The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1945-02-01
Notes From
Bacon Library
WHAT SHALL / READ?

are frequent library customers"
were talking about current non-fic-
ton the other day. "It's getting so
I don't know what to believe" COM
planned one of them. "I'd like to
keep up on current affairs. I want
to know more about the countries
of the world. But I don't know
what to think about 1t. Take Rus
STA, for instance. One man says one
thing about 1t and the next one says
the opposite. And they are both
well-known authors. What AM I
to believe? And-what shall read
In the first place?"
Yes, take Russia for instance.
(But realize that we are using 1t
here only as Q typical example of
truths which apply for all countries
and all subjects) The first thing
to do Is free your mind of prejudice.
That isn't easy for some of us. The
American public was propagandized
for too many years with talk Of
communism" as danger and
threat to all democracy. If we be-
came victims Of that unfortunate
propaganda we can't be expected to
change our opinions over night. But
We CAN aim deliberately toward O
policy of open-mindedness.
And, having examined yourself to
see how unprejudiced you are and
how capable of accepting new points
of view, select books by people who
are qualified to speak about Rus
STA. Mark Gayn. in the Saturday
Review of Literature" tells US about
two kinds of reporters. The usual
kind, he says, is the average re-
porter whose managing editor one
days says CURLY, Joe you go to
Europe and cover this war for US
Joe protests but to no avail. The
M. E. knows that anyone who could
cover the complexities Of baseball
and City Hall politics, can certainly
cope with war and intrigue abroad"
So Joe departs and sends back a
colorful and devastating picture of
an alien and turbulent world Poor
joe He will never know that though
he has seen an faithfully reported he
has not understood. And neither he
nor his ME-. will ever accept the
blame for the vast popular ignor-
ance Of the world and the little men
who people it.
There is another, rarer breed
Of correspondents. They too are re-
porters. But they go beyond things
seen and smelled to social forces and
economic hungers, to mores and ma
ttonal urges, to the ways and
thoughts of little men. Their pre-
occupation is not only with WHAT
happens, but also with the WHY'S.
not only with today but also with
tomorrow.
I'm Moscow one day in 1912, one
OF the better known numbers of the
what-and-why corps set down some
Of the requirements for a CORES
pendent covering Russia. These in
cluded the knowledge Of: !. Rus
sian history, language and culture;
2, history and culture Of Eastern
Europe; 3, some history and culture
of Eastern Asia; and 4, history and
theory of Marxism and social revo-
luton in both East and West"
But" you say, mot many peo-
pie can have all those qualifica-
tions." You're right-not many can.
So far as I know there is no cor
respondent so fully qualified. Some
writer's, however, approach these
qualifications far more closely than
others. Such man is Edgar Snow
whose entire life, since 1923, has
lived in the East, who has years of
PERSONAL association with Stain,
Ghandi, Grips, Nehru, ETC., who
sees Russia as a country which has
been under the Tsarist rule for cen
turtles, but under a socialist govern
ment for only brief Is years. He
sees that the people there are not
primarily communists-but primar-
lily Russians They land Stain, as
their spokesman are making the
same plea for recognition and I'M
derstanding that jefferson and
Franklin were making for our new
government $50 years ago.
In selecting Edgar Shows PEO-
PILE ON OUR SIDE as the newest
imperative" the Council on Books
in Wartime explains: Mr.. Snow is
a veteran Far Eastern correspond
ent. conditioned by past experience
to interpret present events, and he
writes with discrimination, knowl-
edge, and the reporters lively sense
for the significant and the dramatic.
His PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE is full
Of the sort of factual material for
which all of us are seeking, and is
enlivened by the authors sympa-
thetic interest in lands and peoples.
His discussion of India, Iran, Burma,
China, and Russia, both European
and Asiatic, is many-faceted and il
Illuminating. This is book which
should appeal to all who wish to
be intelligently informed on the
world which before long will be in
the remaking."
The very existence of the neces-
sary qualifications listed for a cor
respondent to Russia should warn
us against acceptance of everything
We read about that country without
consideration Of the writer's qalifi-
cations to judge it. DON'T read