Books: Howe y. England

Since Quincy Howe became editor of Simon & Schuster, that industrious publishing firm has brought out three books expressing respectively suspicion of the motives, amusement at the manners, and rage at the methods, of the massive, muddling, Machiavellian empire of George VI. First was Howe’s own England Expects Every American To Do His Duty. Next was Margaret Halsey’s good-natured account of her stay in England, With Malice Toward Some. Most recent is Robert Briffault’s The Decline and Fall of the British Empire.

With the exasperating social psychology that Mr. Howe considers strong evidence of English decay, English critics explain his Anglophobia by saying blandly that he did not enjoy his stay at Cambridge 17 years ago. This theory is almost enough in itself to make Quincy Howe heave another book at the British lion.

Quincy Howe—descendant of Josiah Quincy and son of Boston’s famed librarian and biographer, Mark AntonyDe Wolfe

Howe—is a short, sharp, outspoken Yankee who looks a good deal like an Englishman himself. While he was editing Living Age, he became convinced that British-American antagonism was growing. War debts, the Ottawa agreement, books like Frank Hanighen’s The Secret War for Oil strengthened his conviction. In his book, the U. S. teems with British propagandists and secret agents; the English Speaking Union manipulates U. S. public opinion; and, according to Sir Wilmot Lewis, Mr. Howe sees an Englishman under every bed.

For books like Quincy Howe’s and Margaret Halsey’s, English reviewers have an air of fixed agreeable tolerance. How they would take The Decline and Fall of the British Empire will never be known, since it will not be published in England. The most vehement book of the year, it consists of 263 pages of denunciation of England and all things English, her politics, smugness, selfishness, morals—even her birth rate.

Author of the best-selling novel Europa, Robert Briffault was born in London 62 years ago, practiced medicine in New Zealand, was twice decorated during the War. When the Munich Pact was signed, he returned his decorations to the King. Under its grand title and despite isolated passages of startling invective, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire seems petty, and its criticism is so undiscriminating that readers may fear Briffault would not like the English even if they were good.

Just before England Expects Every American To Do His Duty was published in England, the English Speaking Union called a private meeting which began with a discussion of the book, developed into an argument about Anthony Eden’s looks. Rothermere papers printed Mr. Howe’s picture, an alarmed, defensive expression on his features, captioned “Does Grave Disservice to Peace.” When With Malice Toward Some came along, English readers observed gravely that it was a pity Margaret Halsey had not met the right people. But with the publication of The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, it looked as if this literary war had entered a new phase. Convinced after a year of arguing that he has grossly overestimated both British strength and British cunning, Quincy Howe settled down to write a new book: The Prudent American’s Guide to Peace and War.