ZAHAROFF: HIGH PRIEST OF WAR

Merchants of Death and Blood, Iron and Profits centered attention on the Mystery Man of Europe, and it seemed inevitable that the next publishing season would capitalize the interest. Two books are scheduled -- the other, a Little, Brown publication, is of indefinite publication date. So this, for the moment, holds the stage. It is, frankly, disappointing, from the point of view of dramatizing an individual. Zaharoff does not come to life in the text, but rather one sees him as an inanimate object, evidence before the judge and jury, to be weighed -- and found wanting. The three legends of his origin are discussed; the rest of his life is seen through his deeds and misdeeds, a lonely chess player, moving his kings and queens and pawns, with one end in view, the satisfaction of his overweening ambition and urge for power. Much of the material has already been presented, and more dramatically, in the above mentioned books. Little is added, beyond the opening chapters, of the man himself.