Typed letter signed, 3 pages. Written on Faber and Faber stationery with Eliot’s autograph corrections in ink.

Eliot offers his critique of a submission, Captain Owen’s The Political Battlefield, sent by Brooks for consideration at Faber and Faber. He worries about the timeliness of the book, writing, “he has undertaken something…which nobody is quite safe in undertaking unless he is pretty close to the political scene, and can form a pretty accurate judgment of what will remain of importance and what will be superseded.” Eliot also attacks the style: “the book is not the work of practiced writer: the style, even when it can not be described as slip-shod, lacks pungency.” He touches on the issue of expertise, which Owen lacks: “I feel that people nowadays need to be persuaded that a writer can hold his own with anybody, if he is going to touch on these problems at all.”