blacks. No expression of stupidity andnbigotry by black nationalists inspiresnserious criticism.nOne part of Lader’s book that mightnbe of some scholarly interest is his treatmentnof the new left. But even here henis not always trustworthy. The trial ofnthe Chicago Seven is portrayed as a mar­ntyrdom of innocents, though some ofnthe defendants later admitted they hadnaimed at provoking riots. Lader doesnprovide a useful reminder of how unpleasantnthe new leftists were, especiallynto each other, for these people couldnhardly agree on the time of day, muchnless how to make a revolution. nnThe Senior Executives’ DrivelnHerb Schmertz and Larry Woods:nTakeover; Simon & Schuster; NewnYork.nby Clarence B. Carsonn1 had already read this novel beforenI happened upon the dedication whilenleafing through it. It came as a nearnshock for me to learn that:nThis book is dedicated to an endangerednspecies . . . the free marketnsystem.nMy near shock was occasioned by thendisparity between the sentiments affirmednin the dedication and the storyncontained in the book.nIt is true that dedications often appearnto have little or nothing to do with thencontents of the books they precede. Authorsnsometimes dedicate assorted talesnof infidelities, bound as novels, to theirnwives. Presumably, there is no implicationnthat their wives have been guilty ofnsuch infidelities. Nor would one supposenthat the behavior being describednis being recommended to the wives.nStill, if one were to discover that KarlnMarx had dedicated his Critique ofnPolitical Economy to the Rothschildsnor that Fyodor Dostoyevsky had dedicatednThe Brothers Karamazov to Satan,nhe would be justified in supposingnthat some significance was attached tonthe dedication. Thus it is reasonable tonDr. Carson’s latest book is The Worldnin the Grip of an Idea.n34inChronicles of Culturenconclude that if a novel is dedicated tonan abstraction, such as the free market,nthe dedication must have something tondo with the contents of the book.nIt would be in order to expect, then,nthat this novel does something to praisenor defend the free market. Potentialnreaders are hereby forewarned not tonbuy the book with any great expectationsnthat this is what it does.nIt should perhaps be noted that businessmennin Takeover do utter somencomplaints about the disadvantages ofnvarious government regulations. Firstnand last, there are a goodly number ofnsuch plaints. There is, too, the businessnof the executives of one of the companiesnbuying a small airline company to forestallnany takeover by another corporation.nThe point of this is that it takesnso long to thread through the bureaucraticnmaze to get CAB approval tonown an airline that potential raidersnwould be turned aside from the effort.nThere is also a caricature of a bureaucratnhell-bent on thwarting the takeover attempt.nThese are no more pertinent to thenstory, however, than the “color” commentarynon television is to a footballngame. They are incidents and asides tonfill the dead air while the team huddlesnbetween plays. Takeover is concernednmainly with the doings of corporatenexecutives. The plot of the novel mightnmore aptly be called a conspiracy, a conspiracynby a senior executive of one corporationnto take over another corporationnwith the aid of several underlings.nWhat gives thrust to all of this is thennnsexual desires and predilections of corporatenexecutives.nThe senior executive who engineersnthe takeover is pressed into action bynhis mistress, a southern beauty who hasngone through four husbands and is,nwhile these events take place, marriednto a fifth; he is conveniently absent fromnthe old plantation often enough not toninterfere with the affair. It seems thatnshe had a son by one of her lovers andnwishes to make a provision for him bynsetting aside a fund large enough to enablenhim to live in high style for thenrest of his life. She has a large blocknof stock in the target corporation, butnit is only selling at about 10, and shenneeds to sell at 25. With that incentiventhe senior-executive hero goes intonaction, working his way through a moralnand sexual morass which includes annimpotent younger son, the sexually potentnhead of the corporation which isnto make the acquisition, Mafia violence,nhomosexuality on Greek islands, misappropriationnof company funds, theft—n”a temporary loan”—from the U.S.nTreasury, and so on. In the end, vicenis triumphant, though in truth virtuenis never on the field.nWhat has all this to do with the freenmarket? I wish I knew. Then again, itnmay be just as well that I don’t. My ownnimpression is that the free market isnabout as remote from the activity innthis tale as is virtue—another vanishingnspecies, it would appear.nIt is not my point, of course, that thisnor any other novel should have beennwritten in praise or defense of the freenmarket. I doubt that. An essay or monographnwould be the right form for that.nThe novel is a complex and extendednaccount of the engagement of an individual,nor individuals, with life. In itsnheyday it was the preeminent literarynexpression of individualism. It is basicallynexistential and individualistic. Thennovel was as foreign to the essentialistnMiddle Ages as paintings which dweltntoo much on the features of individualsnwould have been. The possible declinen