Reviewed in Brief

This report on the brutal and barbarous manner in which Communists wage war should be stuffed down the throat of every Establishment pundit who lectures us on the need of being prepared to fight decades of “little wars.” It might be possible to think of risking the tortures and brainwashing to which the Communists subject their captured enemies, if the war were being fought to win it once and for all. But for such a war we have the hydrogen bomb. And when you finish reading this book, you wonder what’s so wrong with the hydrogen bomb compared to the things that go on in “little wars” against Communism.

Ortega y Gasset is mainly known in this country for The Revolt of the Masses. Important though this book is, it is a small sample of the richness of his work. It is most unfortunate that, with the exception of it and one or two other books, the great bulk of what he has written still awaits translation into English. Professor Mora’s brief but excellent analysis of his thought is extraordinarily useful. Ortega’s mind was uncontaminated by the fashions of the age; his originality was of the sort that gives to old traditional truths a presentation that makes them live in contemporary circumstances. The appearance of Professor Mora’s book may perhaps help to encourage those translations and publications of his work that are now so long overdue.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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This report on the brutal and barbarous manner in which Communists wage war should be stuffed down the throat of every Establishment pundit who lectures us on the need of being prepared to fight decades of “little wars.” It might be possible to think of risking the tortures and brainwashing to which the Communists subject their captured enemies, if the war were being fought to win it once and for all. But for such a war we have the hydrogen bomb. And when you finish reading this book, you wonder what’s so wrong with the hydrogen bomb compared to the things that go on in “little wars” against Communism.

Ortega y Gasset is mainly known in this country for The Revolt of the Masses. Important though this book is, it is a small sample of the richness of his work. It is most unfortunate that, with the exception of it and one or two other books, the great bulk of what he has written still awaits translation into English. Professor Mora’s brief but excellent analysis of his thought is extraordinarily useful. Ortega’s mind was uncontaminated by the fashions of the age; his originality was of the sort that gives to old traditional truths a presentation that makes them live in contemporary circumstances. The appearance of Professor Mora’s book may perhaps help to encourage those translations and publications of his work that are now so long overdue.