Nietzsche: The Story of a Human Philosopher by H. A. Reyburn (review)

SHORTER NOTICES 213 New York City and his early years with his band-master father in western army posts, his brief career in the U.S. consular service, his work as an inunigration officer while studying law in ·New York, his first and second elections to Congress, his experiences as a Congressman and a combat flyer (for he worked in both capacities) in the Air Force, and his return to politics ill Washington and New York. As the most significant events in LaGuardia's varied and vigorous career came in later years, the larger and J!lore valuable p~ of the story is still to be told. Fortuna~ely M. R. Werner, the well-known American historian and biographer, was selected before LaGuardia's death to provide the full report of this dramatic life. The Making of an Insurgent has no pretensions to literary style and it reveals only a part of the complexity and charm of the man it describes. The "Little Flower') knew all the tricks of the platform and was even better in direct human relationships; but the pen was not his tool. LaGuardia's humour, ·his knowledge, his ability as an actor, his obvious, transparent, and passionate sincerity, even his irascibility, made him an exciting and persuasive figure on the hustings. He was more effective still in personal contacts. For example, in the ·work of the Canada-United. States Per- . inanent Joint Board on Defence, of which he was the American Chairman, he did a job of first importance with exceptional adroitness and success. The way in which he and the Can_ adian Chairman, the late 0. M. Biggar, worked together was as delightful as it was productive. Colonel Biggar was fully equal to the Mayor in ability and devotion to the cause they both served. In contrast to the ebullient LaGuardia, he was reserved, precise, and meticulous in word and gesture. Yet the two men, working together for five years on problems of vital iniportance and in complete harmony, drove their combined team rapidly and with no waste effort down the sometimes rather difficult highway of international co-operation. The Making of an Insurgent provides an introduction to a fascinating story. Despite its shortcomings it is well worth reading. But for the full flavour of the politically and socially ·important story of LaGuardia's life (and his impact on the life of his generation on this continent) it will be necessary to wait for Wern.er1 s biography. Few -writers can have had a more stimulating subject. H. L. KEENLEYSIDE Nietzsche: The Story of a Human Philosopher. By H. A. REYBURN in collaboration with H. E. IIIND.ERKS and J. G. TAYLOR. London: Macmillan & Co. [Toronto: Macmillan Co. of Canad~J. 1948. Pp. viii, 500. ($5.25) Of a number of recent books on Nietzsche thiS one seems the best qualified to initiate a new and very fruitful approach to a philosopher who has suffered -more than any other modern thinker from the distorted 214 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY·accounts of. friends and foes alike. The author's aim is modestly set forth. as_being an attempt to analyse dispassionately and objectively Nietzsche's life and· work in their mutual dependence. If no bold claim of originality is advanced, the result is nevertheless, for all but those who have lost the taste for discerning objectivity, deeply gratifying. It bearS out' the author's. hope that in understanding Nietzsche aright "we may also .come to understand ·some of the tragedy of Europe to-day." Needless-to say, not all the data of Nietzsche's life or work stand in clirect relation to this tragedy of Europe. Much of what the author tells us -about Nietzsche's dangerously imprudent mode of living belongs to a pattern of decadence that any healthy civilization would be able to control or to contain. We move much closer to the European danger zone when we realize, through Reyburn's detailed presentation, how poorly trained Nietzsche was for his seHappointed mission as a revaluator of all values. That, even as a classical scholar, Nietzsche's penetration of his subject leaves much to be desired we may not consider of _ great importance, though...