REVIEWS IN BRIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 19

REVIEWS IN BRIEF

SOME RECENT BOOKS

Mr. Yornon Bartlott ia well-known i» England for, amongst other things, hie broadcast talks on foreign affairs. He has the happy knack of being able to make what might, in some bands, be a dry subject an interesting and eoinpelliiig talk. Aotiug on an oft-re-poatcd suggestion, ho has put the substance of his .talks into book form, which is now published by' Elkitt Ma thews and Mftrrot, Ltd., under the title of "The World Our Neighbour." Seeing that the author is the frondou representative of. the : Leaguo of Nations and has a fino roewd as a corroapondent of "The Times" and othev papers, what he has, to cay carries weight, In these talks, whioh cover a wide range of foreign affairs as they affoet Britain .and tho Empire, the busy man will find just enoughAto mako him intelligently acquainted with the affairs rf tho world, and this book will certainly help him Jo realiso that no one countiy can stand alone without regard to the affairs of othors. ,\

"Monoy Versus Man,"-by .Ptofessw J)1, Soddy, is owe. of. the volumes of "Th o Library of New Ideas," .whicli JJlkin Mathews and Mfvrrpt-»ro.pub-lishing. Tliia is a xea'sqiieil eispositioW qn.moiioy written for. the. average man. Professor Baddy believes that too root of tho .world's present comnwcialprob' icm is tlio inability of our'money system to ko^prwico w^ith..tlw.incxeaso of prodiietito' Vviiicß has" followed .the adoption of maoliinery, HU .deductions will probably bo wrangled over by ex* pertg, whilst moat readers ift.tiiqinean* time win not b.»vo nearly eriougn of the commodity about which tnQ Pro» fqasor writes tg satisfy, all tlieir.wants.

Until scon for one&cU1, no one can have any idea of what life in,-the slums of London and other big 'jities in England really means. llugh Redwood, ft well-known London journalist, when the Thames in 1328 overflowed its banks and flooded, the slums of Westminster, saw for himself what lie had often read and heard about. Subsequently, as the result of hia investigations into slum life, ho came into close contact with the slum officers of the Salvation Aimy and bopaino a worker himself. "God in tho Slums" (Ilodder and Stoughton) is another result of that Thames flood, in which book the journalist very vividly pets forth tho triumph of Christianity under condiUqns little short of- appalling. "God in the Bluina" is arresting, comparable to Harold Begbie's "Broken Earthenware," but with the advantago that it is written from first-hand knowledgo.

"Sin and Sex," by Kpberl Briffault, is a Ibpnghtfnl anil sensible contribur tion towards tho solution of one of the major modern problems. It. is pub' lished by Goorge Allen and Unwis, Ltd.. and has ;i short preface by Bertrand Rnssoll. "Tho improvement which is to bo looked for from tho introduction of justieo and reason in the relation bctweon ( tlie sexes," says the author in summing up, "is not the abolition of moral contiol over primal biological urges, but the substitution of Iho control of intelligence and human justice for that of ignorance, fanaticism, and auporstition."

The spirit pf disillusioned but unconqucrabio youth pervades Die stark realism of a now bgok, '<Kod Dust,' 5 written by an Australian, Mr, l?oiia.ld Bluck, and published by Jonathan Cape. Tlie boplc deals with the Palestine campaigu, Tho author enlarges ou the lack of understanding bfjtween tho Briliah anc} Australian soldiers, whoso psychology ho analyses. Nevertheless, ho puya n iribnlo to tho hcrqism of the " Tommies," which, ho said, mado posBiblo tho world's greatest cavalry feal. Mr. Black does not scruple to criticise certain British officora* methods. The horrors of desert warfare are pictured* Tho author declares tliat tho war dealt religion an irroeoverablt) b]ow.