Reviews

DYNAMICS OF WORLD POLITICS: STUDIES IN THE RESOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT. Linda B. Miller (ed.). Prentice‐Hall, 1968. Pp. viii + 294. $5.40.

THE UNITED NATIONS AND UNITED STATES SECURITY POLICY. Ruth B. Russell. The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1968. Pp. ix + 510. $10.00 (U.S.).

THE POLITICS OF PEACE‐KEEPING. Alan James. Studies in International Security: 12. Chatto & Windus, London, for The Institute for Strategic Studies, 1969. Pp. 452. £.3.3.0.

INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION CENTER ON PEACE‐KEEPING OPERATIONS MONOGRAPHS NOS. 6–8. Paris, 1968. $1.00 each.

No. 6 CHARACTERISTICS AND SOME ASPECTS OF LAUNCHING U.N. PEACE‐KEEPING FORCES. Lieut.‐General P. S. Gyani. Pp. 13.

No. 7 PEACE‐KEEPING AND SELF‐DEFENCE. Dr Kjell Goldmann. Pp. 60.

No. 8 THE AUTHORIZATION OF PEACE‐KEEPING OPERATIONS IN TERMS OF THE NATURE OF THE CONFLICT. Albert Legault. Pp. 62

CANADA AND THREE CRISES. Robert W. Reford. Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1968. Pp. xii + 246. $5.00 (Canadian).

SYSTEMS, STATES, DIPLOMACY AND RULES. J. W. Burton. Cambridge University Press, 1968. Pp. xii + 251. $7 (U.S.).

GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY IN TRANSITION. BONN BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. Karl Kaiser. Issued under the joint auspices of the Harvard University Center for International Affairs, the Twentieth Century Fund's ‘Tocqueville Series’ and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, Oxford Paperbacks No. 159, 1968. Pp. x + 153. $2.00.

PEOPLE'S WAR. THE CONDITIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES IN CHINA AND IN SOUTH‐EAST ASIA. J. L. S. Girling. London, Allen and Unwin, 1969. Pp. 244. $6.65.

ASIAN CONTRACT LAW. David Allan (General Editor). Melbourne University Press, 1969. Pp. xiii + 237. $9.60.

MODERN FEDERALISM. G. F. Sawer. The New Thinker's Library, No. 29. London, C. A. Watts & Co., 1969. Pp. 204. 15/‐ (U.K.).     

The saint as patron in the work of Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours and his world have long been out of fashion; but despite modern neglect of his works, Gregory gives us access to an understanding of many important aspects of late antiquity, among which is the role of the saint as patron. Saints appear as patrons throughout Gregory's works; the focus of this study is his account of the miraculous deeds of St. Martin. The role of the saint as patron is best understood against the background of the recent work of Peter Brown on holy men in late antiquity; several other scholars have also emphasized the importance of patrons in the Roman world. Appeals to the saints in Gregory's world are to be understood as one manifestation of the Roman ritual of appeal to a patron. More important than their afflictions are the social circumstances of those who appeal to St. Martin and analyzing some others in detail, we can demonstrate that the most important elements in those appeals are the social weakness of the appellants, their need for a saintly patron, and Martin's role as a model saintly patron in Gregory's world