LITERATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22628, 20 July 1935, Page 4

LITERATURE

RECENT FICTION

"Spy." By Bernard Newman (Gollancz). ** The Stars Look Down." By A. J. Cronin (Gollancz). 10s 6d. ’ "Death In the Stocks." By Georgette Heyer (Longmans). ~, .. . “Silver Tares." By Dorothy Cams (Methuen). * The Roaring Rocketts." By Charles Wesley Banders (Wild West Club). " The Lemon Farm." By Martin Boyd "Sons of the Sun." By C. a W. Landsle C " The' seven Arms." By L. A. G. Strong (Gollancz). „ . . . . ~ (Each 7s unless otherwise stated.)

Fact—-or Fiction? The question whether thehook Is startling fact or audacious fiction must present itself to every reader of Spy, by ; Bernard Newman, and there will be more than a few who will be unable to give an answer satisfactory to themselves. Even the reviewer must confess that there were moments when he was in doubt, but the author’s preface was the straw which ■ weighed down the balance. In it Mr Newman states: “It is high. time that this spy business as debunked, .several hundred books on secret service have appeared since the war; of these, s.bout I per cent, have been strictly accurate, a larger proportion founded on fact, but the greater part have been the sheerest of fiction —while pretending to be true. One may deduce from those words that Mr Newman has taken it on himself to do the “debunking," and what better method could he use than that adopted by the men he is attacking? The question, however, is one which the individual reader will settle for himself unless Mr Newman chooses to speak, or verification or denial is forthcoming from some earnest seeker after truth. After all, to most readers, the question of whether the book is fact or fiction is of small moment compared to the amount of entertainment it offers, and on this point there can be little difference of opinion. Mr Newman has written a book which on» wishes to read at a sitting. In his story Mr Newman —who uses the first person and his own name —gives a few pages of family history which have an important bearing on the later stages of the tale. He says he is the child of an English father and a German mother and, until the war, he used to Visit his cousins 1 in Germany. To one of them he bore a strong resemblance. With the war these relationships ceased, and the cousins were soon on astive service with the opposing forces. Mr Newman's knowledge of French and of German attracted the notice of his officers, and he was transferred to the Intelligence staff. One of his first advfentures was to disguise as a German soldier and cross the lines. He was successful in blowing up a munition train, but suspicion was aroused, and lu, was examined and sentenced to death. The story of how he escaped from_ the prison a few hours before execution is so ' thrilling that it ought to be true—and the same remark can be applied to several other incidents. His next adventure is more ambitious. His cousin was captured and taken to England, so Mr Newman determined to return to Germany and impersonate him. He did so with such success that, according to the story, he was fpr three years on the staff _of the German general headquarters,. being % personally associated with General Ludendorff. ' This part of the story is not the least credible in the, book, strange though it may appear. With many convincing asides, made with artistic casualness, Mr Newman builds up the story of his adventures. He shows that he is a keen student of military history, and he makes some intelligent criticisms of tactics. He carries his story through to its end with unflagging zest and skill, and the tact that he invents no more than is necessary adds to the effect of his narrative.

Social Study v Dr A. J. Cronin haa turned, if not politician, then political commentator in his latest hook “The Stars Look Down, and in doing so has yoked a talent noticeably less turgid than usual to an interesting and momentous theme. , Dr Cronin is nothing if not an enthusiast, and in setting out to preach the gospel 6f the nationalisation of mines he uses all the eloquence at his command, and it is considerable. He draws a graphic picture of conditions in the British coal industry, and may be said to, have made out a very fair case for nationalisation, although his argument loses, a lot of its cogency by reason of what might bo called his besetting sin—a refusal to allow even a scintilla of virtue to the opposition. In spite of everything, however, ha has written a striking and useful book.) tus comments on politics at that significant period when Labour was knocking at the door of power in Great Britain are distinctly illuminating, and gain, most or their point, as well as their bias, from the adroitness of his character sketching. He assembles a curious mixture ot types around the Neptune Colliery from the pre-war owner, who makes handsome profits at the expense of many lives down to the Socialist idealist who rises up from the gloom of the pit to compass the salvation of his fellows through nationalisation. In between there are other very interesting types, including Arthur, the son of the pre-war owner who succumbs to post-war control, and Joe, the profiteer, a picturesque instance of the triumph of wrong over right. The book concludes on an indefinite, almost despairing note as befits a treatise on such a theme and one is tempted to think that whatever hopes the author had of the ultimate nationalisation of the coal, industry none of them had any foundation in the, ability of the Labour regime to accomplish it. Indeed, as far as “ The Stars Look Down, goes it would appear that Dr Cronin is more than merely dubious of Socialist intentions in this respect,, although it must be admitted that he is treating ot a Labour Government somewhat dinerently constituted from that which was finally swallowed up in the existing JSatiotfal Government.

