The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 17

THE GAZETTE, SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1960 )7 An Evil Business UNDERCOVER AGENT NARCOTICS. By Derek Agnw. Ryer-soti Press; 176 pages, $4.30. The peddling of narcotics has become one of the most highly organized and lucrative and certainly the most vile Is Red China The Next Power Problem? "i EAST WIND RISING. By Rtlman Morin.

McClelland and Stewart; 359 pages, $5.50. have to operate single-handedly, out of touch with their comrades and relying only on their wits and their knowledge of criminal habits and behavior. One recent example, which perhaps was too recent for inclusion in this book, was that of the FBI agent who, posing as a drug buyer from New York, eventually led to the capture of a leading drug trafficker and the seizure of millions of dollars worth of narcotics. This incident took place right here in Montreal. But there are plenty of other instances of a similar nature.

There is the Chinese agent who posed as a seaman on board a boat smuggling heroin from Communist China to the outside world. He had to pretend to be an addict himself giving himself regular injections of tranquilizers to make the pose convincing. Then there was the trail which started with the capture of Robert Bianco by the RCMP in Montreal. Bianco had a load of 14 kilos of heroin, en route from Le Havre to the U.S., via Canada. Eventually the trail took police to the ringleaders of the gang in Cuba.

Mr. Agnew tells the story with little dramatization, because it hardly needs any. The drug trade is a pernicious and evil business' and he puts the ROY KERVIN foreign territory where Chinese authority stopped at the border. Foreign troops stood guard over them. The Chinese resented every bit of this, down to the smallest detail." But the illusions persisted even in the highest places.

There was the illusion that Americans were welcome in Asia because they had no colonies there. "I think we apologize too much today for the Colonial Era," says Morin, in many parts of Southeast Asia, the white colonists did a pretty good job. Millions of people there had a better life materially under colonial rule than they have today under their own governments." There was the illusion that the Communists were "agrarian reformers." the Chinese Communists are what in our country we call Socialists It seems to me that these so-called Communists and the National Government have more in common than they have differences. We hope they can work out their differences and work more closely NIGHTSHADE The West has always considered the Orient a land of mystery. Today, menace is added to the mystery.

Is Red China's power growing as swiftly as Peiping says it is? Is industrious Japan, which swept the Pacific like a hurricane less than 20 years ago, permanently converted to alliance with the West? Distance and Asiatic secreti-veness once caused the mystery. The Communist Bamboo Curtain around China, the world's most populous country, makes it the more baffling. The result is confused thinking, producing confused policies toward an area which shall have immense influence perhaps the deciding influence over the whole world within a generation. Relman Morin's knowledge of Asia was collected over a period of 30 years as a correspondent, working in every area from Japan south to Indonesia; in Shanghai and Peiping and in the "cockpit" of Manchuria, in Saigon and Manila, Tokyo and Bangkok; in peace, in war, and under American occupation. His record makes it clear that if there are errors of judgment today, if there are illusions and misconceptions, this should not be surprising.

Recording strictly American attitudes, he recalls how most American policy in the Far East has been based on similar illusions. There was the illusion of an extraordinary Chinese American kinship, for instance, which makes the attitude of Red China a puzzle. "The illusion that China looked on Uncle Sam as her best friend and great champion per- This was President Roosevelt to Chiang Kai-shek, in one of many messages urging the Gimo to take the Reds into his Government. Morin, himself a Californian, believes that American attitudes of discrimination, hostility and scorn were a large part of the causes of the eventual Pacific War. He feels that the "super-race" posture of the American during the Japanese Occupation particularly that of the servicemen's wives has bred a lot more animosity.

Recalling the luxury of Shanghai's foreign settlements, surrounded by Chinese poverty, he pictures a reversed situation, with a great Chinese port in Maryland living off half the foreign trade of the United States. "Who knows?" he says, "It may happen to us when China extracts her pound of flesh from history." that gives, in its breadth of scope, an illusion of totality. It comes as a mild surprise that the kind of realism that was developed in the American novel as late as the twenties and was so sensational in the work of such men as Sinclair Lewis, should now seem, in this era of subjectivity, introspection and symbolism, to have already a traditional quality, but the realism of Miss West's writing has this effect. Probably one of the most satisfying aspects of her realism is the bond of sympathy it establishes immediately between author and reader. Nothing is demanded of the reader but to revel in the flawless unfolding of a story that has in it the swell and surge of human life.

