ners for gay American AIDS patientsnis over eleven hundred.” Yet Amis, sonquick to satirize dissolute behavior inngeneral, tells us that the homosexualnrevolution “was, on the whole, a vividnand innocuous adventure, one thatnseemed to redress many past confusions.”nWho’s confused?nAmis has already displayed considerablenliterary talents, and it is lamentablenthat The Moronic Inferno shouldndisclose a blinkered and gratuitouslyncondescending view of America,na country that he has never, really,nvisited.nGregory J. Sullivan is a graduate studentnat Villanova University.nAmerican Sentinelnby Matthew KaufmannOrthodoxy: The American SpectatornAnniversary Anthology, editednby R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., NewnYork: Harper & Row; $24.95.nThose of us who have helped to foundnconservative campus journals envy ThenAmerican Spectator. Born in 1967ninto modest circumstances — as upstartnsamizdat published out of a farmhousenby four Indiana University students—nit has gone on to achievennationwide distribution, a distinguishednlist of subscribers, and a 500pagenanniversary collection of its worknfrom a major publisher (Harper &nRow). The success is well-deserved—nalthough it has long since graduatednfrom college, the Spectator has for 20nyears remained one of the liveliestnjournals around.nIn the introduction to this book,neditor R. Emmett Tyrrell says that hisnmagazine’s purpose is to defendnAmerican orthodoxy. But the Spectatornis not primarily a defensive player; itnshines most when on offense. And itncan be very offensive to those of progressivensensibilities. Harper & Row isnliving dangerously in reprinting essaysnlike Taki’s “Ugly Women”:nTake Jane Fonda and ShirleynMacLaine. That harshness,nthose granite glares, thenshrillness of their rhetoric—itnmakes one want to shriek atntheir ugliness.nThe Spectator’s charm lies in its audacity.nAs Joseph Sobran has pointed out,npeople celebrated for their “irreverence”—nLenny Bruce, GeorgenCarlin, cast members on Norman Learnsitcoms — actually adhere to the codenof liberal orthodoxy, mocking thingsnfor which the prescribed liberal attitudenis mockery while respectfully laying offnthe icons of the left. The pleasure innpicking up an American Spectator isnthe knowledge that, for the duration ofnthe issue, such rules go out the window.nNo New Ager is safe.nThis volume contains a number ofnamusing profiles: P.J. O’Rourke onnLee lacocca (“a hero for our time — anconceited big-mouth, glad-handingnhuckster who talked the governmentninto loaning his company piles ofnmoney”), Phillip Terzian on WashingtonnPost gossipmonger Sally Quinnn(evidence that “inside every metropolitannnewspaper is a National Enquirernchamping at the bit”), Lewis Laphamnon Jimmy Carter and his 5,000-pagenWhite House diary (“He was writingnabout himself, and the subject so captivatednhim, so consumed him with thenfires of love, that he abandoned himselfnto it in the way that lesser men abandonnthemselves to their enthusiasmsnfor stamps or butterflies or Civil Warncannon”). The funniest piece of thenlot, though, is J.D. Lofton’s satiricalnreview of Brezhnev’s authorized biography,na work “full of never-before-toldntales of Brezhnev’s personal couragen[in World War II] which, quite frankly,nmakes one wonder why the rest of thenRed Army was really necessary.”nFor all its rambunctiousness, thenmagazine does more than its share ofnthe heavy work. In Orthodoxy, PeternRodman demolishes the lies of Sideshow,nWilliam Shawcross’ sleazy attemptnto shift the blame for the Cambodianngenocide from the KhmernRouge to the United States. NicholasnRothwell exposes Soviet/Vietnamesenchemical warfare in Laos, in an earlynstory subsequently picked up, and doggedlynpursued, by the Wall Street Journal.nArnold Beichman and KennethnLynn thwart the efforts of such literarynfellow travelers as Irving Howe andnMalcolm Cowley. Vladimir Bukovskynand Malcolm Muggeridge offer theirndiagnoses of the West’s deterioratingncondition.nThere are over 70 articles here.nnnmost of them examples of good writing.nTwo of them, however, are interestingnprecisely because they are notnparticularly well-done: the interviewsnwith William F. Buckley and IrvingnKristol. Conducted during the Spectator’sncampus days, they are clearly thenwork of amateurs — transcribed (apparenfly)nverbatim, filled with awkwardnsentence constructions and repetition.nThey are the sort of thing found todaynin several dozen conservative campusnpapers. And for that reason they are, tonthe staffers of those papers, inspirationalnas reminders that everyone has tonstart somewhere.nMatthew Kaufman is an editorial internnat The Rockford Institute.nFrom ThenRockford InstitutenAfirst-of-its-kind directory of religiousnorganizations, people, and publicationsnengaged in public affairs. More than 160nlistings with backgrounds and budgets.nFormatted for quick reference for thosenwho need the facts fast ONLY $6.95!nMail the coupon below for your copy.nn Please! Rush me. . copy(ies) ofnthe new directory Religion & PublicnAffairs at $6.95 apiece.n• Bill me. n l^y check is enclosed.nMail to: The Rockford Instituten934 N. Main St.nV Rockford, IL 61103nMAY 19881 41n