This book, one of the volumes in the International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction, has as sub-title A Study of China in Transition and its Implications for the West. It gives an interesting account of the reactions of a Yunnan provincial community, 'West Town', to a cholera epidemic. The author's theme is one with which psycho-analysts are likely to agree, namely, that 'scientific' and 'magico-religious' thinking co-exist in all cultures, their proportions depending upon the type of culture prevailing among different people. 'It is not fantastic to say that, to achieve popular acceptance, magic has to be dressed like science in America, whilst science has to be cloaked by magic in West Town.' 'The motto of pioneer Americans was: "Pray to God and keep your powder dry". In the light of the history of man and his works, such a motto was really more or less expressive of the mental attitudes of all peoples in the past, and it will probably underlie the cultures of the future.'