pouch his mother gave him, CharlesrnBowden’s combination of apocalypticrnfury with Cormac McCarthyesque description,rnAbbey’s adventure, and PagernStegner’s silly-ass Beemer wanderings inrnthe footsteps of his betters. (MeNameerndoesn’t have to approve of his contributors;rnhe all but destroys D.H. Lawrencernby allowing him a drawn-out, obtuse,rnwhiny plaint, in which the British novelistrndecries a trail as “utterly bumpy andrnhorrible.”) There is...

OPINIONSrnChicken Little Is a Christianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”Good News.”rn-Title of a novel by Edward Abbey about the collapse of civilization in the American SouthwestrnEarthkeeping in the ’90s: Stewardshiprnof CreationrnEdited by Loren WilkinsonrnGrand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans;rn391 pp., $19.99rnGod Is Greenrnby Ian BradleyrnNew York: Doubleday; 118 pp., $8.00rnGreen Delusions: AnrnEnvironmentalist Critique ofrnRadical Environmentalismrnby Martin W. EewisrnDurham, North...

Crossroads Americarnby Wayne Luttonrn”Dangers by being despised grow great.”rn—Edmund BurkernA Catastrophe in the Makingrnby Keith C. BarronsrnTampa, Florida: Mancorp Publishing;rn290 pp., $16.95rnCrowding Out the Future: WorldrnPopulation Growth, U.S.rnImmigration, and Pressures onrnNatural Resourcesrnby Robert W. Fox and Ira MehlmanrnWashington, D.C.: Federation forrnAmerican Immigration Reform;rn64 pp., $10.00rnElephants in the Volkswagenrnby Lindsey Grant et al.rnNew York: VV.H. Freeman;...

REVIEWSrnGoing Down Slowrnby John TantonrnPopulation Politics: The ChoicesrnThat Shape Our Futurernby Virginia AbernethyrnNew York: Plenum PublishingrnCorporation; 300 pp., $26.50rnUntil recently, thinking and writingrnin dubious terms about immigrationrnhas been, well, something thatrnpolite and right-thinking folks justrndidn’t do. But now that taboo seemsrnto be lifting, as evidenced by the recentrnpublication of such books as GeorgernKennan’s Around the...

OPINIONSrnOnce More Beyond the Palernby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”A thousand years scarce serve to form a state; An hour may lay it in the dust.”rn—Lord ByronrnThe End of the Twentieth Centuryrnand the End of the Modern Agernby John LukacsrnNew York: Ticknor & Fields;rn29] pp., $21.95rnAround the Cragged Hill: A Personalrnand Political Philosophyrnby George F. KennanrnNew York:...

olds says “never wanted to take sides,”rnwas passionately loyal to Sacco andrnVanzetti and became violently opposedrnto the communists in Spain after theyrnhad killed his friend Jose Roblcs. AndrnJake Barnes’ wound did not leave “hisrndesire for Brett forever unsatisfied.” Inrnchapter VII of The Sun Also Rises sherngives him some sexual satisfaction (“Dornyou feel better, dariing? It’s...

full of surprises, full of tragedies, andrnfull of life. A model of biographicalrnwriting, it will sureh’ be the standard lifernof tlie frontiersman for a long while torncome.rnGregory McNamee’s latest book isrnNamed in Stone and Sky: An ArizonarnAnthology (University of ArizonarnPress).rnMen at Warrnbv H.W. Crocker IIIrnQuartered Safe Out Here: ArnRecollection of the War in Burmarnby George...

its realities at first hand . . . . [II]ov yourncan inflict damage on complexity, ambiguity,rnand irony, is not clear to me or,rnI suggest, to anyone who prefers plainrnEnglish to jargon. Obviously the warrninfluenced people’s thinking permanently,rnhut to call such shaping of thernmind ‘lasting damage’ is fatuous. Onernmight as well say that forty years ofrncomparative...

