598 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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Constitutional History of India 1600-1950. By M. V. Pylee. London: Asia
Publishing House. I967. 175 pp. Index. I5s.
A brief catalogue of the major developments in Indian constitutional history from
1600 to 1950. It is intended as a companion volume to Mr. Pylee's previous
extensive studies of India's Constitution and Constitutional Government in India
(same publishers).

Bhutan: A Physical and Cultural Geography. By Pradyumna P. Karan. Lexington:

University of Kentucky Press. 1967. 106 pp. Bibliog. Index. $17.50.
An appraisal of the mountain kingdom of Bhutan which briefly covers modern
exploration and history, and discusses population, settlement, cultural patterns,
transportation, trade and development plans. Also included is a consideration of
Bhutan's prospects and problems as she moves from an old, ingrown and
traditional society towards a modern nation state reflecting new ideas and
technology borrowed from outside. The text is liberally illustrated and there are
many maps. Mr. Karan visited Bhutan in 1961 and again in 1965.

The Quicksand War: Prelude to Vietnam. By Lucian Bodard. Trans. and with
an introduction by Patrick O'Brian. London: Faber & Faber. 1967. 372 pp.
Index. 45s.
Vietnam. By Mary McCarthy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1967. 106 pp.
I8s.
The Quicksand War was first published in two volumes, L'Enlisement and
L'Humiliation (Paris: Gallimard. 1963 and 1965), the former being reviewed in
the October 1964 issue of International Affairs at p. 762. An eye-witness account
of the years 1946-50 in French Indo-China, describing the colonial reconquest
after the Second World War, the emergence of Ho Chi Minh, the forging of the
revolutionary army and the confrontation with China, it also gives a vivid
picture of Vietnamese people and society at that time.
Mr. O'Brian, the translator, faced some 400,000 words of text and cut down
the size by deciding to trace out the essential themes of the books, choosing
typical passages ' to illustrate the attitudes of mind, the good will and idealism, the
incompetence, muddle and plain graft that were characteristic of Indo-China'
during these years. The text is now contained in some 360-odd pages.
Mary McCarthy visited Vietnam in early 1967 and her report attacks U.S.
action there. Most of the book appeared as articles in The Observer, but the
author has added a short final section entitled 'Solutions'.

The Malayan Union. By James de V. Allen. Foreword by Robin W. Winks. New

Haven, Conn.: Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University. 1967. (Distributors:
The Cellar Book Shop, Detroit.) 181 pp. (Monograph Series, No. 10.)
Dr. Allen has produced an authoritative account of the abortive attempt by the
British Government to impose a constitutional diktat on the political melange
that was Malaya in 1946. The significance of this episode lies in the full flowering
of Malay nationalism. The author traces with great skill the course of conflict
arising from Malay opposition to a policy which sought to transform the political
and communal status quo. In the event, Malay collective consciousness prevailed
to disrupt the Malayan Union and this success served to shape the character of
the political systems of Malaya and Malaysia.

FAR EAST AND PACIFIC

The Modern History of China. By Henry McAleavy. London: W eidenfeld
& Nicolson. 1967. 392 pp. Bibliog. Index. (Asia-Africa Series of
Modern Histories. Ed.: Bernard Lewis.) 45s.