African Trilogy. By Alan Moorehead (Hamish Hamilton. 18s.)
THERE are three kinds of war correspondents—those whose work has little value at all, those who can write competent reports which satisfy at the time but have no permanent value, and those who are able to transmute their experiences of the moment into literature which can be read again and again. Mr. Moorehead is perhaps the only correspondent of this war who belongs to the rare third category. In this present volume are to be found the three books which together give his story of the Middle East campaign— Mediterranean Front, A Year of Battle and The End in Africa. These books have already received high praise in the columns of this journal, and it is unnecessary to call attention again in detail to their excellences. Any reader who does not already possess them would be well advised to buy this well-produced omnibus volume. A second reading of his work has convinced me that Mr. Moorehead is not only a great journalist but a prose writer of considerable distinction. He has the poet's eye for significant detail, a humility of approach not common in his profession, and a human sympathy which sights up the whole of this enthralling chronicle. This is a literary achievement worthy of the human achievement it describes.
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