Murder in v Merry Mood Miss Georgette Heyer has demonstrated in her pleasant historical romances that she has a gift for bright, witty writing, but one had not expected that she would find 'much scope for it in her murder mysteries. She has done so, however, in “Death in the Stocks,” in which the reader’s interest is about evenly divided between the doings and sayings of a highly unusual brother and sister and the solving of the murder mystery. Arnold Vereker is discovered one night sitting in the village stock in evening dress. Constable Dickinson thought that someone must have been having a joke on a drunken man, but Arnold Vereker was not drunk; he was dead. Suspicion falls on his stepson and stepdaughter, Kenneth and Antonia Vereker, who both agree that the late Mr Vereker was bettfer dead, and who remain casual and bright in spite of the deadly suspicions. They have others to share their doubtful distinction, and Miss Heyer makes masterly, use of the traditional "red herrings. Only a very few readers will discover the murderer until she is prepared to disclose it. This is a mystery tale with a difference. Austrian Tyrol

The Austrian Tyrol is the unusual setting for this quiet, welFwritten tale. The story itself is along conventional lines, but a charm is given to it by the descriptions of the life of the peasants in this secluded region. Florian von Ecke, an Austrian officer, finds himself deserted by his regiment in the last week of October, 1918, and he, himself, wanders off, and in a village he has a brief love affair with a daughter of the place. He returns some months later to find that the girl has died in giving birth to a child. Distraught by the tragedy be goes into the mountains, where a fall causes him to lose his memory. From this time, until 1932, he lives in the mountains as a peasant wood carver. The arrival of a young doctor, who is interested in bis case, renews his interest in himself and a full recovery is made. There are complications with the brother and sister of his old sweetheart and with the child of their romance, but the tale ends happily. War in the West

"The Roaring Rocketts,” by Charles Wesley Sanders, once more brings Mournful Martin to the fore. It is a stirring story of the west when, gunmen from the east come to make trouble. The Rockett brothers have spent their young lives roaring around the cow towns, but when trouble comes to them they roar in a

different way. All who have enjoyed Mr Sanders’s earlier novels will enjoy “The Roaring Rocketts." “ The Lemon Farm ” Refreshing, and savouring strongly of the salt tang of a South England fishing village, “The Lemon Farm," by Martin Boyd, is one of the most pleasing books of the season. Michael Kaye is a youth who loves the fresh air, and he finds his mate in Davina, Lady Chilgrove, a beautiful young woman who has left her husband. Their adventures on sea anjJ on land, the dawning of love and their hectic life for one wild summer are attractively drawn. One might, perhaps, regret the rather tragic ending, but one must admit that any other solution would have been false.

African Adventure “ Sons of the Sim " is a tale of adventure in the unknown regions of Central Africa. The peculiar style of the author makes it rather hard to pick up the thread of the story in the opening chapters, but, once this difficulty is overcome, the tale advances in a pleasant manner. It concerns the adventures of David Crane in his visits to Africa. On the first visit he saves a black boy from a slave train. Years later the boy again enters Crane’s life, and he returns to Africa on a quest for a treasure of diamonds, The journey is well described, and there is some interesting material in the descriptions of “black magic." In the Highlands In “ The Seven Arms ” L. A. Q. Strong again sets his story among the primitive people of the far north of Scotland in a past century. Again he demonstrates his poetic power of descriptive writing and again it must be said that his strength as a writer is in the short story rather than in a novel, for the development of the

