14 AUGUST 1920, Page 24

The Great War, 1914-1918. By C. R. L. Fletcher. (Murray.

6s. net.)—Mr. Fletcher's " brief sketch " of the war is very good reading. He says in his preface that the talk about the war being fought to " make the world safe for democracy " is "hot air," and that he himself prefers the word " freedom." " It was not their Governments, nor their forms of Government," he says of Great Britain and France, " that won it ; it was the national character of their peoples." Mr. Fletcher speaks his mind in this vigorous fashion throughout the book, which is a picturesque summary of a great story. If there are disputable passages here and there, the narrative as a whole is sound and interesting.