Three Wars With Germany (review)

BOOK REVIEWS89 Quaker Torch Bearers. Philadelphia. Published by Friends General Conference, 1943. 217 pp. $1.00. THIS little book contains biographical sketches of fifteen American Friends whose dedicated lives and constructive efforts have made a permanent contribution to Quaker history. In the Introduction the hope is expressed that in further publications the list may be extended to include other well-known Friends. While the· sketches are intended as inspirational reading for boys and girls of high-school age, older readers will find the assembled information both useful and interesting. Eleven different authors have written these sketches, which are divided into four groups or classifications. The "Modern Quakers" are Jesse H. Holmes and William I. Hull ; "Quakers of the Olden Time," John Woolman, Elias Hicks, Isaac T. Hopper, and Lucretia Mott; the "Teachers" are Benjamin Hallowell, Martha Schofield, Elizabeth Powell Bond, and Joseph S. Walton; and "Pilots Into New Channels," Jane Johnson, Anna T. Jeanes, Jonathan W. Plummer, Howard M. Jenkins, and Henry W. Wilbur. Haverford College.Anna B. Hewitt Three Wars With Germany, by Admiral Sir W. Reginald Hall and Amos J. Peaslee. Edited and illustrated by Joseph P. Sims. New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1944. Pp. xvii, 309. ' $3.00. THIS book is chiefly compiled from extracts from the letters exchanged between Admiral Hall and Amos Peaslee. There is some account of their activities in World War I, before their paths had crossed. There are a good many extracts from their comments about World War II. In his comments Amos Peaslee shows not a trace of his Quaker heritage or attitude. The central portion of the book is made up from their letters during the seventeen years of the Black Tom Case. Peaslee represented the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Canadian Car and Foundry Company in the eventually successful effort to prove official German responsibility for the Black Tom and Kingland explosions, before the United States entered World War I. Admiral Hall, as former chief of British Naval Intelligence, was consulted. The two men became warm friends. The Editor suggests that the purpose of publishing the book now is to help prevent a third war with Germany. The conclusion of the writers is that Germans can be neither trusted nor reformed; they must be governed by someone else. Both accept uncritically the unhistorical assumption that Germany was solely responsible for World War I. One wonders whether their prescription for the cure of war in Europe is any better than their diagnosis of its cause. Philadelphia, Pa.Richard R. Wood Vol. 33, Autumn 1944 ...