Reviewing The New Books
Chronicle of Poland
Is Bitter Document
Against Aggression
CALL US TO WITNESS
By Hania and Gaither War
field. (Ziff Davis; $3.)_
By Mary-Carter Roberts
I said some time ago that I would
read no more books on what hap
pened to Poland. It was not that
I was sceptical. It was the reverse
of that. I had read books enough
on the subject to be prepared to be
lieve anything—any horror, that is,
any abomination. Consequently, I
reached a state of mind in which
I said to myself, “The Nazis did it.
Whatever it was. however far be
yond imagination m its vileness,
they did it.” But I took that blanket
acceptance as an excuse from read
ing details. I would believe the un
believable, but I did not want to
read about it.
However, I got into this volume
by the man who was head of the
Methodist church in Poland and his
wife, Gaither and Hania Warfield,
and I went right on. It contains
all the horrors, true enough; it in
cludes the murder commandos, the
man hunts, the pogroms, the death
trains, the cremations, the depor
tations, the torture schools, the slave
labor, all the now familiar impos
sibilities. But it makes one aware
of them in a newly significant way.
It does not report them as lists j
of figures indicative of insanities j
which still must be accepted. It
shows them to you as they mustj
have appeared to the sensibilities!
of the average Polish citizen.
Mr. and Mrs. Warfield went on
with their life and work in the
midst of those insanities. He was
imprisoned for a short time by the
Russians early in war and later,!
after Pearl Harbor, by the Germans,
and both were questioned by the
Gestapo repeatedly. But in the main j
they went on about their lives. They I
saw the tragedies which occurred |
not with the correspondent’s or the j
historian's eye. but with the eye of a
near participant. |
To hear, almost daily, of the death
by casual shooting or by torture of j
one’s friends; to be thrown bodily!
off streetcars to give space to Nazis; J
to be slapped and pushed on thej
streets: to see man hunts in progress!
when a blanket order had gone out
for so many hostages; to be in a
day-by-day fear of starvation: to
risk one's life by buying a piece of
butter on the black market; to have
Nazis enter one’s home and remove
whatever they fancied—such experi
ences were theirs for over two years.
Their book, in other words, gives us
the Nazi horror in family terms; it
'domesticates the grisly specter as it
was domesticated in millions of
Polish homes. I cannot think of a!
more effective way to present it.
Dr. Warfield, incidentally, is a j
Maryland man. He was born in J
Rockville and now is living in Fred
erick. Mrs. Warfield is of Polish
birth but had obtained American
citizenship prior to the outbreak of
the war.
-
Tolstoy and His Wife
By Tikhon Polner. Translated
from the Russian by Nicholas
Wreden. (Norton; $2.75.)
With the recast great interest in
“War and Peace” making the Amer
ican people more Tolstoy-conscious
than they have been for 30 years
past, it is appropriate that this
"human” study of the great Rus
sian should make its appearance
on our 'book stalls. The book was
originally published in France in
the late '20s. The author was a
friend of Tolstoy's and knew the
novelist in terms of his family life.
His position is that Tolstoy’s rela
tions to his wife and family were
a strong influence on the novelist's
work and he undertakes to chart
the course of those relations ac
cordingly. In spite of his personal
acquaintance, however, he does not
draw on memories but confines his
sources to identifiable documents—
letters, diaries and relevant literary
works.
He draws a picture of the bach
elor Tolstoy which is designed to
make plain the great energy of his
genius and his need of a faith to
serve. With so vigorous and foot
loose a force within him he was shy
of matrimony and entries in his
diary at the time of his courtship
are close to comic reading today
for the conflict they reveal between
shall-I and shall-I-not. In his con
fusion the young man involved him
self with two sisters before he
finally got to the point of openly
proposing, and the reader unversed
in literary history will be diverted
to learn that some of the most
improbably emotional scenes of sub
sequent Tolstoyan novels were acted
out at this time in dreadful earnest
by the novelist himself.
