Review: Shantung Compound

Shantung Compound by Langdon Brown Gilkey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is more important now that when it was first written. It addresses human behavior when resources are limited. You can see both the unassailable power of love and the tendency to be selfish and to bicker, as the hungrier they were the more they cheated one another.

Ultimately, these people come to know hunger, fear, great physical discomfort and complete loss of privacy. They were all ordinary middle/upper class citizens and they were all thrust into this internment camp where there was no government. They formed their own and for the most part it really worked quite well! 2,000 people self-governing ....none were paid....and they made it work. In their camp, no one (NO ONE) could get away with doing nothing. ALL WORKED. All contributed in some way.

What a book. What a terrific tool for viewing all that is good and all that is wrong with humanity.

These days, with a country so thoroughly infected with moocher mentality, it should be imperative reading in the schools.

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