Miss West writes as though she could never have The Swell And Surge Of Human Life SOUTH OF THE ANGELS. By Jessamyn West. Longmans, Green; 564 pages; $6.95. The Eternal City ROME. THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.

By WJIiam Klein. millan; $9.95. REVIEWED BY sisted," sajs Morin, "Americans assumtd that the Chinese put them it a quite different category from other foreigners. It was the kind of illusion Americans like, to feel firmly enrolled on the side of the angels. MAO "The tim would soon come for China's revenge on his tory.

When Jit did, Americans would not "excepted from the other 'foreigi The foreig concessions had been set by other powers, notably Brjain and France, but Washington afterward demanded and received "favored nation" treafcnent; the United States afterwird enjoyed every privilege givm any other nation. By the Thirties, "hostility toward foreigntrs had been rising in China for years. The foreigner by jis very presence symbolized tfce era of China's weakness. had forced his way into the country at gunpoint, compelled the signing of the 'unequal carved out 'spheres of and exploited his position for all it was worth; The 'concessions' in the cities were islands of Mac- title or other identification, introduced by I short chapter of commentary on the following photographs, made up of quotations from the vorks of various observers of Home, which are themselves boti apt and highly readable. The writers quoted from uclude Stendhal, Mark Twain, i Chateaubriand, and Mr.

Klein himself. The prose se4ion of the book is carefully choen for its irony, wit and acutuiess, qualities which Mr. Kleif demonstrates to a consideralie degree in his own writing, fhe result is a handsome booi. which can be unreservedly commended on its own merits as well as for the well known photogenic qualities of iU subject. PETER 1VD.

MacKELL. i He left her, frst to marry the German princess Caroline, selected by his father to assure the succession whom he detested, and scondly, and finally, when he 'altered into his glory as Princt Regent. However, he seems to have preserved a lifeloig devotion to Mrs. Fitzherbet he died with her portrait in locket around his neck, ant he faithfully paid her a hatdsome pension all his life, acepted her recommendations' br his patronage, and advanced the careers of her relations and friends. On her side, Mrs.

Fitzherbert took the separation in good part. She entered into the social round of England for forty years with griat vivacity and charm, and let, a life characterized by dvotion to her family and frfcnds. She appears to havf been treated with the greatejt respect by the I forms of crime. At last the general public is coming to realise something of the scope of the operations of the international gangs which engage in this activity. But control of dope smuggling could not possibly be handled by the police force of any one nation, due to its international nature.

However, with the co-operation of all western police forces and the valuable assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the Narcotic Drugs Division of the United Nations, there exists a mechanism to deal with this vicious business. Mr. Agnew's book is the story of these various agents, of all nationalities, who have to infiltrate the gangs, pose as narcotics buyers, perform long and arduous duties in their never-ceasing battle to track down the manufacturers and smugglers of illegal drugs. It consists mainly of case histories, taken from the files of. various law inforcement agencies, and is often more thrilling than a In fact, many of the tales of these agents' exploits in the course of their duty are quite hair-raising.

They usually been meant to do anything else. She illuminates with her wit and makes sparklingly new, the familiar, trifling things. She can probe the minds and hearts of the very ordinary men and women, adolescents and children who people the community she has created and give to their strivings supreme importance. Miss West's book suggests that a man's most powerful antagonist is often lodged in his own mind and that most individuals spend their lives locked in conflict, isolated, tilting at their own mental windmills and that the answer lies, perhaps, in a complete acceptance of life with all its ugliness and its beauty, its dreariness and joy, its mixture of bathos and high tragedy. SARAH O.

CROSS. make you rock with laughter and then, with a sudden little twist of speech, change the whole note of a sketch to pathos. Along with her scripts here there is a loving memoir of the grand lady by Morton Dauwen (FROM THE JACKET) Zabel. It is long and detailed and gives a fine picture of Miss Draper off stage and on. This is a wonderful book for those who remember her and spent happy hours in the theatre with her.

H.W. in this issue may be ordered pi 4' Her Art Was Unique THE ART OF RUTH DRAPER. With a memoir by Morton Dauwen Zabel. Doubleday. 373 pages; $5.75.

