Book Reviews : The Official History of the British Legion. By GRAHAM WOOTTON. (London: Macdonald and Evans. 1956. Pp. xviii, 348. 25s.)
| Author | Dell G. Hitchner |
| Date | 01 September 1958 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591295801100340 |
| Published date | 01 September 1958 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
739
The
author,
now
a
British
Civil
Servant,
was
a
member
of
the
British
Food
Mission
and
an
officer
of
the
Combined
Food
Board
during
the
whole
period
of
the
latter’s
existence.
The
source
material
for
the
book
was
official
files
and
the
author’s
own
recollection.
Mr.
Roll’s
familiarity
with
the
United
States’
as
well
as
Great
Britain’s
economy
and
government
has
en-
abled
him
to
do
a
balanced
and
objective
task
of
assessing
the
economic
and
administrative
forces
affecting
the
work
and
environment
of
the
Combined
Food
Board.
Actually,
the
book
is
of
primary
interest
to
the
specialist
in
such
fields
as
agricultural
economics
and
international
administration.
It
will
have
a
somewhat
wider
appeal
as
a
case
study
in
international
policy
development,
organization,
and
administration.
This
is
not
to
detract
from
the
fact
that
it
makes
a
very
real
contribution
by
describing
and
analyzing
a
very
important,
but
not
too
well
known,
wartime
international
operation,
a
forerunner
of
present
international
agencies.
This
reviewer
can
find
no
major
criticisms
of
the
volume.
It
is
a
well-
organized
and
complete
history
and
description
of
the
Combined
Food
Board.
It
might
have
been
rendered
somewhat
more
valuable
had
the
author
correlated
the
administrative
events
described
in
the
book
with
the
major
happenings
in
the
shooting
war,
and
had
he
given
us
more
of
his
own
judgments
upon
the
role
and
machinery
of
the
C.F.B.
But
on
the
whole
it
is
a
well-cvncieved,
useful
volume.
San
Diego
State
College.
W.
RICHARD
BIGGER.
The
Official
History
of
the
British
Legion.
By
GRAHAM
WOOTTON.
(London:
Macdonald
and
Evans.
1956.
Pp.
xviii,
348.
25s.)
It
might
be
hoped,
now
that
British
political
scientists
have
discovered
there
are
interest
and
pressure
groups
at
work
in
British
politics
(witness
the
recent
studies
by
J.
D.
Stewart
and
S.
E.
Finer),
this
present
volume
would
extend
the
literature
on
the
subject.
Unfortunately,
this
is
not
the
case.
Yet
it is
only
fair
to
add
that
such
was
not
the
author’s
purpose.
Mr.
Wootton
was
commissioned
to
write
an
officials
history,
the
text
&dquo;has
in
general
been
officially
accepted,&dquo;
and
as
the
author
points
out
in
his
Preface,
&dquo;the
official
historian
of
a
great
organization
is
in
practice
hardly
free
to
reveal
all
he
knows.&dquo;
The
result
is
an
entirely
readable
account
of
how
the
various
ex,service,
men’s
organizations
emerging
toward
the
end
of
World
War
I
were
joined
into
a
single
Legion,
and
its
subsequent
activities
in
promoting
the
interests
of
veterans
of
World
Wars
I
and
II.
Some
of
the
more
interesting
episodes
deal
with
the
Legion’s
&dquo;foreign
policy&dquo;:
its
advocacy
of
friendly
association
with
German
ex-servicemen
(which
Allied
continental
groups
opposed)
in
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