The Annual Register. (Longmans. 3os.)
THE Annual Register is, despite its honourable antiquity, less generally known than it should be to persons who for one reason or another need to have at hand a succinct and accurate epitome of recent history in every country. The 1939 volume is necessarily a sombre record, for, having to present facts as they are, it neces- sarily has to tell how Europe slid steadily to the edge of the abyss, and then at last slipped over. Some of the speeches summarised make strange reading now—Mr. Chamberlain's, for example, when on January 31st of last year he " twitted the Opposition with their habit of always taking the worst possible view of the motives and intentions of other people [in this case Signor Mussolini], and declared that if the worst came to the worst the country had resources with which to meet any emergency." Still, it is useful to have such things filed for reference.
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