The marriage begun with such
doubts and megrims was. however,
almost idyllically happy for a long
time. In family life Tolstoy found
the root which he had so long
needed. Then came his conversion
to primitive Christianity, with its
conviction that ownership of any
thing whatever was a sin, and his
bewildered wife, who had borne
him 12 children, was confronted
by his determination to impoverish
himself and asked to sympathize.
Her refusal to see her children cut
off, her impatience with his idealism
led him to regard her as an enemy
of his soul's well-being. They lived
in a state of bitterness from then
on. with only brief reconciliations
and those based on memories of the
past rather than on present under
standing.
The outline of the story is pretty
well known, but it is told here in
close and human detail which, para
doxically, gives it a quality close
to fiction
Hania and Gaither Warfield, who worked together in
Warsaw and endured and survived the horror oj the occupa
tion about which they write in “Call Us to Witness.”
---———
The Pattern
Of Soviet Power
By Edgar Snow. (Random
House; $2.75.)
j Since "realism” is a word lately
| in fashion to describe the totali
tarian technique when it is manip
ulated by members of the United
| Nations, one may describe this book
I of Edgar Snow's as presenting a
"realistic” picture of what faces oux
recent idealism in Europe and Asia
in the near future.
Totalitarian regimes will be set
up in all the countries occupied by
Russia, says Mr. Snow. It will be,
in his opinion, a benevolent totali
tarianism, lacking in free elections,
press and speech, but equipped with
economic reforms which will consist
mainly in the breaking up of large
; estates for distribution among the
peasantry.
Fascist elements will be swept
away, which is something anybody
would consider to the good were it
not for the old Russian custom of
nominating anybody out of sym
pathy with Russian domination as
a Fascist and liquidating the same
without trial. Already, as William
Henry Chamberlain points out in
his "America: Partner in World
Rule,” prominent Polish citizens
have been executed for this kind of
"fascism,” despite life-long records
as faithful Socialists,
i It is not, on the whole, a com
! forting picture for Americans to
contemplate which Mr. Snow pre
sents, but, as he presents it, one
realizes that in Europe it is about
the best that could be expected.
Our own concept of freedom has no
reality on that continent and to
apply it there would probably be
expecting performance beyond
capability.
In Asia, Mr. Snow believes that
EDGAR SNOW.
Russia will not be satisfied with
continued Kuomintang government
of China. He thinks that there wili
be no Russian participation in the
Pacific war until it is near its close
when the Soviet government wii:
come in so as to have a voice in
the peace settlement. Russia will
then probably demand, he thinks
the territories which the Tsarist re
gime lost to Japan. These will have
to be taken from China, of course
and, if we, who have renounced
our extraterritoriality and . other
privileges in the Far East, object
to the dismembering of our Chinese
ally, we may have to fight. Russia
: will aim for a communistic Chinese
; government which will make the
(concessions which she demands in
| a willing spirit.
Thus, realistically, we see the
' outcome of the war fought to estab
lish self-government and with an
express renunciation of territorial
aggrandizement, or at least we see
Edgar Snow's vision of it. He is
one of the most experienced writers
in the field of Russian politics.
There is no special reason to doubt
that he has good reason for what
he says.
| New Books |
I* Shouldn’t Happen. $2, July 19.
The Fate* Are Lauchlnc. $3. July' 19.
Proceed Without Delay, $2, July 17.
The Pool. $1, July 17.
The Kniaht* ol the Cape. $2.50. July 18.
Son of the wilderness, $3.60, July 1H.
Artie Greencroin. Pfc.. $2.50. July is.
Bone* of Contention. $2.75. July 16.
China’i Criali, $3. July 16.
Naked City, $4, July 18.
New Chum, $2.50, July 17.
Psychiatry in Modern Warfare, $1.50,
July 17.
Raw Material. $3. July 19.
It'* a Free Country, $1.75. July 19.
