BROAD SWEEP OF HISTORY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1939, Page 4

BROAD SWEEP OF HISTORY

HOW DO WE STAND TODAY. One of my recent house-physicians came to see me yesterday, resplendent in new naval uniform, writes a doctor in the "Lancet." He finds himself with a good deal of time on his hands, and he asked me to give him a list of books for serious reading and appropriate to the times. Knowing something of his mind. I felt that he would like to brood on the answer to the question: “How do we stand now in relation to the broad sweep of history?” So here is my list: —“A History of Europe," by H. A. L. Fisher —to give a sense of proportion. "The Making of Europe. 400 to 1000 A.D.", by Christopher Dawson —a history of another dark age. when the foundations of Europe were laid ‘in fear and weakness and suffering. “Reflections on the End of an Era." by Reinhold Niebuhr: and two small books by Nicholas Berdyaev, “The End of Our Time" and “The Fate of Man in the Modern World"—- all three with a steadying, big grasp of the signs of the times. "Les Grands Cimetieres sous la Lune.” by Georges Bernanos—the reflections of a wise, catholic mind on the Spanish tragedy and its wider background. And finally, the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah —this is very ancient history, but it is the nature of history to be constantly repeating itself. And a story of long ago has the advantage over our present experience in that it has been told to the end and its prophetic principles have been test-, ed by the final issue. Written in time's of intense historical crisis, thej' are the flower of an unconquerable faith, and of a vision of history seen sub specie aeternitatis.”