“THE EVOLUTION OF ENGLAND”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21366, 20 June 1931, Page 4

“THE EVOLUTION OF ENGLAND”

HISTORY FROM A NEW ANGLE “ The Evolution of England; A Commentary on the Facts.” By James A. Williamson. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press (Mr Humphrey Milford.) (15s net.) G. M. Trevelyan’s “ History of England ” marked a new way of treating general history, and set a standard different from that which had for long prevailed among us. Now Dr Janies Williamson, in his “The Evolution of England,” has carried the idea somewhat further. He has set before his mind the thought of the development of the English community and the land it lives in, and then he selects and explains those transactions which illustrate and elucidate the central theme. The geographical features of Great Britain have contributed to her development more than is generally suspected, and due care is given to make these clear not only in configuration, but also in their effect upon the history of our people. This leads to the economic motives which lie behind events and to the political action which enabled these motives to become dynamic. Behind all this lies the religious belief of the people and what has been termed the “ spirit of the age,” factors which

can never be allowed to fall out of sight. Dr Williamson shows himself a careful reader and accurate observer, and, with a true historian’s instinct, he has endeavoured to give full weight to those movements of the spirit which are not easy to explain and still leas easy to have given to them their full significance. In a selective volume the reader is at the mercy of the author. Yet here we have a book in which the choice has been carefully and consistently carried out, and one feels that, even if the judgment is not fully captured, the author has made a valuable suggestion which will lead to fuller and clearer thought. A point in this volume’s favour is the fact that Dr Williamson brings his thought down to our own day. Too many of our books of history seem to stop in the middle of the nineteenth century. The very fact that “ The Evolution of England” takes the reader all over the controversies of the last ICO years is a valuable point in its favour. His analysis of the effects of the revolution in transport is acute. “The transport revolution has already struck deep into the roots of the national life. It has obliterated the distinction between town and country by taking the townsman back to the land. They have not gone back to be countrymen, but to seek their pleasures as townsmen. . . • Multitudes of town workers keep country residences, large or small, for holiday purposes. The new permanent inhabitants of the countryside provide sports grounds or refreshment houses for pleasure seekers, or supplies for their motor cars. . . . Genuine agriculture to produce staple foodstuffs is less practised than ever, and what was formerly the soundest the nation has almost withered away. The book is a valuable one. and well worth study. «• "•