recent Presidents do not receive.nAfter flying over Nevada inn1955, he grumbled that it wasna “great gambling and marriagendestruction hell,” and that itnIN FOCUSnshould never have become anstate, as it was a “hell-hole ofniniquity.” He would probablynhave been a great hero of commonnsense in our day. (AJL) DnEconomics of Elitist Fine-TuningnRonald E. Mtiller: RevitalizingnAmerica: Politics fornProsperity;...

there was hardly a single happynmarriage in all of France. Suchnis the impression given by Ms.nSullerot. We can feel her greatnenthusiasm for women whon”burn with passion,” and we endurenher disdain for any restraint:n”. . . rigorous self-disciplinenwill torture and cripplenPhillips’s PhilternDebora Phillips with RobertnJudd: Sexual Confidence:nDiscovering the Joys of Intimacy;nHoughton Mifflin Co.;nBoston.nThe dust-jacket picture ofnDr....

SCRtl-NnThe Profundity of Crossness and Pretentiousness as ArtnRaging Bull; Based on the book bynJake La Motta; Directed by MartinnScorsese; United Artists.nHeaven’s Gate; Written and directednby Michael Cimino; United Artists.nby Eric ShapearonRaging Bull IS a display of somethingnvery special—it could be called a movienstyle of Italian-American verismo. Andnas style, in this case, is also substance,nthe effect...

Heaven’s Gate. Once again he makesnAmerican pluralism his subject matter.nHe proclaims loudly that its historynand its vicissitudes were written innblood, not ink—a veracity which is allntoo easily converted into a cliche. Henseems not to know that only sin, crimenand personal wickedness can be uni-nVocal, while all social dilemmas suffernfrom a chronic ambivalence. Cimino’sndepiction of the...

NEXTnin The Kockford PapersnSurveying the American politicalnlandscape after the 1980 elections,none finds a decimated DemocraticnParty, internally dominated by its liberalnwing, yet incapable of recapturingnnational majorities with thatnagenda. On the Republicannside one finds a party dominatednby conservatives, yetnuncertain of its heritage andnunwilling to articulate a unifyingntheme that would explainnthe purpose behind itsnpursuit of political office. Evennas...

other than through machines. A jazznlibrary is thus a stack of discs or tapes;nthe fact that both Edison and KingnOliver belonged to the same generationnproves that Giarnbattista Vico was rightnabout the metaphysics of history. “Jazznteems with legendary geniuses who . . .nplayed better, than any of the giants,”nremarks Frank Kappler in his introductionnto Bechet, and...

to mankind by way of a blues tonality.nUnfortunately this album proves thatnthe current representatives of the Chicagonblues genre have lost that sublimenquality. The musicians seem to exertnthemselves to express show-biz demandsnrather than basic human concerns andnafflictions. Their instrumental paucityn—woefully influenced by rock, a bastardizednform of jazz music in itself—nsubstitutes primitive harmonic improvisationnfor the mastery of...

That Western civilization grew andnflourished under Christianity is notndebatable. There is the West, and therenare nations trying to westernize. UntilnLenin, no Western nation, whatevernits moral stance or its achievements (ornlack of same), disavowed its Christianity.nI include even Hitlerite Germany,nand I qualify the observation in thenunique case of the United States, evennthough de Tocqueville found Americanto...

THI: AiVlKRICAN PROSCLMUMnAn Active DiseasenIs insanity amoral? Is there no correlationnbetween a demented human actnand its moral significance? Those considerationsnwere somehow absent fromnthe avalanche of commentary and interpretationnof what happened on Marchn30 in front of the Washington, D.C.nHilton, when Ronald Reagan’s “newnblue suit was ruined” (in his own words)nby a bullet from the gun of...

pro, a century ago, a woman of ill repute,nand, even further back in time,nshe would have been a strumpet, a slut.nThis gradation attests not only to thenbreakdown of mores, but to the breakdownnof semantics as well, indicatingnhow precise language has evaporatednfrom our communication process. Ms.nWilliams is not a giddy youngstern—she’s 29, thus a cynical caterer...