OPINIONSrnMore Than a Statuernby Thomas Flemingrn”Fame is like a river, that beareth up things Ught and swoln, andrndrowns things weighty and soUd.”rn—Francis BaconrnSimms: A Literary Lifernby John Caldwell GuildsrnFayetteville, Arkansas: University ofrnArkansas Press; 456 pp., $35.00rnSelected Poems of WilliamrnGilmore Simmsrnedited by James Everett Kibler, /r.rnAthens, Georgia: University of GeorgiarnPress; 426 pp., $50.00rnAt the height of...

Every Man a Victimrnby Alan J. Levinern”Mankind is tired of liberty.”rn-Benito MussolinirnA Nation of Victims: The Decay ofrnthe American Characterrnby Charles /. SykesrnNew York: St. Martin’s Press;rn289 pp., $22.95rnAn acquaintance of mine, who isrnnot particularly conservative, oncernheard a television newsman quack aboutrnhow bad the 1950’s were. Disgusted,rnhe burst out, “What was wrong with thern1950’s? People...

REVIEWSrnL’Etranger Chez LuirnbyJ.O. TaternPilgrim in the Ruins: A Lifernof Walker Percyrnby jay TolsonrnNew York: Simon & Schuster;rnS44 pp., $27.50rnIsuppose that after William Faulknerrnand Eudora Welty and FlanneryrnO’Connor, Walker Percy (1916-1990)rnhas been for the last three decades thernmost widely read of Southern writers.rnHe has been known as a social observerrnas well as a novelist, and as...

Jay Tolson has caught the particularrnwatchfuhiess of Percy, his reserve, evenrnhis pride and accedia, and rendered arnconvincing portrait of an idiosyncratic,rnthoughtful, and sometimes indignantrngentleman. At the end, Percy’s is a noblernleave-taking, the capstone of a goodrnlife. This compelling biography of anrnintellectual conveys drama of thoughtrnand agony of composition while filling inrnthe impression of flesh and...

length biographies since RememberingrnPoets was first published, Hall’s memoriesrnadd some lively brush strokes to thernofficial portraits, for he is a master ofrnthe telling anecdote that reveals character.rnFrost, if not quite the egotisticalrnmonster of Lawrence Thompson’s biography,rnremains a complex, overly sensitivernman whose sometimes viciousrncompetitive streak was at odds with hisrncarefully maintained public image. Still,rnhe could let...

As anyone familiar with anv of Crews’rn(jthcr work (including the lucraticrnRandom House Handbook, which is atrnonce gloriously funny and extremely usefulrnand practical) knows, all of it is highlyrnintelligeut, wonderfully sane, oftenrn’cr witty, frcquenth subtle, and sometimesrnright on the memorable and aphoristicrnmonc: “Throughout most of thernpre ions decade, sexual and religious aspirationrnhad been a single blur...

collapsing marriage and bed-hoppingrnduring the years 1974 to 1977,rnYou’ve read all this before: bored facultyrnwics awash in gin, pert coeds, availablernmenopause babes, etc. It is the exiguousrngrist of campus Creative WriterrnMills, impossible to read but not, alas, tornwrite. Talk about chewing more thanrnyou’ve bitten off; if any American thirstsrnfor one more peek at the couplings...

OPINIONSrnVersailles-on-Hudsonrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”Our high respect for a well-read man is praise enough of literature.”rn—R.W. EmersonrnMy Silk Purse and Yours: ThernPublishing Scene and AmericanrnLiterary Artrnby George GarrettrnColumbia: University of MissourirnPress; 316 pp., $29.95rnThe Sorrows of Fat City: A Selectionrnof Literary Essays and Reviewsrnby George P. GarrettrnColumbia: University of SouthrnCarolina Press; 343 pp., $34.95rnAcritic who tries...

