Night Over Europe

PROFESSOR SCHUMAN has really written two books within the compass of one. There is an extensive record, based on documentary source material and newspaper description, of the background of the Second World War and of the course of hostilities and political events up to the conclusion of the German-Italian-Japanese pact of last September. And there is also a passionate expression of personal viewpoint about the developments of the past and the probabilities of the future. The author is a vehement anti-isolationist, and he carries his conception beyond the limits of aid to Great Britain to win the present war. In his own words: ‘World society is one, it must be reconquered from the barbarians and reordered as a single polity in which justice for each is protected by the organized might of all.’ He wants nothing less than a union of the world, beginning with a federal union of the United States and the British Commonwealth. He is gravely concerned over the possibility that the ‘Fascist Caesars’ may win the war, and recommends an immediate military alliance between Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. In this connection he is perhaps inclined to overrate Soviet military power and to underrate Stalin’s aversion to an understanding with the democracies. Both as contemporary history and as an ardent tract for the times, however, Professor Schuman’s work is ot high topical value and permanent significance. w. H. c.