What London Is Reading.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 69, 22 March 1941, Page 7 (Supplement)

What London Is Reading.

ONE knows Mr. Arthur Bryant as an observer and writer who finds the times utterly out or joint. This is true of most of us, but Mr. Bryant is exceptionally troubled. In "English Saga, 1840-1940" (Coll ins), he reviews a century, and in the developments of the century he finds the causes of nearly all present tragedy.

By Charles Pilgrim

Mr. Bryant is that rare tiling, a true Tory. lie docs nut, like most of his Conservative frie.nds, accept the trend which made England rich and powerful in the past century. It was, he believes, the industrialism and the consequent piling tip of riches which undid us. He believes time Teed l»etraye<l the country by undoing the farmers and so sending labour into the factories. There are passages in his book when Mr. Jlryant would seem to be coining dose to the conclusions of Kark Marx. Certainly lie is in sympathy with the spirit of William Morris. He is a revolutionary. for he urges the freeing of the. English people from the shackles of a dominant plutocracy. Looking back 011 the twentv years between lilll) and 1!(.'!9. Jlr. liryant singles out what is to liim the cardinal error. Instead of trying to make a new ami freer I'.nglaml at the end of the war, the rulers set to work as hard and as soon as possible to reconstruct the Knglaml of l'.Ml. This led to the old rivalry, and the renewed collision. This is Mr. llrvaiH's opinion, lie sets it- out with a wealth of argument and illustration and all that literary charm and skill to which he has accustomed us. Sailing Boats Mr. Alan Yilliers has written another story of simple life of another kind in "Sons of Sinbad" (Hodder and Stoiiiihton). Mr. Yilliers believes in sailing Jioats and does not hn<l many left in the world. Kvery tiling has gone to the power engine. Hut there are still a few types of sailing craft and amongst them the Arab dhow. With the Arabs in their vessels the author s|icnt more than a year. He learned to admire the masters and the crews. They handled their craft with traditional and consummate skill; they came unscathed, if somewhat battered, through the roughest seas and weather. There may not be much of the future left for such simple navigators. This well-written book may soon do no more than remind us of a bygone life. It is good reading for its adventure and tho fact that it is such n reminder and therefore, pcrhajis, salutory. Letters in Wartime Tn wartime the professional wi'itpr is strongly tempted to say what lie thinks and to say it as a propagandist. Mr. H. M. Harwood and his wife. Tennyson Jesse, are two professional writers "who have been "doing their hit"' with their pens. "London >'ront: Letters Written to America (August, HKMI-July, 1940)" (Constable) is a volume made tip of letters sent, by one or other of these writers to friends in the United States. These friends include Alexander Woollcott, Sam Behrmau, the dramatist. Ldwin Hubble, the astronomer, and others. Ihe letters were intended to influence the opinion of the recipients. More than that, they were meant for circulation and publication. They are well written letters, expressed with freedom and often with passion. Their opinions are emphatic; their venture#! into prophecy are sometimes happy and at others illfounded, as events have shown. Xo one, not even their authors, would pretend that these letters have any enduring value. Just now they reflect what so many men and women are feeling and doing. If a student in the future vears were to spend an hour or 60 over them, he would probably reflect on the ephemeral assumption and dogmas of even the moie than average mind in times of stress.