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Book Reviews 335 study in the vagaries of historians in dealing with a specific problem, and a rather merciless analysis of the way some of them went astray for years by using less instead of more important evidence. It is entitled: “The Reconstruction of an Historical Episode: The history of the enquiry into the origins of the Seven Years War.” The sixth and last chapter is another case-study of the vicissitudes in the treatment of a particular historical episode ; but this time the discussion deals not only with the episode itself, the Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew, and with the ways in which its mysteries have been tackled by various historians and schools of interpretation, but also with what Butterfield considers the failure of Acton, in his writings on the subject, to give adequate weight to evidence contradicting his views. Some college teachers may be tempted to use Man on His Past as a sort of pons asinorurn for graduate students special- izing in European history. If one can understand this book and discuss it intelligently, it may safely be assumed that he has done some reading in the field, and is able to reflect maturely upon what he has read. Helsinki, Finland C. Leonard Lundin Finland in the Second World War. By C. Leonard Lundin. (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1957. Pp. ix, 303. Map, bibliography, notes, and index. $5.00.) In the welter of writing about World War I1 there is relatively little in English about its northernmost phases. Professor Lundin’s welcome book attempts not to provide a definitive history of these phases, but by making available additional materials to call attention to “certain problems, particularly in the fields of politics and international rela- tions” (p. 7) which previous books in English leave unmen- tioned or unsettled. He has utilized many memoirs, chiefly in Finnish, Swedish, and German. Of “the writers who enlighten or mislead us” (chap. 2) he finds especially important among Finns Marshal Mannerheim, the Social Democratic leader Tanner, two leaders of the Swedish minority in Finland- Baron von Born and Carl Frietsch-and Olavi Paavolainen, and among Germans their ambassador to Finland von Blucher and Generals Erfurth, Rendulic, and Holter. Little from government archives is available. 336 Indiana Magazine of History As background material the ambitions of Finnish na- tionalists previous to 1939 are presented. The antSoviet Lapua movement threatening to set up a Fascist dictatorship and the Suur-Suomi (Greater Finland) agitation looking to- ward the inclusion of Karelians, Estonians, and others under Finnish rule were only outstanding examples of agitation which made Finland seem to the Russian bear a “rather gruff little lamb” (chap. 3). Such movements had, however, subsided by 1939, and Lundin believes that in spite of mis- takes made by the Finnish government in its dealings with the U.S.S.R., there was no real threat from Finland which could have justified the Soviet attack. In the Winter War (December 1939 to March 1940) Finland fought heroically, but was forced to give up by her shortage of manpower and the uncertainty of promised help from England and France. The territorial cessions which the U.S.S.R. exacted from the Finns and their fear that they might be brought completely under Soviet control led them to look to Germany for help. Even before the German attack on Russia in June 1941, Finnish reservists were mobilized along the Russian frontier, and the Finns, “reluctant or eager” (p. 113), became “brothers-in-arms,” or rather “stepbrothers-in arms” (p. 145) of the Germans after the attack. Memoirs of the Finnish and German leaders show sharp disagreement between the “stepbrothers-in-arms” from the very beginning of the Continuation War (1941-1944), especially as the Finns refused to make the attacks on Leningrad in the south and the Murmansk Railroad in the north which the Germans urged. As the tide of battle gradually turned against Germany, Finland increasingly resisted German demands for continued co-operation, and by September, 1944, had “floundered” out of the war and was compelled once again to accept severe terms imposed by the U.S.S.R. But even yet the tortuous road was not ended. It was not until April, 1945, that Hitler’s warriors were completely expelled from the Lapland region, where on their retreat they carried out extensive devastation. All of these Finnish misfortunes Professor Lundin re- counts from the standpoints of both Finnish and German participants and observers, frequently leaving widely di- vergent interpretations unreconciled, the divergencies being Book Reviews 337 not merely between Finnish and German writers, but also between Finns themselves and Germans themselves. His at- tempt at meticulous accuracy appears successful, except when he makes Stalin prime minister a year and a half too soon (p. 53). In attempting to be meticulously fair he hesitates to pass judgment on the “Mannerheim Legend” as perpetuated in the Marshal’s memoirs and on most questions of right and wrong, but against Nazi Germany he does not hesitate to use such strong, though doubtless justified, language as “the madmen in the Wilhelmstrasse” and the “monstrous r6gime” in Berlin (pp. 49, 256). The book has no illustrations, and the one small closely packed map is inadequate. The author occasionally allows himself a suggestive obiter dictum, such as “Romanticism, unhampered by cold reality, can be a blessing for the arts, but it is almost always disastrous in politics” (p. 118), that “once a war has begun and military victory seems possible, even a nation which at the outset has regarded itself as fighting a defensive war . wishes to impose a peace which will give it advantages not previously enjoyed” (p. 136), and that “the corrosion of free institutions . often takes place in the guise of intemperate and violent anti-Communism” (p. 256). Professor Lundin finds a happy ending to the tale of Finland’s unhappy years. Unlike many countries to her south, Finland has not fallen entirely under Soviet control, the U.S.S.R. having learned that she “is poor material for a satellite state” (p. 252). With the decline of both the Rightist and Leftist groups which had been influential before 1939, he believes that Finnish democracy has “emerged from the war stronger than it had ever been,” and that Finnish achievements in housing and social services since 1944 have been “amazing” (pp. 256, 257). D ePauw University George B. Manhart The Office of Governor in the United States. By Coleman B. Ransone, Jr. (University, Alabama : University of Ala- bama Press, 1956. Pp. x, 416. Charts, tables, and index. $6.00.) Building on an earlier book about the office of governor in the South and traveling to twenty-five states for obser- .

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