THIS KIND OF PEACE

In the midst of all the other books about the U.S., falling on, or short of, or beyond their subject, one thing is certain here: This Kind of Peace will stir considerable debate, just as This Kind of War, a study of the Korean action, stimulated attention and sales. Fehrenbach begins here with the disconcerting premise that the U.N. not only is ""no longer really relevant"" to the world situation, but that it was always limited. He then proceeds to shred whatever reputation the organization ever had. ""Nothing like the United Nations will ever forge the kind of world order Americans desire,"" he concludes, having finally plucked away the last particles of hope, and left nothing to cling to but blind chance. ""No human order is logical. They simply come about."" While it is possible, indeed unavoidable, to take issue with many of his particular charges, what is most interesting is the matter of where the author himself stands, since he leaves no ground to stand on anywhere--except for a narrow, frank and fierce new form of imperialism. In any case no one, whatever his opinion of the U.N., will finish the book without being bruised ideologically; he will also have the mixed satisfaction of realizing that no one whose convictions differ will have been left unscathed.