Book Review: The Arabs and the West
| Published date | 01 March 1954 |
| Author | Niyazi Berkes |
| Date | 01 March 1954 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205400900124 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
73
the
north
made him
call
on
India
for
aid.
India
apparently
as-
sured
him
of
conditional
aid,
but
claimed
that
she
could
not
send
troops
until
he
had
definitely
decided
to join
India. Precipitately,
he
made
his
decision
and
then
left
in a
hurry
for
safer quarters.
There
were,
also, some
vague
suggestions about
a
plebiscite.
Then
the
trouble
began.
Both India
and
Pakistan
sent
in
troops,
and in
Kashmir
itself
two
local
governments
arose,
one
taking
over
the
powers
of
the
former
Maharajah
while
it
sought
to
maintain
a
certain
independence
for
the
state
while
the
other
sought
closer union
with
Pakistan.
The
C.I.I.A.
has
made available
the
devious complications
that
ensued
in
a
book
by
Michael
Brecher,
now
a
lecturer
at
McGill.
It
is
extremely
dispassionate
and
contains
most
of
the
salient
facts
that
must
be
considered,
although
the
style may
appeal
only
to
the
bona
fide
student.
The
only
map
furnished
is
not
very
helpful.
On
pages
144-148,
the
author
states
four
major
questions
which should
be
answered
by
any
commission
aiming
at
real
reconciliation
before genuine
solutions
are
available.
One
doubts,
however,
if
these
questions ever
will
or
even
can
be
answered.
After
surveying
the
whole
scene,
one
also
hesitates
to
decide
whether
Kashmir
should
be
partitioned,
encouraged
to
remain
a
sovereign
state,
or
become
part
of
a
federal
government
for
the
whole
sub-continent
with
large
powers
of autonomy
for
its
in-
dividual
components.
The
latter
would
seem,
to
an
outsider,
the
sensible
solution,
but
in
view
of
the
passions
aroused,
it
is
for
the
present
impracticable.
Toronto
CLARIS
EDWIN
SILCOX
THE
ARABS
AND
THE
WEST.
By
Clare
Hollingworth.
1952.
London:
Methuen.
viii,
285pp.
$4.25)
Miss
Hollingworth's
book
went to press
before
King
Farouk
was
forced
to
abdicate
although in
the
epilogue
she summarizes
the
events
leading
to
the
abdication
of
the
King.
The
author
concludes
this
epilogue
in
a
more
optimistic
tone
in
contrast
to
her
pessimism
throughout
the
book
especially
with
regard
to
Egypt's
attitude
towards
co-operation
with
the
West.
"The
outlook",
she says,
"is
more
hopeful
now
than
it
was while
this
book
was
written."
I
wonder
if
she
is
still
so
hopeful
now
that,
although
real
progress
in
the
Soudan
has
been achieved,
it
seems
apparent
that
the
new
regime
may
continue
the
old
negative
attitude
toward Great
Britain
in
the
Suez
area?
The
book
consists
of
three
parts.
The
first
part
describes
events
in
each
Arab
country
between
the
end
of
World
War
I
and
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