Salute the Soviet. By Mrs. Cecil Chesterton. (Chapman and Hail
z5s.)
FOR sheer sentimental " gush " about the Soviet Union, this book would take a lot of beating. It is full of phrases like "Anna literally danced over the stubble on sturdy bare feet" and "tolerance is one of the greenest leaves in the Soviet crown." There are in- numerable comparisons between Soviet ways of doing things and British ways—I counted seventeen in fifty-five pages—and every one to the disadvantage of the British. However justifiable they may be (and very many of them are), the cumulative effect of this uncritical adulation must be to irritate any but the most bigoted enthusiast. Not the least of the advantages of our present relations with the U.S.S.R. is that any reasonable account of its social and economic set-up and its workings receives a sympathetic attention which would have been inconceivable a few years ago. That set-up has sufficient achievement to its credit, both in the way of material production and in the loyalty it evokes from the Russian people, to make it both unnecessary and rather ridiculous to suggest that perfection has already been reached, apart from a temporary shortage of silk stockings and kitchen utensils. Mrs. Chesterton's book, which deals with most aspects of Soviet life, will do little to promote understanding—especially at a price of 15s. for 220 pages.
English-Greek : Greek-English Dictionary. I. Kykkotis. (Lund Humphries. 18s.)
A NEW good dictionary of modern Greek is very welcome at this moment. Since the compiler asks for "suggestions for improve- ment, and particularly constructive criticisms," we think that he might with advantage, in future editions, amplify the examples of idiomatic uses of the commoner words. We would also draw his attention to a slight mistake on page 218, where under " Put " the Greek verb -yexc., is given to mean "put on." Actually it means to deceive, and possibly M. Kykkotis is thinking of our idiom "put upon," i.e. "impose upon," which, however, is not the same as "put on."
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