Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-03

government or other control. He
kept correspondents abroad when con-
tinental affairs were at the boiling
point and by vigorous fighting with
the post ONCE secured prompt receipt
OF his news bulletins. He also es-
.tablished high standards for his writ
ers and was able to enlist the serv-
ices of q better type than had been
accustomed to enter what was then
considered q dubious profession.
THE BLACK CONSUL. BY Anatolii
Vingradov Translated by Emile
Burns. New York: The Viking
Press.
T EAVING the more immediate SUBJ
ject Of his own country's revolu-
ton, the Soviet author. Vinogradov.
has gone back into history for his
story and writes of Haiti and the
French revolution. In the opening
scene, in Paris, wrapped In snow in
the Winter of 1889, Toussaint pOuver-
ture appears with Negro delegation
to beg from the revolutionary gov
eminent freedom for Haiti Marat.
friend Of the people" Is the other
protagonist In this scene AS the plot.
the chief parts Of which are historical,
progresses, the action shifts between
Paris and Haiti and includes much
OF the course Of the French Revolution
and many Of its most important fig
ures-Robespierre, Lafayette, Desmou-
Inns, Lavoisier. Fouche and Napoleon.
The black consul" Toussaint lOuv-
erture. heroic defender Of the cause
of his race. secures from the French
the abolition of slavery and brings
peace, but when Napoleon attempts
to restore slavery, rebellion breaks
out and Toussaint takes arms for his
people against his former allies, the
French. His life ends In a French
prison, Joux, where Mirabeau had
been confined at the request Of his
father. There are few quiet moments
in this historical novel. All Is tur-
MOL, bloodshed, cruelty. treachery.
The style Of the narrator is as turbu-
lent as his subject. He makes use,
in q rather unusual manner, Of YER
batim reports from original sources,
which he Incorporates skillfully in the
narrative. They add to the historical
content Of the book. If not to the
interest Of the story.
CHANGING ASIA. BY Egon Erwin
Kisch. English version by Rita
Reil. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
THE modern age has not left I'M
touched the land of Genghis Khan
and Tamerlane, and If Mr.. Kisch is
not q Marco Polo he is at least a
brilliant twentieth century reporter.
He was famous as journalist in pre-
war Austria, q specialist in crime, q
revolutionary in command of troops
involved in the seizure of Vienna after
the war. and Is now persona non grata
with all Hitlerites. He has travelled
all over Asia and the part about which
he writes especially in this book he
sketches in q heavily-drawn picture
map. Kazakstan. Kirghi1stan. Uzbe-
kistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan,
all in the Soviet Union, lands of the
primitive Mongolians, he found I'M
dergoing rapid changes, chiefly indus
trially, but also socially. These
changes he illustrates by many anec-
dotes and sketches Of individuals
adapting themselves to their altering
environment. In Tashkent he found
a 14-year-old girl seeking a divorce
from an elderly husband who had
paid her mother 16 sheep, because she
wanted to 60 to school and learn to
read and write. In Khojent he visited
a hospital where physical therapy
was applied to disease, without the
aid Of medicines. There electric show
ers, X-rays, quartz lamps, sweat boxes
and other diathermic apparatuses
marked the conquest Of science over
II not over all disease.
In the province Of Aral tigers have
been replaced by cotton collectives.
The theme Of change runs through
the whole book. but does not exclude
much description Of places and people
interesting merely per Sc.