1 MARCH 1940, Page 28

War Begins at Home. By Mass-Observation. (Chatto and Windus. 9s.

6d.) MASS-OBSERVATION maintains two groups of observers, one stationed in " Worktown," a northern industrial city, one in " Metrop," a London suburb. This book consists of the reports of these groups on opinion and behaviour since the beginning of the war. Much of the material is of interest, though one may permit oneself to doubt whether such selec- tive and superficial reports possess a tithe of the importance which their authors claim for them ; they are, moreover, compiled in a style of uncompromising slovenliness.