Book Review: The House without Windows
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205901400316 |
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| Author | Hugh G. Thorburn |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
229
THE
HOUSE
WITHOUT
WINDOWS.
France
Selects
a
President.
By
Constantin
Melnik
and
Nathan
Leites.
1958.
(Toronto:
Copp
Clark.
358pp.
$7.25.)
This
study
is
sponsored by
the
RAND
(Research
and
Develop-
ment)
Corporation,
a
research
organization
sponsored by
the
United
States
Air
Force.
It
is
one
of
a
series
on
French
politics,
and
presents
a
detailed
account,
in
flowing
journalistic
style,
of
the
hour
by
hour
events
in
the
week-long election
of
Ren6
Coty
to
the
Presidency
of
the Fourth
Republic
in
1953.
The
election
was
carried
out
by
the
combined
membership
of
the
two
cham-
bers of
the
French
Parliament
meeting
in
the
regal
surroundings
of
the
Palace
of
Versailles.
The
authors
selected
this
event
for
close
study
because
it
presents
an
accessible
yet
manageable
example of
a
political
crisis
situation
to
answer
to
key
questions:
How
do
political
Mlites
behave?
How
do
they
arrive
at
decisions? They
employed
a
substantial
research team
which
interviewed
the
principals,
their
secretaries
and
the
knowledge-
able
journalists.
The
events are
described
in
sequence
as
they
occurred,
hour
by
hour,
one
chapter
being
devoted
to
each
of
the
seven
days,
and
one
to
the
aftermath.
The appendices
are
especially
valu-
able,
giving explanations,
biographical
sketches,
selected
texts
of
the
party
representatives
and individual
candidates,
and
an
interesting
guide
to
the
"Rules
of
the
Game".
This
technique
of
extremely
close
scrutiny
is
informative
but
not
always
significant.
Many
conclusions
appear
to
be obvious.
One
does,
however,
appreciate
the spirit
of
the
moment
in
a
very
immediate
and
convincing
way.
It
is
surely
regrettable
that
the authors
decided
to
leave
out
the
Communists,
because
"they
employ
an
autonomous
system
of
thought."
This
leaves
a
yawn-
ing
gap
in
what
is
otherwise
a
complete
coverage
of
these
events.
Queen's
University
HUGH
G.
THORBURN
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