A HISTORY OF AMERICAN • FOREIGN RELATIONS
By Louis Martin Sears, Ph.D.
In the first edition of this excellent survey (Williams and Norgate, 15s.), Professor Sears took heart when he contem- plated the discrediting of Henry Cabot Lodge and the advocacy, both by Harding and Coolidge, of the adherence of the United States to the World Court. These things, he felt, " were an augury, in fact, that the World War was not fought in vain, but that out of its desolation and horror a new era was emerging in which the crimes of international anarchy are destined to, give way before the light of world opinion politically - organised and capable of expression." This, he went on to say, was' "hope,- not certainSy." The same judgement survives into this edition, slightly modified, but even though the additional chapters of this book were written before what may well seem the final cellanse those hopes, the grim future was _ casting shadows Mseon• certing_to those who remember the _optimism of the days of nermaley." This is illustrated in -Many - ways, not least by the candour with which Professor Sears sets out his- reasoas for regarding, the United States and Russiir as natural collaborators_ gainst Japan.. 'This eandour is general. The obstinate follies of Hooverian international economics (reasserted in the new Republican platform) are not defended, nor is the share of the Roosevelt administration in the sabotage of the economic conference - of •1933 minimised. On the other hand, the complacency with which the War debts have been written off—by the debtors—does not seem as dignified or as honourable to Professor Sears as it does -to Mr. Chamberlain. On other topics, too, Professor Sears displays independence of judgement. - This third "edition (called for only a year after the second) is both a proof of the interest taken by Americans in foreign affairs and an aid to making that interest intelligent. -In Europe, such a book is likely to be almost -as'.trieful if it reminds us that the United States has a long, complicated and in many ways inspiring record -lis7an international force. We shall better understand what we can hope for from across the Atlantic if we have a clear picture of _what help and hindrance. we have had in the past.
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