Reviewed in Brief

The Interplay of East and West, by Barbara Ward (Norton, $3.50). Economist Ward suggests we save Asia from Communism by supporting an industrialization of Japan and India to compete with China’s advances. But cynically to buy cynical men like Nehru is not to win them; it is necessary to compete with Communism on a level deeper than that of competitive bidding. Miss Ward’s second proposal is that we establish a world court and police force to eliminate economic clashes. How can we, first of all, eliminate political and cultural clashes in order to set up a court? Miss Ward simply bids us blunder through. Dangerous advice, since court and law are the outgrowth, not the source, of human harmony. G. w.

The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James, by Walter Starkie (Dutton, $5.95). Scholar, fiddler, gentleman errant, and above all a man of unstandardized soul, Walter Starkie believes the thing we need most is privacy: “The greatest reformer of today will be the man who founds a League of Silence.” His own solution, during 1954, was a good long walk from Arles, in southern France, to Santiago, on the northwest coast of Spain, where according to tradition the mortal relics of the Apostle St. James have reposed for 1900 years, and where pilgrims have been coming in homage since the ninth century. Mr. Starkie fiddled for his dinner, listened to tall tales, slept in haunted hostelries, and most of the time just walked along, unfeverishly communing with himself and the landscape. A book for readers wondering how to survive—not the Dark, but the Fluorescent-Lighted Ages. R. p.

Featured Tags

The Interplay of East and West, by Barbara Ward (Norton, $3.50). Economist Ward suggests we save Asia from Communism by supporting an industrialization of Japan and India to compete with China’s advances. But cynically to buy cynical men like Nehru is not to win them; it is necessary to compete with Communism on a level deeper than that of competitive bidding. Miss Ward’s second proposal is that we establish a world court and police force to eliminate economic clashes. How can we, first of all, eliminate political and cultural clashes in order to set up a court? Miss Ward simply bids us blunder through. Dangerous advice, since court and law are the outgrowth, not the source, of human harmony. G. w.

The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James, by Walter Starkie (Dutton, $5.95). Scholar, fiddler, gentleman errant, and above all a man of unstandardized soul, Walter Starkie believes the thing we need most is privacy: “The greatest reformer of today will be the man who founds a League of Silence.” His own solution, during 1954, was a good long walk from Arles, in southern France, to Santiago, on the northwest coast of Spain, where according to tradition the mortal relics of the Apostle St. James have reposed for 1900 years, and where pilgrims have been coming in homage since the ninth century. Mr. Starkie fiddled for his dinner, listened to tall tales, slept in haunted hostelries, and most of the time just walked along, unfeverishly communing with himself and the landscape. A book for readers wondering how to survive—not the Dark, but the Fluorescent-Lighted Ages. R. p.