Book Reviews : Justices Black and Frankfurter: Conflict in the Court. By WALLACE MENDELSON. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Pp. x, 151. $4.00.)

• Date: 01 December 1961
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400431
• Author: S. Sidney Ulmer
• Published date: 01 December 1961
• Subject Matter: Articles

985
simplified issues, made extensive use of symbolism, distorted data (sincerely, of
course), manipulated and evaded facts, and set up a dual moral standard that
judged men by their ideologies rather than by their actions. This was &dquo;both
gratifying&dquo; as proof of the theory, &dquo;and alarming&dquo; by its implications. In fact,
one is provoked to wonder, as he ranges over these conclusions, whether the
whole world might not be populated with automatons; whether there ever has
been, is, or ever will be truth in man’s thought and actions.
Happily, the author found some instances of nonconformity: individuals of
the Left Wing turned their backs upon their comrades and dogma when they
became members of the Labour Government and had to formulate policy and
make decisions in international affairs. Why, then, preach an ideology? Possibly as
a hypocritical means to power, only to discard it as impractical in actual behavior!
There were instances in which the author intruded controversial interpreta-
tions of international situations in order to establish a position from which to
assess the ideological premises and behavior of the British Left Wing. An example
of this was his criticism of the Left Wing’s interpretation of the cold war
as an ideological conflict.... It appears to the writer that no serious examination of the course
of international affairs after 1945 could produce this interpretation.... A much better descrip-
tion of events can be obtained if the struggle is viewed as a simple power struggle between two
camps ... in which the only ideologies involved were the inevitable nationalism on both sides,
and not communism and its opponent, whatever that may be.
To conclude this stimulating book there are helpful footnotes for each chap-
ter and a select index of persons mentioned.
E. MALCOLM HAUSE
University of Idaho
Justices Black and Frankfurter: Conflict in the Court. By WALLACE MENDELSON.
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Pp. x,...