MEN___AND-11,0-UNXIVNS---- •
By M. Ilin
Looked at either as a simple -text-book.of applied:physical, geography, or as an example of Soviet propaganda,..illti tend Moastains-(Routledge, 7s. (id.) is an interesting piece of smirk." As propaganda its purpose is, according • to MaXim who writes a preface, to show “ . . . hi4.eolleetive energiis • steadily and systematically introducing-intelligent order iato: the elemental play of natural forcers:, for the benefit of 3111 man- kind." As a text=book for. children and uninformell addlta its method is the Modern 0112-pf jden.tifying the remotest physical phenomena with the reader, :and • showing him his importance, and_the importance of-hts work-in the collective . effort. Of course, the author makes the ,inevitable contrast's • between the selfish blundering of capitalist land-owners and the idealism and scientific skill of the authors of the second Five 'Year Plan. -In so far as he explains modern developments in agriculture, crop-selection,_ irrigation, land reclamation, or stock-breeding, the Kink is-admirable ; but as is the way in Mips such as Earth, he confuses, very cleverly, actual achieve- • inept with mere promise, so that the picture of things to come appears an immediately attainable reality. There is some- thing- oddly attractive about the simple line-drawings which illustra,..the text, atarotre- must admit that M. Ilin knows how-to Make facts and statistics interesting.
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