THE BOOK OF THE MONTH.
The whole country is reading All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque. The book is tamer than the English edition, but it is quite frank enough to make its picture shocking and revolting. The reviews agree that no more powerful arraignment of war has been written. The very conservative publishing house of Little, Brown and Company has issued a statement concerning its censorship of the book, saying, " When we read the English translation we knew that the book as it stood would offend some people by its frankness, and that under the Massachusetts law which condemns a book not as a whole, but by as little as a single phrase, itS sale would probably be stopped in Boston. We decided, however, to take this risk, and did no more than delete three words having to do with bodily functions." In response to suggestions by the Book of the Month Club there were several other slight changes in phraseology, and twq passages of some length were cut out. The publishers assert that the American version remains a great book and " better suited than the English edition to the tastes of our public:' New York, Wednesday, June 12th. . IVY LEE,
Previous page
