Book Reviews : Lithuania under the Soviets: Portrait of a Nation 1940-1965. Edited by V. STANLEY VARDYS. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965. Pp. ix, 299. $7.00.)
| Author | David T. Cattell |
| Published date | 01 March 1966 |
| Date | 01 March 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296601900161 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
205
and
each
of
the
chapter
headings
-
&dquo;Social
Statics
and
a
Restless
People,&dquo;
&dquo;Edu-
cation
in
the
Obvious,&dquo;
&dquo;To
Grow
More
Civilized&dquo;
-
are
taken
from
the
writings
of
Holmes.
It
is
only
fitting,
perhaps
that
Sutherland
should
go
all
the
way
and
make
the
content
itself
thoroughly
Holmesian,
and
this
he
does.
Like
Holmes,
Sutherland
writes
in
an
unhurried,
utterly
charming,
yet
still
incisive
style
that
suggests
an
urbane,
worldly-wise,
tolerant,
basically
conservative
mind.
He
manages
to
like
everyone,
despite
mankind’s
intractable
foolishness.
The
book
is
suffused
with
nostalgic
memories
of
the
simple,
rural
life
that
once
typified
American
society,
but
somehow
they
do
not
inhibit
unflinching
looks
at
the
harsher
realities
of
contemporary
society
revealed
in
the
cases
Supreme
Court
justices
are
nowadays
called
upon
to
decide.
The
author
is
no
admirer
of
mass
democracy
(we
are,
he
says,
somewhat
like
people
flying
in
a
supersonic
airliner
while
reading
last
month’s
magazine) ;
but
he
is
unable
to
disavow
his
basic
confidence
in
openness
of
mind,
and
accepts
new
patterns
in
race
relations,
urbanization,
federal
controls,
and
the
pervasiveness
of
foreign
affairs
as
inescapable.
His
almost
Stoic
acceptance
of
&dquo;uncomfortable
change&dquo;
even
extends
to
the
growing
political
power
of
the
mili-
tary
elite,
an
acceptance
some
might
count
a
soft
spot
in
the
book;
but
at
least
it,
too,
remains
in
the
Holmesian
tradition.
Sutherland
admires
the
activist
side
of
Americans
and
thinks
a
good
many
ills
can
be
attributed
to
overly
abstract
theories.
&dquo;We
should
think
things
instead
of
words,&dquo;
he
says,
again
quoting
Holmes.
The
confusion
born
of
the
distinction
be-
tween
&dquo;public&dquo;
and
&dquo;private&dquo;
is
one
of
his
major
cases
in
point.
The
illustrations,
such
as
that
of
the
Gideon
Putnam
Hotel
in
Saratoga
Springs,
New
York,
and
the
County
Memorial
Hospital,
are
delightful,
even
though
Sutherland’s
casual
avoid-
ance
of
important
theoretical
problems
is
ultimately
unjustified.
The
conclusion
is
a
gentle
appeal
&dquo;to
grow
more
civilized&dquo;
which
does
not
quite
resolve
a
basic
tension
between
historical
optimism
and
conservative
fatalism
that
scarcely
rises
to
the
surface.
The
ordinary
man’s
perception
of
what
is
happening
to
him
through
society,
Sutherland
suggests
at
one
point,
is
like
that
of
&dquo;marine
crea-
tures
...
unconscious
of
the
Gulf
Stream’s
current.&dquo;
Another
Yankee
has
spoken
eloquently
from
Olympus
and
has
smiled
beningly
at
us.
&dquo;Be
of
good
cheer,&dquo;
he
seems
to
say,
&dquo;the
world
will
survive,
even
if
you
and
I
do
not.&dquo;
Pomona
College
LEE
G.
MCDONALD
Lithuania
under
the
Soviets:
Portrait
of
a
Nation
1940-1965.
Edited
by
V.
STANLEY
VARDYS.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger,
1965.
Pp. ix, 299.
$7.00.)
Lithuania
as
a
state
still
exists
in
the
imagination
and
dreams
of
the
Lithuanian
people
languishing
under
Soviet
rule,
their
close-knit
enclaves
of
emigr6s
in
the
West,
and
the
United
States
Government
which
persistently
has
refused
to
recognize
Soviet
sovereignty
over
the
area.
Caught
between
the
ruthless
millstones
of
Nazi
Germany
and
the
U.S.S.R.
from
1939
on,
it
is
wonder
that
the
people
of
Lithuania
have
sur-
vived
at
all.
This
volume,
written
by
its
sons
abroad,
records
as
much
of
the
details
of
this
struggle
for
survival
as
possible
and
tries
to
explain
why
the
hope
for
eventual
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