Books in Brief

Who Will Volunteer?, by Lyle H. Munson (The Bookmailer, $2). At a time when the Administration appears undecided about the fate of the offshore Chinese islands, this outstanding collection of photographs of Quemoy signals a refreshingly original approach to the controversy. Here are no political or technical arguments in favor of abandoning Quemoy and its sister islands to Chinese Communists, in the hope that, having cloyed themselves on some thousands more of human beings, the Red Chinese will suddenly become peace-loving. Instead, these candid pictures show in human terms just what it would mean if that island’s 46,000 inhabitants were handed over to the Communists. Whether or not Mr. Munson was inspired by Walker Evans’ memorable photographs, which graced James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, his pictures capture the spirit of free Chinese—their bravery in the face of continual Communist shelling, their joy of living under freedom—as magnificently as Evans’ photographs captured the spirit of proud Southern sharecroppers. Because the offshore islands are considered the measure of America’s reliability as an ally in the struggle against Communism, like West Berlin they have an importance far beyond the geographical.

E. MCDOWELL

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Who Will Volunteer?, by Lyle H. Munson (The Bookmailer, $2). At a time when the Administration appears undecided about the fate of the offshore Chinese islands, this outstanding collection of photographs of Quemoy signals a refreshingly original approach to the controversy. Here are no political or technical arguments in favor of abandoning Quemoy and its sister islands to Chinese Communists, in the hope that, having cloyed themselves on some thousands more of human beings, the Red Chinese will suddenly become peace-loving. Instead, these candid pictures show in human terms just what it would mean if that island’s 46,000 inhabitants were handed over to the Communists. Whether or not Mr. Munson was inspired by Walker Evans’ memorable photographs, which graced James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, his pictures capture the spirit of free Chinese—their bravery in the face of continual Communist shelling, their joy of living under freedom—as magnificently as Evans’ photographs captured the spirit of proud Southern sharecroppers. Because the offshore islands are considered the measure of America’s reliability as an ally in the struggle against Communism, like West Berlin they have an importance far beyond the geographical.

E. MCDOWELL