No Other Road to Freedom
By
$3.00
KNOPF
LELAND STOWE confirms in this book what readers of his dispatches already know: that he possesses all the qualities of the glamorous war correspondent. Among these are the gifts of vivid description and dramatization, warm emotional sympathy for the peoples whose struggles he is reporting, and a remarkable knack of being in the most exciting place at the right time. He recaptures with extraordinary freshness the spirit of Finland in its amazing stand against the Soviet colossus, the confused apathy with which Oslo witnessed the occupation of the city by a handful of parachute-borne German troops, and the gallant fight of the Greeks. He has an especially warm spot in his heart for the Finns and the Greeks, which finds expression in his phrase, ’I can imagine no greater honor than to be either a Finn or a Greek.’ Starting out with the viewpoint that America should remain out of the war, he swings around to the conviction that America alone can stop Nazi Germany and that America has ’just about one chance in a hundred thousand ‘ of remaining free if Hitler conquers Britain. The last chapters of the book are devoted to upholding this viewpoint and to carrying on a polemic wath Charles A. Lindbergh. Mr. Stowe’s approach to world problems is emotional rather than intellectual. He does not discuss the difficult question whether the Finns and other smaller peoples of Eastern Europe would benefit by exchanging German domination for Soviet rule. And, without any apparent reason, he selects a date, November 1, 1941, when Germany, in his opinion, will have lost the war if Great Britain stands unconquered.
W.H.C.