THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 1943

An extremely important book for a very specialized audience, -- students of government, statesmen actively engaged in the war effort, scholars. For here -- within covers of a book -- is a detailed survey of the war preparations and war organization and war effort of the greatest of democracies, the British Commonwealth of Nations. Some of the material preceded the entry of the USA into the war, and has been revised; some has largely an historical base, with the contemporary material somewhat withdrawn from the scene, as in the section entitled Wartime Administration in Germany and Great Britain, contributed by Heinrich Bruning, a paper contributed to a Harvard Seminar, revised for this new purpose. There is no attempt at military history, except by implication; the Colonial Empire and the Irish Free State are omitted for sake of condensation; the emphasis is on the English system of war administration, labor, finance, and more space is necessarily given to this aspect as the bulwark of the whole thesis. The subsequent chapters deal with the individual parts of the Empire, -- Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India -- how the Commonwealth works as a political instrument and a mutual security system. The effect of war on political philosophy, psychology, constructive effort, and how the systems were changed when geared for war. This is not a critical record of the war itself, but a factual record of the scope of British Commonwealth war effort. Various sections are contributed by authorities. Important library book.

Pub Date: July 26, 1943

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1943

Categories: NONFICTION