Book Reviews : The United States in World Affairs, 1958. By RICHARD P. STEBBINS. (New York: Harper & Brothers, for the Council on Foreign Relations, 1959. Pp. viii, 479. $6.00.)

• Published date: 01 June 1960
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300249
• Author: Willard F. Barber
• Date: 01 June 1960
• Subject Matter: Articles

558

The

United

States

in

World

Affairs,

1958.

By

RICHARD

P.

STEBBINS.

(New

York:

Harper

&

Brothers,

for

the

Council

on

Foreign

Relations,

1959.

Pp.

viii,

479.

$6.00.)

Dr.

Stebbins

puts

at

the

end

of

the

book

the

references

and

data

which

are

referred

to

in

the

footnotes

of

all

the

chapters

throughout

the

volume.

Since

the

volume

is

designed

for

reference

and

research

purposes,

this

method

appears

to

be

quite

satisfactory.

There

is

strikingly

heavy

reliance

on

the

Department

of

State

Bulletin

and

the

New

York

Times

in

these

footnoted

references,

although

resolutions

and

documents

of

the

UN

also

are

cited

frequently.

The

twenty-eight

page

chronology

of

world

events

is

useful

and

helpful

for

research

and

reference.

But

since

it

is

divided

by

topics,

subdivided

by

countries,

and

sometimes

subdivided

again

by

subjects,

there

is

still

missing

a

single

chrono-

logical

list

of

events

taking

place

in

1958.

In

the

eighth

chapter,

dealing

with

China’s

&dquo;Big

Leap

Forward,&dquo;

there

is

a

particularly

cogent

discussion

of

the

confusion

arising

out

of

the

alternating

hard

and

soft

phases

of

Red

China’s

domestic

and

foreign

policies.

The

author

is

skeptical

of

Communist

Chinese

published

statistics,

a

skepticism

amply

justified

by

subsequent

developments.

The

ninth

chapter,

dealing

with

Inter-American

Affairs,

is

entitled

&dquo;The

Forgotten

Hemisphere.&dquo;

The

author

discusses

the

well-known

issues

of

the

ex-

plosive

population

growth,

inflation,

budgetary

deficits,

and

balance-of-payments

difficulties

in

the

economic

sphere;

and

the

conflicts

between

dictatorship

and

democracy

and

between

military

and

civilian

rule

in

the

political

sphere.

The

Venezuelan

visit

of

Vice

President

Nixon

and

its

consequences,

followed

by

Senate

and

House

committee

inquiries

and

our

government’s

innovation

of

new

measures

of

economic

assistance,

which

the

author

says

dispelled

United

States

complacency

about

Latin-American

affairs,

belie

the

title

of

the

chapter.

All

told,

Dr.

Stebbins’

volume

is

much

more

than

a

record

of

political

and

diplomatic

developments

in

1958.

It

has

much

evaluation

and

interpretation

of

factors

tending

to

diminish

the

strength

of

our

alliances.

He

expresses

opinions

on

a

variety

of

attitudes,

tendencies,

and

points

of

view

in

addition

to

chronicling

events.

’

The

forty-three

different

topic

headings

into

which

the

book

is

subdivided

are

of

great

assistance

to

a

reader

searching

for

enlightement

on

specific

subjects.

The

volume

weaves

together

in

admirable

fashion

the

many

separate

items

com-

prising

the

warp

and

the

woof

of

the

international

relations

of

1958,

produc-

ing

a

compact,

well-designed,

and

even

colorful

end-product.

The

introduction

makes

an

excellent

presentation

of

the

many

dilemmas

in

contemporary

diplo-

macy,

both

for

the

East

and

for

the

West.

It

makes

clearly

understandable

what

might

otherwise

appear

to

be

confusing

and

even

contradictory

zigzags

in

national

and

bloc

policies.

WILLARD

F.

BARBER

Foreign

Service

Institute,

Department

of

State