Shorter Notice
North Africa. By Alan H. Brodriek. (Oxford University Press. 3s. 6d.) WHATEVER this little book lacks, it is not topicality ; nothing could more aptly synchronise with the demand. Unfortunately, there are other things it does lack. Perhaps Mr. Brodrick, supercharged with knowledge, has found the task of compression too much for him. Most of his volume is a tangled mass of history, geography and ethnology, in which it is almost impossible to see the fact— North Africa—for the facts. The last quarter of the book is on different and much more attractive lines, and the discussion of the future of Bombay and the development of Transaharan communica- tions is both instructive and suggestive, in spite of the new and unexpected turn events have taken since Mr. Brodrick wrote. In his last words he takes it for granted that the Germans will make a determined effort to control the whole North African " bridge-head " before the war is over. Fortunately, we can now change tense and mood, and say "they would have." Incidentally, the reminder that the port of Bone, which has figured so largely in recent news, is identical with St. Augustine's Hippo is an interesting piece of information.
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