The almost uncanny timeliness of this volume is certain to result in a wider sale than so pedantic a treatment of the subject might otherwise have achieved. Step by step the history of years of trouble, dating back specifically to 1918, and generally to long before that; the roots -- the causes -- the manifestations. Recent developments, with an objective approach to the soundness of the claims made by the Sudeten Germans, the way in which Benes has approached the subject and his generous and flexible attitude. The book comes up to March '38, but it makes the groundwork for better understanding of today's crisis.