Books: Sketches of a People

IN PEACE JAPAN BREEDS WAR—Gustav Eckstein—Harper ($2.50).

The eminent U.S. physiologist, Dr. Gustav Eckstein, has visited Japan often. He has been more interested in Japan than in any other country except his own. Since Pearl Harbor, Dr. Eckstein has been busy thinking about the Japanese, and writing about them. He has written a rambling yet limpid book, of uncommon charm in style, in insight as rich as it is unpretentious. If every U.S. citizen read this book, and digested it, the chances of a durable Pacific peace might be greatly improved.

Eckstein's straight history is...