LION AMONG ROSES: A MEMOIR OF FINLAND.
By David Bradley '38. NewYork: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965278 pp. $5.95.
I have enjoyed reading Dr. Bradley's book, and I learned a good deal about Finland, and not incidentally, a good deal about Dr. Bradley and his family: both well worth knowing.
At the end of the book the author sums up his experience: "Finland had been kind to us. She had treated us with hospitality and the courtesy of neglect; she had given us a job and a home and then gone about her business. We had seen something of the brilliance of her arts and the strength of her families. We had admired her commonsense socialism as well as her unorganizable individuals. We had shared a bad time, and the freedom kept by her uncowed, unpanicky ways."
Dr. Bradley knows Finland well. He covered the winter war of 1939 as a newspaper man so he knew Finland when he, with his family, returned there to teach American literature in 1960.
The first part of the book tells of the impact Finland made on his family, and is more personal than the two other sections of the book. The second part is a reconsideration of the wars Finland fought with the Russians and Germans. The third part returns to a more personal account of their stay.
Dr. Bradley kept an open mind. Note what he says about socialized medicine: "The time may come when Americans will cease to believe their feudal system to be the best and only medicine. They would be wise to study Finland's, for it is technically as good and more humane. The success of Finnish medicine, as is true of other socialist programs, lies in its practical com- bination of both state and private enterprise. ... Finns are not doctrinaire people, but pragmatists. Theory is not important, only what works reasonably well." It is well to recall that Dave Bradley is a doctor of medicine.
I know how hard Dr. Bradley worked on Lion Among Roses as we had offices close to each other, when I too was writing a book. The book reveals his genuine talents as a writer. His family conversations ring with authenticity. His feeling for the Finnish atmosphere reeks with veracity. This is an honest and able book about a country little known in America.
I strongly recommend it and congratulate David on his accomplishment. Neither he nor his family will ever be quite the same again owing to their stay in Finland.
It is interesting that Kim, the oldest daughter, chose to go to the University of Alaska, rather than Smith. Now I can understand this better. Good for her!
Professor of ComparativeLiterature Emeritus
