BETWEEN TEARS AND LAUGHTER

Sorry we did not have this sooner. It is not a surely popular Lin Yutang item, but probably one of the most important books he has done, a book written in anger and sorrow and disillusionment, a book in which he comes to the conclusion that ""with our way of thinking, we cannot create or devise a world peace"". With Oriental resignation he accepts the inevitable. If enough people were to read his book and do something about it, his presumptions might be qualified. Some of our attitudes might ""suffer a sea change"". Some of our idols might reveal their feet of clay. Some of our shame might be wiped away by the very change of attitude he feels necessary. This is a book that makes one wonder if the war will be bitter enough or last long enough for these changes to come, for us to abandon, as an Anglo-American front, our Anglo-American imperialistic viewpoint about Asia and the Asiatics. Here is no graceful philosophy of life such as The Importance of Living, nor pungent clever observations like With Love and Irony. It isn't always easy reading -- or easy to take. There is a connecting thread which weaves together chapters dealing with various aspects of our warped thinking. There is a particularly challenging section on the Culbertson plan, which he feels cannot solve tomorrow's problem, but which he fears may be symptomatic of today's thinking. Don't let this book be pooh-poohed, as I've already found some people inclined to do. Lin Yutang's name will help sales.