Cold Dawn, The Story of SALT. By JOHN NEWHOUSE. (New York: Holt, Rine hart and Winston, 1973. Pp. 302. $7.95.)

• Author: Kurt J. Lauk
• Published date: 01 March 1975
• Date: 01 March 1975
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591297502800130
• Subject Matter: Articles

225

&dquo;modem

tradition&dquo;

of

political

philosophy

(inaugurated

by

Machiavelli

and

Hobbes),

which

establishes

politics

not

on

the

normative

dictates

of

divine

law,

but

on

the

human

passions.

Further,

in

the

course

of

his

investigation

Pangle

provides

a

number

of

extremely

perceptive

observations

on

the

classical

tradition

of

political

philosophy

and

its

sharp

differences

from

the

modern

tradition.

In

order

that

I

may

not

offend

by

excessive

praise

of

Pangle’s

book

(cf.

Thucydides

2.35.2!),

I

should

add

that

his

attempt

to

bring

coherence

to

the

purely

formal

structure

of

Montesquieu’s

work

is

not

thoroughly

compelling

(Pangle

seems

to

ignore

that

it

was

composed

over

a

period

of

nearly

twenty

years).

Nevertheless,

Pangle

does

effectively

demonstrate

a

much

more

important

point:

the

philo-

sophical

unity

and

coherence

of

the

Spirit

of

the

Laws.

THOMAS

E.

PALLAS

From

Karl

Mannheim.

Edited

by

KURT

H.

WOLFF.

(New

York:

Oxford,

1971.

Pp.

cxl,

393.

$3.95.)

Insofar

as

contemporary

political

science

has

become

political

sociology,

it

has

tended

to

reduce

political

philosophy

to

merely

the

sociology

of

knowledge.

That

is,

it

has

come

to

accept

Mannheim’s

development

of

the

thesis

that

the

content

of

thought

is

decisively

defined

and

radically

limited

by

the

historical/cultural

context

of

thought.

Professor

Wolff’s

book

is

a

most

useful

introduction

to

Mann-

heim

as

it

contains

a

selection

of

writings

covering

the

whole

span

of

his

intellectual

development.

Further,

it

is

prefaced

by

an

introductory

essay

(129

pages!)

which,

though

somewhat

technical,

provides

an

incisive

analysis

of

Mannheim’s

most

im-

portant

works.

THOMAS

E.

PALLAS

Cold

Dawn,

The

Story

of

SALT.

By

JOHN

NEWHOUSE.

(New

York:

Holt,

Rine-

hart

and

Winston,

1973.

Pp.

302.

$7.95.)

This

book

gives

a

detailed

and

almost

minutial

account

of

the

political

and

negotiatory

process

culminating

May

1972

in

the

signing

of

the

historic

arms

control

treaty

and

argument,

called

SALT

I.

All

critical

issues

involved

in

SALT

I

are

thoroughly

discussed.

The

author

is

extremely

well

informed

about

the

decision-making

process

within

the

Washington

bureaucracy-particularly

the

NSC.

A

critical

evaluation

of

the

provided

insights

is

difficult

since

the

author

draws

heavily

upon

highly

classified

information

obtainable

exclusively

through

leaks

from

direct

participants

to

selected

people.

The

reported

facts

are

incredibly

ac-

curate,

as

those

involved

in

SALT

I

willingly

confirm.

Newhouse,

however,

ex-

ercises

his

own

judgment

when

he

contributes

such

an

overriding

importance

to

the

NSC’s

part

in

successfully

negotiating

SALT

I,

particularly

to

Dr.

Kissinger’s

confidential

&dquo;back

channel&dquo;

approach.

Newhouse

presents

the

most

revealing

but

not

necessarily

the

definitive

account

of

SALT

I.

Because

of

the

detailed

informa-