Books: Why Stalin Signed

DUEL FOR EUROPE — John Scoff —Houghton Mifflin ($3.50).

When Stalin set the European tinder-box ablaze by signing the nonaggression pact with Hitler in August 1939, the civilized world gasped: How could he? One simple answer might have been that the pact was a characteristic move in the hard-boiled game of Russian foreign policy. But ever since Russia became Germany's Finland, the other United Nations have desired a more detailed explanation of Stalin's pre-invasion policies. John Scott's book is an attempt to supply this explanation.

Author Scott (Behind the Urals), 30, is the son...

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