This collection of photographs of the world's most photographed city manages the nearly incredible feat of providing a fresh look at the ruins of the Rome of yesterday, and the Rome and Romans of today. Mr. Klein, a native of New York, is a painter and designer, as well as a very capable photographer, who has been living in Europe in re cent years. He has divided this book into five sections: Cittadini di Roma, La Strada, Citta eterna, Ragazzi, and Mondo Cattolica, on the basis that these divisions represent at least five of the more obvious aspects of contemporary Rome. Each section is composed of a series of photographs without GOOD BOOKS FROM MORGAN'S SHELVES THE WHITE RAJAHS SARAWAK Robert Payne 4.75 In oil history only one succeeded in coming from the West and making himself king over an Eastern race and founding a dynasty which lasted for a hundred years.

This man, a debonair young Englishman called James Brooke, became a legend in his lifetime. This is the story of James Brooke, or the Rajah of Sarawak and his two sons, who showed the way to win men's hearts in the East a lessor we have still to learn. THE CONSUMER'S MANIFESTO Mario Pei 3.00 A bill of rights to protect the consumer in the wars between capital and labour. This book is addressed to the forgotten man of modem economic life, whom Mr. Pei see in the role of the small non-combatant caught in the middle between two giants who are locking horns in conflict.

It outlines how this third force can be brought together end organized, instead of just sitting idly by and taking what is dished out. GOLDEN VENUS David Mynders Smyth 5.00 Here is a biographical novel of Madame du Barry, or Jeanne Becu. To readers of biography the Comtesse du Barry usually appears as an immoral adventuress illegitimate child, haberdashery clerk, mistress of the Comte du Barry, and finally courtesan of Louis XV. She was all of these, but she was also a woman filled with devotion and tender passion. An appealing story, written by the author of Madame, de Pompadour.

FALSE SCENT rVgao Marsh 3.75 An exciting mystery obout theatre people set in London. The plot is simple, the characters few but distinctive and the pace swift. Ngaio Marsh wins new readers with this third-dimensional depiction of people end places and holds you with her faultless who-dun-it style! Vrite! Telephone VI. 2-6267 MORGAN'S BOOKS, I MAIN FLOOR HENRY MORGAN COMPANY LIMITED Canada' Quality Department Stora Call VI. 2-626? Helen Topping Miller The mony ovid followers of this fomous author will welcome her latest novel.

It is the story of the strange family of Dr. Jonathan Strong, man who owns 51 percent of the hospital he runs and thinks he owns 1 00 percent of his family. His children have lived so long under his fearful domination that it seems impossible for them to emerge and enjoy a happy life. It is on Intense drama of how the ill-fated members of the Strong family reach out for the love and happiness that have been denied them, creating unforgettable characters who walk the narrow line constantly bordering on tragedy. 256 pogei 4.25 THE WHITE RAJAHS OF SARAWAK By Robert Payne This is the gripping story of the three white men who ruled over Sarawak for 1 05 years.

The first was James Brooke, a debonair Englishman, who became Rajah of Sarawok in 1841. He was succeeded by his nephew CMarles. who died in 1917. The last Rajah was Charles' son Vyner who voluntarily ceded Sarawak to Britain in 1 946. The exciting story of their rules sounds like the romantic dream of a school boy James Brooke attacked pirates, marched unarmed into the pa-aces of enemy sultons and battled at the head of armtes of headhunting savages.

Immortalized forever is the story of these 3 men who came os conquerors to a legendary land ond stayed to create a legend of their own. 274 pages. 4.75 CANADA By J. Bartlet Brebner Here is the thrilling pageant of Canadian history from the search for a Northwest Possuge to the triumph of the St. Lawrence Stowoy.

Here is the integrated history of a vast country where pioneers fought jagged mountains and orctic cold, where statesmanship overcame deep cultural rifts. It is the story of her people, great ond small, os vigorous os the Mounties ond as sophisticated ns Montreal. This book mokes it clear that we can understand Canada's future only if we understand her past. 552 pages. 10.00 DIAL VI.

2-9211, TELEPHONE ORDER SERVICE EATON'S BOOK ROOM, MAIK FLOOR (Dept. 205) Romantic Byway of History MRS. FITZHERBERT. By Anita Leslie. Nelftn, Foster Scott; 240 pages, $5.50.

