AN ACCEPTANCE OF PARADOX: ESSAYS ON CANADIAN DIPLOMACY IN HONOUR OF JOHN HOLMES Edited by Kim Richard Nossal. Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, c1982. (Contemporary Affairs #49). 202pp, paper, $13.50. ISBN 0-919084-39-7. Post-Secondary. Reviewed by Keith Wilson. Volume 11 Number 4. 1983 July. John Wendell Holmes has spent over forty years in diplomacy, either as practitioner or teacher, and was particularly influential in shaping Canadian policy to international institutions in the immediate post-World War II years. This book consists of an introductory assessment of Holmes's view of politics-a belief in pragmatism and ad hoc policies where necessary and a recognition of the need for lucid debate and moderation—plus seven case studies written by Holmes' former doctoral students. These range from a study of C.H. Cahan's speech on the Sino-Japanese conflict at the League of Nations in 1932, to a study of the role of Prime Minister Trudeau at the Singapore Conference in 1971 when British arms sales to South Africa threatened to destroy the Commonwealth. While all the studies are interesting, the one by Douglas A. Ross on "The Dynamics of Indochina Diplomacy" in 1955 is, perhaps, most revealing of the different viewpoints and tensions within the department of external affairs. All in all, an intriguing collection of studies that should interest all students of Canadian foreign affairs. One small criticism: the format of the quotations (aligned on the right hand but not on the left) is an irritation out of all proportion to its importance. Keith Wilson, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB.