Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 083

“Oh, mother, I would like to know everything.” “You can never know everything, my child, but you can learn many things from books.” According to children's book author James Baldwin (1841-1925), book reading was the key to success in life (Read and You Shall Know). Several vol. 083 selections tackle the thorny questions of how to foster open-mindedness, creativity, and compassion in the child and adult: (The Road to Success; Young People and Insurance; William Paley on Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy; Letter from Françoise d'Aubigné; Looking Ahead for Democracy (1919): How Five Notable Women Were Educated; Winter Talk; and the Fantastic Imagination). Even Rural Free Mail delivery, new in 1900, is seen as effecting a “social revolution.” Invention and science are celebrated in Eratosthenes; Who is Browning?; and Light House Illumination. Heroism in wartime is honored in The Death of the Lusitania and Murder at Sea; while the evils of warfare are made plain in Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt; Bull Run; and Comanche of Custer’s Command. Rounding off the collection are the Decline of Drama; and Brendan, the search for a mythical island. Summary by Sue Anderson