If there is one thing we count ourself lucky in that is seeing Ruth Draper for a few seasons before her death. She was a theatrical tradition of her own making, known and loved by all those who saw her perform. The very finest exponent of the one-person show, her sketches, or as she preferred to call them, her dramas, were jewels of the theatrical arts. She never used a set and her costume seldom varied but she could bring a whole world to life right before your eyes. We have heard 'people discuss her shows after the curtain had gone down and refer to this or that character that had delighted them and then stop suddenly, realizing there had been no one there but Miss Draper.

We have also heard people scoff at this story, say it is impossible and then become ardent fans of the actress. For she was an actress, and a great one. She was also, in her own special way, a clever writer. This side of Miss Draper's art doesn't come through until you have read one or two of her dramas. It is then realized just how much work, and painstaking work, went into the creation of her characters.

Don't be misled, though. Miss Draper's shows were not cerebral affairs. She appealed to the emotions. She could ALL BOOKS reviewed l. facts before the reader in a straight-forward manner.

He gives a comprehensive picture of the whole trade from opium to morphine -to heroin, the most deadly of them all. Practically all countries are involved somewhere along the line, but Turkey, Italy and China feature prominently. It is an enthralling story of the brave work being done by these men to stamp out, or at least disorganize, this terrible traffic. NIGEL SITWELL Famous Sleuth THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. By Vincent Starrett.

University of Toronto Press. 155 pages, $4.75. This "standard" biography of Sherlock Holmes, the most famous sleuth in crime fiction, was originally published in 1933 and has long since been out of print. The author, Vincent Starrett has now produced a revised and slightly enlarged edition, a semi-serious and imaginative re-rreation of the life of the great detective. The book's primary appeal will be to those who are familiar with the more important and popular novels of Conan Doyle wherein the immortal characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr.

Watson come to life. There are chapters dealing with Holmes' private life, personal habits and professional methods, his close contacts I such as his landlady, Mrs. Hud- son and Scotland Yard detec- tives, and the house where he lived on 221B Baker St. Mr. Starrett knows and loves his Sherlock Holmes and his book will help to keep alive the legend of the famous de- tective and his faithful Bos- well.

"There can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Wat- son. Shall they not always live in Baker St. Outside the hansoms rattle through the rain and Moriarty plans his latest devilry. Within, the sea coal flames upon the hearth and Holmes and Watson take their well won ease.

So they still live for all that love I them well; in a romantic chamber of the heart, in a nostalgic country of the mind, where it is always 1895." This book is no substitute for the real life adventures of Holmes and Watson but a reminder that one of the best ways of "getting away from it all" is to get lost in one of the dozens of good detective stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. DENIS O'BRIEN. at ft (Old Booki, Main floor MONTREAL The title "South of the Angels" may suggest heavenly connotations but Miss West's new novel is, in fact, very much of the earth, earthy and the title is simply a statement of terrestrial locale. South of Los Angeles, just prior to America's entry into the First World War, a large tract of land has been subdivided by a real estate speculator into small farms for the cultivation of citrus fruits. Together with his dream of personal profit and benevolent power, the land owner, in selling the farms, cherishes a vision for "The Tract." The settlers coming in, he says, "are all fresh to each other and fresh to the land.

No church, no school, no chamber of commerce. There's nothing to keep them from building up something as fresh and sweet as hasn't been seen since the Garden of Eden. They've got a chance to start over, to build from the ground up and to build good." From Kentucky, Kansas and Colorado the settlers come, bringing their past, their defeats, their prejudices and their aspirations. Nine months covers the period of the narrative long enough for the birth of a child and the birth of a community, for comedy and tragedy, love and marriage, hate and despair and all the passions of humanity. They are all here in a sweeping novel Royal Family and by society Indeed, when George IV died and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of Clarence, William IV, Mrs.

Fitzherbert was received at Court as a sister-in-law of the new king and queen Mrs. Leslie has written an affectionate and charming account of a woman who lived through one of the most famous romances of the nineteenth century with grace and propriety. Net unexpectedly, she takes up the cudgels for the existence and validity of the marriage, a position which is apparently not without question from an historical point of view. Despite her unavowed stand for the rights of injured femininity, Mrs. Leslie manages to treat this diverting byway of history without a suggestion of stuffiness.

PETER R. D. MacKELL Barlow. Hamish Hamilton; 390 they have both been defeated by money, the only thing that society respects. They plan to obtain money somehow, since they feel that it will solve all their problems.

