Mr. Gastil's summary of the survey conducted by Freedom House commands assent on several points. Freedom is indeed a comparative word and exists in varying degrees. Freedom does not necessarily accompany, or result from, economic or organizational progress. And there is a close bond between civil and political liberties.

Mr. Gastil displays knowledge of a wide spectrum of political systems and writes in clear prose. Why, then, do his words leave this reader skeptical, with a sense of unreality, as though all that is written bears no relation to what he knows of Africa, the Mideast, Latin America, or Europe? I could not begin to take Gastil's essay seriously without first finding the key which explains these disquieting impressions.