Editor*s Co tmnIt is in everyone’s interest for libraries to make available thenwidest diversity of views and expressions, including thosenwhich are extreme, distasteful . . .n-Kathy Russell*nWhat do librarians have in common with fascism? Aren’tnthe words jarringly at odds with each other? Unless we makenit clear that they are opposites in our perception—as a matternof...

an essay, “The Growing Battle of the Books,” based on vintagenTime-Life selections of half-evidence, demi-truths andndiscount-priced reasoning. According to Time’s author,na new populist mood in America is partial to a kind of censorshipnthat keeps “troubling ideas out of . . . books and minds,”nand is hostile to “open traffic in ideas that not only nourishesna...

pinioiis ec V m-inInnate Depravity & the Nature of MannJames R. Mellow: Nathaniel Hawthornenin His Times; Houghton MifflinnCo.; Boston.nby Stephen L. TannernWh ile I was reading a historicalnmarker near Harvard University recently,na young man in the uniform of youthncult—that is, in calculated dishabille andndisplaying a conspicuous lack of personalnhygiene—stepped to the marker and,nseemingly oblivious of...

itself in the pursuit of image patterns,nconsidering the detection of such patternsnas an end in itself rather than asna means Hawthorne used to explore thenproblem of moral growth.nMellow often highlights biographicalninformation that is closely connectednwith the novels and stories. Such informationncould serve as a salutary remedynfor overly ingenious formalistic interpretation.nWe must never discount thenresourcefulness and...

“apocalypse” and “postrealist economy.”nWhat touched him off, I suppose, wasnHawthorne’s phrase “Outcase of thenUniverse.” This immediately set contemporarynexistentialist chords vibrating.nBut what a limited response to annauthor who devoted a career to exploringnthe large issues of good and evil.nAlfred Kazin’s review for the NewnYork Times Book Review provides anothernexample. Kazin praises Hawthornenfor having “a literary imaginationndelicately...

Compute with menComputerized she prints out menCommingling with me she becomes menComing she is coming is shenComing she is a comrade of minenComrades come all over comradesnCommunists come upon communistsnHi. Hi.nWe are here to complete our fusionnWe are here to create confusionnDo you confuse coming with confession.’nDo you fuel for nuclear compression.’nI’m for funicular ascension.nEither...

temporary literature that populates itsnfictional world with freaks and grotesquesnand their nonhero victimizers.nThe fat lady dies from the violation,nthe carny owner’s wife and Joe run offnwith the proceeds collected at the event,nJoe decides the wife is fat and ugly too,nsexually brutalizes her (but the old bagnloves it), abandons her, then takes thenmoney and scatters it...

Choices & Self-DefinitionnLinda Gray Sexton: Between TwonWorlds: Young Women in Crisis;nWilliam Morrow & Co.; New York.nRobert May: Sex and Fantasy: Patternsnof Male and Female Development;nW. W. Norton & Co.; NewnYork.nby Christina Murphyn1 hat sex roles form the parametersnof individual identity and the nexus betweennprivate and public selves is anpremise to which both Linda Gray Sextonnin...

twenty-page chapter alone, while Mayngoes about the process of endeavoring tonconvince the reader that sex differencesnare real and have a measurable and predictablenimpact upon individuals, societiesnand cultures.nTaking his lead from classical mythology.nMay states that the myth ofnPhaeton, in which a young man endeavorsnto attain the power of the gods andnreaps only destruction, is a typicallynmale...

It is difficult to see how either ofnthese two books will add much to society’snunderstanding of the complexitiesnof sex roles and of gender-based personalnidentities. Sexton’s book has a decidedlynLittle Women air to it and seems tonwork best as a primer for exceedinglynnaive adolescents who have not yetnheard of existentialism or of Sartre’sndictate that “we are...

