REVIEWSrnAn Honorable Defeatrnby Clyde WilsonrnThe Confederate Warrnby Gary W. GallagherrnCambridge: Harvard University Press;rn218pp.,$2i.95rnImagine America invaded by a foreignrnpower, one that has quadruple thernpopulation and industrial base. Imaginernthat this enemy has free access to thernworld’s goods as well as an inexhaustiblernsupply of cannon fodder from the proletariatrnof other countries, while Americarnitself is tightly blockaded from the...

gence picked up along the way comes inrnhandy.rnPerry is not, of course, a vain man,rnbut I had the impression that hernrather resented the expression ofrnopinions other than his own on thernpage which now belonged to him.rnHis first action on becoming editorrnwas to announce that he was movingrnthe column off the leader page.rnI resigned. Perry would...

border world, both men a few years olderrnbut still managing to get into trouble. Asrnin the earlier works, the reader is turnedrnevery which way but loose by the emotionalrnpower of the fiction; also, as before,rnthe English language is torqued andrnpressured to yield new veins of gold. Irnsuspect McCarthy is the best novelist wernhave in the...

OPINIONSrnGreatheart!rnby Mark Royden Winchellrn”The ‘Tycoon.'”rn—J.G. Nicolay and John Hayrn(Secretarial nickname for President A. Lincoln)rnLincoln, The Manrnby Edgar Lee MastersrnColumbia, South Carolina: Foundationrnfor American Education;rn498 pp., $29.95rnBooth: A Novelrnby David RobertsonrnNew York: Anchor Books;rn326 pp., $23.95rnIn the foreword to Brother to Dragons,rnRobert Penn Warren writes “historicalrnsense and poetic sense should not, in thernend, be contradictory, for...

A Generous Manrnby Charles Edward Eatonrn’Poetry is the language of a state of crisis.”rn— Stephane MallarmernDays of Our Lives Lie in Fragments:rnNew and Old Poems, 1957-1997rnby George GarrettrnBaton Rouge: Louisiana State UniversityrnPress; 222 pp., $26.95rnOne of the most important things tornsay about George Garrett is thatrnhis is a generous talent, not hmited orrnconfined by a...

REVIEWSrnLow-End Educationrnby James HillrnThe Teacher Unions: How the NEArnand AFT Sabotage Refonn and HoldrnStudents, Parents, Teachers, and TaxpayersrnHostage to Bureaucracyrnby Myron LiebermanrnNew York: The Free Press;rnm pp., $25.00rnNot too far from my house inrnPhoenix, Arizona, stands a Christianrnschool that may just say everythingrnabout the educational reform debate inrnthis country—and why it is so often impossiblernto...

Absent real reform, such as educationrnvouchers that would allow those folksrnwho drive secondhand Toyotas the opportunityrnto shop around for a betterrnplace to educate their children, peoplerncontinue to demand cure-alls, whilernhoping the bill won’t be too high shouldrnthey actually succeed in obtaining them.rnThe teachers, however, are demandingrnmore — especially from the federal government.rnPresident Clinton, in his...

number of child-molesters employed tornproduce this data. It is quite possible thatrnKinsey—a longtime counselor for suchrngroups as the Boy Scouts and the YMCArn—was a prime “observer” and sourcernof information. Wliile it is important tornknow who Kinsey’s trained observersrnwere, Reisman also asks the more importantrnquestion: “Where are the childrenrntoday?”rnTo this day, Indiana University’s KinseyrnInshtute remains clouded...

OPINIONSrnBeautiful Afternoonsrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”None of you has ever seen a gentleman.”rn—Charles Eliot NortonrnA Thread of Yearsrnhy John LukacsrnNew Haven: Yale University Press;rn481 pp., $30.00rnV / o u have been writing,” the au-rnJ. thor’s alter ego tells him at thernconclusion of this book, “about the declinernnot of the West but of the Anglo-rnAmerican upper class.”...

Deconstructing Americarnby Samuel Francisrn”You can take a man out of a country, but you can’t take a country out of a man.”rn—AnonymousrnThe Unmaking of Americans:rnHow Multiculturalism HasrnUndermined the Assimilation Ethicrnby John ]. MillerrnNew York: The Free Press;rn293 pp., $25.00rnIn Ed Wood’s notoriously bad 1950’srnscience-fiction movie, Plan NinernFrom Outer Space, there is a scene inrnwhich the...

