MIDCENTURY JOURNEY

In his "Midcentury Journey" William L. Shirer revisits and re-appraises the chief cities and countries of western Europe which he covered as a newspaper and radio correspondent from 1925 to 1940. He found more vitality in shattered Vienna than in unscathed Paris, while the Germans seemed unregenerate and perhaps more dangerous than the Russians. The war sent all western Europe, including Britain, into a decline. Although we Americans came out of the war stronger than we went in, the present anti-Communist hysteria shows us suffering from the same symptoms that discourage or enrage us in others. Over the past quarter century, William Shirer added greatly to our understanding of western Europe, and in this volume, he has interpreted certain historical events that he witnessed in such a way as to make the reader reassess these events.