At a time of such political and social commotion as the present, Professor Bliss Perry's book on Carlyle, the great social preacher, is especially timely. Carlyle's peculiar style has thrown up a barrier, increasing in formidableness as time passes, to discourage the hasty reader. And, as Professor Perry remarks, the modern reader is content with picked-up ideas and "facile guesses" regarding the personality of this great Victorian figure. The real flexibility of Carlyle's use of language, "the rich accent of Annandale," is concealed for many by his vagaries and eccentricities. Moreover, the violence and unpersuasiveness of his method shocks the unsympathetic.

Professor Perry's book, however, approaches Carlyle in a sympathetic spirit, and presents him to readers in a way to attract and induce the perusal of Carlyle's own work. This is its purpose, as the explanatory title, "How to Know Him," indicates. Professor Perry passes from a penetrating and concise account of Carlyle's youth and intellectual growth to a discussion of his literary theory and its application in his various works. Quotation predominates for Carlyle is allowed to "explain himself and his views, as adequately as the inexorable count of pages will permit."

Although in some specific ways Carlyle proved a remarkable phophet, his fundamental ideas have not won their way, particularly in America. His hero-theory and his opposition to democracy have fallen before the trend of the times. Nevertheless, his books still posses a fund of social and spiritual energy which well repays the modern student. Professor Perry indicates the approach to that source of energy. To those who have taken Professor Perry's course on Carlyle, the book is a welcome crystallization of the spirit of that study. To those unacquainted with Carlyle it should prove an alluring introduction to him.