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The 32nd general assembly of the United Nations 1977
374
BOOK REVIEWS
references to literature from the European Community, the U.S.A. and countries of the British Commonwealth, this does not apply to official publications. JOHN E. PEMBERTON Librarian, University College at Buckingham, England. The 32od General Assembly of the United Nations 1977. Donald F. Keys. Institute for World Order, Palnetary Citizens, World Federalists, New York. 1977.60 pp. $3.50. Those researchers looking for information on the most recent session of the General Assembly may find this publication useful. Keys begins with a summary of the Secretary-General’s Report on the Work of the Organization which serves as a review of UN activities and a delineation of pressing issues. Then Keys briefly outlines the speech of Hamilton Amerasinghe, President of the 31st session, to the resumed 31st Assembly. Next, he presents the events of the 32nd session, beginning with excerpts from the opening address of the president of the new Assembly and then moving into a description of the topics discussed by the Assembly. This subject arrangement gives a coherent overview of Assembly action, less comprehensive then that of the UN Yearbook but more current. When necessary for better understanding of the debate, Keys provides background information pertinent to the topic. For many resolutions before the Assembly, Keys excerpts opinions representative of various member countries. He identifies each draft resolution either by its number in the limited series of documents or by its number in the committee report on the question. In order to find the resolution as passed, the user must consult other resources to obtain the resolution number. The major caution with this publication is that Keys, the UN representative for the World Association of World Federalists, strongly presents his own opinions of the occurrences of the session. For instance, he begings the section Hostages and Terrorism - No Action of Usual with the view that ‘Distortion is the name of the game’ in discussions of terrorist activities. In his summary of the debate on Cyprus, Keys suggests that Makarios’s death was ‘under not altogether clear circumstances’ and designates Turkey as a ‘marginal NATO ally’. Keys concludes his work with his assessment of member nation voting records on twenty issues which arose in the 32nd Assembly, using as his criteria his own evaluation of whether the vote contributed to peace and to world economic, social and environmental well-being. While this kind of personal anlysis may be useful for stimulating
classroom discussion, it could also cause difficulties for the indiscriminating patron who might accept Keys’s opinions as fact. Patrons wishing a more complete and less biased approach should be referred to the UN Chronicle or, if currency is not important, to the UN Yearbook. For those who desire an overview of an entire recent session and who realize the limitations of Keys’s presentaiton, the work will be helpful. MICHAELYN BURNETTE Assistance Documents Librarian, University of Kanasa Libraries, Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A. Librarians of Congress, 1802-1974. LC, Washington, D.C. 1977. 273 pp. illus. $7.75 from GPO. 77408073 ISBN o-8444-0238-9. The only history of the Library of Congress thus far written has been David C. Mearns’ The Story Up To Now, with was originally prepared as part of the Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for the year 1946. The present volume will hereafter be cited alongside Meams’ book as ‘the other good source of information’ concerning the first 172 years in the life of our national library. It is a creditable companion volume in every respect. Librarians of Congress contains biographical sketches of the eleven men who served that post prior to the appointment of the present incumbent. All are based upon on primary sources and are well documented. All save one were written by staff members at the Library, a fact which is impressive in itself, for what other library can boast the presence of ten competent historian/biographers among its own people? All of the sketches appeared first in LC’s Quarterly Journal, a fact which doubtless accounts for the book’s very reasonable price. The men who have inhabited LC’s front office were a fascinating lot, comprising a number of politicians, several journalists, one physician, a poet, a scholar, and two whose previous careers had been in librarianship. Most were appointed for reasons of political patronage, and several were dismissed because they fell into political disfavor. Their tenures ranged from a brief eighteen months to a full two-score years. Just for the record, the Librarians, their periods of service (and their biographers in this volume), are as follows: John Beckley 1802-1807 (Edmund Berkeley, Dorothy Smith Berkeley) Patrick Magrunder 1807-1815 (Martin K. Gordon) George Watterston 1815-1829 (William Matheson)