REVIEWSrnAgainst thernRacketeersrnby Paul GottfriedrnEsau’s Tears: Modern Anti-Semitismrnand the Rise of the Jewsrnby Albert S. LindemannrnCambridge: Cambridge University Press;rn568 pp., $34.95rnA^. Ibert S. Lindemann has touchedrnaw nerves with Esau’s Tears. Playingrnon the rabbinic legend that the Messiahrnwill come only when Jacob’s elderrnbrother ceases to lament being cheatedrnof his birthright—i.e., when the gentilernnations no longer feel hatred...

believes and disbelieves that Jews contributedrnto their victimization; that latern19th-century German anti-Semitism “assumedrnobscure shapes and shadows”rnleading to Nazism; that it was typologicallvrnsimilar to what was found in England;rnand that the Final Solution dependedrnon the “contingency” of Hitler’srn”peculiar personality.” Between the arresHngrnassertions maintained at the beginningrnand at the end of the book, thernbod’ of it offers...

Pace^ PacernMio Diornby ].0. TaternRosa Ponselle: American Divarnby Mary ]ane Phillips-MatzrnBoston: Northeastern University Press;rn557 pp.; $29.95rnThe outpouring of emotion causedrnby the recent death of Frank Sinatrarnmay remind us of the power of music,rnand the particular power of the voice, tornget under our skin. Sinatra hypnotizedrnthree generations with his smoothness,rnhis rhythm, and his matchless enunciationrn—a notable...

REVIEWSrnA Good ThingrnNot to Dornby Edward B. AndersonrnClone: The Road to Dolly,rnand the Path Aheadrnby Gina KolatarnNew York: William Morrow;rn276 pp., $23.00rnThe announcement in Februaryrn1997 that British scientists hadrncloned a sheep turned the medical worldrnupside down, Ian Wilmut and his colleaguesrnhad taken cells from an adultrnsheep’s udder and removed the nucleusrnfrom each. They then implanted...

The PoliticalrnVocationrnby Paul GottfriedrnHuman Dignity andrnContemporary Liberalismrnby Brad StetsonrnWestport, Connecticut: Praeger;rn186 pp., $55.00rnIn his book on declining social moralityrnand the transformations of liberalrnideology, Brad Stetson goes after deservingrntargets. He unmasks the liberalismrnthat holds the media, universities, andrnthe publishing industry in thrall andrnstresses the will to total domination thatrnaccompanies liberal concerns aboutrnracism, sexism, self-actualization, andrnthe costs...

Full Circlernby Loxley F. NicholsrnLandscapes of the Heart: A Memoirrnby Elizabeth SpencerrnNew York: Random House;rn346 pages, $24.00rnOne of two epigraphs with whichrnEHzabeth Spencer introduces herrnmemoir of growing up in northern Mississippirnis taken from the closing sentencernof her story, “A Southern Landscape.”rnThe narrator, looking back onrnher hometown from a far remove inrnplace and time, acknowledges her...

OPINIONSrnThe Pleasurable Sciencernby Justin Raimondorn”No nation ever made its bread either by its great arts, or its great wisdoms. By itsrnminor arts or manufactures, by its practical knowledges, yes; but its noble scholarship,rnits noble philosophy, and its noble art are always to be bought as a treasure,rnnot sold for a livelihood.”rn—John RuskinrnEconomic Thought BeforernAdam Smith:...

REVIEWSrnPaleo Prophetsrnby J.O. TaternThe Unregenerate South:rnThe Agrarian Thought ofrnJohn Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, andrnDonald Davidsonrnby Mark G, MalvasirnBaton Rouge: Louisiana State UniversityrnPress; 261 pp., $35.00rnBarbarians in the Saddle:rnAn Intellectual Biography ofrnRichard M. Weaverrnby Joseph ScotchiernNew Brunswick: Transaction Publishers;rn161 pp., $29.95rnThe 12 Southerners who contributedrnto I’ll Take My Stand (1930) mustrnhave been a terrible failure, for...

issues.rnMalvasi goes on from the Agrarians tornlink their thought with that of their bestrnsuccessors — Richard Weaver and M.E.rnBradford. And he connects this storyrnwith the failure of “conservative” politicsrnin recent years. Though the Agrariansrnhad pointedly refused to worship the godrnof Progress, that is precisely the rhetoricrnof the conservative coalition today, asrnwell as the o.stensible rhetoric...

up, Up, and Awayrnby Bill KauffmanrnSpace and the AmericanrnImaginationrnby Howard E. McCurdyrnWashington, D.C.:rnSmithsonian Institution Press;rn416 pp., $29.95rnIn a recent PBS documentary aboutrnthe exploration of Mars, a NASA scientistrnlectured, “We are, after all, onernplanet…. Once we get ofFour planet, especiallyrnonce there’s a colony on anotherrnplanet, national boundaries start to becomernreally insignificant. . . . The NewrnWorld...

most rudimentary imagination. “Civilizationrnneeds big projects, the kind thatrnignite the mind and inspire the soul,” declaredrnone space booster, apparentlyrnmindful of the volumes of splendid lunarrnpoetry that have been published sincern1969. “For all its material advantages,rnthe sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled,”rnwrote Sagan. To take the edgernoff, the restless masses are urged to turnrnon the...

