close,rnsummon the sheriff and the auctioneers.rnWhat will he tell his sons in twentyrnyears?rnHe cannot wholly blame the earlyrnsnows.rn(“The Failure”)rnIn fact, the one sentimental line in thernentire book, quoted by the author’s fatherrnat a funeral, is attributable not to TimrnMurphy but to that old prairie sentimentalistrnand windbag, Carl Sandburg. “Tornlive hard, work hard, and die hard...

REVIEWSrnMiddle AmericanrnMellow?rnhy Samuel FrancisrnAmerica’s Forgotten Majority: Why thernWhite Working Class Still Mattersrnby Ruy Teixeim and ]oeI RogersrnNew York: Basic Books; 232 pp., $25.00rnSince the 1960’s, American politics atrnthe national level has primarily consistedrnof an endless search for a new majorit}’.rnThe Democratic Part”s embracernof the civil-rights movement kicked offrnthe quest by undermining the New Dealrncoalition that...

fill the Forgotten Majority has changedrnas much as they claim. Popular supportrnfor Bill Clinton during the Lewinskyrnscandal was due not to approval of thernPresident’s outre sexual habits but to therneconomic well-being of the nation andrnperhaps also to a reaction against therntransparent political partisanship of thernRepublican attack on him. It may wellrnbe that white middle-class voters...

Normal Americans —an increasinglyrnrare breed—will welcome this substantialrnvolume as a new literary and historicalrnclassic.rnThis is by no means the first biographyrnof Jefferson Davis, hi addition to his wife,rnVarina Howells I^avis, a long line of biographers,rnfriend and foe, have undertakenrnthe task, from Frank Alfriend’s fairmindedrnattempt in 1868 to Allen Tate’srnmalicious exercise in historical revisionismrnto Hudson Strode’s...

think first of setting it at ChurchillrnDowns — that brassy track in Louisvillernwhich holds its tinsel-television spectaclernof the Kentucky Derby every May. Instead,rnAlyson Hagy chose Keeneland,rnLexington’s track set in the middle of thernBluegrass horse farms. Keeneland isrnsmaller, greener, more pleasant in ever}’rnway, and it’s a C|uick trip from the standsrnback to the paddock to see...

REVIEWSrnFacilis DiscensusrnAvemornby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnFrom Dawn to Decadence:rn500 Years of Western Cultural Life,rnFrom 1500 to the Presentrnby Jacques BarzunrnNew York: HarperCollins;rn877 pp., $36.00rnI acques Barzun’s 30-somethingth book,rnJ though published by HarperCollins,rnbears the unmistakable stamp of ColumbiarnUniversity, from whose college thernauthor graduated, where he was appointedrnSeth Low Professor of History, andrnserved for ten years as dean...

scions program (again, particularly inrnwhat became the United States) to beginrnthe human experiment over again, to creaternnot just a new world but a new man, arnnew imiverse, and a new metaphysic torngo with them —the Americas, almostrnfrom the time of first settlement, influencedrnthe old Western world more thanrnit influenced them, no matter thatrnDescartes lived in...

In entrechats each fluttering insectrntherernRose two steep yards in air,rnThen slowly floated down to climbrnonce more,rnSo that thev all composed a manifoldrnAnd figured scene.rnAnd seemed the weavers of somerncloth of gold,rnOr the fine pistons of some brightrnmachine.rnWatching these lifelong dancers ofrna dayrnAs night closed in, I felt myselfrnalonernIn a life too much mv own.rnMore mortal...

First Lady has been so intimately involvedrn—but that she almost completelyrnnegates a case so easily made wellrnthrough her overdose of speculation,rnhearsay, and fantas}’. It does not help thatrnnearly half her sentences begin with “Irnbelieve,” “I think,” or “It seems.”rnNoonan’s book ranges from fim torntouching to weird. Serious, it is not. Andrnit won’t scud een the...

OPINIONSrnM-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-Ernby J.O. Tatern”First grubs obscene, then wriggling worms,rnThen painted butterflies.”rn—Alexander Pope, PhrynernTinker Belles and Evil Queens:rnThe Walt Disney Companyrnfrom the Inside Outrnby Sean GriffinrnNew York: New York Universih’ Press;rn292 pp., $55.00rnMaybe I’m bewitched, but I’m notrnbothered and certainly I’m notrnl^cvvildered by Sean Griffin’s too divinelyrnimbelievable disquisition on one of everv’body’srnfa’orite topics, and I’m not...

REVIEWSrnEscape FromrnGothamrnby Edward B. AndersonrnWhat I Think I Did:rnA Season of Survival in Two Actsrnby Larry WoiwodernNew York: Basic Books; 312 pp., $25.00rnWhen novelist Larrv Woiwodernmoved to a house and a littlernpiece of land just off State Highway 21 inrnthe loneliest corner of North Dakota, hernleft behind the world of New York andrnthe New Yorker...

and tr)ing what Beckett and Babelrnand Kafka have done as only theyrncan do . . . just get down clear thernslant of light on a woman who influencedrnme more than any ofrnthose writers.rnThe result was his first New Yorker story,rnthe first of the stream of stories that ledrnineluctably to his novels.rnTo those who have read...

turies-old estate and other locales arernclear and enticing. Just for fun, Wrightrnenlightens us on the subjects of falconry,rntire manufacturing, microbiology, bookrncollecting, and furniture restoration, asrnwell as Samuel Johnson and New Worldrnexplorers. Wright is sure-handed withrnher details and seems to know her stuff.rnSo here we are, with an interesting murder,rna romantic setting, lots of authenticrnlocal color,...

Times of London, where he came underrnthe editorial wing of Francis Wyndham,rna legend in Brihsh journalism. Chatwinrnranged far, and in his reportorial wanderingsrninterviewed Indira Gandhi and AndrernMalraux (among others), all thernwhile reinventing the travel genre. RememberingrnHemingway’s advice to arnyoung writer to ditch journalism as soonrnas one can, Chatwin took a sabbatical inrn1974, leaving Wyndham a...

OPINIONSrnA Letter From Earthrnby George Garrettrn”As fire is kindled by fire, so is a poet’s mind kindled by contact with a brother poet.”rn—John Keble, Lectures on Poetry, XVIrnJames Dickey: The World as a Liernby Henry HartrnNew York: Picador;rn8U pp., $35.00rnCrux: The Letters of James DickeyrnEdited by Matthew J. Bruccolirnand ]udith S. BaughmanrnNew York: Alfred A....

REVIEWSrnMilitary Messiahrnby Jeffrey MeyersrnFire in the Night: Wingate of Burma,rnEthiopia, and Zionrnby ]ohn Eiemxan and Colin SmithrnNew York: Random House;rn434 pp., $29.95rnOrde Wingate (1903-44), the mostrneccentric and innovative commanderrnin World War II, was remarkablyrnlike his distant consin Lawrence of Arabia.rnBoth came from a guilt-ridden fundamentalistrn(Scots Presbyterian and PlymouthrnBrethren) background and grewrnup in an atmosphere of...

pursuit, and meet again at a rendezvousrnfifteen to twenty miles further on itsrnroute. Supply should be by air, communicationrnby wireless: these two weaponsrnhad not yet been properly exploited.”rnIn February 1943, Wingate took 3,000rnmen and 1,000 animals across thernChindwin River (inside Burma and flowingrnparallel to the Indian border) with thernaid of ropes, inflatable dinghies, andrnmakeshift rafts,...

army. The Kentucky militia was evenrnworse, arriving in rags and disappointedrnto find that there were no blankets in therncity for them. The Redcoats called themrn”dirty shirts.” Yet, as Remini explains,rn”most of these men could bring down arnsquirrel from the highest tree with a singlernrifle shot. Their many years living inrnthe Tennessee wilderness had madernthem expert...

Great ExpectationsrnHow Uncle Sam Fathers Big Families in the Third Worldrnby Virginia Deane AbernethyrnForeign aid, like other forms of aid, is a subsidy that distortsrnchoice. The distortion takes many forms; for exanrple, aidrnis sometimes put to uses unintended by the giver; it also lets thernrecipient pursue activities below their real cost. Since PresidentrnHarry Truman launched...

OPINIONSrnHell Manrnby J.O.Tatern’My views on Hammett expressed [above]. He was tops. Often wonder why hernquit writing after The Thin Man. Met him only once, very nice looking tallrnquiet gray-haired fearful capacity for Scotch, seemed quite unspoiled to me.rn(Time out for ribbon adjustment.)”rn— Raymond Chandler,rnLetter to Alex BarrisrnDashiell Hammett: Complete NovelsrnEdited by Steven MarcusrnNew York: The...

A Race Apartrnby Paul Gottfriedrn”A people still, whose common ties are gone;rnWho, mixed with every race, are lost in none.”rn-George CrabbernThe Culture of Critiquernby Kevin MacDonaldrnWestport, C’l: Praeger;rn379 pp., $65.00rnKein MacDonald’s study of the Jewishrnpeople in sociobiological perspectirne will not likely help his career, forrnreasons ha ing nothing to do with the author’srnscholarship or his...

REVIEWSrnThe DisplacedrnPersonrnby Jeffrey MeyersrnGreene on Capri: A Memoirrnhy Shirley HazzardrnNew York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux;rn151 pp., $22.00rnThe depravit)- of Tiberius, or thernsalacit}’ of Suetonius,” wrote AnthonyrnBurgess, “had left its mark on an islandrnall sodomy, lesbianism, scandal andrncosmopolitan arhness.” For the last 150rnyears, writers have been attracted to thernnatural beaut}’ as well as the lechery ofrnCapri...

OPINIONSrnThe Cost of Holocaustrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”There is no salvation to he extracted from the Holocaust, no faltering Judaism canrnhe revived hy it, no new reason for the continuation of the Jewish people can hernfound in it. If there is hope after the Holocaust, it is because to those who believe,rnthe voice of the Prophets...

Every Secret Thingrnby Samuel Francisrn”The tone and tendency of liberalism … is to attack the institutions of the countryrnunder the name of reform and to make war on the manners and customs of thernpeople under the pretext of progress.”rn— Benjamin Disraeli, “Speech in London”rnThe Sword and the Shield:rnThe Mitrokhin Archive and the SecretrnHistory of the...

REVIEWSrnSimple Pleasuresrnbv Derek TurnerrnPeter Simple’s Centuryrnby Michael WhartonrnLondon: Claridge Press;rnl68pp.,£l2.9SrnFrom 1957 to 1990, Michael Wharton,rnunder the pen name of “PeterrnSimple,” was partly or solely responsiblernfor writing the Daily Telegraph’s famousrn”Way of the World” column. Now wellrninto his 80’s, he continues to write in thernsame paper under the name of Marrat’srnhero, though Telegraph readers are rationedrnto...

militiint nationalists is that they are notrnmilitant enough in protecting their identitiesrnagainst the onslaught of technolog)’.rnWliarton was born Michael Nathan inrnBradford in 1913, of part-Jewish origin, arnfact of which he has always been awarernand which long made him actually uncomfortable.rnHe assiuned his mother’srnmaiden name of Wliarton in 1937 in orderrnto distance himself from both this...

OPINIONSrnThe Tiybe of Yvorrnby R.S. Gwynnrn”Poetry is the language of a state of crisis.rn- Stephane MallarmernThe Selected Poems of Yvor Wintersrnby Yvor WintersrnEdited by R.L. BarthrnAthens: Ohio University Press;rn129 pp., $14.95rnThe Poems of J.V. Cunninghamrnby J.V. CunninghamrnEdited by Timothy SteelernAthens: Ohio University Press;rn215pp.,$16.95rnCollected Poemsrnby Edgar BowersrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn168 pp., $15.00rnThe Destructive Element:rnNew and...

Freud With Teethrnby Andrei Navrozovrn”No evil is greater than anarchy.”rn-A Latin ProverbrnHannibalrnby Thomas HarrisrnNew York: Delacorte;rn484 pp., $27.95rnWith author’s fees in eight figuresrnand print runs to match, ThomasrnI larris’s cannibal is what publishers call arnphenomenon. “I should’ve written that!”rnagonize America’s ambitious housewivesrnon their way to becoming failed writers.rn”1 can’t believe that this is what peoplernwant...

REVIEWSrnThe Sacred Gardenrnby W. Wesley McDonaldrnRussell Kirk: A Critical Biographyrnof a Conservative Mindrnby James E. Person, ]r.rnLanham, Maryland: Madison Books;rn249 pp., $26.95rnWhile Russell Kirk (1918-1994) hasrnbeen widely recognized as a formativernfigure in the postwar conservativernrevival, his reputation has undergone dramaticrnchanges since the publication ofrnhis magisterial The Conservative Mind inrn1953. In the 1950’s, Newsweek and Timernhailed...

provingly Lee Edwards’ claim that tliernHeritage Foundation “rests securely onrnthe ideas of Kirk, Hayek and Weaver.” 1rnam not sure which of Kirk’s ideas Edwardsrnhas in mind: I can’t think of manyrnto which the policy analysts at Heritagernconsistently appeal.rnIn any event, Russell Kirk’s achievementrncannot be measured by his influencernon transient policy issues. Kirkrnwill —or should —be...

needed to halt the disintegration ofrnour society requires purpose andrnintelligence. There won’t be anyrnmoney or glory in it, but we haverninherited a great and noble tradition,rnand it is worth fighting for.rnAs a publisher and as an author, HenryrnRegnery fought gallantly for the civilizationrnhe loved until his death. In thisrnlearned and rewarding book, we have anrnenduring...

