Thomas L. Masson (1866–1934)

The title is misleading, as these are supposed to be short, humorous stories. About the only interest here is their World War I vintage, as the references to the Germans, rationing, etc. at least give the reader some sense of those times. The rest is really bad, however. First, no matter with how much forgiveness and 1918 mindset you try to read them, to the modern reader, these stories are vaguely amusing at best. Worse, many of them rely on very offensive racial and ethnic stereotypes. As in the first Tom Swift book, which I reviewed a few weeks ago, the word "darky" is used without a bit of irony. It is scary to think that the attitudes in this book were once mainstream among educated, white Americans, and I don't mean just those below the Mason-Dixon line.… (más)