REVIEWSrnRehabilitating Poernby Gregory McNaweernEdgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacyrnby Jeffrey MeyersrnNew York: Charles Scribner’s;rn348 pp., $30.00rnEdgar Allan Poe was the finest Americanrnwriter to be transformed into arn”personality” in his own lifetime and,rnlike Frangois Villon, to be known lessrnfor his work than for his person. As is sornoften the case with figures of publicrncelebrity, the...

transform hard-earned friendships withrnsuch writers as Nathaniel Hawthornernand James Russell Lowell into feuds;rnLowell was later moved to write, “Mr.rnPoe is at once the most discriminative,rnphilosophical, and fearless critic uponrnimaginative works who has written inrnAmerica . . . [but he] seems sometimesrnto mistake his phial of prussic-aeid forrnhis inkstand.” Poe’s inconstancy keptrnhim from keeping a steady...

plishment goes beyond vocalism andrndistinguishes a great musieian. Otherrnpeople have pretty voices or nice clothesrnor get photographed in nightclubs, butrnonly Callas eould sing Norma and Elvirarnand Violetta as she did at her best. Herrnimmortality is secure, even if the mostrnrefined estimate of her accomplishmentrnis only now beginning—with MichaelrnScott.’rnWithout credit of received opinionrnand without compromise of...

his early college education at the MiddlernTennessee State Teachers College, andrnhis work on the Operations Staff of thernCommander-in-Chief of the Pacific theaterrnduring World War II as examplesrnof his typicality; this could have beenrnthe life of any other Southern boy of hisrngeneration, he suggests. But it seems asrnif these experiences forged instead hisrnsingularity. He writes nonelegiacallyrnabout...

OPINIONSrnGod and Man in Jailrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn”Disobedience in the eyes of any one who has read history isrnman’s original virtue. “rn—Oscar WildernComing Out Conservative:rnAn Autobiographyrnby Marvin LiebmanrnSan Francisco: Chronicle Books;rn272 pp., $19.95rnThe First Dissident: The Book of Jobrnin Today’s Politicsrnby William SafirernNew York: Random House;rn336 pp., $23.00rnThe Republican Party Convention inrnHouston last summer verged...

A Clearing in the Wildernessrnby Jeffrey A. Tuckerrn”After all, money, as they say, is miraculous.”rn—Thomas CarlylernAustrian Economics: A ReaderrnEdited by Richard M. EbelingrnHillsdale, Michigaii: Hillsdale CollegernPress; 692 pp., $19.95rnAustrian Economics: Perspectives onrnthe Past and Prospects for the FuturernEdited by Richard M. EbelingrnHillsdale, Michigan:rnHillsdale College Press;rn516 pp.. $19.95rnThe economics profession, like manyrnother branches of the social...

REVIEWSrnWatergate: ThernContinuing Storyrnby fames HillrnNixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973-1990rnby Stephen E. AmbrosernNew York: Simon & Schuster;rn667 pp., $27.50rnOne of the problems with treatingrnan event like Watergate as historyrnis that, for most of us, it isn’t. Thern”third-rate” burglary that became a constitutionalrncrisis leading to the only resignationrnof a sitting President in our historyrnmay be two decades...

that, indeed, an argument can be madernthat Watergate most certainly madernthem worse.rnWhile it is Republican Presidentsrnwho ha’e come under the scrutiny ofrnimcstigations, committee hearings, andrnspecial prosecutions searching for impeachablernoffenses, it is perhaps thernDemocrats (more specifically, Jimmy-rnCarter; honeymooning Bill Clintonrndoesn’t vet count) since Watergate whornhave paid the greatest price for this congressionalrncoup. As Professor Ambrosernpoints out,...

head and shoulders and closed his eelids.rnI felt that I had intruded at a momentrnwhich should have been kept sacred.”rnAn ad-writer for J.R. Reynoldsrncouldn’t have put it better.rnArthur Lubow correctly sums uprnRichard Harding Davis’s place in Americanrnliterary history by saying, “Had hisrnlegend been tarnished by sexual scandalrnor neurotic eccentricity, it wouldrnhac shown brighter in the...

