Hanover Browsing
FLETCHER PRATT wrote some months ago in Harper's about how badly this war was reported because of censorship. Evidence for this is abundant in Eric Sevareid's new book, Not So Wild ADream,, which Knopf issued in October. There is not a dull page in the 516 that comprise the book. The author was born in North Dakota, where today "the folks are about the same—and that is a basic fact and the wonderful hope"; went to Minneapolis Central High School, and later to the big mill, the University of Minnesota. As a radio reporter he covered Europe, South America, India, and China. A most rewarding chapter is his account of an aeroplane crash while crossing the Hump. Sevareid was fortunate enough to be with one of the few crews who survived such a crash, and his account of the Chinese nationalists and communists will throw a lot of light on today's headlines. Marine Raider Carlson's point of view regarding China is corroborated by Sevareid and by a lot of others I have talked to who have been to China.
The author is a man I would like to hear speak at Dartmouth; even more I would like to talk to him before a fire way into the night. Thoroughly honest, with a frankness and a disarming candor which is unusual among reporters famous for their cynicism, he is also a most enlightened human being and I found myself in almost complete accord with him throughout the book which I read slowly—a chapter a day. This would be my choice for the book of the month. Among correspondents' books I can't at the moment think of a better one.
For laughs and the light touch I recommend Thomas Heggen's Mister Roberts (Houghton Mifflin) which is a penetrating and most amusing account of a Naval Auxiliary in the Pacific. The ship never sees combat; it has a lousy captain who is referred to by officers and men in such racy language that I can't repeat it here; it has the irrepressible Dolan, who, when the captain asked him what the crew really thinks of him, tells him in a familiar fiveletter word which can leave no doubt in the captain's mind, Ensign Pulver who brings a girl on board with somewhat shocking results, and last of all Mister Roberts, the finest type of reservist who enlisted to fight and who by his ability and character holds the whole ship together. Of the thousands of Dartmouth men who served in the Navy most all will find herein reflections of many of their own experiences and their thoughts. Highly recommended. This should sell more copies than The Hucksters but, unfortunately, it won't.
On the recommendation of Dick Lawton '42, now here as a young medico, I bought and read William S. Stone's Tahiti Landfall (Morrow). This is an account of those French Pacific islands which will arouse an almost painful nostalgia in the spirit of any present-day escapist. There are decorations by Nicolas Mordvinoff and lovely photographs by Prudence and Igor Allan. There is good humor, beauty, and an artlessness of behavior in the book which reminds me somewhat of Claude Rains as Julius Caesar in the Pascal movie "Caesar and Cleopatra."
I have been re-reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's English Traits which might well be required reading now to help clear up our perspective concerning our English allies. What he said in 1856 applies equally well, I think, today. Salutary and profitable reading.
Mr. Taft had the courage to take an unpopular view aboufthe Nuremberg trials. I respect him but am far from convinced. Robert H. Jackson's The Case Against theNazi War Criminals (Knopf) may conceivably convince almost anybody. I bought the book and read it as it undoubtedly contains some of the most significant legal documents of our time. This is the first time that warmakers, of a most brutal and inhuman sort, have been tried by an international court. That it will prevent aggressive wars I doubt, but that it is a step forward in international relations 1 believe.
For those who like books about the sea I recommend without reservation William McFee's recent volume In the First Watch (Random House). This is the best, for me, of the last few of McFee's books.
George R. Stewart is a daring and unusual writer and in Man (Random House) he has attempted the story of man through the ages which, although his simple treatment leaves much to be desired, is still worth reading in this age when man is again pretty much bewildered about his fate.
For students of Elizabethan literature I recommend a book given me by R. P. Hobbs '30 called The Muses' Darling. It is a life of Christopher Marlowe, written by Charles Norman.
