teacher. But before looking for her,nFlood recalls where the letter was concealednin his apartment, opens it andnreads it. It is in Russian, but that is nonproblem: one year’s residence and anprevious year of study had made himnfluent in that language. The letter speaksnof a vast, secret, anti-American undertakingnlaunched inside the USA by sinisternSoviet forces. Anything less would,nof course, have been a distinct letdown.nThe letter also spoke of a husbandnnamed Bruce and of mysterious coatnhooks in Bruce’s room.nvJrdinarily these details could benskipped in a synopsis, but Richard Harrisnis no ordinary thriller author. He isndescribed on the dust jacket as havingn”written extensively on law and politicsnfor The New Yorker for the past fifteennyears, and has been known as one ofnthe most thoughtful and courageousnpolitical journalists of our time.”nThis background and introductionngive rise to high hopes, and certainlynentitles the author to a full reading.nSurely there is more here than meetsnthe eye; certainly an expert on law andnpolitics known for his courage has insightsndenied the average, and a tale tontell that will rivet us to our chairs, andnrender us still and thoughtful.nFlood, meanwhile, has moved intonaction. He traces the sister at her balletnschool and tells her that her sister hasnbeen murdered. That does not sendnMarja into hysterics: she is hardly surprised.nShe does not suspect Flood forna moment, though she had never beforenknown of his existence. She immediatelynagrees to help him search for and discovernthe real villains before the policenblunder in and spoil everything.nHaving found a beautiful woman tonassist his search, Flood has a final scenenwith his remarkably loathsome cityneditor, then drives out of the city to anmotel. Not long afterward he is joinednby Marja—the dead woman’s sister—nwho is not Russian, but Yugoslavian.nThe author catches himself at this point,nand finally—one almost says mercifullyn16inChronicles of CttUurcn—introduces a digression to explainnthe Danube Swabians. Marja’s brotherin-law,nalthough named Bruce McCabenin the U.S. and bearing “all the typicalnmannerisms of the proper Englishman”n(whatever that means), is really a Prussiannnamed Emil von Hoffen. Thisnchangeling, now revealed as a nazinunder his tweedy disguises, operates anflag and flagpole factory.nFlood, no fool, immediately senses anhidden significance in this enterprise.nTo discover its essence, he determinesnto burglarize the factory, using Marja’snkeys. Meanwhile, she draws an architecturalnplan of the building in a fewnfast, fluid strokes, revealing yet anothernof her multiple talents. Once inside thenfactory. Flood discovers that the roundnballs designed to fit atop the flagpolesnare not conventionally hollow. Eagles,nordinarily decorative, are made dangerousnby concealed short-wave radionreceivers. A black box contains a transmitter.nA chart of the factory installationsnshows they are located at defensenestablishments, government buildingsnand even the White House. Aha!nBack at the motel, Flood ignores anlovesick chambermaid, reads in thenpaper that the woman in the alley hasnbeen discovered, rents a car and makesnvarious moves designed to throw thenpolice off his trail. These consist ofndying his spectacular prematurely whitenhair and giving a false name. He dictatesnhis activities to a tape recorder,nhas another rendezvous with Marjanand determines to burglarize the Mc-nCabevon Hoffen house to discover whatnIn the forthcoming issue of Chronicles of Culture:nOn Patriotismn”In a letter to a close friend, she [Flannerv (.)'(‘onnoi jndescrik’S herself seated, “expressionless as a clock’nand with nothing to .say. dt a table of ‘(!c