The Recovery ofrnthe Westrnbv Michael Lee KellyrnA Historian and His World: A Life ofrnChristopher Dawsonrnby Christina ScottrnNew Brunswick, New jersey:rni ‘ransaction Publishers;rn272 pp., $34.95rnThere arc dangers in a daughter writingrnher father’s l:)iography: the dangerrnthat she will be too uncritieal if herrnrelationship with him were elose and affeetionate;rnor, as is more eommon theserndavs, that she will...

not a study of his work; yet, to a greatrnextent, her father’s life was his work. Tornwrite a completely satisfying biographyrnof Christopher Dawson, one must presentrna more satisfying look at his oeuvre.rnWhat Mrs. Scott gives us is certainlyrnadequate, as far as it goes. Onernsimply wishes she had gone further. It isrna tribute to Dawson that...

OPINIONSrnReinventing Americarnby Brian Robertsonrn”Fox populi.rn—AnonymousrnLincoln at Gettysburg: The WordsrnThat Remade Americarnby Garry WillsrnNew York: Simon & Schuster;rn317pp.,$23.00rnNo public figure in American historyrnis more inscrutable than AbrahamrnLincoln. While this is in some measurerndue to his extraordinary deftness as arnpolitician, it is primarily the result of hisrnastounding success in refounding thernRepublic in his own image. So thoroughlyrndid...

Muddling Massesrnby David Simcoxrn”My opinion with respect to immigration is that, except of usefulrnmechanics and some particular descriptions of men or professions,rnthere is no need of encouragement.”rn—George WashingtonrnMass Immigration and thernNational Interestrnby Vernon M. Briggs, ]r.rnArmonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.;rn287 pp., $49.95 (hardback),rn$19.95 (paperback)rnIn Mav 1991 rioting Central Americanrnimmigrants looted and burnedrnstores and destroyed...

REVIEWSrnFreudianism and ItsrnDiscontentsrnhv William KilpatrickrnFreudian Fraud: The MalignantrnEffect of Freud’s Theory onrnAmerican Thought and Culturernby i’l Fuller Torrey, M.D.rnNew York: liarperCollirK;rn362 pp., $25.00rnFreudian Fraud has an intriguing butrndifficult-to-provc thesis, namelv thatrnFreudian thought radicalh alteredrnAmerican society for the worse. An “auditrnof Freud’s American account,” savsrnTorre, shows more debits than credits.rnHe beliexcs the chief liability inherentrnin the...

Second Childhoodsrnby Brad LinaweaverrnDark Verses & Lightrnby Thomas M. DischrnBaltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityrnPress; 144 pp., $26.00rnNeighboring Livesrnby Thomas M. Disch andrnCharles NaylorrnBaltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityrnPress; 368 pp., $13.95rnThe M.D.: A Horror Storyrnby Thomas M. DischrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn384 pp., $22.00rnFrom its beginnings, science fictionrn(bastard offspring of fantasy) has exertedrna vulgar appeal. Some of its...

brought the Christ Child, with the snakernfacing the greatest challenge. Thernanachronisms are funny, as intended.rnOf the remaining contents, including arn”Masque in Five Tableaux” and a shortrnstory, the greatest entertainment comesrnfrom a few poems by the redoubtablernJoycclin Shrager, the story’s protagonist,rnin whom Disch sends up an all too commonrnexample of the modern poetessrnwhose poetry can only...

OPINIONSrnAt Arm’s Lengthrnby William Wilsonrn”/ never had the opportunity of searching out God. He sought me out. Hernstalked me hke a redskin, took careful aim and fired.”rn—C.S. LewisrnAll My Road Before Me: The DiaryrnofC.S. Lewis, 1922-1927rnEdited by Walter Hooper;rnForeword by Owen BarfieldrnNew York: Harcourt Brace ]ovanovich;rn508 pp., $22.95rnWord and Story in C.S. LewisrnEdited by Peter...

