The trouble with most of our current speech-making on war aims has been its lack of any really new idea. Over and over again we have heard the same old phrases about the virtues of democracy and the ultimate "victory of the herd of free men." But a lot of this talk has seemed pretty inadequate in view of the last twenty years of democratic world rule.

Lorwin's book is a very positive answer to all those who have wondered just what the driving force of the United Nations is. The book is a statement in something more than platitudes of a faith to fight for. In it Lorwin brings the common doctrine of democracy up to date and lays down a fourteen point program that cuts to the root of the disease that has paralyzed world progress for ten years.

At the heart of the problem he sees the failure of democratic nations in two domains--economic organization and international relations. The plausibility of any democratic policy, he claims; depends on how thoroughly the problems in these two fields are solved. The means of solution he sees in the developments of the last ten years, essentially the New Deal conceptions. If democracy is founded on the idea of the dignity of man, it must see to it that the productive system is aimed at the welfare of the society as a whole. Further the policy of the nation must be directed to securing the welfare of all men everywhere. On these two foundations the democratic world order rests.

The book is a very thorough documentation of these new conceptions that must be added to the democratic faith. In its first and third sections it analyzes the origins and consequences of Naziism, showing carefully how completely it is at variance with the tradition of a free world. In the second section it traces the developments that have taken place in democracy, showing how they point to new formula and methods. Part four deals with the different democratic world plans, pointing out past failures and the obstacles that must be overcome. And Part V outlines the possibilities inherent in a democratic victory.

In many ways this is a revolutionary book. It sets forth the basis of genuine idealism in practical terms. It uses the lessons of the past not to tear down everything we have thought, but to build up a new and bigger vision of the world. We must grasp these ideas, says Lorwin, if we are going to revitalize democracy and make it the dominant creed of the coming era.