Books: Bellyful and Sodamint

THE BATTLE FOR ASIA—Edgar Snow—Random House ($3.75).

IN CHINA NOW—Winifred Galbraith—Morrow ($2.50).

Edgar Snow is a first-class journalist and his China is a grisly and exciting place. His Cook's tour of the Asian battlefield leaves no corpse unturned. It ranges from the insane theatricality of Shanghai's bombing to the way the Japanese hang Chinese buffaloes alive over fires, slicing and eating them as they bellow. The Battle for Asia brings Red Star Over China up to date. And as with his famed account of the Eighth Route Army Journalist Snow still finds his most exciting stones among China's Communists. He also shares some...