New Writing From the Northwestrnby Gregory McNameern”Every kind of writing is good save that which bores.”rn—^VoltairernSailor Songrnby Ken KeseyrnNew York: Viking; 533 pp., $23.50rnYoung Men and Firernby Norman MacleanrnChicago: University of Chicago Press;rn288 pp., $19.95rnNothing But Blue Skiesrnby Thomas McGuanernNew York: Seymour LawrencernHoughton Mifflin; 349 pp., $21.95rnThe Pacific Northwest of the UnitedrnStates, embracing Oregon,rnWashington, Idaho,...

REVIEWSrnCredit Socialismrnby Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.rnMoney of the Mind: Borrowing andrnLending in America From the CivilrnWar to Michael Milkenrnby ]ames GrantrnNew York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux;rn512 pp., $25.00rnIn May 1991, Risa Kugal, a fortyishrnNew York woman who said she wasrnunemployed and supported by herrnmother, appeared at court in Brooklyn.rnShe was there, as James Grant tells...

tomers with much more on deposit thanrnthe FDIC limit of $100,000 had theirrnmoney wired to them in a few moments.rnTo stop the run, the Reagan administrationrnnationalized ContinentalrnIllinois, backing $100 million depositorsrnwith $10,000 taxpayers. Today, the bankrnis 80 percent owned by the ResolutionrnTrust Corporation, one of thousands ofrnsocialist enterprises bequeathed to us byrnReagan.rnReagan’s deregulation also made...

tougher adversary than “free trading”rnWashington.rnIn contrast to the economic gainsrnmade by Japan and Asia in the 1980’s,rnAmerican growth has slowed dramaticallyrnsince the mid-1970’s. Aside fromrnthose employed in the export sector, realrnincome among workers in the privaternsphere fell during the 1980’s. Americansrncontinued to live as if they werernstill in a medium-growth economy, financingrnthe difference between dreamsrnand...

ma is enamored of a Greek term favoredrnby the Straussians: thymos, meaning (tornfiim) the essence of the human condition.rn(Another of his key chapters bearsrnthis title: “The Rise and Fall of Thymos.”)rnThis word he stuffs promiscuouslyrninto his fruitcake, while coiningrnother words such as “hypothymia” andrn”megalothymia,” etc. According to myrnGreek dictionary thymos means thyme, arnpleasant spice. Unfortunately...

OPINIONSrnA Houdini of Timernby Theodore Pappasrn”I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every onernfrom his neighbour.”rn—Jeremiah 23:30rnThe Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume I:rnCalled to Serve, January 1929-June 1951rnSenior Editor: Clayhorne Carson,rnVolume Editors: Ralph E. Luker and Penny A. RussellrnBerkeley: University of California Press;rn484 pp., $35.00rnVoice of Deliverance: The...

REVIEWSrnAppalled by Historyrnby Michael D. AeschlimanrnEzra Pound and Italian Fascismrnby Tim RedmanrnNew York: Cambridge University Press;rn350 pp., $34.50rnFor us to love our country, Burkernsomewhere wrote, our country mustrnbe beautiful. The sheer aesthetic uglinessrnof modern capitalistic civilizationrnhas been as much a reason for the revulsionrnagainst it on the part of poets,rnartists, and social critics as have...

Passionate andrnIncorruptiblernbyJ.O. TaternKristin: A Readingrnby Andrew LytlernColumbia: University of Missouri Press;rn112 pp., $17.95rnThis beautiful little book—one thatrndoes much credit to its publisher—rnappears as a blessing amid the clutterrnand noise and ugliness that characterizernthe publishing industry as well as literaryrndiscourse today. A pleasure to hold andrnto behold, this volume is also the vehiclernfor rendering words, thoughts,...

realistic images and what they symbolizern(as we might expect a critic to do), butrninstructs us in interpreting the meaningrnof human actions and failures and theirrnrelation to “the enveloping action,” thernlarger motion that is so often scanted byrncontemporary interpreters who have notrnthe insight and the world view of AndrewrnLytic. His comprehensive understandingrnof Undset’s vision, of the...

