in Religious Fanaticism (Faber and Gwyer, 12s. ad.) Mrs. Ray
Strachey gives an account of the various religious sects and queer communal experiments which sprang up in America during the nineteenth century. There was often a great optimism, sometimes a real heroic struggle to face life, in these movements. Equally, of course, there was grotesquerie ; and sometimes a downright anti-social and diabolistic tend- ency. It is startling to recall in what strange fashions men have sought after their own salvation. The most interesting part of the book is in the extracts Mrs. Strachey has made from the diary of her grandmother, Hannah Whitall Smith, who became acquainted with many such movements and the personalities behind them during her own more even-minded and gracious search after a life of trust in God.
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