13 NOVEMBER 1942, Page 22

AT this time a knowledge of American politics has more

claim on our system of intellectual priorities than it had in peace time. It is no longer a luxury but a necessity for the good citizen to know some- thing of how the political system of the United States. works. Pro- fessor Cousens has had an American audience in mind, but the English reader will seldom be at a loss in these clear, well-planned if not strikingly original chapters. A welcome innovation is the large proportion of the space given to party history. Without some know- ledge of the background of American parties, understanding of the contemporary scene is impossible. If the resultant picture is very unlike a British political landscape, all the better ; it reminds us that America is a foreign land.