HUMANISM AND POLITICS. STUDIES IN THE RELATIONSHIP OF POWER AND VALUE IN THE WESTERN TRADITION.

By Albert William Levi'32. Bloomington and London: IndianaUniversity Press, 1969. 498 pp. $15.

Albert William Levi, David May Distinguished University Professor of the Humanities at Washington University, St. Louis, has aready put us in his debt for several works in which the discipline of philosophy comes into direct contact with all other aspects of the contemporary intellectual world. The present work provides a further example of the scope of his interests and learning, and his sensitivity to the most diverse streams of thought.

The purpose of his book is to follow the thread of humanistic thought as it becomes entwined in the various areas of culture that impinge upon politics. Thus we have enlightening discussions of the drama and politics, with a study of the politics of Shakespeare's plays, Schiller, and recent Continental dramatists such as Brecht and Hochhuth and the existentialists in France. We have, too, studies of the historian and politics, and of theories of war in Machiavelli, von Clausewitz, and Herman Kahn.

In this book, it may fairly be said, there is something to enliven and enrich the thought of all who are interested in contemporary modes of thought and who wish to relate these modes to some of their earlier counterparts. And, finally, one may say that, throughout his book, Professor Levi exemplifies that which he also defends: the humanistic imagination, and the primary importance which attaches to an awareness and a concern for human values.

Mr. Mandelbaum holds the Audrey, w.Mellon Chair as Professor in the Humanties, Johns Hopkins University.