America a Century Ago - And Russia
KOHN, HANS
America a Century Ago — And Russia Review by HANS KOHN DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. Hy Aleut df Tacquenille. Newly edited by I'hil-fiw* Rradtey. Two volume*. CX1I, 4 :i rtwrf 401 papes. New York: Alfred...
...with the impartiality of the scholar and with lbs power of a first-rate mind he drew a vast canvass of American life, government and society in the IK.'lO's, and then proceeded to analyze his findings in their universal importance...
...Embree's indispensable volume...
...The one ftghts the desert and barbarism, the other fights civilization equipped with all its arms...
...All other nations seem ta have almost attained the limits which nature has traced for them, and have only to preserve what they have...
...He felt her knees against his and her thighs against his and . . ." Almost to the top, two of the group have dropped out, a third must whip down to see if those two are comfortable, ami the German strikes out alone superman that he is — lwiving Martin Ordway and the Girl alone again...
...One reason for his lack at information, or his downright misinformation, is the kind of literature he has read...
...they alone march with an easy and rapid tread on a course of which the eye cannot yet perceive the end...
...The manager, Mr...
...He is a man possessed of a social insight and artistic integrity...
...To quote one example of Toequeville's uncommon powers to gauge the future, a passage of his may suffice which was written a century ago: ''There are today on the earth two great nations who, though they start from different points, seem to advance towards the same goal: these are the Russians and the Anglo-Americans...
...93.90 NOT IN OUR STARS...
...Half way up the mountain, the travelers arrive at a lean to...
...both of them highlight certain themes of contemporary social existence...
...Thus what had started as a study on democracy, in America, became a study of the advantages and defects of democracy in general...
...Thomas, means well, but is plagued with indecision anil lack of drive...
...PkOKESSOR BRADLEY ami the publisher* are to be congratulated on this careful ami handsome edition of a great classic...
...Ullman tacks on names of abstractions...
...Its readers will gain a new perspective on many, questions hotly debated today...
...Ullman contrives S pulp adventure about a romantic setting...
...Japan Unmystified Keview by iUA VEITH THE JAPANESE NATION: A SOCIAL SURVEY...
...With the exception of his last chapter, entitled "Tomorrow," and some interspersed commentary on the facts pre-aerted, Embree is generally content to be merely descriptive rather than interpretative, and even the Zoifcntsit seem to lose some of their pernicious vigor under this veil of factualness...
...Finally, Greene is an artist, Ullman is a businessman mountain climber...
...Therefore, each of the dozen central characters emerges vividly, individually...
...the voyagers' struggles up the faec of llie Tower represents divergent forces operating in the world today . . .," etc., etc...
...The book is therefore not only a historical document...
...Hers is a much more exciting novel, although it doesn't attempt lo be an adventure novel...
...Roth have grown up obscured from general attention...
...Sex...
...Ullman artificially injects "message" into a flimsy little story of »n attempted aseetil of a mountain by n group of enthusiasts...
...It was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that his power became actual as well as nominal...
...Oilman's |ieople are wooden prototypes carved roughly, ineptly...
...Democracy in America was first published more than one hundred years ago...
...It (sex) pops tip, in and out, every fifty pages, mechanically, incredibly...
...the Kussian is at grips with man...
...His book draws a moral without the moral being specified in so many wortls...
...Many maps ami charts help the reader to visualize such coin pi ex matters as the structure of the Japanese government and the genealogy of deities, Among the appendices there ran lie found the text of the Japanese constitution, a glossary of frequently used Japanese words, and an excellent bibliography of selected works on Japanese societl...
...Mediocrity abounds in this piece, Ullman's treatment of sex is perhaps Ihe most obvious example of his dearth of imagine!ion...
...It's alt very dreary...
...Oilman even starts laying the groundwork for the next event...
...The answers obtained have disclosed that the average American may he either completely" indifferent or highly wrought up on the question of Japan and its institutions, but seldom informed...
...The American lights against the obstacles which nature opposes to boo...
...Yet State Shinto, basing its .h„ upon the emperor's divine descent, i« used to unify the nation and is not considered a religion...
...By John E. Embree...
...Owen f.attimote devoted a chapter of his recent book to the debunking of Japan's "uncred cows...
...Their point of departure is different, the roads they travel are at variance...
...It is primarily a back job, sometimes approaching slick-writing, but mist of the time formu-larized end dull...
...As a consequence the book sometimes appears more like a mosaic, whose individual stones have been painted with supeib craftsmanship, than a painting which lives in the mind as a unified whole...
...while man's interests were occupied elsewehie, they have suddenly put themselves in the first rank of nations...
...New York: f'arrar & Rinehardt, Inc...
...Two Novels — One Exciting Keview by Al AH t?N OAK TUB WHITE TOWER...
...Ry Jam** Raoi-i»y I'II.,inn...
...Even his hero is one-dimensional- a trite interpretation of Gary Cooper in For Whom the It'll Toll: A publicity blurb about this book goes like this: "The author lias related man's struggle fur a better win Id lu the immediate task of climbing a mountain: the summit is symbolic of man's con slsnl striving toward a better life...
...nevertheless, each of them seems called by a secret design of providence to hold in his hands one day the destiny of half the world...
...Yet the author does provide the reader with a clear insight into the intricate sociologist structure of the Japanese empire and wherever possible he facilitates understanding by pointing out similarities and indebtedness to and parallels with western countries...
...The world has learned almost simultaneously of their birth and of their greatness...
...Greene weaves action and suspense into everyday happenings...
...Ullman has a Message crudely pasted together, and inserts the Message because it's fashionable...
...A wife dominates her children out of frustrated ambit ion: she wants to protect her two girls from making the same mistake she did when she hail to marry because she was pregnant...
...his Englishman is as lean and willowy an the perennial butler, Mr...
...93.00 R.ECKNTLY Americans have been drawn into discussions as to what to do with Japan, and polls have been taken to determine the opinion of the* typical man in the street as to the fate of the emperor...
...The Macmillan Prize book relates the experiences of about a dozen employees on a dairy farm: the manager, a deliveryman, a stable boy, Ilia nagging wives of the drivers, the ambitious wife of a weak clerk, anil so forth...
...nothing will do but that four of them must go back for more provisions in order to leave Martin Ordway (sounds like a name that could lie spelled liaekwards) and the Girl alone...
...and so she is unwilling forcing them to rebel against her in much the same fashion she herself rebelled against her own parents' authority...
...And they attempt to work out the particular difficulties encountered by the characters in such m way as to indicate that the outcome was a direct result of the situation* presented, the environment, and the conditioning of the individual in this historical period...
...TucujUuviUe recognized sooner Uian must men the rising forces of democracy...
...New York: Mae-niillan...
...Most of the popular writi-ing on Japan has treated that country as a land of impenetrable mystery rather than as Just another country whose history, social structure, religion, and even the emperor could be comprehended by the Western mind...
...Embree shows that the present-day central position of the emperor ia "consciously fostered" and might be changed under different given circumstances...
...To achieve his goal, the former relies upon personal interest and lets the individual initiative and intelligence art freely without directing him...
...There is a lack of continuity about the plot as it skips about from person to person in a somewhat haphazard fashion...
...It was immediately welcomed for iU importance for the understanding of both the United States and democracy...
...ami now John F. Embree devotes an entire book to the dispelling of the myth of Japan...
...All the others are either halted or advance only with great effort...
...By means of a, short historical survey he shows that although the Japanese emperor has always l»een officially the supreme ruler, his actual power has shifted from time to time, depending upon the policies of dominant factions...
...The latter concentrate* is one max all the power of tociety...
...New York: Alfred A. Knopf...
...The reader can call the shots long before Mi...
...hence it can be superimposed upqn Buddhism, Confucianism, and even Christianity...
...Rut Greene's style is lucid without being stacalto, distinctive without self-consciousness, and intensely moving without sentimentality...
...3.00...
...0.00...
...Kadi of the characters is portrayed with enormous sympathy and clarity, .lo nth Green doesn't editorialize ahout them...
...THE WHITE TOWER and Not in Owr Start have at least four things in common: they are current best-sellers...
...Embree's bonk, although scholarly in arrangement and authenticity, is easy to read anil does not presuppose extensive previous study on the subject...
...Thus Mr...
...out they still grow...
...lie probes into their souls, into their backgrounds, into their strengths and weaknesses...
...All this suggests a contrast...
...Yet he expresses his fears that the United States will not make use of its unique chance, for "the American Government, apparently accepting the role of the present emperor at Japanese official face value, permits no propaganda which might undermine his prestige" and he predicts that "our military government officers will undoubtedly, in the, name of law ami order, repress any revolution which might affect the imperial position...
...In this he was aided by the ad hoc revival of Japan's two earliest "sacred" books, the Kojiki and Nihongi, which now furnish the basis for the claim that the Japanese emperors are descendants of the Sun Goddess...
...There is no central character in Not in Onr Start, and that is perhaps the only serious internal fault I can find in the book...
...One finds some similarity to Dos Passos' f'.S'A: the cross-section type of story...
...but a political treatise of the first rank...
...Ry Jonah E. Greene...
...He finds thai Lew Brachi, the deliveryman who was slightly crippled years ago in an industrial accident, 'ights for better working conditions for the men because he's been brought up in poverty and oppression, and has a light knot of unhappiness in his heart...
...The American conquers with a plowshare, the Russian with a sword...
...308 pp...
...Greene paints colorfully...
...In minute but never tiresome detail he discusses every phase of life in Japan and its closely knit integration of education, family life, religion, and emperor worship...
...1945...
...In this light, The White Tower is by far the lesser novel...
...they ls»th deal with problems of modern life...
...They will again and again admire Tocaueville's sense of justice and moderation on the one hand, and his ability to discern future trends...
...Amaterasu...
...But Greene knows people end loves people...
...Arthur Treacher...
...And Not in Our Slort offers just that...
...Then they go on toward the heights, after ten purple pages of "He felt her bare feet pressed tight and cool against his own...
...Anyone -who wishes to form a comprehensive picture of Japan and the Japanese could do no better than begin with Dr...
...New York: I.ippmrott...
...His (iermaii leers like a Hollywood villaiin in a Grade B film...
Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 48
