ABSTRACT
the award of the Nobel Prize to Mr. T. S. Eliot in 1948 coincided with the publication of a new book by him—not a book of poems or of literary criticism, but of what would usually be called “sociology”. 1 It is not the first book of this kind that Mr. Eliot has published—Thoughts After Lambeth and The Idea of a Christian Society also deal with social issues, and in general, even in his poetry, he is constantly aware of the problems that distress our age. His point of view is that of a Christian and a note of fervent apologetics underlies all his argument. But the pitch is always perfectly controlled—he believes, with Lord Acton whom he quotes to this effect, that our studies “want to be pursued with chastity, like mathematics”.
