Book Reviews : The High Cost of Vengeance. By FREDA UTLEY. (Chicago: Henry Rengery Company. 1949. Pp. viii, 310. $3.50.)

• Author: Charles E. Martin
• Published date: 01 December 1951
• Date: 01 December 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295100400423
• Subject Matter: Articles

665

to

prevent

a

resurgence

of

German

imperialism,

to

restore

Germany

to

political

and

economic

soundness,

and

to

deny

German

resources

and

allegiance

to

the

Soviet

Union-would

tax

the

wisdom

of

any

stateman.

Yet

Professor

Morgenthau’s

discussion

contains

many

a

useful

suggestion

as

to

how

to

set

the

problem

of

Germany

against

the

background

of

the

general

world

situation.

Morgenthau’s

paper,

as

well

as

many

of

the

others

collected

in

this

volume,

truly

heeds

Reinhard

Niebuhr’s

admonition

that

&dquo;we

do

not

solve

our

problems

by

striving

after

absolute

consistency

but

rather

by

discerning

our

most

pressing

duties

within

the

inconsistencies

of

history&dquo;

(m

11)

1

- -

---

__

HENRY

W.

EHRMANN.

University

of

Colorado.

The

High

Cost

of

Vengeance.

By

FREDA

UTLEY.

(Chicago:

Henry

Rengery

Company.

1949.

Pp.

viii,

310.

$3.50.)

The

author

of

this

amazing

book

was

born

in

the

United

Kingdom,

married

a

Russian,

lived

in

Russia,

and

ultimately

became

a

citizen

of

the

United

States.

The

blurb

on

the

jacket

represents

Miss

Utley

as

generally

being

ahead

of

her

time

in

predictions

and

judgments,

but

nevertheless

always

being

right.

In

this

book

it is

assumed

that

she

is

ahead

of

the

consequences

of

the

German

Occupation;

but

that,

while

unappreciated,

she

will

prove

to

be

correct.

Thus

a

pattern

of

prediction,

of

lack

of

appreciation,

and

of

vindication

seems

to

have been

built

up.

One

wonders

what

would

happen

to

the

pattern

should

this

technique

fail

to

work

out!

The

book

is

written

with

great

deference

to

the

first

person,

singular.

It

is

filled

with

subjective

judgments

based

on

personal

and

even

super-

ficial

impressions

which

are

now

offered

to

the

American

public

as

valid

criticisms

of

the

public

responsibility

we

have

assumed

in

the

Occupation

of

Germany.

Throughout,

it

is

mainly

critical

of

the

United

States-

and

severely

so.

Documentation

of

the

charges

is

totally

lacking.

In

Chapter

I,

&dquo;The

Road

to

War,&dquo;

the

author

declares

that

&dquo;Instead

of

acting

according

to

the

democratic

principles

we

had

gone

to

war

to

preserve,

we

tore

up

the

Atlantic

Charter

and

copied

the

Nazis

in

our

repudiation

of

international

law.&dquo;

In

Chapter

II,

&dquo;The

Spirit

of

Berlin,&dquo;

Miss

Utley

expresses

herself

as

surprised

that

our

original

occupation

policy

did

not

succeed

in

turning

’

German

youths

into

&dquo;cynics,

time-servers,

or

ruthless

egotists.&dquo;

She

adds

that

&dquo;For

the

first

two

years

of

our

occupation

we

had

made

a

mockery

of

our

democratic

professions

and

ideals....&dquo;