TRADITIONAL BATTLEGROUND
THE MIDDLE EAST; Royal Institute of International Affairs, English price 35/-. HIS volume represents Chatham House at its fact-finding best. Much is statistical, and some is plain geographical description; yet it is easy to run quickly through reference material and find a succession of succinct and readable narratives. The area covered is the traditional battleground, or area of mutual fertilisation, of races, and cultures and religions, and now torn by rivalries of the "cold war,’ and by greed for oil. Here are countries of misery and fabulous wealth, of graft and heroism, of ignorance and culture, where the virtues and vices of the West mingle with ancient cultures and conflicting religions. And this ,whole rich dramatic and chaotic field'is quietly analysed with an urbane competence, flavoured with faint melancholy, as of retired Empire-builders rendering account. Only those with imagination and some prior knowledge will see the passionate turmoil beneath a consummate dispassionateness. It was bad luck that two major events should have been delayed just beyond the book’s publica-tion-the agreement that re-creates the Persian oil industry, and the accord between Britain and Egypt. Nevertheless, these events fit neatly on to the foundations laid in this volume. No one who needs facts about the Middle East can
do without it.
F. L. W.
Wood
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 804, 17 December 1954, Page 12
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215TRADITIONAL BATTLEGROUND New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 804, 17 December 1954, Page 12
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