Come Home, AmericarnConfessions of a Place-istrnby Bill KauffrnanrnGreetings from New York, where a new hate erinie is takingrnshape: It is called “place-ism,” and it will be definedrnin the criminal code as the belief that a particular place, be it arnneighborhood, village, cit)’, or state, is superior to any otherrnplace, and that the residents of this...

OPINIONSrnBest of British Conservatismrnby Derek Turnerrn”Hail, happy Britain! Highly favored isle,rnAnd Heaven’s peculiar care!”rn-William SomervillernA Bastard’s Talernby Sir George GardinerrnLondon: Aurum Press; 280 pp., £18.99rnThe Abolition of Britainrnby Peter HitchensrnLondon: Quartet Books; 351 pp., £15.00rnSalisbury: Victorian Titanrnby Andrew RobertsrnLondon: Weidenfeld & Nicholson;rn938 pp., £25.00rnBritish conservahve circles are awashrnwith books at the moment. Apartrnfrom the usual...

REVIEWSrnStylish Mendacityrnby Paul GottfriedrnHitler’s Pope:rnThe Secret History of Pius XIIrnby John ComwellrnNew York: Viking;rn430 pp., $29.95rnAwash in reviews of Cornwell’s portraitrnof Pius XII, I felt surfeited by thernbook even before it arrived in the mail.rnI’o call this biography unflattering isrnmeiosis. John Lukacs is right to say that,rnwhile Cornwell’s production is being featuredrnby the History Book...

hateful sample of victimological drivel,rnthe teutonophobic fixations of DanielrnGoldhagen in Hitler’s Willing Executionersrnor Cornwell’s collection of factoids. IfrnCornwell comes off slightly better, it isrnonly because he writes like an educatedrnEnglishman. Even among mendaciousrnscribblers, style should count for something.rnPaul Gottfried is a professor ofrnhumanities at Elizabethtown Collegernin Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and thernauthor, most recently, of After Liberalism:rnMass...

the theory (theistic evokition) that GodrnHimself intervened in the evohitionaryrnprocess to steer it and to speed it up—isrnhis contenhon that, if God did so intervene,rnit would oblige Him to intervene inrnand to direct everything that occurs in thernuniverse, and thus put an end to freedom,rnwhich Miller considers fundamental.rnHere is another case of the excludedrnmean: Wliy...

Mr. Raban is overtaken in mid-trip byrnword from England of his father’s seriousrnilhiess and impending death, whichrncauses him to quit the sea and make forrnLondon. Journey’s end in Juneau bringsrnhim news of his wife’s request for a di-rnorce. These digressions (amounting torn50 pages), while certainly important tornJonathan Raban, are not so to the reader.rnThough if...

OPINIONSrnWaugh Storiesrnby George McCartneyrn”A shriller note could now be heard rising from Sir Alastair’s rooms;rnany who have heard that sound will shrink at the recollection of it;rnit is the sound of the English county families baying for broken glass.”rn— Evelyn Waugh, Decline and FallrnThe Complete Stories ofrnEvelyn Waughrnby Evelyn WaughrnBoston: Little, Brown and Companr;rn536 pp.,...

Our Heads Cut Offrnby Harold O.J. Brownrn”Language is the armory of the human mind; and at once contains the trophiesrnof its past, and the weapons of its future conquests.”rn— Samuel Taylor ColeridgernLa I’ete coupee: Le Secret du pouvoirrnby Amaud-Aaron Vpinsk)’rnParis: l£ Bee; 522 pp., 149 francsrnThis remarkable F’rench mathematicianrnhas written extensively on whatrnhe considers the...

REVIEWSrnTerms of Revilementrnby David B. KopelrnMaking a Killing:rnThe Business of Guns in Americarnby Tom DiazrnNew York: New Press;rn258 pp., $25.00rnMaking a Killing, which may be thernmost influential anti-gun book everrnwritten, could not have been betterrntimed to the current wave of lawsuitsrnagainst gun companies, since many ofrnthe legal claims closely resemble therncharges that Tom Diaz makes...

mechanism was invented in the 1890’s;rnthe hest-known American firearms modelrn—the Coh .45, a self-loading handgunrn—was first sold in 1911. ‘I’hc “highcapacity”rnpistol has been axailable tornconsumers at least since 1935 \ ith the introductionrnof the 13-shot Brouning HirnPower. Before the 1980’s, moreover, inrnthat allegedly golden era when revolversrnoutsold self-loading pistols, firearms manufacturersrnworked just as hard to...

