Letters, May 22, 1939

"Background for War"

Sirs:

Never wrote to an -editor before; may never do so again.

But "Background for War," TIME, May i, is one of the finest pieces of contemporary historical writing I have read. "Clear—curt —complete" — but above all, timely & dispassionate.

J. M. VAN LAW

New York City

Sirs:

TIME'S anonymous editors certainly rise above plain journalistic style every so often. Your small classic, "Background for War" deserves to be studied by every class in English. It is written in that best and most difficult to achieve of all English language writing —...