BELGIUM

The ideal guidebook to Belgium, by an ex-ambassador, who knows and loves her. Good reading for stay-at-homes; good factual background for an understanding of the staunch little country; and -- from the guidebook angle, an inspiration and traveling companion for adventure and experience. His psychology of travel is sound; he gives a brief history of Belgium, her people, her struggle for independence; he surveys her manners and customs, her arts and crafts; he takes the towns, one at a time, making his readers feel as if they were sharing the experience with him; he writes of the festivals and the mediaeval survivals. And he does it all with sly humor -- even in handling the tabloid lives of the Saints. There are excellent appendices including the lives of the Flemish painters, lists of their works, compilations, etc. First rate.