1973, seized control of the pricing ofnoil. With a puckish sense of humor,nKelly notes that back in I960 one ofnOPEC’s earliest demands was for the oilncompanies to “maintain their pricesnsteady and free from all unnecessarynfluctuations.” Many people, understandably,ndo not like the oil companies, andnthey have misbehaved, with governmentnconnivance, in the past. ARAMCO andnits American connections...

A'”n•<“if “n’iisfteni illlrinl^r^itiiS^nChronicles of Culture is anThe Rockford Institute.nIkna solid intellectual approachnwhich deserves attention.’n—LIBRARY JOURNALnJohn F. Lulves, Jr., Executive VicenPresident, Intercollegiate Studies Institute,nInc., about the Chronicles of Culture…n”The Chronicles of Culture has establishednan excellent reputation for its ongoing andndevastating critique of the libera! orthodoxynthat continues to be dominant in culturalnmatters. Be it books, films, trends,neducation,...

matters in Iran. The Shah’s predecessorsnwere often devoted exponents of thenpyramid-of-skulls school of statesmanship.nKelly perhaps overdoes his theme ofnthe unchanging East. He is apt to reasonna bit too facilely from precedent and tonignore or minimize the impact of thenmodern world on the Middle East andnthe ability of its peoples at least partlynto adapt to it....

Her fixations about men, women and thenworld begin to change as the ennui of hernprofessional success wears away thenscars over the old wounds of her personalnlife.nIronically, she finally learns somethingnabout herself and life, not fromnthe feminists or her liberated friends,nbut from several men who have movednon the fringes of her life. Hugo, an amputeenwriter and...

Dreams Adulterated by PropagandanStuds Terkel: American DreamsnLast and Found; Pantheon Books;nNew York.nby Mike LavellenA. tape recorder, selective interviewsnand selective editing can be the ingredientsnof a pop sociology and a best-sellingnbook. Studs Terkel is neither an authornnor a sociopolitical sage, thoughnhe is celebrated as both by the liberalnmedia eager for a reflection of their liberalnviews. Studs...

he pretends to represent—that is, thenAmerican lower-middle class. He is onnthe editorial board and is part-owner ofnthe shrillest weekly of the intellectualnleft, The Nation, an associate of InnThese Times, a Chicago-based socialistnweekly, and a founding father of thenBarry Commoner Citizens Party, whichndid not have enough citizens to getnmore than 0.21% oi the vote in the...

class and the neurotic class.” But in Mr.nLapham’s vision of American society,nthe equestrian class is neurotic as well.nIt invades small Southeast Asian countriesnand dabbles ineffectually in freeversencomposition; it has an unreflectingnfaith in the omnipotence of technologynand makes films celebrating a fashionablendespair about the possibility ofnprogress; it hunts foxes to the strainsnof Stockhausen.nSomething odd is clearly...

In short, we have to lament the metaphor’snliterary and political influence.nTo write an entire book around such antheme would be to cram truth into annill-fitting straitjacket; and it is greatlynto Mr. Lapham’s credit that he has writtennnothing of the sort. What he hasndone is something less pretentious andnmore interesting—namely, he hasncollected a number of his...

putes between conservatives andnliberals.nThis method is seen best in the already-mentionednessay on the FordnFoundation’s 1974 energy study. Allnof the evidence marshaled and presentednby Mr. Lapham supports the view of thencapitalistic Mr. Tavoulareas that Mr.nDavid Freeman, the project’s organizer,nwas “a fool and a zealot.” It also makesnclear that the Foundation reneged on annexplicit promise to Mr....

