Evening star., 1937-07-17

" HAheAiy eAi4ue WIAlCIl HAY 0lC-
tatorship for its aim. Nothing. declares
this author, could be farther from
the truth. The real issue, he says re-
peatedly. Is between organized ter
ror vested in = small group Of men
whose support comes from Communist
Russia and whose purpose Is to rule
Spain by terror, and a combination Of
all groups who want 4 liberal but
law-malntaining government. This lat
ter combination, he declares, includes
many OF the supporters of the repub-
lie and the oldtime liberals, all of
whom, he finds, have been objects OF
persecution by the F. A. I. They were
forced to turn to the army for leaGe Ger-
ship, Mr.. Rogers explains, because the
army was the only organized body in
Spain which had not been corrupted or
dispersed by the anarchists
The book Is An assembling Of evi-
denoe to support this contention and
also a history OF the war and the out
RACES which Mr.. Rogers declares. made
war inevitable Whatever one thinks
OF the merits OF the authors case. one
must admit that the body OF testi-
mony Is substantial. The authors OBJ
vious personal feeling. to be sure, may
damage his argument to some minds.
However, 1t will be impossible to doubt
his sincerity Sir Wilmott Lewis, in
his foreword. says that although he
has not read the book he 1masines
that he should strongly disagree" with
its conclusions, but he follows this
statement with expressions OF COM
plete belief in Mr. Rogers honesty and
OF admiration for his character.
There can certainly be no doubt in
any readers mind that what Mr..
Rogers saw in Spain shocked him pro-
foundly and that he himself believes
that his case is proper presentation
OF the situation there. Little has been
written in behalf of the rebels to date,
and it would seem that at least there
can be no harm done to any impartial
Observers impressions OF the conflict
by an open minded perusal Of this
book.
THE BOOK OF BIRDS. Edited by
Gilbert Grosvenor and Alexander
Wetmore With $50 color portraits
by Maj. Allan Brooks. Narrative by
Arthur A. Allan, T. Gilbert Pear
son, Robert Cushman Murphy,
Frederick c. Lincoln, Alexander
Wetmore, Gilbert Grosvenor, Fran
cis H. Herrick, Henry w. Henxhaw "
and others. In two volumes. Wash
ington: National Geographic So
ciety.
THIS is a new National Geographic
Society publication. to be added
to the familiar Book OF Dogs" Book
of Flowers and similar collections,
1t Is, says its announcement, the frst
work to present in full color all the
major species Of birds native to the
United States and Canada. Comment
on the obvious thoroughness Of the
treatment is hardly necessary. The
distinguished list OF contributors as
well as the National Geographic 80
ciety imprint, are enough to assure
that
The first volume covers diving birds,
ocean birds, swimmers. wading birds,
wild fowl, birds of prey, game birds,
shore birds. marsh dWellers and birds
OF the Northern seas. Volume II treats
OF owls, woopeckers, flycatchers, crows,
Jays, orioles. creeperS, thrushes, swal-
lows, tanagers, wrens. warblers, hum
ming birds, f1nches and sparrows. In
addition to the color portraits by Mai.
Brooks, there are innumerable photo
graphs of birds and nests, all OF which
come up TO the high Geographic
standard.
DUET IN DISCORD. BY Elizabeth
Garner. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
THE reviewer is in doubt AZ to
whether it is possible to speak
OF degrees OF negation, but, If it is,
then this book may be characterized
as extremely insignificant 1t seems
better to call 1t that. II allowable,
than merely to dub 1t insignificant
without qualification. For it is done
with a great air of portentousness; it
is one OF those novels which the re-
viewer calls privately "magnificently
maundering." 1t tells. in retrospect.
how a middle-aged lady, living on 4
tropical island, fell in love with 4
young bounder and got her feelings
hurt. Some years after the acct-
dent, while bathing in tropical river,
she sees young pig and discovers,
in a great burst OF enlightenment.
that she is at last free" whatever
that may mean. She sits down then
to write to her quondam lover to tell
him the news, and what she writes
is this novel; retelling OF her most
uninspiring affair.
1t would seem to the reviewer to
be somewhat dubious testimony n
to her freedom in real life the lover
who is, as the saying goes, free
does not write letters to the former
partner announcing it. The device Of
making the heroine tell her own story
in letter form (even though she does
not SEND the mlSslve) seems distinctly
to defeat the purpose for which the
letter is undertaken.
But the chief criticism to be made
against the book Is that at no point
can the reader care about either the
unhappy lady or her most unattractive
boy friend, or what happened to them
or why. The only places where the
text comes alive At all are those
where the author describes the natives
Of the tropical island on which the
lady makes her hom-And these bits
Of local coloring are dragged in 80
reasonlessly that one concludes that
the author (who lives on q tropical
island herself) wanted to put them
down and simply trumped up her dis
NAL heroine and the srubby little
amour as 4 vehicle. She could have
found better one. If not, she should
have gone on keeping house.
THE MAKING OF A HERO. BY
Nicholas Ostrovoski. Translated
from the Russian by Alec Brown.
New York. p Dnlttnn "a