Books: Common Man's Historian

CROSSROADS OF POWER (234 pp.)—Sir Lewis Namier—Macmillan ($5).

"Some political philosophers complain of a 'tired lull' and the absence at present of argument on general politics in this country." wrote British Historian Lewis Namier before his death in 1960. "Practical solutions are sought for concrete problems, while programs and ideals are forgotten by both parties. But to me this attitude seems to betoken a greater national maturity, and I can only wish that it may long continue undisturbed by the workings of political philosophy."

This was not the last gasp of a tired old man;...