16 JUNE 1923, Page 21

HISTORY.

The Trend of History. By William Kay Wallace. (New York : The Macmillan Company. 16s. net.)

The Trend of History is hard reading.. Mr. Wallace deals in isms and tendencies, in events as signs of abstractions, in men as tools of theories. The Revolution of 1688 is the manifestation of the victory that the politico-juridic concept of the State has won over the politico-theistic, and what is Lenin but the agent of the politico-economic ? Thus Mr. Wallace strips humanity and drama from history and lays bare the skeleton of ideas. But although his book is suggestive and stimulating to historical thought, it is not entirely con- vincing. We feel sometimes that he has inserted bones where there was only flesh before.