Claire
By Erin Samson. (Harper’s;
$2.50.)
The author of this talented and
sensitive first novel is a Washing
tonian who has lived much of her
life abroad. She made her first trip
to Europe when she was an infant
and repeated the journey many
times. Part of her education was
in a college in Angers, part in Ox- j
i ford and part in Trinity College in i
| Washington. She had lived for a
' number of years in Paris when the!
war broke out. She returned to!
j Washington in 1940.
Her book, though it is about;
I French life, has nothing to do withi
j the war. It is set in the first part;
of the 20th century and has for its
ERIN SAMSON.
theme the characterization of a
gifted woman against a background
of French society in various levels.
Claire, the heroine, is the dauglj-:
ter of a comfortable bourgeois fam
ily. She develops into a talented \
dance, has her day as a success- i
ful stage artist, then marries and re
nounces her career to satisfy her
husband s wishes. She remains a
unique personality, however, and in *
her family life and in Paris society I
she wields her peculiar influence—!
one compounded of charm, sensitive
understanding and common sense.
The book has a quality of depth
and a sure touch.
Maiden Voyage
By Denton Welch. (L. B. Fischer
Publishing Cory.; $2.75.)
Reviewed by
FRANCIS P. DOUGLAS.
This first book by a young English
writer tells of his running away
from an English public school, his
return at the insistence of his rela
tives, and. later, of his experiences
for a brief period in China. The
reader learns with some surprise
that the young Denton of the book
is almost 17, for the picture of him
is of a more immature youth. There
are some passages in the book of
[ clear and Incisive writing.
The Dark Continents
of Your Mind
DO YOU struggle for balance? Are
you forever trying to maintain energy, i
enthusiasm, and the will to do? Do
your personality and power of ac
complishment ebb and flow—like a
stream controlled by some unseen
! valve? Deep within you are minute
'organisms. From their function
spring your emotions. They govern
your creative ideas and moods—yes,
even your enjoyment of life. Once
they were thought to be the mysteri
ous seat of the soul—and to be left
unexplored. Now cast aside supersti
tion and learn to direct intelligently
these powers of self.
Accept this "pnae Book
Let the Xosicruciam, an age-old fraternity of
thinking men and women (not a religion), point
out how you may fashion life as you want it—by
making the fullest use of these little-understood
tuaurml fmtultm which you possess. This is a
challenge to make the most of your heritage as a
human. Write for the Free Book, "The Mastery
oI Lite." Address Scribe D.B.L.
7te ROSICRUCIANS
Son Joee (AMORC) California
_ _
Confronting the Land
Question
By Jackson H. Ralston. (Amer
ican Association for Scientific
Taxation.)
Reviewed by JOSEPH H. BAIRD
For more than half a century Mr.
Ralston, at one time a well-known
Washington attorney, but now a
resident of California, has devoted
much of his time to promoting the
practical application of the "single
tax” theories of the late Henry
George.
A generation ago, as Mr. Ralston
points out, the theories of land re
form advocated by George in
“Progress and Poverty” were the
subject of wide and spirited debate
both here and in Great Britain. But
in late years they have dimmed in
public interest. The present vol
ume is an attempt to weigh the
reasons why the "single tax” has
not been generally accepted and to
plot a future course for those who
still hold to the doctrine.
The essence of Henry George's
theory, distilled to its simplest
terms, was that the earth was the
property of all mankind and that
no individual had the social right
to benefit from pyramiding land
values resulting from the labors of
the community. He advocated the
abolition of all taxes save those on
unimproved land, which, he be
lieved, would prevent speculation
and the accumulation of large, idle
estates.
Looking toward the future, Mr.
Ralston advocates some modifica
tions in the original George theo
ries. He believes that much statisti
cal spadework should be done to
provide a factual basis for convinc
ing the public of the advantages of
the "single tax." He also advocates a
reformed initiative and referendum
device to promote home rule on tax
ation in cities, counties and States.
