THE WAY OF THE FREE

This is an exploration of the origins, histories, ideologies and chances for survival of Russia and the United States, a large order for any writer, demanding a more astute organization and deeper penetration than this book reveals. The first half is a concentrated history of Russia and her ethnic groups, an analysis of the relationship between Europe and the United States and mutual decline of faith. The author believes that Europe including Russia is doomed because of their economic and social structures, that this country one can step into the brave new world. He defends American capitalism, denounces European feudalistic capitalism, decries all forms of Socialism and Communism. In the second part of the text, the author quotes such men as Karl Bath and Harold Laski on America, then shows them up as in error -- an essentially negative approach to a positive stand. The section on Russian history is illuminating, but dry in presentation and full of digressions, a characteristic of the whole of the book. Flat statements are made which- unsupported- beg the question. The informed will find little new; the uninformed will feel the treatment almost too glib for a topic demanding a more solid and scholarly base.