Munich the Peace of Paper

The 1938 Munich Agreement, by which Britain and France gave Hitler the go-ahead to take over the Sudetenland, stands as one of the more shameful episodes leading to World War II. Nothing in ''The Peace of Paper'' is designed to change that estimate, but it helps us to understand the play of forces behind what is called here ''a symbol of diplomatic naivete and military weakness.''

The sober narrative of Robert Kee, dramatic newsreel footage and the recollections of Czechoslovaks, Britons, Germans and others capture the tragic dimensions of Munich