Abstract

Civilization and Peace

The article provides information about two books, "Essentials of Civilization," by Thomas Jesse Jones and "The Politics of Peace," by Charles E. Martin. These two books belong together, partly because they deal with the basic problems of contemporary life in terms of social destiny, but mostly because they serve as excellent illustration of how to do and not to do a literary job. The question in both volumes is the same. Jones has attempted to answer it by retiring to seclusion and producing from his inner consciousness, as a spider produces his web from his bowels, an intricate pattern of theory to which he believes society must conform. Martin, per contra, has studied his world much as a surveyor studies the topography of a region through which a railroad is to be laid, and gives a detailed report of all the factors and forces which enter into the problem of political progress and international accord.