convert practically anybody into anSouthern partisan. The picture of thentypical Southern family farm in hisnfamous essay “The Hind Tit” — thatnfarm before industrialization — is marvelouslynwinning; it tempts this northernnreviewer to taste sallet, or turnipngreens.nAndrew Nelson Lytle does not despair.n”The South may well become thensalvation of this country yet, both atnhome and abroad,” he writes in “HownMany Miles to Babylon” (first publishednin 1953). “Private property, controllednby the proprietor, may be thenonly restraining influence to remind usnthat the great corporate business hasnsomething private about it. The timenwill come, otherwise, when it will seemnmore efficient for the state to take over.”nThe South has become the backwoodsnof centralized industrial American— though deprived, for the most part,nof the old backwoods physical setting ofnforests, Indians, wild animals, andntreacherous rivers. And yet the Southemnbackwoodsmen remain potentiallynpowerful; and the Southern states maynhave “enough form left to shake offntheir lethargy when the walls of steelnand concrete tumble down upon ournheads; when the electric webs breaknloose firom their poles to dart and stingnlike scorpions.”nLike Nathan Bedford Forrest, AndrewnLytle charges undismayed thenoutnumbering regiments of paper andnpatronage. He is of the number of thosenwho take heaven by storm.nRussell Kirk lives in Mecosta,nMichigan.nAnother Life ofnC.S. Lewisnby Lyle W. DorsettnC.S. Lewis: A Biographynby A.N. WilsonnNew York and London:nW.W. Norton & Company;n334 pp., $22.50nIn 1949 Chad Walsh, at that time annobscure poet and literary critic atnBeloit College in Wisconsin, publishednthe first book on C.S. Lewis. EntitlednC.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Sceptics,n38/CHRONICLESnthis long out-of-print volume is stillnone of the best books written on thensubject. In the forty years since Walshnestablished himself as an authority onnLewis, over fifty books have been publishednon the Belfast-born, Oxfordeducatednauthor who died in Novembern1963, the same day President Kennedynwas assassinated. Unfortunately,nmost of those subsequently publishednbooks are not as good as the first one.nWalsh, to be sure, had the advantage ofnbeing first in print. But more than that,nhe was a superb stylist, an able critic,nand he knew Lewis. The burden ofnevery author to walk in Walsh’s pathnhas been to say something new.nNevertheless, in four decades somenoriginal contributions have been madento our knowledge of Lewis. The authornof nearly forty books, Lewis stillnhad 14 years to live after Walsh’s booknwas published. Furthermore, the celebratednEnglishman wrote some of hisnmost important books during then1950’s and early 1960’s.nThe first full-scale biography to appearnafter Lewis’s death appeared inn1974. This useful volume was writtennby a close friend, Roger LancelynnGreen, a well-established freelancenwriter, and Walter Hooper, a man whonat the time was an obscure Americannwho had spent a few weeks doing somensecretarial chores for Lewis in 1963.nWarren H. Lewis, Lewis’s oldernbrother, had authorized the volumendone by Green and Hooper. BeforenWarren Lewis’s death, however, henexpressed concern that Hooper wouldnmake himself out to be a close friendnand confidant of the Lewis brothers —nespecially Jack (as C.S. Lewis wasncalled by all his friends). Hooper barelynknew C.S. Lewis, but one would nevernthink so from reading the book. Indeed,nRoger Lancelyn Green told mena few years ago that the one thing henwould change about the book if hennncould redo it would be to make clearnthat Hooper’s relationship with Jacknwas brief and superficial. Green said hendid not see the draft of the last portionnof the book before it went to press.nWarren Lewis died before it was published,nso he never saw in print what henpredicted would happen.nHooper’s curious desire to depictnhimself as Lewis’s close friend notwithstanding,nthe book he and Green didnwas the standard work on Lewis’s lifenand writing until the 1980’s. Not untiln1986 did a new full-scale life of Lewisnappear. This one was written by WilliamnGriffin, an editor for two decades,nfirst at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich andnlater at Macmillan. During those yearsnGriffin acquired and edited numerousnbooks of Lewisiana, thereby establishingnhimself as an expert in the field.nNow the religious books editor fornPublishers Weekly, Griffin, also an ablennovelist and playwright, wrote a biographynentitled Clive Staples Lewis: AnDramatic Life. This immense book ofnnearly five hundred pages is well written,nand it has the unique quality ofnletting Lewis speak for himself Annauthor of remarkable restraint. Griffinndoggedly refuses to pass judgment onnLewis, his friends and associates. Lettingnthe famous writer speak for himself.nGriffin quotes countless letters,ndiaries, and books. Ultimately thenLewis we see is one Lewis wanted usnto see.nNot every student of Lewis studiesnwas satisfied with Griffin’s original butnaloof approach. Therefore when Jack:nC.S. Lewis and His Times by GeorgenSayer appeared in 1988, it was eagerlynpicked up by those who had readnLewis’s works but yearned to get ancloser look at the man. Sayer —nLewis’s close friend for thirty years —nwrote a book that made Lewis comenalive for those who never knew him.nFull of Sayer’s keen insights, as well asnrich quotations from his correspondencenwith Lewis, this book is at once anpersonal memoir, an in-depth biography,nand a work of insightful literaryncriticism. In brief, it is a superb booknand eminently worthy of its subject.nBecause Jack is such a splendidnbook, many people will be puzzled asnto why we need another biography twonyears later. The answer to that questionnis easy. Sayer’s book has all of thenstrengths of being written by an intelli-n