A noteworthy book which attempts to strike at the very root of the evils of our day. The author, a brilliant French essayist, argues that the world is no longer governed by ideas, but by political passions, which have been rendered universal in their application by the working of democracy. Politics determine morals, instead of vice versa, and the intellectuals, far from devoting themselves to the elaboration of ideas or to intervention in political life in behalf of principles of justice, like Zola in the Dreyfus case, have now made themselves the protagonists of popular passions. Kipling, Maurras and Barrès are mentioned as typical of this new departure. The book is very stimulating and provocative and has already brought upon the author a flood of criticism.
