PROGRESS AND CATASTROPHE By Stanley Casson
Mr. Casson has set out to discover the reason for the switchback nature of human progress. In this book (Hamish Hamilton, 7s. 6d.) he discusses Paleo- lithic man, Neolithic man and the civilisations of Egypt, Sumer, Crete, Syria, Palestine. He glances at the present day, comparing the state of our civilisation with that of Rome in the fifth century A.D. ; and, though Mr. Casson declares he is not a pessimist, he discerns in both the same symptoms of rising barbarism, only today the barbarian is not without, but within, in the form of aggressive nationalism and Fascism. He finds that the most potent causes of the mysterious decay of civilisations are lapse of standards, lack of cohesion, leading to wars, and spiritual development either advancing beyond, or lagging behind, material achievement. The latter idea is familiar enough—the former less so. He gives the Hebrews, and suggests the Mayas, as examples. One wishes he had discussed it more fully. Is China, perhaps, a case in point ? His comparison of Egypt and Sumeria, to the disadvantage of the former, is interesting and provocative. Did Egypt, apart from artistic success, merely succeed in " putting civilisation in cold storage " ? He underrates the Hebrew achievement. He seems to consider nationalism a post-War growth. His hook suggests the wide, unusual view of an aerial survey, from, perhaps, too great a height.
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