from aboveground nuclear testing.nAlso toxic waste polluted our processednbaby food. We all fear bonencancer, an abbreviated life. Chemotherapynis always on the horizon. Sex,non the other hand, is intelligible. Itncan be performed in the safety ofnone’s own bed. See what I mean?nEven though there’s no meaning to benseen, Sommer expects us nevertheless tonpart with our coin, for he knows that profanenskepticism is the most profitablenstorefront reUgion in town. So, after anquick advertising blitz against the Christianncompetition (Jesus is mockingly dismissednas a pathetic sad sack with “nonsense of humor”), he sets about packagingnhis own brand of presweetened nihilisticnreligiosity. In one-ounce boxesnTramp offers such tasties as: “I had a dognand a universe of supreme indifference tonkeep me company” and “Name someonenwho has graduated from theirntricycle not demented with grief.” Innthe economy 18-ounce size he offersnwhole rock songs of comparable qualitynand flavor. In a typical stanza (accompaniednby a cacophonous Snap, Crackle,nPop), Tramp serves up this instantnnourishment:nNothing real ever matterednAll our illusions promptly shatterednIn one ear, out the othernFar too hopeless to recover.nIt may not be quite the whole-grainnBread of Life Dad and Mom were raisednon, but it works like the Breakfast ofnChampions for Tramp: in the end,nTramp sells three of his rock songs fornmegabucks, Leah unexpectedly reversesnher decision to leave him, and he inexplicablyncongratulates himself on “backingninto adulthood.” Save your boxtopsnand you too can have the latest literaryntoy, nihil ex machina.nThe protagonist and chief salesmannin Barron’s Groundrush is Beowulf, antroubled and cynical high-school footballnplayer with a penchant for tearingnthe arms off of ball carriers rather thannmonsters. Doubtless because it sells son26inChronicles of Culturenwell, illicit sex is again on the blockn(though this time the more extraordinarynforms are not in stock), as are vicariousndrug highs, pathological violence, profanity,nand scatological crudity. Othernthan the articles the and a, the expletivesnfor excrement and sexual intercourse arenprobably the most oft-repeated words innthe book. Still, Barron is a more disciplinednand honest merchant than Sommer.nHis portrayal of Beowulf’s jumblednlife shows with depressing clarity justnhow ugly and void existence can be whennhuman appetites are governed by nonhigher principles than those which obtainnon the gridiron. Indeed, throughnthe eyes of his Nietzsche in shouldernpads, Barron exposes America’s fanaticalnobsession with football as a destmctivenform of will-worship. With black-comicnappropriateness, he even depicts anpregame football mass, complete with anpriest holding a plastic football above thenaltar as a new symbol of salvation.nUnfortunately, having rendered footballnan unworthy object for supremenfaith, Barron has only other trivialnmodern icons to offer as replacements.nThe dimensions of the life he depicts offnthe playing field are therefore terriblyncontracted: fornicating now and then,n-toying with drugs, running for longndistances alone, growing one’s hair andnplaying guitar in bars, contemplatingnsuicide and murder. It certainly does notnadd up to much. The explanation is thatnBarron’s primary aim is not simply to discreditnillusory faith in a violent game, butnto discredit faith in general—and to benwell paid for doing it. For even as he callsnIn the Mailninto question the worship of an idle entertainment,nhe himself assumes thenlucrative vestments of the popular antipriestnwho preaches that life itself is annempty game. To the itching ears ofnauditors with more money than faith, hendelivers this dejectionist homily:nA body awakens fully to life only in andream. When the dream dissolvesnthere is nothing; just a night of tossingnand turning, hatching thoughtsnto fling helplessly against eternity.nA sharp businessman-cleric, Barronnrecognizes that he can continue to fleecenhis flock only so long as they do notnwander into the care of some othernShepherd, so in the second chapter henerects a cautionary water-tower billboardnproclaiming that “Jesus Saves Roaches”nand confirms its sentiments in BeowulPsnsubsequent philosophizing about thenimpossibility of Christ’s being savior fornanyone. Barron’s intent is evidently tonreciuce the victory Jesus achieved on a hillnwith three uprights to the same irrelevantnstatus as the victories won by high-schoolnboys on fields with two of differentnshape.nConsequently, when the game onnwhich the book focuses ends in a disappointingntie, it is meant to stand asnmetaphor for Beowulf’s inability tonresolve his problems with self, family,nand friends. But also, like the priest’snplastic football, it is intended to be anreligious sign representing the universe,na sign under which no one conquers. Nonone, that is, but a smart author cashing innon chic despair. DnGovernment in American Society, Revised Edition by Anthony T. Bouscaren; University Pressnof America; Lanham, MD. This textbook is described as “a simple, straightforward account ofnthe main principles and procedures of American government.” Which it is.nThe National Interests of the United States in Foreign Policy edited by Prosser Gifford;nUniversity Press of America with the Woodrovr Wilson International Center for Scholars;nLanham, MD. This text comprises seven discussions at the WUson Center that were held in laten1980 and early 1981, covering various options in U.S. foreign policy.nnn