The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

Salty Opinions from a Frenchman (Literary Digest, 1920)

Attached are the rantings of one Frenchman on the matter of American gullibility, solipsism and naive stupidity. While recognizing an innate sense of optimism that seemed natural to Americans, the Gaul also believed that within the American culture the seed of tyranny had been planted and would one day bloom.

And in this new and vigorous country they are going to make nationalism a great religion, the supreme intellectual and social motive. This means Prussianizing, pure and simple.

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Things ‘Americain’ in France (Literary Digest, 1927)

Whether for good or for ill, the American people have left their thumb print on much of the French language – the liberal sprinkling of the adjective Americain was ever present in 1927, as it is today. This article seeks to explain the meanings and origins of such French expressions as Oncle D’Amerique or Homard a l’Americaine -among other assorted phrases inspired by the free and the brave.

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A German Champion of American English (Literary Digest, 1908)

Having made a twenty year study of the English spoken in both Britain and the United States, Alois Brandl (1855 – 1940), chief Professor of English literature at the University of Berlin, found himself in an advantageous position that would allow him to make definitive conclusions about the evolution of the English language on American shores:

Mr. Brandl has been comparing English as it is spoken by Englishmen and English as it is spoken by Americans, and has come to the conclusion that the former is not a whit purer than the latter… the English of Americans was not only improving, but was already as good as that of our English cousins… He is very severe on the Cockney accent, and declares that the English of the ordinary educated American is quite on an equality with that of the ordinary educated Englishman…


Professor W.W. Skeat (1835 – 1912), chair of Anglo-Saxon Studies at Cambridge University, entirely agreed with the German savant and went on in greater detail along similar lines.

No mention was made as to what unit of measure was applied to reach their deductions.

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German Schools and the Teaching of the War (Literary Digest, 1922)

It was discovered in 1922 that when the German school system made mention of the recently ended war (if they addressed the topic at all), the subject was often white-washed or inaccurately characterized. When approached by a foreign reporter concerning the matter, teachers claimed that new books were too expensive and that the prevailing political forces could never agree on an accurate history of the war:

When do you think you will be able to begin studying the history of the war in your schools? I asked.

Not until this generation dies…

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Clemenceau (Literary Digest, 1922)

Georges Clemenceau (1841 – 1929) served as one of France’s wartime Premieres (1917-1920). The following is an excerpt from his letter to the American people imploring them to share in his outrage concerning Germany’s open defiance to the Versailles Treaty. Clemenceau would die seven years later, fully convinced that another devastating war with Germany was just around the corner.

Click here to read more articles about the German violations of the Versailles Treaty.

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A Post-War Visit to Metz (Literary Digest, 1919)

This is a letter from an American infantry Major, James E. White, who wrote home to explain that there was still much to do six days after the armistice.

The major’s letter relayed his experiences as being one of the first Allied officers to enter the formerly occupied city of Metz, in order to evacuate wounded American prisoners:

The following Tuesday the grand entry of the French troops took place, but no welcome was more spontaneous than than that given to the group of American officers who on that Sunday peacefully invaded the fortress of Metz.

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A New Deal for Women (The Literary Digest, 1933)

This historic article appeared during the opening weeks of Roosevelt’s first term administration announcing that the new president was taking a novel approach in granting various appointments to government positions of leadership by selecting numerous women who had proved their mettle in the fiery furnace of 1920s Democratic party politics.


1924 was a very important year for American women in politics…

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Japan Sinks an American Warship (Literary Digest, 1937)

Bombs rained like hailstones and churned the waters all around the ship like geysers.’ said Earl Leaf, United Press correspondent in China and eyewitness of the sinking of the United States gunbpat PANAYstyle=border:none, by Japanese aviators, in the Yangtze River about 26 miles above Nanking; ….The British gunboat LADYBIRD and BEE also were fired on, and soon Foreign Minister Anthony Eden was telling an angry House of Commons that:

His Majesty’s Ambassador to Tokyo has made the strongest protest to the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs.’

Click here if you would like to read more about the sinking of the U.S.S. Panay.

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