Some Books of the Week
Refugees, by C. A. Macartney (League of Nations Union, Is. 6d.), tells the story of the first few years work in repatriating and preserving from death and destitution the millions of Russians and others rendered homeless by the War or by territorial rearrangements since the Armistice. It is estimated that the work may be completed in another eight or nine years. Up to one year ago, the story is largely that of the work of one man, Nansen, whose loss was so irreparable that it was necessary to reorganize much of the machinery which he had been able to use. Mr. Macartney deals concisely with the machinery and with statistics, and gives at the same time a vivid, unsentimental picture of the more personal aspects of the refugee problem, in a manner which could hardly be bettered in so short a compass. His dry, unflinching statement of conditions among the refugees, juxtaposed to the promises made to them, is more telling than a more fiery eloquence would have been. It is a most illuminating study in modern history.
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