Upon their release they spend several weeks evolving a plan of action. They decide to rob a train which carries a payroll of 10,000. The day of the robbery arrives, and Mills and Tobias steal the money, but not without killing one man and seriously injuring a young girl. Eventually both men are caught. Tobias kills himself, and Mills hides in a forest, determined to fight to the end, even though he is seriously wounded.

James Barlow has drawn a very sympathetic character in Inspector Mallard, the man who captures the criminals. Mallard lives only for his duty, but he is continually hurt by the suffering he sees. "There was nothing to do but go on, perform duty in the face of enormous odds, enormous misery that could never be straightened out entirely This is an excellent novel. It is sensitive, written, well balanced, and more than mere entertainment. ROWLAND PRTLJ.PP.

Warrior By Nature wuuiv Leparrmenr, main noor ft ift Maria Fitzherbert was plump, serene, attractive, twenty-eight, and twice widowed when she first met the twenty-one-year-old eldest son of George III. The Prince of Wales, not too surprisingly, fell in love with the lovely widow, something he had been in the habit of doing with var- ious beauties of the day since his fifteenth year. But this was one contest in which he was not to be the easy victor of his earlier conquests. This I lady combined her charms with an upright character, a strong will, and a firm attachment to her Roman Catholic religion. I The result was months of courtship on the prince's part, and a coy, but firm, retreat I on the part of Mrs.

Fitzherbert. A compromise was, however, reached, and the Prince I and Mrs. Fitzherbert were married at a secret wedding, under an agreement, the terms of which were that she was never to publicly proclaim her status as his wife, while the Prince was henceforth to respect his marriage vow. Surprisingly enough as he was generally called behind his back, remained fairly faithful to his secret bride for eighteen years. Sordid Affair THE SEDUCER.

By Jult Lange. Random House. 407 pages, $5.95. There's no end to the novels about married women who have arrived at a point where they feel they have become habits with husband and children and long for a little appreciation as individual personalities. This woman's magazine theme occupies Jule Lange and her story varies from the usual only in degree.

To be specific, by its degree of frankness. Virginia Winfry's habitual world becomes upset when a man from her young womanhood reappears. i coming shatters her tidy world but, make no mistake about it, this is no great love. Actually it's rather sordir affair and what it teaches her heroine only the author knows. She does not divalge it.

H. H. A FEAST FOR FANATICS FISH, FLOWER and FAIRWAY THE WISE FISHERMEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA edited by A. J. McClane; over 700 drawings.

H.95 THE ANGLER'S BOOK OF CANADIAN FISHES by THE PATRIOTS. By Jamet pages; $35. There are some men for whom the wir never ended. In battle theyhad found a certain measure of fulfilment and intensity of feling and comradeship. Peae meant a return to dull 1 mtitine and the anonymity of tffice life.

Such a man is Reginald Mills, the hero of "He Patriots." His most vivid aid lovable memories are of fie war in which he was a pantrooper. As the book opens, fills is revisiting Arnhem. The he relives with all the intensiy of memory the battle in whii. he was eventually captured But he realizes that he must fj to forget. "The fighting was over He had no enemies asi must learn to face the long dull battle that was the rest of his life." Mills returjs to England, marries, and tries to settle down.

But he 15 awkward and uncompromising and is unable to find satisfacion in ordinary employment. ne night in a bar he hears man insult the 1st Airborne Division; a fight breaks out, aid Mills eventually finds hiirtelf in prison. Even there bis intransigence brings him tluble and additional punishrntnt. But he meets a fellow ex-piratrooptr, Tony Tobias, who cumnces bim that i. n.

wooding; illustrations by Cordon Fairbairn. S.95 GREEN THUMBS by Roscoe A. Fillmore; an invaluable guide for every Canadian gardener. Si. ROSES FOR CANADIAN GARDENS by Roscoe A.

Fillmore with colour illustrations. $6. THE BOOK OF PLANTERS by Robert ScharH; new exciting w-ayi lo decovate with plant and flowers. t. SAM SNEAD'S NATURAL GOLF: How to play winning golf your natural way.

Edited by Tom Shehan. 4.75 GOLF WITH THE EXPERTS compUerf by Tom Scott; an in-tructional anthology from the greatert name in golf. J.73 A ROUND OF GOLF WITH TOMMY ARMOUR; cut your core by thinking your way around a golf course. S4. I I-.

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