Washington will find of interest
Mr. Ralston’s account of the ef
forts of the "single taxers” to apply
their theories in Capitol Heights
and Maryland generally around
1915. Of interest, too, is his con
clusion that in “Washington, high
and level land was too expensive
and inhabitants were driven to land
which was redeemed at public ex
pense from its swampy condition.”
Mr. Ralston’s book sheds inter
esting light on the practical efforts
which have been made in the
United States to put into practice
Henry George’s theories — efforts
which are not well known to the
contemporary reading public.
■ I * ■ ■ — ■! M I ■ ■ ■ ■ I |
Best Sellers
(According to Publishers’ Weekly.)
-NATION-WIDE
FICTION.
1st—Captain From Castile. Samuel
Shellabarger.
2d—A Lion Is in the Streets. Adria
Locke Langlev.
3d—Commodore Hornblower. C. S
Forester
4th—Immortal Wife. Irving Stone
5th—The Ballad and the Source.
Rosamond Lehmann.
NONFICTION.
1st—Brave Men. Ernie Byle.
2d—lip Front, Bill Mauldin
3d—Black Boy. Richard Wright
4th—Try and Stop Me, Bennett Cerf
5th—Anything Can Happen. George
and Helen Papashvlly.
—IN WASHINGTON—
FICTION.
1st—That Girl From Memphis. Wil
bur Daniel Steele
2d—Commodore Hornblower. C S
Forester
3d—Strange Fruit. Lillian Smith
4th—The City of Trembling Leaves,
Walter Van Tilburg Clark
5th—Immortal Wife. Irving Stone.
NONFICTION.
1st—Brave Men, Ernie Pyle.
2d—Up Front. Bill Mauldin
3d—Pleasant Valley. Louis Bromfleld
4lh—The Pattern of Soviet Power,
Edgar Snow
5th—Report on the Russians, W. L
White.
MAJ. GEN, CLAIRE LEE
CHENNAULT.
Old Leatherface of ihe
Flying Tigers: The Story
Of Gen. Chennault
By Keith Ayling. (Bobbs-Mer
rill; $2.50.)
As far as I know this is the first
biography of the flyer who won a
just renown in China and who an- j
nounced his retirement from the'
United States Army yesterday. The!
distinguished subject makes it, con-;
sequently, an important book de-;
spite the undistinguished writing, j
in grammar school style that evenj
boys and girls might find dull.
Chennault's extraordinary achieve- j
ments are worth recording. As
chief of the Flying Tigers, he with
his 100 planes gave the Chinese
invaluable support at a critical time.
As commander of the 14th Army
Air Force, he filled a historic role
in helping to wind up the war
against Japan.
Born in Texas in 1890, reared in
Louisiana, Claire Lee Chennault
spent his boyhood with a minimum
of schooling and a maximum of
roughing it. He went to Louisiana
! State University, played on sports
teams, qualified for ROTC. He,
enrolled in normal school and came
out a teacher. Later he was physi
cal culture instructor in various
YMCAs. He did factory work, and
at 27, joined the Army in World
War I and with the exception of
two brief periods, followed a mili
tary career from then on.
Somewhat like Gen. Mitchell,
Chennault is another reminder
that we have a matchless air
force not because we have brairi3,
but because we are shot through
with luck. Though Ayling makes
no special point of it, he lists
half a dozen occasions when,
if Chennault had been sensible
instead of fanatical, he would have
quit flying.
When he applied for Air Corps
duty, he was told he did “not pos
sess the necessary qualifications to
be a successful aviator.” At the
; end of World War I he was dis
charged, though he wanted to stay
in service. He got back in even
tually, worked out plans for a flight
to Hawaii, but had to wait a year
before they were carried out.
