Books in Brief: A Handbook of New Nations

A Handbook of New Nations, by G. Etzel Pearcy and Elvyn A. Stoneman (Crowell, $8.95). There have been 61 new nations since 1943, which is 47 per cent of the world total of 131. Reference works, consequently, are a boon, and the more recent the better, on the whole, since frequent change goes with growth—and with instability. This handbook includes all the new nations, Asian as well as African, and a scattering of others. Succinct summaries, from two to six pages for each nation, cover physiography, population, history and government and social conditions. Politics and politicians, perhaps understandably, are very lightly touched, and this lack can be remedied by keeping at hand Reuters’ Who’s Who of Africa, The New Africans (Putnam, $7.50). Unfortunately the countries are not arranged alphabetically but chronologically according to date of independence. This sacrifice of ease in reference is evidently governed by some perverse logic that also dictates an alphabetic listing of the chronological table in the appendix, where “Algeria 47 July 5, 1962,” heading the list means 47th nation to gain independence, on the date given, and so on. The index has a welcome pronunciation guide.

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E. B. Meyer

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A Handbook of New Nations, by G. Etzel Pearcy and Elvyn A. Stoneman (Crowell, $8.95). There have been 61 new nations since 1943, which is 47 per cent of the world total of 131. Reference works, consequently, are a boon, and the more recent the better, on the whole, since frequent change goes with growth—and with instability. This handbook includes all the new nations, Asian as well as African, and a scattering of others. Succinct summaries, from two to six pages for each nation, cover physiography, population, history and government and social conditions. Politics and politicians, perhaps understandably, are very lightly touched, and this lack can be remedied by keeping at hand Reuters’ Who’s Who of Africa, The New Africans (Putnam, $7.50). Unfortunately the countries are not arranged alphabetically but chronologically according to date of independence. This sacrifice of ease in reference is evidently governed by some perverse logic that also dictates an alphabetic listing of the chronological table in the appendix, where “Algeria 47 July 5, 1962,” heading the list means 47th nation to gain independence, on the date given, and so on. The index has a welcome pronunciation guide.