Limits to Litigationrnby Jim ChristiernThe Hollow Hope: Can Courts BringrnAbout Social Change?rnby Gerald N. RosenbergrnChicago: The University of ChicagornPress; 424 pp., $29.95rnGerald N. Rosenberg, an assistantrnprofessor of political science andrnan instructor in law at the University ofrnChicago, has some simple advice for activistsrnwho think a United StatesrnSupreme Court ruling is an end-all: notrnonly are you...

OPINIONSnRedskin and Whitewashnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.n”/ij fouiteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean nude.”n—Chronicles, 1992nStolen Continents: The AmericasnThrough Indian Eyes Since 1492nhy Ronald WrightnBoston: Houghton Mifflin;n424 pp., $22.95n1492 And All That: PoliticalnManipulations of Historynby Robert RoyalnWashington, D.C.; The Ethics andnPublic Policy Center; 200 pp., $18.95nThe profusion of the anti-Westernnvirus released by the quincentenarynof Columbus’ landfall...

Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall ofnthe Cattle Culturenby Jeremy RifkinnNew York: E.P. Button, Inc.;n353 pp., $21.00nThe Covenant of the Wildnby Stephen BudianskynNew York: William Morrow;n192 pp., $18.00nIt’s hard to know where to begin to respondnto Jeremy Rifkin’s apocalypticnnew book, Beyond Beef. You could startnwith Chesterton’s famous remark onn”believing anything,” or some of the paleoconservativenruminations...

A Wilson for OurnTimesnby Paul GottfriednWoodrow Wilsonnby August HeckschernNew York: Charles Scribner’s Sons;n743 pp., $35.00nJohn Lukacs has observed that ourncentury’s two most significant revolutionariesnwere Lenin and Wilson. Ofnthe two, according to Lukacs, the internationalistnLenin had less destructiveninfluence in the long run than thendemocratic moralist but fervent nationalistnWilson; today it may be said thatnthe Wilsonians have...

universalist ideas from the 19th-centurynEnghshmen James Mill and John Bright,nas Link shows, not from any Protestantncreed.nIn line with his overall cosmetic project,nHeckscher has Wilson battling anti-Semitismnto get Louis Brandeis confirmednas a Supreme Court justice inn1916. We are shown a Wilson “entirelynwithout religious prejudice,” who wasnappalled by such atavistic hate. ThoughnWilson may have been religiously tolerantnif...

England and France ruined the Dutchncommercial empire, the republic lackednthe domestic resources to be other thanna pawn in the games of others. Englandnwas also able to use its financial strengthnto borrow instead of tax, and to hirenmercenaries and subsidize allied armiesnrather than conscript large numbers ofnits own citizens. Sweden during its periodnof enormous strength was...

port” to the liberal policies he endorses,nas he himself recognizes. His discussionnoffers us no means to weigh thengood and bad consequences of the variousnmeasures he proposes. Thus, all henis really entitled to say on utilitarianngrounds is that he does not knownwhether his program of sexual reformnwill be beneficial. But this does not stopnhim; Sweden, with...

The Conservative Crack-Upnby R. Emmett Tyrrell, ]r.nNew York: Simon & Schuster;n319 pp., $23.00n••nOn page 62 of this book, the authornrecalls with irritation having oncenbeen accused by Murray Kempton ofndishonoring the “legacy” of His Master’snVoice, H. L. Mencken, by “conformism.”nHow, Tyrrell demanded incredulously,nwas it possible for him to be the conformistnin a debate in which all...