CAVALCADE OF EUROPE

This book does an excellent job of presenting the modern European scene in terms of the ideas and values that make up national identity. Fourteen foreign correspondents have covered twenty-odd countries, omitting only Bulgaria, Albania, Rumania, and Iceland. In spite of the variety of authors, which include Drew Middleton, David Schoenbrun, and Irving R. Levine, there is a surprising unity and similarity of tone throughout the volume. Benelux and Scandinavia are treated as units, but generally only one or two countries are discussed in a section. Each section starts by presenting something which to the reporter is characteristic of the essence of the people... it may be a specific historical incident, or an important economic-geographic fact of the country, or some outstanding national interest. The present situation in the country is then briefly presented, and enough physical description of the land itself is included so that the reader can visualize it. Then demography, social organization, cultural interests and enthusiasms, politics, and principal economic interests are deftly woven in, and enough history is given so that the reader can grasp what in the country's past has led to the present situation. The result of this approach is not a travel book, although it would be of use to the traveller, but a background book on the political and social currents in Europe today that is clear, interesting, convincing, and a boon to anyone interested in following foreign affairs in the newspapers.