plot is overshadowed by the brilliance of

some of the episodes. The central character is Jteanie, a strange Highland girl, whose devotion for her uncle is the most powerful feature of her character as a child. The story of the childhood years is finely told but, when the girl passes into adolescence and follows her uncle from the Highlands through England and then through the battlefields of the Peninsula War, the author’s success is not so great. The reader has been prepared for her grief when the uncle sets out and for her initial attempts to follow him, but he has not been prepared for the successful culmination of her adventure. Once back in the Highlands Mr Strong is at ease again and the book continues in a fascinating manner to conclude with one of the finest pieces of work that he has yet done. The picture of Jeanie Ban in old age is a memorable one and it reaches its climax in a strange but not unbelievable scene. v. y.l. BOOKS IN DEMAND

The librarian of the Dunedin Athenaeum reports that the following books were in keen demand during the past month: — Fiction “Acting Second Mate,” by Sydney Parkman; “Ambition’s Harvest," by Nelle Scanlan; “Anthony Adverse,” by Hervey Allen; “Beauty’s Daughter," by Kathleen Norris; “Blandings Castle,” by P. G. Wodehouse; “ Children of the Poor," by “Anon”; “The Halfway Sun,” by T. Inglis Moore; “Honour Come Back,” by t Naomi Jacob; “Kay the Lefthanded,” ' by L. Barringer; “Lost Wagons,” by D. Coolidge; “Mutiny of Madam Yes,” by Dale Collins; “Ripeness Is All,” by Erie Linklater; “ Saturday at Hazeldenes,” by Vera Wheatley; “Tlie Stars Look Down,” by A. J. Cronin; “Two Little .Ships,” by E. Laurie Long; “ Wyoming Tragedy,” by W. B. M. Ferguson; “Young Renny,” by Mazo de la Roche.

General Literature

“ Drums of Mer," by lon L. Idriess; “ Farewell to Fifth Avenue,” by C. Vanderbilt, jun.; “For England and Yorkshire,” by H. Sutcliffe; “ Gerald —a Portrait,” by Daphne du Maurier; “Greek Salad,” by Kenneth Matthews; “ In Quest of Sheba’s Mines,” by Frank E. Hay ter; “ In the Steps of the Master,” by H. V. Morton; “ Kagawa,” by William Axling; “The King’s Grace 1910-1935,” by John Buchan; “ Psychology and Life,” by Leslie Weatherhead; “Such is the Antarctic,” by Lars Christensen; “Swinging the Equator,” by William J. Makin; “Testament ,of Youth,” by Vera Brittain; “A Time to Keep,” by Halliday Sutherland.

Wild Game Hunters

John Murray hag recently published “African Adventure: Letters from Famous Big Game Hunters,” edited and annotated by Denis D. Lyell, himself a hunter of great experience. The letters in this collection have been written to him over many years by F. C. Selous and numerous other hunting friends, and it is a book of the highest authority possible.

New Light on Queen Victoria The Oxford University Press will shortly publish a study of "The Political Influence of Queen Victoria, 1861I901j” by Mr Frank Hardie, who was president of the Oxford Union at the time of the debate on refusing to fight for King and country. The author quotes extensively from the new" material, notably the royal correspondence, which has come, to light since Lytton Strachey’s biography was written.

