ISLANDS ON GUARD

This should be as useful a book as last year's Ocean Outposts, which dealt with islands of the Pacific (and is now reissued in an edition, brought up to date by the inclusion of the Solomons, etc.). Unfortunately, Mrs. Follett -- with a title which leads one to expect a timely handling of the strategic importance of these Caribbean islands, and of the part they are playing in defense today, has made of her material almost solely a travel pattern, with second thought touching upon the subjects of the moment. This seems soaroely a time to write a youthful guidebook to things to do and see in the Lesser Antilles, and she has failed to make the histories of the islands distinctive or particularly interesting. I found her style inclined to be archly personal and liberally sprinkled with exclamation marks. Too bad.