THE PEACEMAKERS

Marquis Childs, the correspondent and columnist and occasional novelist, has written an exciting story of high international politics and the entire action takes place during twenty-four hours of crisis at a four power conference in Geneva. The French have precipitated the situation by invading Tunisia, and the Tunisians have called in nominally Arab (but actually Russian) supporters who are armed with tactical nuclear weapons. The Americans, the British, and even the Russians, hastily seek a detente. In all this, the American Secretary of State tries to steer a middle course between the war-mongering of his own hot militarists and what he considers the peace-mongering of the British, although at the end of the book, his own ""new"" policy remains puzzlingly ill-defined. The action affords an intriguing contrast of personalities, as well as a vehicle for the author's professional views on the cold war, and even the obligatory love affair is suitably convincing. It's a highly topical and eminently readable story- with a best-seller look.