Balder Ex-Libris

Author : Reed Douglas
Title : Lest We Regret
Year : 1943

Link download : Reed_Douglas_-_Lest_We_Regret.zip

AUTHOR'S NOTE. I would be grateful if people in many parts of the Empire, who have received no reply from me, would read this book as an acknowledgment of their letters, a token of friendship reciprocated and an answer to their questions. I was forced to choose between continuing to write books or entering into a correspondence so great, that it would have occupied all my time. Most of these letters share a common theme - anxiety for the future, however our victory in this war may appear - and this book is a joint reply to them. The clear road beyond victory, for which we long, is still not visible. That is why I chose for my title the words Battle in England, from a letter written by a young officer who served far away from this, his native island. The letter was not sent to me; it was quoted in the House of Commons. One sentence vividly expresses the thought that prompts this book: 'We still feel out here that the ultimate battle is being won or lost in England.' And so it is. With victory, the battle for our future will only begin. The years 1919-39 are close enough for us to remember that. My publisher thought that the title I chose would confuse readers, who would expect from it a book about the military battle of Britain. The cover, therefore, bears another title: Lest We Regret. The theme of the book, nevertheless, is that 'Battle in England' which will have to be fought and won in this island, after the war, if our future is not to be lost. I have interpolated in the text several quotations from letters to me; they were so apt to my theme that I have used them to illustrate it. ...