G. T. Garratt (1888–1942)

Written by a member of the International Brigade who fought unsuccessfully on the Left during the Spanish Civil War, this is a 1938 warning about Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and the dangers of a forthcoming European war. Analyzing freedom, fascism, and failing diplomacy in the late 1930s, he observed that "every free country carries within it the seeds of a future dictatorship", as true then of England as it is now of most 'democratic' countries.

The author concluded that France and Britain would likely submit to control by Berlin, but North America was relatively safe for a time given its distance from the continent, and the Australia and New Zealand were safest of all. Asian countries are unmentioned!

My copy is stamped "Officers Mess, R.A.F. Bircham, Newton"… (mere)

If you read a lot of books published in the late 30s, especially those published for the Left Book Club, this is pretty familiar ground. The author spends as much time bashing the Baldwin-Chamberlain-Hoare-Eden regime as he does Mussolini. Most of the book is about the Ethiopian War and the (at that point still ongoing) Spanish Civil War. Needless to say, the book is quite harsh on Mussolini, and multiple shots (some deserved, some not) are taken at the Catholic Church. Some of the sneering tone in the book is a bit off-putting, especially the habit, repeated in the book a number of times, of using cardboard Tory M.P.s. Not particularly recommended, since there's little fresh here.… (mere)