“We Catholics ma’ be unable to arrestrnthe world’s progress to self-destruction,”rnArnold Lunn wrote to Ronald Knox inrn1949, “but at least we understand whatrnis destroying us. We have at least thernmelancholy satisfaction of not beingrnsimultaneously bewildered and annihilated.”rnMost of these writers were critical ofrnscientism, the application of Darwinismrnto history, philosophy, and the social sciencesrnin particular. They...

OPINIONSrnOver My Dead Bodyrnby J.O.Tatern”The thing is to squeeze the last drop out of the medium you have learned to use.rnThe aim is not essentially different from the aim of Greek tragedy, but we arerndealing with a public that is only semi-literate and we have to make an art out ofrna language they can understand.”rn—...

The Kennedy Legacyrnby James Hillrn’Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.”rn—William ShakespearernThe Dark Side of Camelotrnby Seymour M. HershrnNew York: Little, Brown & Company;rn498 pages; $26.95rnJ; ust the facts, ma’am.” Joe Friday’srnprescription for getting at the truthrnhas been followed by Seymour Hersh,rnwhose investigation of the secret life ofrnJohn F. Kennedy, America’s “prince ofrnthe...

REVIEWSrnTo Hell and Backrnby Wayne AllensworthrnFew Returned: Twenty-EightrnDays on the Russian Front,rnWinter 1942-1943rnby Eugenio CortirnTranslated by Peter Edward LetyrnColumbia: University ofrnMissouri Press;rn251 pp., $19.95rn”W: 11 no one tell me what shernsings? Perhaps the plaintivernnumbers flow / For old, unhappyrnfar-off things. And Battles long ago.”rnWordsworth, perhaps, was prompted byrnrecollections of an age before warfarernmeant the mechanized...

They’re Coming,rnThey’re Comingrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Threat: ^Fhe SecretrnAlien Agendarnby David M. JacobsrnNew York: Simon and Schuster;rn288 pp., $23.00rnThinking about unidentified flyingrnobjects can be a useful exercise,rnwhatever we believe about extraterrestrialrnlife and its presence among us. Ifrnnothing else, it forces us to deal seriouslyrnwitli those perennial questions that are asrnuseful to scientists and philosophers asrnthey are...

OPINIONSrnUnjust Warrnby Gregory Pavlikrn’War is the trade of kings.”rn—John DrydenrnThe Costs of War:rnAmerica’s Pyrrhic Victoriesrnedited by ]ohn V. DensonrnNew Brunswick: Transaction;rn494 pp., $49.95rnThe single greatest force for consolidationrnof the national state is war. Arntruism, but one that American conservativesrnhave been loath to admit. Ideologicallyrncommitted to anticommunism, thernconservative movement fell into locksteprnwith liberal troops in the...

The Last Gentlemenrnby Loxley F. Nicholsrn’Friendship is like two clocks keeping time.”rn—AnonymousrnWalker Percy: A Lifernby Patrick H. Samway, S.J.rnNew York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux;rn506 pages, $35.00rnThe Correspondence ofrnShelby Foote & Walker Percyrnedited by ]ay TolsonrnNew York: W. W. Norton;rn310 pages, $29.95rnWalker Percy was born in Birmingham,rnAlabama, on May 7, 1916,rnthe eldest son of a prosperous...

REVIEWSrnThe Cost of Madnessrnby Virginia Deane AbemethyrnThe New Americans: Economic,rnDemographic, and Fiscal Effectsrnof Immigrationrnedited by James P. Smithrnand Barry EdmonstonrnWashington, D.C.: National AcademyrnPress; 448 pp., $49.95rnThis compendium on immigrationrnby editors of the National ResearchrnCouncil (NRC) includes the work of 14rnscholars, among them economists, demographers,rnand sociologists. At leastrnone of the contributors is a strong advocaternof high...

most certainly continue to receive proportionatelyrnhigher benefits relative tornamounts paid in. If the influx of predominantlyrnunskilled immigrants continues,rnprivatization of Social Securityrnmight be more compatible with the nationalrninterest.rnThe report notes in passing several areasrnexcluded from analysis. Amongrnthese are the decision not to “considerrnthe possibility that immigrants imposernfiscal costs indirectly, by causing nativernworkers to become unemployed or...