Costa Rica and Japan have greater civilnliberties than Greece (the cradle of democracy),nFrance (the motherland ofnMontesquieu), Italy (the country of thenRenaissance) and Germany (in many respects,nthe most Western of all Westernncountries). This alone wreaks havocnwith the West-East or North-South antithesis.nSimilarly, we learn that it is thenpoor in Turkey or India who are devotednto the Western...

communists. Let the French and Italianncommunists, and those who vote fornthem, see how “free” the Hungariansnor Poles are (unless they misbehave andnhave to be disciplined). As the Russiannexpression goes, a tyrant may wantnsomething just because his left footnwants it.nIn Russia I lived with my family in anmansion in the countryside, my wife didnnot work and...

“Western names” (party, government,nelection, etc.) is to mislead the publicnabout the nature of regimes which reversena millennium of political developmentnin Europe. These regimes shouldnnot be analogized to the European developmentnjust because totalitarian propagandandoes so for reasons of its own.nvJne of the most misleading wordsn(actively exploited by totalitarian propaganda)nis, in this context, the word “democracy.”nUntil the...

scientific concept to carry and, truth tontell, Rifkin cannot make it do so. WhatnRif kin offers in this book is a pop versionnof a world view: Entropy is to Vico,nToynbee, Hegel and even Teilhard whatna McDonald’s hamburger is to hautencuisine.nR ifkin attacks what he calls then”mechanical paradigm” and, to hisncredit, he is correct, at least...

ard of living. (Calling for a reduction innthe earth’s population does not seem anpractical way of dealing with this.)nHistorical inevitability is an importantnpart of world views; it makes predictionsnof the future seem inspired, partnof the unfolding of a rational plan. Andnhere lies the rub; inevitability may possiblynbe a guide for history as a whole,nbut it...

lar in this region, which reinforces ournepoch’s tendency toward unisexualitynand the increasing lack of differentiationnbetween the sexes. A recently publishednwork of profound insight, A WomannLooks at Men’s Buns, has been sellingnvery well in Chicago, while the burgeoningninfluence of the homosexual onnour pop culture has also contributed tonthis rather obtrusive fascination. Mr.nLaver would have found this...

ference and, by implication, superioritynof the 1930 to 1955 group is overrated.nFor example, members of the generationnof 1905 to 1930 “were shaped” in a timenthat included World War I, Einstein’sngeneral theory of relativity, the Bolsheviknrevolution, Prohibition, Ulysses,nLindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic,nand the collapse of the U.S. stocknexchange. So what’s new.^nDescribing his group, Broder stressesnthat,...

doubtedly be in for a drubbing from thenremaining Democrats (or someone else),nthe likes of which will make RalphnNader’s laying-waste look elementary.nAnother type of reaction, this morenshrill and less Utopian, is typified in a bylinednpiece on the editorial page of thenDetroit Free Press on November 20,n1980. Reese Cleghorn, associate editornof the Free Press, opens the opinionnpiece...

NEXTnin The Rockford PapersnMoral Majoritarians have put togetherna persuasive brief. Onlynthe deaf, dumb, blind and ignorantncould deny that America has been inundatednwith pornographic provocationnin the last two decades. On stagenand screen and in books and magazinesnwe have been treated to a displaynof moral degradation that almostnexceeds the powers of the humannimagination. Here I agree with...

Of Love for Meliorism and UpheavalsnJames H. Billington: Fire in thenMinds of Men; Basic Books; NewnYork.nby Paul GottfriednjDillington’s volume has elicitednharsh reviews from journals thatnChronicles of Culture has properly criticizednas mechanistically liberal. I, too,nmust line up with those who have beennunimpressed by this rambling study ofnalmost 700 pages. Dealing with majornrevolutionary movements over the lastntwo...

they recognize no qualitative—i.e.,nmoral and spiritual—standards, exceptnin terms of the conduciveness—or nonconduciveness—ofnan action or idea tonbring about a desired material transformation.nThe changes they envisage arenseen as possible only through brute forcenand can be effected only through theirnimpact upon the prevalent mode of productionnand upon the economically dominantnclass.nIhese Marxist commonplaces arenrelevant in that they show the...

