17 FEBRUARY 1956, Page 27

ADMINISTRATION OF WAR PRODUCTION. By

J. D. Scott and Richard Hughes. (H.M.

Stationery Office and Longmans, 37s. 6d.) THIS is a detailed and comprehensive review, in the series The History of the Second World War, of the vast and complicated machine which enabled that war to be fought. It deals with one aspect of the machine and tells how the administration of war production emerges from the uncoordinated hands of several state departments into the firm grasp of one

fact, Ministry of Production. It is, in 'act, a learned book worth study by Ministers and experts and those who wish to get a fasci- nating glimpse behind the scenes of total war.

H. a.