Book Reviews : The United States and Japan. By EDWIN O. REISCHAUER. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Revised edition. 1957. Pp. xxiv, 394. $5.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100337
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Date: 01 September 1958
• Author: R.E. Hosack
• Subject Matter: Articles

736

and

the

methods

by

which

it

co-operated

with

government

and

with

volun-

tary agencies

(which

played

a

splendid

humanitarian

role).

At

its

peak

the

IRO

employed

2,500

persons

and

confronted

questions

such

as

the

relations

of

the

central

office

in

Geneva

to

the

various

field

offices,

classification,

salary

scales,

conditions

of

services

of

its

employees,

etc.

The

Director

Gen-

eral

had

constantly

to

worry

over

finance.

Hundreds

of

millions

of

dollars

were

involved,

but

contributions

from

member

states

were

irregular,

and

many

headaches

arose

from

the

use

of

many

currencies

and

shifting

ex-

change

rates.

Political

questions

were

always

cropping

up,

the

most

serious

one

being

the

totalitarian

countries’

views

on

repatriation.

One

would

expect

the

physical

and

psychological

problems

of

the

refugees

to

be

discussed,

and

the

reader

will

not

be

disappointed.

The

author

gives

an

admirable

account

of

the

training

and

care

of

the

million,

and-a-quarter

refugees,

the

rehabilitation

programs,

and

the

special

situa-

tions

of

the

highly

trained

intellectuals

on

the

one

hand

and

the

orphan

children

on

the

other.

The

strictly

scientific

analysis

does

not

lack

human

warmth

and

sympathetic

imagination.

As

mentioned

above,

the

voluntary

agencies

did

remarkable

work

at

both

ends

- in

the

camps

and

at

the

reception

centers

in

the

receiving

countries.

The

relations

with

these

agencies

and

the

prolonged

and

detailed

negotiations

with

governments

are

excellently

set

forth.

The

reviewer

is

impressed

by

what

emerges

from

the

study,

i.e.,

the

complex

and

many-sided

nature

of

modern

international

relations.

The

international

body,

national

governments,

and numbers

of

social

and

religious

agencies

-

all

co-operated

in

writing

a

moving

chapter

in

the

relief

of

human

suffering.

The

volume

can

be

highly

recommended

for

its

clear

and

comprehensive

analysis,

its

full

documentation,

and

its

lucid

style.

University

of

Washington.

LINDEN

A.

MANDER.

The

United

States

and

Japan.

By

EDWIN

O.

REISCHAUER.

(Cambridge,

Mass.:

Harvard

University

Press.

Revised

edition.

1957.

Pp.

xxiv,

394.

$5.50.)

Few

books

written

before

the

war

in

Korea

about

the

current

position

of

this

country

in

the

Far

East

can

be

reissued

today

and

fewer

still

need

for

this

purpose

only

the

addition

of

a

section

to

bring

the

account

up

to

date

and

some

minor

revisions

as

an

occasional

change

in

tense.

That

this

was

done

for

this

book

is

a

superlative

tribute

to

its

fundamental

value.

Although

Part

I

has

been

rather

extensively

rewritten,

the

first

four

parts

into

which

the

text

is

divided

occupy

the

same

pages

as

in

the

first

edition.

About

twenty

pages

have

been

added

in

a

new

Part

V

on

&dquo;The