HISTORICAL MYSTERIES

HISTORICAL WHODUNITS, by Hugh Ross Williamson (Phenix House, 18s.), R. HUGH ROSS WILLIAMSON has earned a keen following on the air for his solutions to historical mysteries, and TV audiences enjoyed his re-assessment of the Gunpowder Plot in a striking play. In this book, he gathers together many such mysteries and argues out what seems to him the true, and often unexpected, solution. The hook, popular and clear, is an excellent introduction to hi story itself and an entertainment as well. But the author, we suspect, for all his gift of easy exposition, is really aiming at the pundits, whose learning has been so biased by religious and political preconceptions. His own learned introduction on history supports this view. The book can be recommended to Catholic readers especially.