AUSTRALIA AT WAR GRAPHIC NARRATIVES "Iron In the Fire," by Edgar Morrow; " Comrades of the Great Adventure," by R. H. Williams; " Watchdogs of the Deep," by M. T. Jones. SySney; Angus and Robertson. Each 6s. Edgar Morrow, a Western Australian, enlisted in 1915 at the age of 19 —a boy “ fresh from the bush and entirely unsophisticated in the ways of men —and women.” The story of his experiences is told in “Iron in the Fire,” a volume in which the artlessness of his narrative is real art. With the help of his diaries, which he entered at every opportunity when not too exhausted, and with reference to his letters home he presents a picture of a civilian turned soldier —the tale of the life of thousands of men like him. Mr Morrow served first in Egypt, where he was mainly in the training squad, later going to Gallipoli. His impressions of the Peninsula are somewhat hazy owing to the loss of what little diary record he had been able to make. Most of his service was in France, and the book progresses, marking the gradual change from an extremely innocent youth to an enlightened man into whose soul the iron has entered. There are iio heroics, no epic accounts, just the increasing loneliness and bitterness. This book is possessed of a decided literary merit, and many ex-servicemen will recognise in it the hook they have always intended to write when they had time. In “ Comrades of the Great Adventure,” Mr R. H. Williams follows up “ The Gallant Company,” his previous book, with one which presents a strong contrast to “ Iron in the Fire.” These stories, more or less connected, are written in a robust style, which gives us the Australian infantryman we all know, a lean, hard-bitten soldier, rough of speech and manner of living, a born "scrounger” and “handyman.” The action is in Gallipoli, and later in France, and the reminiscences are extremely entertaining, where they are not tragic. One Peter Duncan is. prominent, a rough-voiced soldier with an infinite capacity for helping the members of his billet to forget their troubles. Ever on the watch for a “ bite,’’ Peter was merciless with his victim. An amusing account •is given of a visit to the front line of a Stokes mortar squad, known as the “ Imshi mob,” or the “ hit and run brigade,” on account of their invariable habit of loosing off their load of shells and retiring in haste, leaving the troops to stand the resulting bombardment from the enemy. The narrative is in the Australian language—the sanguinary adjective is much in evidence, and there are no dashes to indicate other epithets of a distinctly Australian flavour.

Life in a submarine Is a subject which has been surprisingly neglected. Apart from the activities of one or two German submarine commanders, the field has not been exploited to any extent. Mr Jones, sometime leading , torpedo man, helps to fill the breach with some of his experiences in J2, one of the larger British submarines during the war. He volunteered for submarine service in the early stage of hostilities (all submarine crews were volunteers), and, despite the extremely hazardous life, seems to have enjoyed himself. In a small vessel of this nature officers and men came more into contact with one another, and the conditions of service were consequently freer. Every man, from the commander down, formed part of a team which had to work in unison, and in most cases this made for a "happy ship." Submarines were tho unfortunates of the fleet. The greatest danger to which they were exposed was often not the enemy, but their own friends. One periscope looks very much the same as another, and the policy of British destroyers was to destroy first and make inquiries after. Their attitude was, "We are after submarines—keep away from us." The author had the experience of making s "crash” dive in all-too-shallow water while a convoy of British destroyers raced overhead dropping depth charges all around the unfortunate submarine, which rocked and trembled at the effect of the devastating explosives. Another British submarine on the surface was sunk by shell fire and her crew decimated by a British “mystery ” ship. Although submarines certainly did, some damage during the war, one is inclined to wonder whether, taking it all round, they are really worth the money expended on them. This book contains some surprising revelations. D. A. L.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED The Significance of the Crown A, timely essay by Mr Richard Jebb, entitled “Has Britannic Majesty,” is a political view of the Crown in the Jubilee Year. It calls attention to the growing importance of the Crown to the welfare of the peoples of the Empire, and it explains simply the true constitution of the Empire as the “ Britannic Commonwealth of Nations.” The meaning of Dominion Status is explained and. in the light of that knowledge, the problem of India is considered. Mr Jebb, who is the author of various writings on similar topics, has dealt ably with the subject. Copies of the brochure may be obtained from Messrs Gibbs and Bamforth, St. Albans, Herts, England, at Is per copy (English price). Dr Thacker on Health

As a means to spreading his gospel of diet, Dr Thacker has commenced to publish a magazine which bears the selfexplanatory title of “Hiking to Health on Nature’s Highway.” It is to be a weekly publication issued from 96 Bealey avenue, Christchurch, price sixpence. The articles all deal with' different phases of the association between health and diet, and are written in a breezy, readable style which should appeal to laymen interested in these subjects Periodicals

