This book, Evolution, Social and Organic, is the first volume of a series of lectures to which we expect to make notable additions in the future. We can at this time definitely promise two volumes, which will be made up from the lectures delivered by Mr. Lewis at the Garrick Theater during the winter and spring of 1908.

Ten Blind Leaders of the Blind. This will in all probability be the second volume of the Lewis Lectures, and we expect to publish it in May or June. It will consist of critical studies of the theories of such reformers, philosophers and moralists as Benjamin Kidd, Henry George, Dr. Schaeffle, Thomas Carlyle, Auguste Comte and Immanuel Kant.

It must not be imagined that Mr. Lewis in these lectures is merely attempting to refute these thinkers, nor that he would disparage the service that each in his time has rendered. On the contrary his aim is to give the reader as clear a comprehension as possible of what each of these men has achieved. And he furthermore shows how the outlook of each was limited by the economic environment from which flowed the mental atmosphere in which he lived, so that it would have been unreasonable for us to expect from these writers any other conclusions than those at which they actually arrived. Understanding these conditions we can better understand how to meet the arguments of those still influenced by the outgrown ideas which are perhaps best stated in the writings of the leaders here considered.

Socialism and Modern Thought. This is planned for the third volume of the series, and will probably be ready in the summer or fall of 1908. It will be a direct supplement to this present volume, Evolution, Social and Organic, which explains the scientific basis on which socialism rests. The second volume, as we have shown, is taken up with an examination of rival theories. The third volume will restate the principles of socialism and show how they are applied to the pressing problems of today. A lecture on “The Economic Interpretation of History” will show how Marx’s historical method throws a search-light on the darkest places in which sociological students have hitherto groped. One on “The Positive School of Criminology” will tell how the socialist scholars of Italy have revolutionized the once hopeless science of crimes and punishments, and have established certain very definite and very fruitful propositions, showing all the while that crime must last while capitalism lasts. In “The Latest Word of Science and Philosophy—Monism,” Mr. Lewis will show how the clearest thinkers in the modern socialist movement have arrived at a conception of the universe that is broad enough to take in all reality, and to show the relation of the facts of mind to the facts of matter. We have room to mention here but one more lecture, and that shall be “The Inevitability of the Triumph of Socialism.”

Each of these volumes will be uniform with the present one; advance orders are solicited. The price, postage included, will be fifty cents each.

The Art of Lecturing. Mr. Lewis had persistently been urged to teach a class in the art of lecturing, but the many demands on his time made this quite out of the question, and as the best way to satisfy his friends, he wrote a series of brief articles for the Chicago Daily Socialist, each article containing some practical suggestions for young socialist speakers, each suggestion the direct fruit of the author’s personal experience. These articles at once attracted wide attention, and long before they had all appeared, there was an unmistakable demand for their publication in book form. That is why this book is issued. There is nothing else quite so helpful for the young man or woman who expects to lecture on the socialist platform. And many others who have no thought of lecturing will enjoy reading the book, because it brings the reader into such close touch with the personality of a man worth knowing. Paper, 25c, postpaid.

The Standard Socialist Series. This volume is a fair sample of the twenty-five socialist books already published in this library. In their selection, the object of the publishers has been in so far as possible to include all the greatest works by European and American socialists that could possibly be brought within the limits of a fifty-cent volume. Of course the series includes the Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels. This, by the way, is published in two editions, in one of which is also printed Liebknecht’s work on socialist tactics entitled No Compromise, while the other includes a version of the Manifesto in Esperanto, the new international language, as well as the English version. The Standard Socialist Series also includes Marx’s Revolution and Counter-Revolution, and three of the most important works of Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, and Feuerbach: The Roots of the Socialist Philosophy. As for living socialist writers, France is represented in this library by Lafargue’s Social and Philosophical Studies and The Right to Be Lazy and Other Studies, Germany by Kautsky’s The Social Revolution and Ethics and the Materialist Conception of History, Italy by Ferri’s The Positive School of Criminology, Russia by Plechanoff’s Anarchism and Socialism, Belgium by Vandervelde’s Collectivism and Industrial Evolution, England by Blatchford’s Britain for the British, and America by the writings of Isador Ladoff, Roberts Rives LaMonte, A.M. Simons, John Spargo, Ernest Untermann, John M. Work and others. Full descriptions of all these books, together with an account of our other books at higher and lower prices and suggestions as to the choice of books, together with some interesting propaganda matter, will be found in the current issue of the Socialist Book Bulletin, mailed free to any one requesting it.

How to Get Books at Cost. This Bulletin also explains our co-operative plan for supplying books at cost. The publishing house which issues this volume is not owned by any capitalist. It is owned by 1,900 socialist working people, each of whom has subscribed ten dollars to help publish more socialist books. No dividends are paid; the advantage to the stockholder is that instead of paying fifty cents for a book like this one he pays twenty-five cents if he calls at our office for it, or thirty cents if it is mailed to him. More stockholders are needed to provide the capital for publishing more books, and readers of this book are urged to co-operate with us to the extent of buying a share at ten dollars. We do not care to sell more than one share to one subscriber, but any one having more than ten dollars to invest can get four per cent interest on it and have the money returned to him at any time on thirty days’ notice. These terms are better than are offered by Chicago banks, and the lender has the satisfaction of knowing that his money is used for the interests of the working class and not against them.

Charles H. Kerr & Company (Co-operative)
264 Kinzie Street, Chicago