For the past twenty-odd years I have written a column,
"New Book News", for the news pages of the Athens ( Ga.)
Banner-Herald, the editorial page of the Atlanta ( Ga.)
Journal, or the Friday and Sunday book pages of the At-
lanta ( Ga.) Constitution. It has also appeared in the Au-
gusta ( Ga.) Chronicle, Columbus ( Ga.) Ledger, and other
papers, and has been used as a department in the Kappa
Alpha Journal, a fraternity magazine with a national selected
circulation. During this same period, I have taught a course
in book reviewing in the Henry W. Grady School of Jour-
nalism. Some years ago, it was my privilege to study at
Columbia University under the late Allen Sinclair Will,
night city editor of the New York Times and a regular con-
tributor of full-length feature reviews to the Sunday Times
Book Review. Throughout this period I have read widely
and observed closely the practices of the best media of lit-
erary criticism.

This book is a result of all this experience, instruction,
and reading. It was first suggested by Dr. Edd Winfield
Parks, a member of our English faculty, whose implication,
I assumed, was that one who had been as close to book re-
viewing as long as I have must have a few helpful sugges-
tions worth passing along to others.

Like the college courses in musical and literary appre-
ciation, this book is intended for several groups: not only
for practitioners, actual and would-be, but also for those who
read merely for enjoyment. In a sense, this may be regarded

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