SDCIAL STRUGGLES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By M. Beer. Translated
by H. J. Stenning and revised by the author. (Parsons. 6e. net.)
The nature of this book, the second volume of a series of five to be devoted to " A General History of Socialism and Social Struggles," is hardly indicated by its title. It is con- cerned with the influence of philosophic and religious idealism upon social thought, the period covered being from the fourth to the fourteenth century, beginning with the essence and sources of mediaeval communism and ending with the spread and persecution of the Cathari. When it is known that the book comprises only two hundred rather small pages, it will he understood that severe condensation has been effected and, indeed, to such an extent as to rob the language of natural flow. The reader is overloaded with terms and the phrase- ology is often cumbersome. Through all the defects we get interesting glimpses of the growth of early social thought, but the book is too compressed to be successful.
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