The European World, 1870-1945. By T. K. Derry and T.
L. Jarman. (Bell. 20s.) THIS is an unusually good text-book, and something more besides. As a text-book it is designed for the student "setting to work on this crowded period ab in 1110." As a result, many students in this position at university level will find that neither the book nor its recommendations for further reading make adequate demands upon • them ; but it should prove useful even to the most aspiring. This opinion is based on the book's factual accuracy and balanced judgement ; on the fact that, while dealing with its material Tin considerable detail, its details are so selected and its material so arranged that it never gives the impression of congestion or con- fusion ; and, last but not least, on the fact that it is well written. These qualities, and the further consideration that the selection and arrangement of material are throughout influenced by the attempt to show how and why contemporary Europe reached its present situation, make it possible to recommend the book to an even wider audience than students. There is more sense and guidance here for the ordinary serious reader than he will find in a dozen books with titles like / Was There or My Years in the Kremlin.
Previous page
