Book Reviews and Notices : Germany and the Fight for Freedom. By Lucius D. CLAY. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1950. Pp. 83. $2.00.)

• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Alfred Diamant
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400118
• Subject Matter: Articles

135

best,

it

seems

a

chronicle

of

recent

and

contemporary

events,

without

its

being

placed

in

the

logical

pattern

of

things.

Particularly

noticeable

are

the

author’s

criticisms

of

the

Treaty

of

Versailles

and

his

adverse

judg-

ment

of

the

League

of

Nations.

As

to

the

former,

it

was

not

so

bad

an

instrument

as

the

author

indicates.

Germany

deserved

severe

punish-

ment.

It

was

well

to

hold

her

to

some

of

its

provisions.

As

to

the

latter,

the

author

closes his

work

by

declaring

that

&dquo;...

it

[the

League]

is

likely

to

remain

what

it

has

generally

been,

namely

a

pseudo-democratic

mask

for

aggressive

and

often

undemocratic

purposes.&dquo;

This,

like

all

arbitrary

and

wholesale

judgments,

is

neither

accurate

nor

just,

as

a

sum-

mary

of

the

League

and

its

significance.

In

conclusion,

one

is

impressed

with

the

fact

that

scholars

and

the

reading

public

have

available

a

readable,

accurate,

and

interesting

account

of

diplomacy

from

the

end

of

the

fifteenth

century

down

to

the

end

of

the

first

third

of

the

twentieth.

It

is

remarkably

free

from

bias.

It

sees

the

trees,

but

does

not

neglect

the

forest for

them.

In

dealing

principally

with

national

power

and

&dquo;power

politics,&dquo;

the

author

is

not

necessarily

committed

to

them

nor

does

he

justify

them.

Contemporary

authors

and

teachers,

impressed

with

the

novelty

of

these

concepts

would

do

well

to

read

the

volumes

and

discover

that

they

are

only

rehearsing

the

old

theme

songs

of

the

historical

European

political

system.

The

disappointing

fea-

ture

of

the

work

lies

in

insufficient

recognition

that

national

power

must

henceforth

be

coordinated

with

the

power

of

other

nations,

rather

than

being

unilaterally

pursued;

and

that

power

politics

is,

at

bottom,

an

evil

leading

inevitably

to

war,

and

must

yield

to

international

law

through

international

organization.

However,

the

author

rises

supremely

above

our

modern

&dquo;realists&dquo;

who

advocate

national

power

independently

of

the

interests

of

other

nations

and

ourselves,

and

who

pursue

&dquo;power

politics&dquo;

for

its

own

sake.

University

of

Washington.

CHARLES

E.

MARTIN.

Germany

and

the

Fight

for

Freedom.

By

Lucius

D.

CLAY.

(Cambridge,

Massachusetts:

Harvard

University

Press.

1950.

Pp.

83.

$2.00.)

This

booklet

makes

available,

in

printed

form,

the

three

Edwin

Lawrence

Godkin

Lectures

delivered

at

Harvard

University

last

year.

In

these

lectures

the

former

American

senior

representative

in

Germany

gives

an

account

of

his

stewardship

and

presents,

in

broad

strokes,

the

sweep

of

American

policy

regarding

Germany.

General

Clay

has

skillfully

developed

his

theme-&dquo;Our

efforts

to

secure

a

free

Europe

as

part

of

a

stable

and

peaceful

world&dquo;-by

showing

first

how

the

United

States

and

its

western

allies

entered

the

postwar

period

with

the

hope

of

achieving

peace

by

agreement,

and

met

bitter