.

The Red Carnelian was originally published in a hardcover edition entitled Red Is for Murder.

Red Is for Murder, by Phyllis A. Whitney. Chicago [and] New York: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, [1943.] 221p. (A Fingerprint Mystery)

Cunningham's, one of Chicago's leading department stores, is the scene for the murder of two store employees. As tension builds among the remaining employees and Chicago police do little to help the situation or find the murderer, it is Sylvester Hering, the store detective, who points the way to the solution.

Book Review Digest, 1943, p. 865.

The C. V. C. Murders, by Kirby Williams. The murderer struck three times and on each dead forehead he had scratched the initials C. V. C. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club, Inc., by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1929. 323p.

The Citizens Vigilance Committee, a secret organization of Chicago civic leaders who band together to fight organized crime, discover that one of their group has started a crime wave of his own, with his fellow committee members as targets.

Book Review Digest, 1929, p. 1032.

The Opera Murders, by Kirby Williams. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. 259p.

Three opera stars are murdered in circumstances similar to tragic roles they have played on stage. Dr. Thackeray Place, criminologist of international renown, investigates. The setting is Chicago.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 1021.

The Merrymakers in Chicago and Their Adventures in That Great City, by Herschel Williams. Author of "The Merrymakers in New York." Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. Boston: The Page Company, MDCCCCXX. 321p.

While Ned, who is a reporter for a New York newspaper, covers the Republican National Convention in Chicago, the younger Merrymakers, Carl, Marje, Jean, and Rex, are invited to stay with widowed Aunt Esther, whom the orphaned children scarcely know. Of course, such jolly and helpful children bring new joy into the lonely lady's life. During their ten-day visit the children learn about Chicago and help Aunt Esther by cooking and cleaning and by checking out a suspected thief. Fifteen-year-old Carl even helps Aunt Esther's church solve a financial problem through an unusual moneymaking scheme. Being normal children, they aren't always angels. On rare occasions one of them pouts or cries, or even makes an unreasonable demand, but these bad moments pass quickly and peace and happiness are restored in this too, too perfect little family. In the 1920s the Merrymakers apparently enjoyed some popularity among young readers.

The Kenworthys, by Margaret Wilson. Author of "The Able McLaughlins.'' Pulitzer Prize award, 1924; Winner Harpers' Prize Novel Competition, 1923. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1925. 385p.

See No. 764.

The Painted Room, by Margaret Wilson. Author of "The Kenworthys" and "The Able McLaughlins." New York and London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1926. 271p.

The author continues the theme of conflict between extramarital love and marital fidelity in this sequel to The Kenworthys. Martha, who was only thirteen at the end of the earlier novel, is now nineteen and causing her parents anguish because of her infatuation with a married man. Crushed when the affair is over, and suicidal because she believes she is pregnant, Martha requires all the love and strength Emily can give her daughter. The entire experience leaves Martha so embittered against men that her sudden happy marriage at the end of the novel seems a bit contrived. Although the plot is not without flaws, The Painted Room is written in livelier, more realistic terms than The Kenworthys. The setting is a small community near Chicago.

Book Review Digest, 1926, p. 760.

Native Son, by Richard Wright. Author of Uncle Tom's Children... New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940. 359p.

Bigger Thomas, a product of the Chicago slums, is controlled by fear. Fear prevents his robbing Old Blum; fear motivates him to accept a job he doesn't want; fear causes him to inadvertently kill his employer's daughter; fear drives him to kill again; and fear forces him to incriminate himself by flight. Whether Bigger's reasons for fear are real or imagined, the fear itself is real, and the result is social maladjustment and deviant behavior. Native Son is a study of a hostile environment that breeds and nourishes crime, then punishes violence with violence. Richard Wright, himself a product of Chicago's black ghetto, writes knowingly of time and place and the results of pressures that shape the destinies of many youths unfortunate enough to have been born poor and black in 1930s Chicago.

Book Review Digest, 1940, p. 1014-5.

The Invisible Gods, A Novel by Edith Franklin Wyatt. Author of "True Love," "Everyone His Own Way." New York and London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, MCMXXIII. 433p.

See No. 773.

Angry Uncle Dan, by James Yaffe. London: Constable, [1955.] 329p.

Angry Uncle Dan is a British edition of the novel originally published in the United States under the title, What's the Big Hurry? See No. 1264.

Give Us This Day, by Louis Zara. Author of Blessed Is the Man. Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, MCMXXXVI. 422p.

See No. 777.