Evening star., 1937-01-30
By Mary Garter Roberts.

THE HUNDRED YEARS. BY Philip
Guedalla. Garden City: Double
day Doran & Co.
TT SEEMS indiputable today that
the best Of our books are nom
fiction, but from this 1t does not
4 follow, as might be expected. that
the non-iction field claims the best
Of our writer's. The argument seems
to be instead that non-fiction writers
continue to produce relevant and vivid
works; whereas our noveGsts Tor some
time have merely repeated them
selves. Certainly, during the past
year, none Of our established fiction
practitioners wrote any book that was
not predictable; moreover, no new
member OF the craft appeared with
claims that were imperatively prom
ising. CAS- for the short story. OF
course, silence toward it in its pres
ent state is the only possible critical
attitude.)
It Is heartening, therefore, to OBJ
serve that among writers Of non-f1c-
ton who have established high stand
ards In the past, there IS evidence OF
continuing vitality. Philip Guedalla's
present work is q case in point. Mr..
Guedalla, in his past books Of history,
has established himself as an excellent
puppet master, one who. exhibiting
characters out Of our past, obligingly
and with finely calculated alienation,
shows his spectators first the dancing
dolls and then the manipulation Of
the strings. In his present work he
continues this procedure without mo-
notony. He sets himself to display
the drama Of the hundred years which
ended in 1886, and he makes q vastly
amusing thing Of it.
Being q resume, 1t may perhaps be
called superficial from the historical
point Of view; the objection will have
no relation to the object Of the work.
1.-THE Hundred Years" attempts moth
Ing more profound than to chart the
erratic and unreasoning course over
which We have Travelled, giving par
ticular mention to the points ct which
we have taken pertinent turns, the
steps up which we have ambitiously
struggled and the obstacles over which
We have, more than once, with ig-
nominy, barked our shins-these mat
ters. of course. to be presented in the
Light Of an agreeable irony and in the
medium of an excellent wit. To the
reviewers mind, the attempt Is emf
nently successful.
"The Hundred Years." in short, Is
popular history" par excellence. It
Is superficial" enough not to tire the
average readers capacity to under
stand, and sufficiently pointed with
shrewd observation to satisfy those
whose demands are somewhat higher.
Seldom indeed Is puppet show pre-
sented as profound drama. Yet,
when its director is fully master of
his craft, it can be precisely as pro-
found as the spectator. satisfying
every one. The adroit Mr.. GuedaIla
has given us such a piece Of enter
tainment here.
His procedure Is to choose certain
dates in the course of the century
which he is picturing, to describe the
events which in his opinion rendered
these dates significant, and then to
dwell q little on that significance in
relation to the worlds history. Thus,
We have him selecting the year 1848
and listing, in separate chapters, as
its contributions to the future Of man.
kind, the establishment Of Prince
Albert's influence in English politics,
the Mexican War In America, the two
revolutions which diverted Paris dur
ing that twelve-month, the outspread-
ing Of minor revolutions from Paris
across Europe and the first hauling
Of freight by rail in Chicago. These
happenings, he remarks pleasantly,
had lasting consequences.
IRON 1848 he then goes to 1861,
to treat that year in terms Of the
abolition of serfdom in Russia, the
Civil War In America and the passing
OF Albert from the English scene. And
in this manner he proceeds until he
arrives at the final year of his century,
1886. where the Master Ironist takes
matters out of his hands by allowing
him to find the greatest significance
to lie in the accession to the throne
Of England Of Edward VIII.
But the goodness of the book lies
IN its mood and writing and not in
the minutiae Of its contents. Take,
as q demonstration, this description
Of the revolutionary contagion Of 1913:
italians" says Guedalla, demanded
to be governed by themselves rather
than by Austrians, whilst Austrians
IN turn demanded to be governed by
anybody rather than by Metternich;
Czechs, Hungarians and Croats COL
lided in an ill-directed passion for
self-government; and Germans were
divided between comprehensive
determination to be governed better
and a vaguer aspiration to be governed
In larger, more impressive unit than
those provided by the 80 constituents
OF the Germanic confederation. Flags
Of every color fluttered in all direc-
tions: there was q riot Of new con-
stitutions; and disappearing ministers
eluded the unfriendly attentions of
their fellow-countrymen with the
agility Of trap-door artistes while
Mazzini and Manin insisted with
sublime reiteration on the importance
Of being Italian, Teutonic voices en-
phasized the higher duty Of being
German. Parliamentarians praised
parliaments, and patriots Of every race
POLES, Magyars and Slavs-exalted
their own nationalities without the
least regard to other peoples. Not
that the prophetic voices were ex-
clusively optimistic in their tone or
national in their objectives. For while
bright-eyed reformers hymned the
march Of progress and Kossuth and
Palacky intoned their national an
thenls, Carlyle retained the greatest
doubts as to the utility Of things in
general and King Leopold's police
removed sage from Brussels, whose
beliefs Gin the convenient form of the
Communist Menifesto) came danger
oilsly near to q denial Of the whole
existing order. -.
al op~n,~~S