THE LITERARY GUIDE

London, England

1 October 1915

(page 150)

THE WAR-LORD.

The Kaiser: His Personality and Career. By Joseph McCabe. (Fisher Unwin.) 292 pp.; 5s. net.

It must be difficult to describe the personality of a gentleman whom you have not had the pleasure of meeting. Mr. McCabe, however is equal to the task, and it must be granted that the subject of his monograph has helped to lighten it. There is quite a literature about the Kaiser, and to that literature the Kaiser himself is one of the largest contributors. Probably no historical personage has more fully revealed his character by public speeches than the “All-Highest,” and Mr. McCabe has added to the piquancy of his pages by drawing freely upon the unimpeachable authority of the Kaiser’s own words. It is not Mr. McCabe’s design to glorify his subject after the manner of Mr. Aleister Crowley, to whom William II is a figure at least semi-divine, the “Saviour of the world,” the “sun of righteousness,” and so forth. The present book is an honest endeavour to form a just and rational estimate of the Kaiser as a human being and as a political force.

Mr. McCabe’s work is virtually sketch . . .