weeping Madonna of LaSalette is a picture that is more significant for mankind than for the children who saw it.

Daniel Sargent shows in "Our Lady and Our Civilization" how Mary is the Queen of Western Civilization. She is a perennially present force in the development of the arts, literature, and music of the Western world. Father Palmer, the Marian theologian, explains how Mary throughout history guaranteed the wholesomely sane attitude of the Church towards sex and the flesh. The final essay serves as an adequate postscript to this study of civilization. Entitled "Mother of the Church of Silence" it portrays the work of Mary in the resistance movements of the Church behind the Iron Curtain.

Mary's cultural significance is a fascinating study. Much more needs to be said about it. At present Father Burke's collection remains a fine introduction to a field of sociological research which promises rewarding dividends.

RALPH J. DYER, S.M.

St. Mary's University, San Antonio 1, Tex.

Human Development. By John J. Zubek and Patricia Ann Solberg. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1954. Pp. vii+476. $6.00.

Human development from birth to death constitutes fascinating subject matter. This reviewer attended a survey of the field offered by the Psychology Department of the University of Washington during the summer of 1954 but, because no text was available, the class was based on discussion and lectures only. This book fulfills a need.

Using a longitudinal approach, the authors present a biosocial interpretation of human growth and decline, prefacing each section with an evolutionary review of the general trend toward increasing complexity in structure and function of different animals. Man is examined as a human animal, the inevitable fruit of preceding evolutionary development.

This text encompasses a wealth of material, condensing within the scope of one book the results of hundreds of studies otherwise available only in equal hundreds of journals, reviews, and monographs. Especially is the material covering the period of old age and decline pertinent and valuable, since much of the research on gerontology has not yet found its way into textbooks. Interpretations of reported studies are generally cautious and conservative, and the entire volume is dotted with suggestions for further research.

The stark materialism coupled with a bio-social determinism robs the book of inspiration and spirit. Free will is neither admitted nor considered; intellection is discussed as a biochemical process influenced by social environment; intelligence is presented as a concept admitting so many varied definitions that none is specifically selected.

Despite its shortcomings this book makes a valuable scientific contribution to the study of human development.

SR. M. DOMINIC, R.G.S.

Home of the Good Shepherd, Seattle 3, Wash.

The Human Animal. By Weston LaBarre. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1954. Pp. xv+372. $6.00.

Since anthropology is the "science of man" and since this book attempts to unite "the biological discoveries of physical anthropology with the ethnological discoveries of cultural anthropology" (p. xii), it might be well to examine the nature of man as here presented by the author.

First of all "we can get some perspective on man only by looking at other animals" (p. 45; italics added). Earlier in the text the author had explained that the ability to "know" should not be attributed to humans alone. This would be to overestimate man and underestimate other organisms for, after all, “a plant root knows . . . that water is wet" (p. 30). As far as the human soul is concerned, the author is very frank in his assertion: "Man is in some ways different from other animals. But these differences inhere in the possession of culture, not of a separable soul" (p. 293). The reader has already been informed that "the quantitative is the only criterion of the cultural" (p 247). As to the belief in God, the Father, "Man must somehow cure himself of whatever cultural neuroses this animistic childhood of the past entails upon him" (p. 332).

With these basic assumptions clearly established the trend of the book flows swifty on to nowhere. Any significant observations and contributions, and there could be a number the treatment of racial differences and of culture and psychoses, for example become lost in the underlying philosophy.

The author rationalizes his position by saying that scientists have a responsibility to communicate more of their "insights" than they have been doing in the past. He speaks of "free competition scientifically among various brands of ideas" (p. 324). And he has shown us one of the “brands.”

MARGARET M. BEDARD College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, N.Y.

The American Christmas. By James H. Barnett. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1954. Pp. vii+173. $2.95.

James H. Barnett considers the development of American Christmas customs in his book, outlining the contributions made to its observance by the various national and social groups that have formed American culture. He does this with almost complete lack of advertence to any spiritual significance in the feast as it is now celebrated in the United States. Attempting to give an unbiased report, he seems to have as little understanding of the meaning of Christmas as do the millions of Americans whose

attitude he is describing. In fact, in the foreword, he states quite directly

I do not believe that the present state of knowledge concerning the festival warrants . . an inclusive theory for the origin and development of Christmas in this country (p. vii).

Mr. Barnett's history of the growth of the Santa Claus idea is a rather sad commentary on the extent to which secularism and our American brand of good will to men has vitiated the message of the angels of Bethlehem. And yet it must be conceded that this report is true. However, the Catholic cannot agree with his account of folk customs. A clearer understanding of the liturgy of Christmas and its significance would have pointed out the distinction between folk lore and the religious symbol. Nor will Catholics be happy about the report on the early observance of Christmas in our country.

The author states (p. 8) that a "special Mass was celebrated in St. Stephen's Church in New York City" as if this were something special and first, and not rather the usual observance of a feast set down in the Church's liturgy for centuries, and that St. Stephen's was merely one of thousands of Churches throughout the world so engaged that day.

The old error of "separation of Church and State established by the American Constitution in 1791" (p. 6) pops up, as it seems to do inevitably in any book written by a non-Catholic in which religious observance is mentioned at all.