henchmen, came to fulfillment innGermany only because the countrynpossesses such a long tradition of contemptnfor intellectuals, for reason andnthe things of the mind.nIt appears that the German people wereneager to embrace a fundamentally antirationalnforce that would allow them tonfollow orders and be exempt from thinking,nto unleash their most brutal impulses.nHochhuth aptly quotes as anmotto to...

significant role—indeed, that the Germannpeople as a whole contributed tonHitler’s attack upon civilization—thatnprompted Hochhuth to write his book.nThe verdict is not a simple and unequivocaln”guilty”; but neither is the plea ofnnational insanity meant to exonerate thenGermans from stifling, in cold blood, sonmany million love stories. The booknends with an excruciating, vivid descriptionnof Zasada’s hanging—his slow,nineptly...

for a minute. He claims in an introductorynnote that these BBC talks are writtenn”no more than a couple of hoursnbefore they are taped”—something thatnwould be well beyond my powers. Still,nwhat I keep thinking is that since then1930’s, when Cooke arrived in America,nthe country has undergone a staggeringndecline. Cooke won’t ever tell us this,nalthough he must...

cient even to gain that extrandollar, much less to attain salvation.nIn short, he is a conservative.nThus, he writes:nThe calm and admittedlynnecessary liberal vision . . .nstill has failed to grasp thenreasons for its own crisis innthe contemporary world.nThis is the flaw of all classicalnliberal thought. It isntheoretically indifferent tonends, the belief that suchnthings are merely...

litical and artistic priorities assertednthemselves, all with ansupposedly liberal slant. Thisnnew liberalism, however, tooknthe form of cultural hate andnnihilism, in which we are told,nfor instance, that the real revolutionnis the sexual one. We wondernwhether the old dissent wasnnot better than this new orthodoxy,nwhose invisibility makes itneven more insidious. (GMP) DnPerceptiblesnStanley R. Rader: Against thenGates of...

Fun, Anyone?nNine to Five; Written by Colin Higginsnand Patricia Resnick; Directednby Colin Higgins; 20th Century-Fox.nNeil Simon’s Seems Like Old Times;nWritten by Neil Simon; Directed bynJay Sandrich; Rastar, Columbia Pictures.nby Stephen MacaulaynIn Nine to Five, Jane Fonda, LilynTomlin and Dolly Parton portray thenThree Musketeerettes of the modernncorporate world. According to the film,nany faux pas makes one...

lessly hammer at the same conceptualntheme. The word and notion bourgeoisienis distilled on their canvases as the purengnostic extract of evil. Rudolf Schlichter’snportrait of Bertolt Brecht becomes ansort of holy icon. Christian Schad’s renditionsnof individualized depravity arenperhaps more humane, moderated bynsome melancholic, worldly introspections,nbut at the same time ambivalent.nWe had no trouble with George Grosz’snnaturalistic...

until 1974 that Butler was coaxed backninto the recording studios. Since then,nhe has appeared on several Xanadu albums.nThe latest is “Wheelin’ and Dealin’n” (Xanadu 169), and in it Butlernleads a quintet featuring the tenor saxophonistsnTeddy Edwards and Joe Farrell.nFarrell is adventuresome and edgy.nEdwards often falls back on bop clichesnbut is as comfortable as an old...

tions, etc.) constitute such a large portionnof the population and 2) the difficultiesnin combating the Marxist guerrillasndue to the hiding places afforded bynjungles, rugged mountains, secluded villages,netc. Nowhere did I suggest anythingnwhich would contradict Mr. St.nJohn’s explanation of the importance ofnreligion to the Indians. It was not my intentionnto say everything there is to saynabout...

came to full bloom in the activities andnpostures of such men of God as the Berrigans,nRev. William Sloane Coffin andnmany like them—which, perhaps, confirmsnthat old Biblical truth: nothingnserves God better than man’s humblenessnof mind and heart (which tells himnnot to be so sure that he has the answernto every earthly dilemma). The accountsnof the hostages...