The June issue of the Mystery and Detection Magazine contains a good assortment of tales about ghosts, mysteries, horrors, and crimes. The list of contributing authors is ’ a notable one, including the names of Edgar Wallace, Mrs Belloc Lowndes, G. K. Chesterton, Marjorie Bowen, F. Tennyson Jesse, Thomas Burke, and Algernon Blackwood. The cover design by “Nick" is worthy of mention as being particularly appropriate. Among the many publications that have been issued in connection with the twentyfifth anniversary of the King's accession to the throne, the Empire Day and Silver Jubilee Commemoration number of the Imperial Review is worthy of notice. It is a 64-page publication containing many excellent , illustrations and a variety of authoritative articles. Members of the British Governments and representatives of the dominions express a common loyalty to the throne and a sincere admiration for his Majesty in person. In a series of articles the developments of British industry during the past quarter of a century are covered. The publication, which is issued by the Imperial Trade Organisation. of 212 High Holborn, London, at the price of sixpence, is exceedingly interesting and forms a worthy souvenir of the occasion.

The Australian magazine Home, for the month of July, is attractively produced and contains a variety of interesting articles and stories as well as special sections on films and the theatre, social news, garden section, fashion notes, and photography. Among the miscellaneous articles are contributions on contract bridge, events of the year in England, the marionette theatre, and a general causerie entitled “This, That, and Them.” The Domestic Dicken* "Mr and Mrs Charles Dickens,” the volume containing the complete collection of the letters deposited in the British Museum in 1899 by Mrs Perugini, and released for publication By the death of Sir Henry Dickens, has just been* issued by Constable. The collection has been edited by Mr Walter Dexter, the editor of The Dickensian, and an appendix is added discussing in detail from contemporary sources the circumstances of the eenaration between the novelist and his wife. New Zealand Novelist John Guthrie is the latest recruit to the growing roll of New Zealand novelists. His first book, "The Little Country,” is announced by Nelsons for early publication. The story has its setting in the Dominion of to-day, and it is said that it notably fulfils the ambition of one of the characters “to make a hook in which we, as a country, should know ourselves and he known as we really are.” The novel has the imprimatur of Mr L. A. G. Strong.

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST THE ABBE DIMNET’S HOME "My Old World." By Ernest Dimnet. London: Dent. 11s. There is a distinction about this book by the Abbe Dimnet which is hard to define and which cannot entirely be explained by the bald statement that it is the memoirs of a Frenchman who writes in English—although this implies, to some extent, its peculiar quality. The Abbe Dimnet is a familiar figure in the literary worlds of England, France and America, and he is one of the few men who have completely mastered a language other than his native tongue. Some men who have achieved this have had the benefit of a cosmopolitan surrounding in child-

hood, but the environment of Ernest Dimnet was a provincial district in Northern France 70 years ago. It was a remote backwater, yet, strangely enough, from a very early age the writer had a curiosity about, and a sympathy with, the English. These feelings developed as he grew to maturity and, in young manhood, his path led from the provinces to Paris and from there to New York. Since then, he has lived partly in France and partly in the New World, where he has been a lecturer in some of the great universities. More than this, by his personality and by his culture, he has been a definite influence in Franco-Ameriean relationships and it is not for nothing that, in a non-Catholic • land, he is generally referred to as “ the good Abbe. \lt is difficult to define the quality of this book in which the Abbe tells of his childhood and early manhood, for the reason that there is nothing to which one can compare it. As an autobiography it is remarkable for its reticence of emotion, and, as a fine piece of English prose, it is probably more akin to the style of Addison and Steele jand the writers of the Augustan age than to anything else. Associations with France, however, are inescapable. About the style in which the writer describes his memories there is something which causes the mind to revert to thoughts of Proust, although it would not be easy to say why. Again, if one may trust an elementary knowledge of French, there is the thought that the nearest approach to the Abbe’s style would be found in some of the French writers of the eighteenth century. In spite of a cosmopolitan life and dominating English sympathies, it would appear that, due to his severe education in the seminaries of his young manhood, the mind of the Abbe Dimnet has remained essentially French. The writer was born in the little town of Trelon, in the north of France, in the centre of a pastoral district which has been reclaimed from the ancient forest of Ardennes, the remains of which still intersect the landscape and the chapters in which are described the inhabitants of the region, in general, and the Dimnet family and its circle in particular, are the finest in the book, although it is perhaps unfair _to compare the human interest of this section with the intellectual interest of the later chapters. After the description of home there follows the experiences at school, at college, and at the seminary at Cambrai, and in these chapters there are many enlightening passages on the rigid educational system of the time and of the Spartan discipline which prevailed in some places. The writer allows the reader to infer the growth of his mind and does not concern himself with academic successes to any great extent. In the final section of the book, which deals with his sojourn at Lille University, this development is fully_ apparent and the comments on English and French cultures are enlightening to an unusual degree. To read the book is to come into contact with an acutely perceptive intellect, a cultured mind, and a broadly tolerant and sympathetic nature. D. Q, B.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS The following publications have been received by recent mails, and will, as far as is practicable, be the subject of notices in these columns:— Fiction Thornton Butterworth: “The Straight Road,” by Stephen Travers; “Murder in Black,” by Francis D. Grierson; “The Harvest of Years," by Howard GordonPage; “Vengeance of GWA,” by Anthony Wingrave; “Elizabeth the Gallant,” by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer; “Three Witnesses,” by Sydney Fowler, Harrap: “Years Are So Long,” by Josephine Lawrence. Cape: "Platkops Children,” by Pauline Smith.

