Every few years a Harvard undergraduate publishes a book, to the astonishment of classmates and to the jeers of sophisticated reviewers. Hubert Earle's new book on Europe directly preceding the war will probably be greeted in much this same way, but critics will err in condemning the work on literary lines. What Blackout lacks in sophistication and artful treatment is more than made up by its refreshing and valuable insight into what Earle subtitles "The Human Side of Europe's March to War."

As a member of the staff of the Paris Embassy last summer, Earle saw the inner workings of these dim steps to war, but more important, he talked with men of every station, from diplomatic dignitaries down. Only a few days before Germany marched, Earle visited Ambassador Biddle in Poland, and his account of feudal Poland is the high point of the book. It shows clearly the political set-up under which the Polish peasant labored and the nation's reaction to the inevitable annihilation ahead.

With no pretense of presenting an international expert's data and conclusions, Earle's book is nevertheless a valuable and very readable account of what happened before the lamps of Europe died once more. And of particular importance to Harvard, Blackout reveals what an undergraduate would see, hear, and feel of a war-bound Europe.