-OPINIONSrnThe Criminal Staternby Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.rn”No government power can he abused long. Mankind will not bear it.”rn— Samuel JohnsonrnThe Secret Life of Bill Clinton:rnThe Unreported Storiesrnby Ambrose Evans-PritchardrnWashington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing;rn460 pp., $24.95rnThe Strange Death of Vincent Foster:rnAn Investigationrnby Christopher RuddyrnNew York: The Free Press;rn316 pp., $25.00rnThe stereot}’pe of the British journalistrn— and stereotypes...

A Democratic Politicianrnby Srdja Trifkovicrn”An historian is a prophet in retrospect.”rn—A.W. von SchlegelrnThe Hitler of Historyrnby John LukacsrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn279 pp., $26.00rnWir sind mit Hitler noch lange nichtrnfertig (“We are nowhere nearrndone with Hitler”): the warning byrntwo contemporary German historiansrnprovides an apt opening line to JohnrnLukacs’s delighthil book. His “historyrnof the evolution of...

REVIEWSrnMassive Reductionsrnby Jesse WalkerrnDownsizing the U.S.A.rnby Thomas A. Naylor andrnWilliam H. WillimonrnGrand Rapids: VVm. B. Eerdmans;rn289 pp., $25.00rnThe great poHtical project of ourrntime is the rebelHon against giantism:rnagainst the state, corporate, andrnprofessional leviathans that strangle individualsrnand communities. Of all thernva’s to injure those monsters, the singlernleast effective one may be to write a bookrnabout it....

into confederations of self-governingrnneighborhoods. Given economic conditions,rnthat’s no more Utopian than arnreturn to agrarian glory, and it’s morerninspiring than Naylor and Willimon’srnweak proposal that cities simply set populationrnlimits and give people incentivesrnto leave. (To their credit, they do discussrnthe advantages of neighborhood secession.)rnI don’t mean to sound so relentiesslyrnnegative. And as I said, there’s a...

Who’s Cuckoo?rnby James HillrnThe Last Cuckoo: The Vety BestrnLetters to The Times since 1900rnedited by Kenneth Oregon’rnPleasantvilk, M’: The Akadine Press;rn343 pages, $15.95rnNot too long ago, the London DailyrnTelegraph resurrected a 1962 essayrnby Ian Fleming on “How to Write arnThriller,” in which the creator of JamesrnBond said, “If you look back on the bestsellersrnou have...

OPINIONSrnChronicling the Fallrnby Scott P. Richertrn’Folly is often more cruel in the consequences than malice can be in the intent.”rn—HalifaxrnNotes from the Underground:rnThe Whittaker Chambers-Ralphrnde Toledano Lettersrnedited and annotated byrnRalph de ToledanornWashington, D.C.:rnRegnery Publishing, Inc.;rn342 pp., $24.95rnThe correspondence of EdmundrnBurke, whose letters help to illuminaternhis published works, was not availablernin a complete edition until 1978,rnToday,...

REVIEWSrnAgainst thernPessimistsrnby Philip JenkinsrnAmerica in Black and WhiternOne Nation, Indivisible:rnRace in Modern Americarnby Stephan Themstrom andrnAbigail ThemstromrnNew York: Simon and Schuster;rn704 pp., $32.50rnAmerica in Black and White is an ambitiousrnproject, at once a massivelyrndetailed review of race relations this centuryrnand a provocative manifesto for thernfuture. As such, it demands comparisonrnwith Gunnar Myrdal’s An AmericanrnDilemma (1944),...

cupy the standpoint both of the socialrnscientist and of the poHtical historian, asrnthe Thernstroms explore topics as diversernas the racial component in crime andrncriminal justice, the racial politics of thern1960’s, the role of conspiracy theories inrnconstructing the modern black politicalrnmythology, racial differentials in SATrnscores and educational qualifications,rnand the O.J. Simpson case. Their legalrnanalysis, focusing on...

Of Murder andrnMoralityrnby Alan ComettrnPublish & Perishrnby Sally S. WrightrnSisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books;rn300 pp., $9,99rnPride & Predatorrnby Sally S. WrightrnSisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books;rn300 pp., $9.99rnIn the alternative culture that hasrngrown around modern American religion,rnmusic stars such as Amy Grantrnhave commanded much attention. Disgustedrnb’ the filth that is popular music,rnteenagers are encouraged by well-meaningrnparents to listen...