Murray; "They Lived,”by E. Thornton Cook. Jenkins; “Our Member, Mr Muttlebury,” by J. Storer Clouston; "The Peacock Throne,” by Trevor Molony; " The Wolf Swept Down,” by Robert Ladline. Dent: " Private Life of a Successful Man,” by W. F. Casey, Chatto and Windus; "Donaldson,” by Adrian Alington. Ward, Lock: "The Capsule Mystery,” by E. Charles Vivian; “Love Cruisers,” by Paul Trent (each ss). (Each 7s, unless otherwise stated.) General Literature Duckworth: “ Wolsey,” by Ashley Simpeon, 3s.

Jenkins; “The Understanding of a Dog,” by Lieutenant-colonel G. H. Badcock, illustrated, ss. ,■ Putnam: “Arctic Trader,” by Philip H. Godsell, illustrated, Ids. Murray: “Russia, Then and Now,” by Brigadier-general W. H.-H. Waters, 11s; “Beyond the by Charles Douie. 11s; “African Adventure,” by Denis D. Lyell, illustrated, 16s; “Canoe Errant,” by MajSr R. Raven-Hart, illustrated, 11s. Blackie; “The West Country,” by R. A. J. Walling, illustrated. 11s. Angus and Robertson: “Money,” by R. C Mills and ,E. R, Walker, ss.

Cape: "Arnold Bennett,” by Dorothy Cheston Bennett, 16s; “White Sails Crowding,” by Commander C. M. Butlin, illustrated, 16s. Harrap: “Our Future in the Air, by Brigadier-general P. R. C. Groves, 3s; «Broncho Charlie,” by Gladys Shaw Erskine, illustrated, 12s 6d. Seeley Service: “ The Anglers’ Weekend Book,” edited by Eric Taverner and John Moore, 12s 6d. Thornton Butterworth: “Vareunes, the Flight of Louis XVI,” by Cesare Giardini, illustrated, 18s 6d; “The Way to Wealth,” by Hartley Withers, 9s; “Queen Mary,” by Sir George Barker, illustrated, 7s 6d; “What is Patriotism?,” a symposium edited by N. P. Macdonald, 11s. HISTORY OF EUROPE I AN ADMIRABLE EXPOSITION

"A History of Europe." By the lU. Hon. H. A. L. Fisher. P.C., D.C.L., P.8.A., P.R.S. Vol. I, Ancient and Medlteval. London; Eyre and Spottlswoodo. 275.

