HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
History of the United States of America. By Henry William Elson. (Macmillan and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—The author of this stout volume of some nine hundred and fifty pages has produced an historical manual which most "ordinary readers" will find per- fectly sufficient as a reference-book. He has, in fact, accomplished his object, which was to produce a book "that should fall between the elaborate works which are beyond the reach of most busy people, and the condensed school histories which are emascu- lated of all literary style through the necessity of crowding so many facts into small space." He is also scrupulously fair. Thus although, when writing of the Civil War, he does not conceal his sympathies with the North, he refrains from using the offensive words " rebel" and " traitor " when referring to the Southerners, because he has, as he says, a profound respect for their sincerity. Similarly, while he admits that Andrew Jackson debauched the public service by introducing the "spoils system," he does not deny the intense patriotism of that curious man. Possibly readers of this volume will find the treatment of American literature in it rather slight and scrappy. This, however, was unavoidable. The elueidatory footnotes will be found of great value.
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