Book Reviews and Notices : A Short History of the Middle East. BY GEORGE E. KIRK. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press. 1949. Pp. 301. $3.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200433
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Author: Hans Kohn
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

649

legiance

paid

by

conservatives

to

the

ideals

of

the

ancien

regime.

To

this

background

are

added

the

special

conflicts

so

common

to

Latin

Amer-

ica

-

criollo

versus

peninsular,

the

post-revolutionary

politicians

versus

the

landholders

(Church

and

lay),

the

conflict

of

lay

education

versus

control

of

the

educational

system

by

the

Catholic

Church.

The

effort

of

the

liberal

and

anti-clerical

political

leaders

to

assert

the

ancient

royal

patronage,

long

enjoyed

by

the

Spanish

rulers,

has

been

and

is

continu-

ally

frustrated

by

the

strength

of

the

Churchmen

and

of

the

descendants

of

the

peninsulares

bidding

for

the

support

of

the

masses

of

Guatemal-

tecans

-

64

percent

Indian

and

35

percent

mestizo.

The

book

high-

lights

the

cyclical

crises

as

first

the

non-clerical

liberals

and

then

the

Church-af~liated

conservatives

gain

control

of

the

armed

forces

and

con-

sequently

of

Guatemala

City

and

the

machinery

of

government.

Lewis

and

Clark

College.

L.

EDWARD

SHUCK.

A

Short

History

of

the

Middle

East.

BY

GEORGE

E.

KIRK.

(Washington,

D.

C.:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1949.

Pp.

301.

$3.75.)

The

Public

Affairs

Press

has

paid

tribute

to

the

recently

awakened

American

interest

in

the

Middle

East

and

especially

in

Palestine

by

publishing

a

number

of

studies

on

this

area.

Of

these

studies

the

present

one

by

Mr.

Kirk

excels

both

by

its

historical

perspective

and

understand-

ing

and

by

its

impartial

objectivity,

rare

in

a

field

as

emotionally

involved

as

the

Middle

East.

Together

with

William

Reitzler’s

The

Mediterranean

which

the

Yale

Institute

of

International

Studies

published

last

year,

it

can

be

regarded

as

the

best

guide

for

America’s

foreign

policy

in

that

part

of

the world.

The

jacket

of

the

book

contains

no

indication

of

Mr.

Kirk’s

back-

ground

or

training.

Whatever

they

be,

he

has

succeeded

in

writing

an

authoritative

volume

for

the

layman,

brief

and

to

the

point,

which

covers

the

whole

history

from

the

rise

of

Islam

to

the

present

day

in

the

Ottoman

and

Persian

empires

and

their

succession

states

wtih

due

em-

phasis

on

recent

and

current

developments.

The

book

is

written

in

a

lucid

and

readable

style

and

has

fourteen

excellent

maps.

The

Public

Affairs

Press

has

rendered

a

definite

service

to

all

those

students

of

inter-

national

relations

who

seek

serious

and

unbiased

information

on

the

recent

controversial

developments

in

the

Middle

East.

Smith

College.

HANS

KOHN.