On Salt

Two biographical studies of Salt exist, the most reliable being George Hendrick's Henry Salt: Humanitarian Reformer and Man of Letters (1977). This work seeks to introduce Salt to new readers, a task which is unfortunately still necessary. Hendrick also reprints a number of unpublished letters written by and addressed to Salt. In addition he reproduces several Salt essays and the appendix contains both of Salt's plays.

Stephen Winsten's Salt and His Circle (1951) is made and marred by its association with G.B. Shaw, who wrote a preface for it at age 95 (!) and provided other materials in remembrance of his friend. Winsten's penchant for imagined dialogue and undocumented conjecture makes one appreciate the obsessive answerability of the best modern biographies.

Those of the considered opinions of William Stroup of Keene State College. We would simply add that the precious few bits of worthwhile information that can be gleaned from Salt and His Circle are picked up by George Hendrick in his Henry Salt, so no one need suffer the punishment of having to read Winsten's fiction.

There are relatively few essays on Salt and his studies. In part this could be due to the difficulty in obtaining his writings. With several of Salt's books now available on print-on-demand as well as the Internet making research easier perhaps more acedemics and writers will finally turn their attention to Salt.

As yet there has not been a book published on the Humanitarian League, however, Dan Weinbren's thesis The Humanitarian League 1891-1919 and his later essay Against All Cruelty: The Humanitarian League and Chien-hui Li's essay Henry Salt and the Humanitarian League provide much invaluable information.