Book Reviews : For Want of a Nail: The Failure of the League of Nations in Ethiopia. By HUGH R. WILSON, JR. (New York: Vantage Press, 1959. Pp. 96. $2.75.)

• Author: Joseph S. Roucek
• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Date: 01 September 1960
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296001300354
• Subject Matter: Articles

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For Want of a Nail: The Failure of the League of Nations in Ethiopia. By HUGH
R. WILSON, JR. (New York: Vantage Press, 1959. Pp. 96. $2.75.)
The application of economic sanctions against Italy in the winter of 1935-36
during the Italian military excursion into Ethiopia marked the climax of the efforts
of the first, last, and only attempt at collective security enforcement by the League
of Nations, and this last all-out effort of a world organization of nations to show
that it could stop the headlong rush to World War II failed.
The attempt might have been successful but for the human factors and the
accidents of time and place that influence history and which emerge from this
interesting little volume. Hugh R. Wilson, Sr., U.S. Minister to Switzerland at
that time, and American observer at Geneva, observed closely what was happen-
ing during these fateful months. Hugh R. Wilson, Jr., journalist, presents here
his father’s letters to Secretary of State...