Shorter notices
The Indecisive Decade: The World of Fashion and Entertainment in the Thirties Madge Garland (Macdonald 63s). A useful handbook, and well-timed for those currently seeking to revive the moulded figure, bare faces, bold lips and suavely clinging dresses of the period; sec- tions on painting, sculpture and the perform- ing arts are comparatively unhelpful. Copious illustrations make up for a text erratic in tone, insipid in style and perfunctory in judgment.
In God's Underground Richard Wurmbrand (W. H. Allen 30s). Nothing could be more timely nor more depressing than Pastor Wurmbrand's account of fourteen years in Rumanian com- munist prisons, of prolonged and pointless in- terrogation reinforced by- torture, beatings, solitary confinement for years on end, brain- washing, release and re-arrest. This is a power- ful' testament not simply to the mindless brutality of the communist system, nor even to the gullibility of the western world, but to the strength and beauty of the Christian faith which enabled him to bear almost unimaginable, though apparently commonplace, mental and physical degradation with such invincible cour- age, gaiety and generosity. Pastor Wurmbrand was finally released and left Rumania in 1964, during a general amnesty for political prisoners decreed as a gestuFe of good will by the com- munist authorities.
The Window Game John Normanton, A Family Album Brian Jones and The Deceptive Grin of the Gravel Porters Gavin Ewart (London Maga- zine Editions, Alan Ross lOs 6d each). One does not know whether to marvel more at the gal- lantry of the publisher, the ingenuity of the designer or the insipidity of English poetry today, as revealed in these sturdy little volumes. The verses within suggest an attitude at once cocky, self-deprecating, pretentious, sentimental and forlorn.
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