Book Review: The St. Lawrence Waterway
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206201700219 |
| Date | 01 June 1962 |
| Author | Hugh Boyd |
| Published date | 01 June 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
174
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
NATIONAL
CHARACTERa
IN ACTION.
Intelligence
Factors
in
Foreign
Rela-
tions.
By
Washington
Platt.
1961.
(New
Jersey:
Rutgers
University
Press.
Toronto:
Ryerson
Press.
xix,
250pp.
$6.00.)
This
surprising
little
book
of
General
Platt's
is
the
second
in
a
trilogy
devoted
to
foreign
intelligence
production.
The
first
volume
of
the
series,
Strategic
Intelligence
Production-Basic
Principles,
was
a
sound
technical work,
but
National Character
in
Action
is
surprising
simply because
it
is
wondrous
that
any
book
with
so
unpromising
a
title
should
turn
out
to
be
more
than
a
collection
of
platitudes.
Let
us
not
deceive
ourselves.
There
are
platitudes
aplenty
in General
Platt's
present
book.
He
sums
up
one
chapter,
for
instance,
by
saying:
"An
understanding
of
national
character
and the
spirit
of
the
people
will
always
be
gained
principally
from personal
contact,
the
methods
of
the
social
sciences,
and
human
insight,
rather
than
from
those
of
mathematical
statistics."
It
is
a thesis with
which
no one
can
quarrel.
Nevertheless,
National
Character
in
Action
is
in
fact
a
deeply
researched
book on
the
methods
of
the
social
sciences
as
applied
to
foreign
intelligence
problems, and
by
the
time
the
reader
has
waded
through
the
189
pages of
text,
he
is impressed in
spite
of
himself.
General
Platt
does
not
sufficiently
emphasize
the
paramount
import-
ance
to
intelligence
agencies
of
people
who
have
lived
long and
inti-
mately
in
the
target
country,
but
his
book
will
really
be
of some
practical
value
to
intelligence
analysts
who
have
to
rely
on
theory.
And
judging
by some
recent
happenings
in the
Western
Hemisphere,
a
good
deal
of
our
foreign
intelligence
seems
to
be
produced
by
men
who
have
had
no
personal contact
with
the
country
they
are
evaluating.
These
unfor-
tunate
individuals
should
read
General
Platt's
book
with care.
It
could
do
them
nothing
but
good.
Also,
it
is
cheaper
than
the
Grand
Tour.
A
further
consideration reinforces
this
view.
Can
the
Committee
on
Un-American
Activities
ever
really
be
sure
that
an
intelligence
analyst
with
first-hand
knowledge
of
another
country
has
not
been
corrupted
by
living
so
long
with foreigners?
It
is
safer
surely
to
recruit
intelligence
experts
from
the
state
universities
which
offer
honour
courses
in
the
social
sciences.
For
these,
General
Platt's
book
is
indispensible.
Ottawa
D.
J.
GO0DSPEED
THE
ST.
LAWRENCE WATERWAY.
A
Study
in
Politics
and
Diplomacy.
By
William
R.
Willoughby.
1961.
(Madison,
Wisconsin:
The
University
of
Wisconsin
Press.
xiv,
381pp.
$6.00.)
The
author
of
this admirably
balanced
and
lucidly
presented
history
of
the
St.
Lawrence-Great Lakes
development
is
Professor
of
History
and
Political
Science
at
St.
Lawrence University, Canton,
N.Y.
Most
of
his
work was
done
between
1954
and
1956,
when he
was
able
to
devote
to
it
"two
wonderful
years
of
uninterrupted
study and
writing,
free
of
other
responsibilities."
He
spent
the
time
well.
The
subject
Is
a
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