THE SILENT PEOPLE SPEAK

by Robert St. John ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 1947

Read as a personal story ""inside Yugoslavia"" this is a fascinating document,- fascinating in its human angles, in the sense of story, in the panorama it unfolds of a primitive country making tremendous strides towards catching up with what civilization means in terms of schools, roads, railroads, hospitals -- and doing it with a high sense of adventure in a country run, for the first time, by the people. He visited cities and towns- and ghost towns laid waste by war; he saw reconstruction well in hand; he found a country, for generations torn by inner strife, bearing witness to the possibility of wiping out enmities, living in amity and cooperation, operating under local people's councils, which- they claim- are not subject to rule from above. At almost every vulnerable point, under attack by other correspondents, he offers convincing evidence that ""the terror"" -- the dictatorship -- is nowhere apparent. His source of information was never official; he talked- through unofficial interpreters- to the peasant people, farmers, artisans, travellers, and in great numbers to men and women, boys and girls, who had been partisans. In its very contradictions, this book makes an important contribution to the picture of the Balkans. By the author of From the Land of the Silent People, it is sure of an audience.

Pub Date: Jan. 8, 1947

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1947

Categories: NONFICTION