NOW IS THE MOMENT,
by Harold O. RuggDuell, Sloan and Pearce, 1943, 269 pp.,$2.50.
Professor Harold Rugg of Teachers' College has made a valuable addition to the rapidly growing list of books on the post-war world. He pays some attention to the foundation of a new international order but is far more interested in post-war domestic problems. Now Is the Moment is a challenging book which will irritate many conservatives. The autfyor contrasts the "Exploitive Tradition" in western civilization with what he calls the "Great Tradition" which is creative and cooperative. He sees ahead of us two sharply conflicting possible futures. Either we may return to normalcy and the "Exploitive Tradition" which may well lead to an American fascism. Or we may build a new world based on an economy of abundance, full employment for everyone, and a willingness to use the taxing and spending power of the government to whatever extent is necessary. We are fighting two wars—one an international war abroad and the other a war at home against the reactionary forces in American life. The second war will continue after the first has been won and victory is equally imperative in both wars. Professor Rugg expresses warm admiration for the New Deal, the TVA, the ideals of Henry Wallace, the economic theories of Dr. Alvin Hansen, the National Resources Planning Board, and modernistic architecture, literature, and music. Indeed, scattered throughout the book are many of Professor Rugg's own poems, strongly reminiscent of Walt Whitman.
The book concludes with an impassioned plea for a mammoth program of adult education, to be conducted from Washington, and to be directed towards a full discussion of the issues involved in the choices before us. No time must be lost, for "now is the moment" to make the decisions which will lead us forward to the opportunities of "the century of the common man."
