BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 28 SEPT. 1936
BRACERS 47169. ALS. Norton papers, Columbia U.
Proofread by K. Blackwell and A. Duncan

<letterhead>
Telegraph House
Harting, Petersfield.1
28 Sep. 1936.

Mr. W.W. Norton
70 Fifth Avenue
New York

Dear Warder

This is to introduce to your notice a book which I hope you may care to publish, Japan’s Feet of Clay, by Freda Utley. Her knowledge of Japan, particularly from an economic point of view, is amazing. She is a professional economist, and her previous book, Lancashire and the Far East, showed her great competence in that field. This book, I must say, amazed me by its massive refutation of Japanese boasts, by its searching analysis of the misery of Japanese life, and by its detailed exposure of the sources of Japanese politics. She maintains that economic sanctions alone, at the time of the Manchurian crisis, would have compelled Japan to give way; I had not thought so, but her arguments are very convincing. The book is not easy reading, because of its immense mass of facts, but it is absorbingly interesting, and, I should say, a great book.

English publication is arranged for —

Yours sincerely
Bertrand Russell.

Japan’s Feet of Clay is one of the most impressivea as well as one of the most fascinating books that I have read for a long time. Its array of facts is amazing, and the picture of poverty and degradation, especially in agriculture, will surprise most readers, but cannot fail to convince them. Miss Utley maintains that, for economic reasons, Japan’s military strength is much less than is generally supposed, and supports her opinion by irrefutable arguments. Her book should be widely read, as it is of great and immediate importance in relation to current international problems.2

Bertrand Russell

• 1

  [document] Proofread against a microfilm printout of the original.

• 2

  Japan’s Feet of Clay … international problems. The blurb was published as B&R G9 and Gg36.01.

Textual Notes

• a

  impressive after deleted books