14 FEBRUARY 1931, Page 45

Lt.-Col. Sir Reginald Rankin, in The Inner History of the

Balkan War (Lane, Vol. II, 12s. 6d.) retells the story of how in 1912-13 all Balkan Slavdom turned against the Turk, and then, having defeated him, against itself. Much of the book is com- posed of extracts from the contemporary English Press, which carry with them a flavour of first-hand reality. Much also of what the author seems to have written himself at the time and which he re-presents in this volume-questions that relate to the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean or to the fate of the Albanian coast or the Aegean Islands- has since been rendered ZliCUX jeu by the Great War.