Christmas will ever have been the great feast of Christianity from the times when to be a Christian meant for all men, to be a Catholic. For pagan America it has become a day of neighborly well-wishing symbolized by the American caricature, Santa Claus. The anomaly of this even Professor Barnett seems to sense. One is not sure what he believes.

Siena College, Memphis, Tenn.

SISTER LEO MARIE, O.P.

SHORT NOTICES

The Social Sciences in Catholic College Programs. By Roy J. Deferrari

(ed.), Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1954. Pp. v+180. $2.75.

This represents the publication of papers presented at the 1953 workshop on higher education at the Catholic University of America, to the topic "The Social Sciences in Catholic College Programs."

Of particular interest to sociologists is an excellent paper on Social Psychology written by Peter R. Hofstaetter. Furthermore, all sociologists should read Reverend Joseph P. Fitzpatrick's provocative, "The Challenge of the Social Sciences," and C. J. Nuesse's precise "The Nature of the Social Sciences."

This little booklet, which should prove to be useful to all Catholic social scientists, covers the fields of geography, anthropology, social service, public service, international relations as well as the academic importance of the social sciences and their place in our college curriculum.

Saint Louis University, Saint Louis 3, Mo.

C. S. MIHANOVICH

Industrial Relations and the Government. By Wayne L. McNaughton and Joseph Lazar. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., 1954. Pp. ix+531. $6.00.

Current industrial relations problems receive rather thorough treatment here, from the historical angle, first, then from the viewpoint of policy. The aim of the book is a general knowledge of industrial relations law. The authors study such group relationships as collective bargaining, trade agreements, the adjustment of grievances, arbitration, medication, conciliation and employer-union cooperation. Some are considered as shown in crystallized laws, yet the authors draw also on psychology, history, economics, sociology, and etiology.

The authors admit that they use the term "industrial relations" broadly as embracing groups in the employment relationship wherever it exists, in manufacturing distribution, finance, provision of services and also government. In their preface they call employees and employers "participants in the sport of making a living” (vii) - a concept that may dull their insights in the estimation of many readers. Yet their flashback on English and American development in labor law is impartial, complete, and up-todate.

Part Two, directly concerns legislation affecting the employment relationship, while the other sections treat "activities of employers," "activities of employees," and "cooperation betwen the two," but always in the light of law. The stress is evidently on legislation, a specialty of Mr. Lazar. Here it may be noted that apparently there is little justification of the word "government" in the title, except for the full treatment of legislation both federal and state. "Labor law" could well substitute for it. RAYMOND BERNARD, S.J.

Institute of Social Order, St. Louis, Mo.

Modern Society. By John Biesanz and Mavis Biesanz. New York: PrenticeHall, Inc., 1954. Pp. xvi+718. $6.50.

Integration, or talk of integration, seems to be the trend of the day in the Social Sciences as elsewhere. This "Introduction to Social Science," as the authors subtitle their book, is a recent attempt in this field. The desirability of integration is presented in the opening chapter by one of their twelve contributing authors, and is further indicated by the distribution of material. Thus, sixteen out of thirty-two chapters are devoted to the usual topics of the Introductory Sociology course, while the remaining sixteen are equally divided between Economics and Government, including International Relations.

What from some points of view is a fairly successful and readable Social Science text is marred by a certain amount of moral relativity throughout; an acceptance of group marriage as an authenticated fact (p. 204); and some looseness of language and logic in the chapter on Religion. There seems to be an overemphasis on control in government to the neglect of its welfare functions, while liberal democracy, American style, is regarded as the real answer to the threat of world communism.

There is, however, especially good treatment of intergroup tensions, and of the purely natural aspects of happiness in marriage, while political and economic intricacies are interestingly explained for the beginning student. The text is enlivened by photographs, pictographs, and other types of illustrations; the usual study aids are provided. Footnotes relegated to the back of the book were less than helpful to the reviewer, but may prove an additional attraction to the student.

Ursuline College, London, Ontario

MOTHER M. ROSANNA, O.S.U.

The American People in the Twentieth Century. By Oscar Handlin. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954. Pp. x+244. $3.75. The title of Dr. Handlin's work may seem too comprehensive for a book of approximately 250 pages. However, it must be noted that other volumes in the Library of Congress Series in American Civilization, of which this book is one of the half dozen titles already published, deal with such specific matters as religion, the family, scholarship, and so on. Hence, the author was able to exclude much that was important, realizing that it would be treated by others. His concern was to analyze our American stock, so to say, and to discuss the attitudes that have prevailed in the past, and that prevail today, toward various nationalities and races.

To do that requires honesty and objectivity. Handlin possesses both, and also a sympathetic understanding of the contributions made not only by the larger national groups, but also by a score of smaller nationalities. Such chapter headings as "The Color Line," "The Migrations," and "The Strains of a Free Society" are sufficiently descriptive to indicate their general contents, but they cannot make evident the wealth of pertinent information, presented at times with delightful irony, found in those chapters. There is no glorification of ethnic groups; there is rather a painfully honest appraisal of the good and bad features of the various segments