European Jungle

Major Francis Yeats-Brown belonged to what was probably the last generation of "old-breed" British conservatives: The sort that believed in the Empire, the peculiarly English-gentry variant of noblesse oblige, and the free nation-state (as opposed to ideologically motivated transnational alliances) as the basis for peace, order, and sanity in Europe. As such, many of his views are not what modern-day liberals (or the liberals of his own day, come that) would consider "politically correct" or appropriately progressive or radical. Well aware that he was facing heavy criticism from this quarter, Yeats-Brown did not cave in to media pressure. Instead, he wrote this book in response to his critics, with all the brilliant wit -- Sometimes a touch acerbic, but usually generous and good-natured -- that a high-class British gentleman-journalist of the age would aspire to. As a stylist, he has few peers among contemporary correspondents; for this reason alone it is a pleasure to peruse his work.