BOOK REVIEWS
references to literature from the European Community, the U.S.A. and countries of the British Commonwealth, this does not apply to official publications. JOHN E. PEMBERTON Librarian, University College at Buckingham, England. The 32od General Assembly of the United Nations 1977. Donald F. Keys. Institute for World Order, Palnetary Citizens, World Federalists, New York. 1977.60 pp. $3.50. Those researchers looking for information on the most recent session of the General Assembly may find this publication useful. Keys begins with a summary of the Secretary-General’s Report on the Work of the Organization which serves as a review of UN activities and a delineation of pressing issues. Then Keys briefly outlines the speech of Hamilton Amerasinghe, President of the 31st session, to the resumed 31st Assembly. Next, he presents the events of the 32nd session, beginning with excerpts from the opening address of the president of the new Assembly and then moving into a description of the topics discussed by the Assembly. This subject arrangement gives a coherent overview of Assembly action, less comprehensive then that of the UN Yearbook but more current. When necessary for better understanding of the debate, Keys provides background information pertinent to the topic. For many resolutions before the Assembly, Keys excerpts opinions representative of various member countries. He identifies each draft resolution either by its number in the limited series of documents or by its number in the committee report on the question. In order to find the resolution as passed, the user must consult other resources to obtain the resolution number. The major caution with this publication is that Keys, the UN representative for the World Association of World Federalists, strongly presents his own opinions of the occurrences of the session. For instance, he begings the section Hostages and Terrorism - No Action of Usual with the view that ‘Distortion is the name of the game’ in discussions of terrorist activities. In his summary of the debate on Cyprus, Keys suggests that Makarios’s death was ‘under not altogether clear circumstances’ and designates Turkey as a ‘marginal NATO ally’. Keys concludes his work with his assessment of member nation voting records on twenty issues which arose in the 32nd Assembly, using as his criteria his own evaluation of whether the vote contributed to peace and to world economic, social and environmental well-being. While this kind of personal anlysis may be useful for stimulating
classroom discussion, it could also cause difficulties for the indiscriminating patron who might accept Keys’s opinions as fact. Patrons wishing a more complete and less biased approach should be referred to the UN Chronicle or, if currency is not important, to the UN Yearbook. For those who desire an overview of an entire recent session and who realize the limitations of Keys’s presentaiton, the work will be helpful. MICHAELYN BURNETTE Assistance Documents Librarian, University of Kanasa Libraries, Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A. Librarians of Congress, 1802-1974. LC, Washington, D.C. 1977. 273 pp. illus. $7.75 from GPO. 77408073 ISBN o-8444-0238-9. The only history of the Library of Congress thus far written has been David C. Mearns’ The Story Up To Now, with was originally prepared as part of the Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for the year 1946. The present volume will hereafter be cited alongside Meams’ book as ‘the other good source of information’ concerning the first 172 years in the life of our national library. It is a creditable companion volume in every respect. Librarians of Congress contains biographical sketches of the eleven men who served that post prior to the appointment of the present incumbent. All are based upon on primary sources and are well documented. All save one were written by staff members at the Library, a fact which is impressive in itself, for what other library can boast the presence of ten competent historian/biographers among its own people? All of the sketches appeared first in LC’s Quarterly Journal, a fact which doubtless accounts for the book’s very reasonable price. The men who have inhabited LC’s front office were a fascinating lot, comprising a number of politicians, several journalists, one physician, a poet, a scholar, and two whose previous careers had been in librarianship. Most were appointed for reasons of political patronage, and several were dismissed because they fell into political disfavor. Their tenures ranged from a brief eighteen months to a full two-score years. Just for the record, the Librarians, their periods of service (and their biographers in this volume), are as follows: John Beckley 1802-1807 (Edmund Berkeley, Dorothy Smith Berkeley) Patrick Magrunder 1807-1815 (Martin K. Gordon) George Watterston 1815-1829 (William Matheson)