+ Booklist 16:153 F ’20
“The main text holds its interest for the general reader from beginning to end, while the footnotes and bibliographical citations will rejoice the heart of scholars who may wish to follow the argument to the very source.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ Review 3:150 Ag 18 ’20 1550w + R of Rs 61:335 Mr ’20 100w
“It is a scholarly and timely book. It is a prophetic book, for it tells us our faults, fully, faithfully and fearlessly, and points to a better way. It is a scientific book, for it promotes a better understanding and, consequently, a better feeling. It is a lonely book, for no one has ever before done for the Italian or any other foreign language group what this book does.” F. O. Beck
+ Survey 44:312 My 29 ’20 450w
FOLKS, HOMER. Human costs of the war. il *$2.25 (2c) Harper 940.318
20–9641
While in charge of the American Red cross relief work in France, the author was impressed with the infinitesimal fraction of reality which found its way into print in the American papers. Towards the end of the war he was requested to make a survey of the needs of southern and southeastern Europe and to ascertain the net results of the war on human welfare. The book records his findings. It is not a constructive program he says, “simply a contribution toward a diagnosis which might make it possible to outline a well-considered course of treatment.” “Chapter I tells the origin of the survey ... and gives an account of the itinerary of the trips. Chapters II to VII, inclusive, deal respectively with Serbia, Belgium, France, Italy, and Greece. Chapters VIII to X endeavor to sum up the war’s results in all these countries, in the three vital aspects of childhood, home, and health. Chapter XI tries to fit the whole into a picture of war vs. welfare.” (Preface) There are an appendix and numerous illustrations.
“Although mostly estimates, the data are perhaps as accurate as any we shall ever get. The survey is somewhat defective, however, because confined chiefly to the five lands named, and would have been more valuable had all the belligerent countries been included.” N. L. Sims