ROUND TRIP TO RUSSIA

This is the best picture of Russia at war that I have read. By this, I do not mean that it reaches the high spots of The Last Days Of Sevastopol. But as an impression of how Russia looks -- of the country, villages, trains, farms and cities under fire, this is a revealing record. Graebner wisely took the long way to Moscow so as to visualize the way Russians themselves were moving. This is not a history of Russia fighting, but a close-up of how the people are living, of men and women -- in uniform and out -- of what they eat and wear -- of what they think and talk about. No sees Russia and Russians as a great factor in the post-war world, but saw no signs of their seeking expansion beyond their natural line of security. He feels they are a great people fighting to preserve their country and asking only the chance to determine a future without fear of war and with a chance to rebuild and catch up with the modern world. A forceful book, a little slowed up at the start by too much personal detail. And it carries a warning too in his pointed criticism of the lesson in internationalism that our boys overseas still need to learn if they are to be our representatives.