Military History

SOCIAL STUDIES 491 (Vancouver: Mitchell Press, pp. xviii, 301, $9.50), but her paintings of Indians are colourful and evocative. Nature writer R. M. Patterson, author of The Trial to the Interior (Macmillan of Canada, pp. xvi, 255, $6.00), combines descriptions of the present·day Cassiar region of British Columbia with historical sketches of its primitive past in this account of a trip by canoe and riverboat on the Dease and Stikine rivers. Of more lasting importance are two works on the Arctic. L. H. Neatby's Conquest of the Last Frontier (Longman's, pp. xviii, 425, $10.00) is a narrative of Arctic exploration from 1853 to 1918. Rarely have the difficulty of Arctic navigation, the hardship of the glacier treks, been drawn so graphically. The strange, driving ambitions of the American and Norwegian explorers come alive in Neatby's fine book. In an age when crusades are few, there is a peculiar fascination in the sagas of Peary and Amundsen and Stefansson, a fascination Neatby shares and evokes for his readers. There are no sagas or romance in the second book on the Arctic, a serious study of the future of the regionThe Arctic Frontier (University of Toronto Press, pp. x, 311, $7.50), edited by R. St. J. Macdonald. A co-operative effort of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and the Arctic Institute of North America, it brings together eleven essays by experts on the North to analyze its potential. The basic message is contained in an esssay by Michael Marsden on the resources of the area, when he remarks, "It is still difficult to impress upon the public and industry at large that the most essential quality of the Arctic is not cold, or gold, or polar bears, but a central position in the world community." While constantly emphasizing the problems to be faced, the experts hold out the promise of the Arctic as a transportation route and as a source of natural wealth, as well as stressing its strategic importance in the modem world. Some important, some unimportant, some exciting, many dull-this was the local and regional crop for 1966. Remembering the Neatby books, Wright's St. John River, Firth, and The Winter Years, perhaps, after all, we need not shudder too Vigorously in contemplation of the centenary Hood ahead. MILITARY HISTORY Richard A. Preston The most significant and important military study produced in Canada in 1966 was undoubtedly General Burns's Megamurder (Clarke, Irwin, pp. xvi, 288, $5.00) which, in more senses than one, is in a class by itself. 492 LETtERS IN CANADA Few Canadians have written on the subject of nuclear weapons policy and disarmament; and no other Canadian has given the problem as much informed thought as the government's official adviser on disarmament . Megamurder proVides the basic information required for a study of this difficult problem and includes an excellent history of the development of nuclear rivalry. Many other soldiers regard the bomb as just another weapon and have been deluded by Korea and Viet Nam into the belief that war can continue as usual despite Hiroshima. General Burns thinks differently. He believes that unless an international system of arms control comes quickly man will destroy much of civilization. Hence his sensational title. While recognizing Communist culpability, General Burns is of the opinion that errors in American policy have contributed to the present dangerous impasse. He says that he and his fellow negotiators at Geneva feel as if they are watching a fuse attached to a mine that can destroy millions. The fuse is already burning fast but they are spending precious time arguing whether to cut it with an axe or a pair of shears. He declares that it is "blinker-minded thinking" to make "better dead than red" an absolute basis for policy. It is disturbing that one in General Burns's position should think and write in this way because it confirms what many believe, that governments are loth to admit the absolute necessity of refusing to allow anything to obstruct the establishment of adequate measures of control of nuclear weapons; and that they are prepared to take dangerous risks in that field...