victims of discrimination but economicnsuccess was still theirs in a growing,nlargely open economy. And in America,neconomic success overcomes nearlyneverything else. But it wiil take morenthan growth. Blacks will have to be freento grow with the economy. Williamsncites numerous examples of how regulations,nlicense requirements, union apprenticeshipnprograms, the minimumnwage, and other entry restrictions servento keep people out of business and offnthe rungs of the economic ladder. Thosenat the bottom find such obstacles thenhardest to overcome, as Williams makesnclear in his case studies on the taxi andntrucking industries, the entry to thenskilled crafts, and the ill effects of thenminimum wage.nEconomic recovery from the recessionnis underway. However, unemploymentnThe Chameleon PapersnLetters of Archibald MacLeish: 1907nto 1982; Edited by R. H. Winnick;nHoughton MiflOin; Boston.nby Ronald Berniannin August 1932, while working onnTender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgeraldnnoted in his Ledger that “The novelnshould do this. Show a man who is a naturalnidealist, a spoiled priest. … he isnvery intelligent, widely read—^in feet henhas all the talents, including especiallyngreat personal charm.” For the role ofnthe hero, Dick Diver, Fitzgerald picked anhalf-dozen models, among them himself,nHemingway, and Archib^d MacLeish.nFitzgerald was a natural candidate, givennthe qualities he had cited; Hemingwaynhad some of those characteristics, too.nAnd, if we are to judge from his letters,nMacLeish belonged on any list that includednnot only charm and intelligencenDr. Berman is a professor in the departmentnof literature at the University ofnCalifornia, San Diego.nwill remain high because of the declinenin the industrial base which is independentnof the business cycle. A nation whichnimports manufactured goods while itsnown fectories and workers sit idle is annation with fiindamental problems. It isnproduction which creates wealth byntransforming raw materials into items ofnvalue. A nation caimot become wealthynmerely by consuming the production ofnothers. If it could, beggars would be kings.nCrises can produce major politicalnrealignments—^witness the Great Depression,nwhen liberalism began its longnreign. Current events could make possiblena new coalition of producer interests,nboth labor and business. Conservativesnare the natural catalysts for such a coalition,nbut if they are to serve in that role,nthey vwll have to exercise more realismnand imagination than they have thus iai.nbut overdone idealism as well.nArchibald MacLeish had many lives.nHe was bom in 1892, in the generationnof Hemingway, Fitzgerald, EdmundnWilson—^and of Dick Diver, who wasngiven the birth date of 1891. Like DicknDiver, MacLeish went to Yale. After that,nat something of a loss and in an effort tonplease his fether, he went to Harrard LawnSchool. He left before his last year innorder to serve in a hospital unit in Francenbut returned to stand first in his class.nThereafter, he left the law and became anpoet, a critic, a professor of poetry. Librariannof Congress, advisor to Democraticnpoliticians, and a universal literarynentrepreneur. He seems to have succeedednas a cultural figure; he did notnsucceed in the enterprise that matterednmost to him, as a poet. Possibly both failurenand success were connected to hisnsense of public selfnR. H. Winnick’s edition of the Lettersnis a good one, helping us to understandnMacLeish’s half-dozen American lives. Itnis well printed, well bound, intelUgentiynorganized. Each letter is foUowed bynnn(necessary) notes. The index is long andndetailed. There are some flaws: the introductionnis very short and surprisinglynflat; there is no chronology (and this is anbook that covers most of a century);nthere is no essay on the letters’ style,ncontent, and meaning. That is unfortunate,nconsidering the events MacLeishnexperienced, the movements in whichnhe participated, and the people amongnwhom he moved. But the letters themselvesnare revelatory.nThe letters are written on terms ofnequality to Hemingway and Fitzgerald,nto Dean Acheson and Adlai Stevenson.nThey provide information on MacLeishnand his wife, his mother, his students, hisnfriends, and his causes. Some, like thenmany letters to and in defense of EzranPound, are sensible, even noble. Theynknow where Pound is obscure and innwhat ways he is great—^they also knownin what ways he Med to comprehendneconomics, to write good poetry, or tondisplay common sense. Others, like thenletters to Hemingway, are something ofnan embarrassment for a biographern(Wirmick is working on the approvednlife)—or even a psychohistorian—^tonevaluate. They pander to Hemingway’snego and adopt a special vocabulary fUllnof feke masculinity and certainty. Theynare, in feet, written in a kind of imitationn”Hemingstein.” There are two voices innMacLeish. One is capable of saying tonPound at Saint Elizabeth’s, “I’m proud tonbe seen writing to you.” A man who saysnthat can be forgiven much. The othernvoice, much less morally certain, assuresnHemingway that he is indeed as good asnhe thinks he is, that his stories are “goddamnncomprehensible. And then toonthey are sweU. They are very swell. Alsonthey have the horsepower.” The mannwho wrote that kind of blather—^repeatedly—^isnnot sure of what he has to say,nonly that he would like to please.nIn many instances MacLeish showednhimself as a man of decency and intelligence.nIn others he seemed to be violatednby ideas, perhaps because of hisnoverpowering sense of public identity.nJuly 1983n