The Confessions of an Individualist

THIS book, which is not to be judged by its pretentious title, raises Mr. Chamberlin head and shoulders above the rest of our commentators on public affairs. Mr. Chamberlin had the nearest thing to a classical education that any American institution, barring the Jesuit schools, could give him; and his every approach, his style, the whole turn of his thought, all show that he knows what to do with it. He not only knows history but also understands it, which most of us who know history do not. He has a sound philosophy; he knows his authorities and knows where and how to apply them. He has had a long, intimate experience of men, knows their motives, their springs of action, their moral and intellectual capacities, and therefore he knows what may and may not be expected of them. His book reflects all this; in a word, it is mature. Would it he too much to ask that every intelligent American should read at least from the middle of page 271 to the end of the book — forty-three pages?