He doped out fighter formations
of threes, only to have a general
ask: "What real use can it be put
The Army, which might have
been expected to want to hold him,
offered him retirement. He ac
cepted, went to China. There the
brass hats caught up with him
again. W. G. R.
r H. ALLEN SMITH j
i j has done some of his funniest writing in
fl jhis own introductions (to the book and
n[ to each story*) for his new anthology g
PwTvl of American humor.
*35 in all. by such famous
American laujthmascer* as IT A // 4
Urdner, Benchley,Tbur- tl» Si Uetf IV
/O Aer, If'oollcott, Merk • » . U
If Tu-nint Thorne Smith, jmitfo $ 1
DESERT
j ISLAND I
|JlL M DECAMERON I
Pf^^,~ \ [V\ /> Illustrated by LEO HERSHFELD ||
X-4"// X At your bookseller’s $2.50 If
y^iajliaiicin^DOUBLEDAY, doran J
—s—
Among
the Authors
By Carolyn Coggins
Philip Wylie, author of “Night
Unto Night,” is a prolific writer and
one who finds the work painless. He
has been known to finish a 20,000
word story in a single day. Our in
terest at the moment, however, is in
his clothes. His publishers recently
told a story about how in his Prince
ton days a club invited him to join
them, but to visit a tailor first.
Later on, when he was making a
fabulous income in Hollywood, he
ordered dozens of sports jackets—
custom-made, tif course—and was
pleased when Clark Gable asked
where he got his clothes. It oc
curred to us—as it apparently did
not to the publishers telling this
story—that Mr. Gable’s inquiry
might have been made in amaze
ment rather than with envy. Pic
tures of the jackets looked pretty
wild.
* * * *
Another youngster, Alex Comfort,
who is only 24, has a new book, “The
Power House.” His youthful indus
try already has produced two novels,
two plays and three books of verse
in England. Meanwhile, he qualified
in medicine and is working in an
English hospital.
anilllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllll lllllllllllllUs
it WJ i
S Arab and Andy rip up j§
E Washington again in E
I LAY THAT !
(PISTOL DOWN 1
by Richard Powell
= $200
51ft An Inner-Sanctum Mystery
1 One of the
8 most thrilling
I man-hunts
i in fiction!
II A breath-taking story of post
11 occupation France, worthy to
k j stand in the company of The 39
■ Steps and Above Suspicion.
I THE
DOUBLE
AGENT
I By
I HILDEGARDE
I TOLMAN
| TEILHET
U At your bookseller’s • $2.30
Book Reviews in Brief
MUSIC.
Music for Fun, by Sigmund Spaeth.
(Circle Books.) An entertaining vol
ome, designed to acquaint you with
your own musical I. Q. Assorted in
formation, questions, histories and
so forth.
SHOOTING.
Practical Marksmanship, by Capt
M. M. Johnson, jr. (Morrow; *2.50.)
A Marine Corps Reserve officer
writes on the principles of marks
manship in general and how to im
prove your marksmanship in par
ticular. _
VISION.
Your Eye* Have Told Me, by Louis
H. Schwartz, M. D. (Dutton; 12.75.)
A survey of the various myths cur
rent as to eye health and disease—
carrot eating, eye exercises and so
forth. Informative.
AMERICANA.
Jersey Genesis, by Henry Charl
ton Beck. (Rutgers University
Press.) A volume of New Jersey
folklore, legend and history, very
well done, most entertaining. Illus
trated with photographs.
HALF
PAST
YESTERDAY
by Robert Sturgis
%
A challenge
to every woman who waits • • •
So honestly written it may seem cruel, this story
tells the startling truth of a man’s reactions when
army service disrupts his married life, canceling
his past and leaving the future in doubt.
At bookstores. f2.50
M. S. MILL CO., NEW YORK, N. Y.
m
| I Am Gazing
| Into My
Moll
| best-selling laugh riot,' by
* EARL WILSON j
Nationally syndicated N. Y. Post columnist 1'
A
At your bookseller's, $2
0 O U B l i D AY, .D OR A HWg^Z*^