Will Civilisation Crash?

Abstract

IN this volume by Commander Kenworthy we are reminded of the homicidal tendencies of the constituent parts of the white race, the aggregate effect of which, if unrestrained, must be race suicide and the end of the present phase of civilisation. During the War, latent resources, inherent in civilised man's growing dominion over natural forces, were only partly mobilised in the attempt at self-annihilation. Even so, the rapid development of the mechanical side of war, the enhanced efficiency of the aeroplane as a destructive agent, the invention of land ironclads, the almost incredible increase in the range, accuracy, and mobility of the guns of the heavy artillery, and the use of poison gas, liberated from cylinders or projectiles, had given the armies in the field and civilian populations a foretaste of horrors to come, sufficient, it might be thought, to have created a common will for the outlawry of ordeal by battle. Will Civilisation Crash? By Lt.-Comdr. the Hon. J. M. Kenworthy. With an Introduction by H. G. Wells. Pp. 320. (London: Ernest Benn, Ltd., 1927.) 10s. 6d. net.