One of the most curious and most obvious gaps in English' historical literature is now in process of being filled. Up to the present no history of Europe of real value and genuine authority has been written. The qualifications of the present author to do so are undoubted. It is with great interest that one investigates the manner of approach. Leeky, Fronde, or any other historian of an earlier day would have considered > that he could hardly do justice to such a subject in less than 16 volumes.- Mr Fisher in this present age of brilliant compression, finds three sufficient. In his preface he strikes at once the note of this history with the following passage;— One intellectual excitement, however, has been denied me. Men _ wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can only see one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon Wave, only one great fact ... in the development of human destinies the play of the con-

tineent and , the unforeseen. To use the author’s own wave metaphor, is it not possible that in relation to the span of man’s history he is in the position of a man who, after observing the waves of five or ten minutes, has not surprisingly failed to formulate an adequate theory of tides. It may be, on the other hand, that a pattern is there for the seeing, but that the learned author has failed to observe the_ subtle rhythtnic movements of humanity below the wild and irregular wave cresto of historical accident. The pattern of history is more likely to he found in the minds of men and in their ways of thinking than in the deeds of princes and the vicissitudes of their arms. This volume, _ starting in the neolithic age, passes rapidly to the Greeks, whom Mr Fisher calls " the one people of genius in the annals of the world. The characterisation of the Greeks is typical of the author’s refreshingly slashing stylo. A man who in his three score years and ten has read widely and deeply and written and done much, he has formed opinions personal, original, and valuable. Sometimes his pungent phrases seem to sacrifice judgment for effect, but the occasional loss is but a small price to pay for the total gain. There is evident in the author a distinct classical bias. He says:

Almost everything _ which is to be valued in modern civilisation is owing to that ancient culture of that part of the Mediterranean world which spoke and thought in Greek —our science and philosophy,, our epic and drama and lyrical poeiir, our standards in sculpture ana architecture, our medicine and mathematics our theory of humane education, the form of our Christian theology, and that ideal of law which distinguishes western from Chinese

civilisation. With some of these statements only a confirmed classicist would agree. Euclid bound geometry for centuries in. iron fetters from which it has only lately freed itself. Much of the valuable of our modern sculpture and architecture owes more to Egypt and Chaldea than to Greece, and an undue respect for the authority of Aristotle and bis compeers long kept medicine in the bonds of a priori reasoning and made it more of a superstition than a science. To criticse minor points in a work of such scope os this is, of course, comparatively easy. Mr Fisher’s valuation of men is sometimes distinctly coloured by the cast of his own mind. He seems not fully to appreciate the amazing mentality of Thomas Aquinas, although he performed the task, surely pleasing to Mr Fisher, of bringing Aristotle within the circle of Catholic theology, though it is true that the author seems aware of his possible defect, for he prints a note by an eminent Thomist criticising his own views. He puta too little weight upon the tremendous social changes that were the causes ns often as they were the effects of the outstanding events o? history. The change in the general view of property, the change in the inner attitude towards the two great concepts in medieval Europe, the church, and the Empire, are not perhaps sufficiently analysed or traced. But the author does appreciate very clearly that mankind has a spiritual inheritance and a spiritual succession, and he traces this by its outstanding figures with a sure pen and a deep insight. The mind that has such power as to be able to condense the vague and tangled histories of the European peoples into an ordered and comparatively unified narrative, finds it not beyond its capacity to give us an adequate survey at the same time of the Asiatic nations that have pressed upon and influenced this most unhomogeneous of continents. Mr Fisher has achieved a presentation of Europe, always'disorganised and usually quarrelling though it is, in such a way that we can at any given moment form a coherent and ordered picture of its condition and activity, and his sense of continuity is so strong as to enable us always to see and to comprehend the becoming as well as the being of its history. In this work a great weight of scholarship has been so skilfully forged and wrought that one is in danger of failing to appreciate the intellectual power that must have been necessary so to subdue the material. The whole is lightened by an admirable style, shot through with the flashing phrases of a decided and original mind. Mr Fisher has given us here such an admirable exposition of the lessons of European history as has never before been available. It remains for us to profit by it. P. H. W. N.

The Balkans To-day M. Albert Londres, the French publicist, who died over two years ago, foreshadowed the assassination of King Alexander in the account which he wrote of the secret society known as IMRO (International Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation). His narrative has been translated by L. Zarine, who has added a chapter filling the gap between the end of M. Londres’s story and Cite assassination. The book is announced by Constable under the title “Terror in the Balkans.”