New Year's Day: the Story of the Calendar The Golden Age: the Story of Human Nature Corn from Egypt: the Beginning of Agriculture

Abstract

THESE three little books form part of an interesting series of popularisation dealing with the early history of civilisation. Mr. Hooke in “New Year's Day” traces the history of the calendar and describes the principal calendrical systems which are or have been in use at different periods and in different parts of the world. Mr. Massingham's “Golden Age” is a book of a more philosophical type. It is a statement of the position in regard to primitive culture with which Mr. Perry has made us familiar, namely, that early man was a pacifist who has degenerated, under the influence of advancing civilisation. It seeks to demonstrate that the views of classical writers on the Golden and succeeding ages were substantially correct. Mr. Massingham justifies his theory in the case of palaeolithic man by an appeal to the ‘faultless artistry’ of the drawings in the French and Spanish caves—a psychological argument which the history of art would perhaps not bear out.

New Year's Day: the Story of the Calendar.

By S. H. Hooke (The Beginning of Things Series.) Pp. vi + 89. (London: Gerald Howe, Ltd., 1927.) 2s. 6d. net.

The Golden Age: the Story of Human Nature.

By H. J. Massingham (The Beginning of Things Series.) Pp. vii + 88. (London: Gerald Howe, Ltd., 1927.) 2s. 6d. net.

Corn from Egypt: the Beginning of Agriculture.

By Dr. Maurice Gompertz (The Beginning of Things Series.) Pp. vii + 88. (London: Gerald Howe, Ltd., 1927.) 2s. 6d. net.