Woolly Conservatismrnby William Murchisonrn’A Conservative is only a Tory who is ashamed of himself.”rn—J. Hookham FrerernThe Paleoconservatives:rnNew Voices of the Old RightrnEdited by Joseph ScotchiernNew Brunswick, N/:rnTransaction Publishers;rn212 pp., $29.95rnPlans to shuck the Tory Party’s sacredrnname rattled the young DisraeH,rnwho remarked that the replacementrnname, Conservative, sounded to him likern”the invention of some pastry chef” Similarly,rnpaleoconservatism...

REVIEWSrnIn Defense of Gravityrnby Thomas E. Woods, Jr.rnThe Roosevelt Mythrnby ]ohn T. FlynnrnSan Francisco: Fox & Wilkes;rn437 pp., $14.95rnI ohn T. Flynn had the distinction of be-rnI ing singled out by Franklin D. Rooseveltrnas a writer who “should be barredrnhereafter from the columns of any presentablerndaily paper, monthly magazine,rnor national quarterly.” Until the NewrnDeal came...

Then there is the matter of FDR’s almostrncriminal naivete regarding JosephrnStalin. Roosevelt exerted his influencernthroughout the normal channels of civilrnsociety, from the movies to the press, tornpromote a wholly fictional and laughablyrnpropagandistic view of the great Russianrnnationalist. (It was only the uncouth, yournunderstand, who persisted in regardingrnStalin as a communist.) “[U]nder the influencernof the propaganda...

OPINIONSrnCorruption and Contemptrnby Samuel Francisrn”Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of hisrnChristian name a synonym for the Devil.”rn—Thomas Babington MacaulayrnMachiavelli on Modern Leadership:rnWhy MachiavelH’s Iron Rules Arernas Timely and Important Todayrnas Five Centuries Agornhy Michael A. LedeenrnNew York: St. Martin’s Press;rn202 pp., $22.95rnThe New Prince: MachiaveUirnUpdated for...

REVIEWSrnLove and Gracernby Thomas FlemingrnUna vita in fabbrica:rnitinerario spiritualernby Mario MarcollarnMilano: Maurizio Minchdla Editore;rn101 pp., Lire 18,000rnThis is a remarkable book by a remarkablernman. Mr. Marcolla isrnwell known to many conservatives in Enropcrnand the United States for his observationsrnon modern philosophy contributedrnover the years to Osservatore Romano.rnHe is a keen student of Anglo-Americanrnconservative thought as...

OPINIONSrnThe Force of Capitalismrnby David Gordonrn”Trade is a social act.”rn-John Shiart MillrnFalse Dawn: The Delusions ofrnGlobal Capitalismrnb}’ John GrayrnNew York: The New Press;rn262 pp., $25.00rnTurbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losersrnin the Global Economyrnby Edward LuttwakrnNew York: HarperColhns;rn290 pp., $26.00rnIf only all of John Gray’s False Dawnrnwere as good as the first two pages ofrnChapter 6! In them,...

Right Answer,rnWrong Labelrnby Clyde WilsonrnThe American Counter Revolution:rnA Retreat From Liberty, 1783-1800rnby Lam- E. TisernMechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books;rn634 pp., $49.95rnAgood historian ought to make it clearrnwhere he is coming horn rather thanrnassume an impossible Olympian objectivity’.rnI’hen, if he has handled his evidencernhonestly, he has hilfilled the demandsrnof his craft—whether or not wernagree with the interpretation...

The Past as Prologuernby Jacob NeusnerrnA People Apart: The Jews in Europe,rn1789-1939rnby David VitalrnOxford: Oxford University Press;rn941 pp., $45.00rnDavid Vital describes his work as arnpoHtical history, whose subject isrnthe exercise of legitimate violence. Hernrecounts how the Jews of Europe addressedrnthe political crisis that overtookrnthem between the end of the ancienrnregime in 1789 and the collapse...

Throughout these essays, ThomasrnMcGuane’s prose prances and capersrnHke a I.ippizaner staUion. His next bookrn(The Longest Silence) will be a miscellanyrndevoted to another of his passionsfishingrn—whose component pieces willrnshine, I’m sure, like freshly caught brookrntrout.rnAll well and good, but wliere is this accomplishedrnsportsman-novelist’s nextrnnovel?rnBill Crake writes from Cody, Wyoming.rnThe Seven-LeaguernCrutchesrnby ].0. TaternNo Other Book: Selected Essays...