OPINIONSrnThe Myth of American Isolationismrnby Paul Gottfriedrn”Internationalism is a luxury which only the upper classes can afford; the commonrnpeople are hopelessly bound to their native shores.”rn—Benito MussolinirnPromised Land, Crusader State:rnThe American Encounter With thernWorld Since 1776rnby Walter A. McDougallrnBoston: Houghton Mifflin;rn304 pp., $25.00rnWalter A. McDougall, a professorrnof international relations at thernUniversity of Pennsylvania, presentsrnuseful truths...

REVIEWSrnE’en ThoughrnIt Be a Crossrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnNearer, My God:rnAn Autobiography of Faithrnby William F. Buckley, ]r.rnNew York: Doubleday;rn313 pp., $24.95rnUnbelievers, Flannery O’Connorrnremarked, think that faith for be-rnHevers is a big electric blanket, when ofrncourse it is the Cross. William Buckley,rnregretting at the outset of his book that hernis unable to convey a sense of...

begin with is virtually to assure that theyrnwill mean nothing to the reciter, deniedrnthe time to ponder their meaning accordingrnto his own resources or desires.”rnFinally, Buckley notes, reform, whetherrnor not it has succeeded in inspiriting thernMass, has certainly not brought convertsrnto the Church; instead the size of thernlaity has decreased, and so has the numberrnof...

cial, intellectual, and cultural history canrnprofitably be integrated, and the authorrndraws on a rich variety of sources whichrnillustrate notions of generational continuityrnand society’s debts to its forefathers.rnParticularly well used are sermons andrncelebrations commemorating the foundingrnof New England communities,rnsources which many modern readersrnwould be tempted to dismiss as boosterrnephemera. Also crucial are what mightrnbe called the...

have formed the general public’s approachrnto the subject.rnNow a book has appeared which is designedrnto help journalists—and the publicrn—become acquainted with the guncontrolrnresearch of the 1980’s and 90’s.rnDon Kates and Gary Kleck hope torn”bridge the vast gap between scholarlyrnunderstanding of firearms issues andrnhow they are generally reported and discussedrnin the popular media.” Both menrnare well...

Legends of thernFour-Lane Roadrnby Gregory McNameernUneasy Rider: The InterstaternWay of Knowledgernby Mike BryanrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn352 pp., $25.00rnThe interstate highways, John Steinbeckrncomplained in his 1962 memoirrnTravels with Charley, “are wonderfiilrnfor moving goods but not for inspectionrnof a countryside. When we get thesernthruways across the country, as we willrnand must, it will be possible to...

OPINIONSrnA Labor of Haternby Justin Raimondorn”The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with thernman who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.”rn—Theodore RooseveltrnThe Colonel: The Life and Legend ofrnRobert R. McCormick, 1880-1955rnby Richard Norton SmithrnNew York: Houghton Mifflin Co.;rn597 pp., $35.00rnHailed by the...

A Picturesque, Unprofitable Craftrnby Mark Royden Winchellrn”Poetry is the DeviVs wine.”rn— St. AugustinernThe Fox and Irnby Charles Edward EatonrnCranhury: Cornwall Books;rn120 pp., $18.95rnRebel Angels: 25 Poets of thernNew Formahsmrnedited by Mark jarman andrnDavid MasonrnBrownsville: Stor}>line Press;rn259 pp., $25.00rnI n his prophetic poem “The Silence ofrnthe Poets,” Dana Gioia imagines arntime in the not too distant...

REVIEWSrnThe Ghosts ofrnChristmas Pastrnby Wayne AUensworthrnThe Battle for Christmasrnby Stephen NissenbaumrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn319 pp., $30.00rn|V ow in history,” wrote Chester-rn-L 1 ton, “there is no Revolutionrnthat is not a Restoration.” A collectivernmemoT}’, a vague but compelling collectionrnof shadows that bind us to the past,rnseems to whisper a perennial, bittersweetrnhymn to the numbed ear...

mas” was being fought in union hallsrnand in state legislatures.rnIronically, efforts by reformers to “domesticate”rnChristmas, to make “keepingrnChristmas” something one did at homernin the company of a few close friends andrnfamily members, or to accentuate thernNativity of Christ as the center of the festivalrn(eventually displacing Easter as therncentral event of the Christian calendarrnand giving consumerism...

PERSPECTIVErnWhite Like Mernby Thomas FlemingrnRace is the American religion, which is wh’ no one can talkrnabout it truthfully. I do not mean that no one speaks hisrnmind on the subject. Well-indoctrinated liberals can talk allrnday on why race does not matter, why the whole concept meansrnnothing; and racialists can talk even longer on why it...