RIO GRANDE TO CAPE HORN

The current interest in Dawn Over the Amazon, Reals picaresque novel of postwar Latin America, reenforced with reference to his study of the economic problems in Pan America (Published in 1940), gives a special fillip to interest in this over-all coverage of the countries ""from Rio Grande to Cape Horn"", with accent on the highly individualized variations of each. Distinguishing characteristics of race, dress, food, politics, economics, culture, with no glossing over of bad points and weaknesses, but due concern with the fine characteristics. He places emphasis on the Negro, on the relations with the United States, on our inevitable interdependence. He takes each nation individually, with pungent comment on progress, on internationalism, on controlling personalities. He ends with a roundup of leaders of Latin American opinion and their ideas on the war, its aims, and the future. Swift, graphic, highly interpretive panorama. Carleton Beals is sometimes criticized for being superficial and sensational and inaccurate; I cannot judge this on those scores. But for the general reader, who skips tables and statistics, and reaches for easily absorbed atmosphere and general information, Carleton Beals is certainly satisfying and entertaining.