Fiction

THE ISLANDS--Gerald Warner Brace-- Putnam ($2.50). Readable biographic novel of a seafaring Maine lad whom a wealthy Boston spinster adopts, polishes, pushes through Harvard and almost into an unfortunate marriage. Author Brace does not quite succeed in making his taciturn hero as appealing as the more articulate, minor characters.

CAGE ME A PEACOCK--Noel Langley-- Morrow ($2.50). The dead hand of the late Thorne Smith lies clammily on Author Langley's pages. Supposedly an uproariously racy revamping of the legend of Lucrece, its rowdiness is no louder than Thorne Smith's, its dreary humor not much worse.

Non-Fiction

ELIZABETH. EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA-- Count Egon Corti--Yale University Press ($4). A sympathetic, frequently sentimental life of Franz Joseph's beautiful, neurotic consort. Skillfully told, carefully documented, it should provide a mine of anecdote for specialists in court gossip.

MARIE ANTOINETTE'S HENCHMAN-- Meade Minnigerode--Farrar & Rinehart ($3.50). "The dreadful sleazy, treacherous inside story'' of the French Revolution, told by a tireless researcher. Apparently unconcerned with economic or social forces. Biographer Minnigerode describes in overabundant detail the career of Baron de Batz. instigator of many of the excesses of the Terror. The serious reader, if undeterred by the frenetic prose, may pick his way through this maze of personalities to an elaborate but convincing expose of the technique of counterrevolution.

SAVAGE PATROL--J. G. Hides--McBride ($2.75). British Patrol Officer Hides recounts his experiences as defender of the peace in Papua, land of cannibals and headhunters. Some thoughtful observations for those who may wonder, with the author, what fun remains to the headhunter when he learns that murder is sin.

CREATIVE AMERICA--Mary van Kleeck --Covici-Friede ($3). Dedicated "to all of America's workers," this able Leftist interpretation of U. S. economic history ends with a plea for united action against the "possessive" forces responsible for widespread insecurity, envisages a U. S.

"collective in its economic basis; democratic in its political control." Author van Kleeck, for 25 years Director of Industrial Studies for the Russell Sage Foundation, has conducted extensive research in unemployment.

GENGHIS KHAN -- Ralph Fox -- Ear-court, Brace ($3). Story of the medieval warrior (real name: Temujin) who brought the Mongol Empire bloodily to birth. Author Fox, young Englishman whose hobby is central Asian history and archeology, claims that this is "the only book upon the subject in English based on a study of original sources," but admits he has depended entirely on translations.

THE STORY or A NOVEL--Thomas Wolfe --Scribner ($1.50). How Author Wolfe wrote Look Homeward, Angel, Of Time and the River and several others not yet published. An exceeding bitter cry that may throw a scare into prospective novelists.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.