have been forgiven for falling into indolence,rnyet another frontier celebrity, butrnAudubon soon grew impatient with therncompany of fellow hunters like Sir WalterrnScott and returned to America, notingrnto himself, “I must put myself in arntrain of doing . . . and thereby keep thernmachine in motion.” For the rest of hisrndays—he lived to the age of 68—^JohnrnJames Audubon worked to revise Birds ofrnAmerica and complete its companion.rnOrnithological Biography. By applyingrnhimself so vigorously to this and otherrnwork, Audubon was able for the firstrntime to earn a decent livelihood.rnIn Audubon: Life and Art in the AmericanrnWilderness, Shirley Streshinsky doesrnnot shy away from contemporary criticismsrnof Audubon, notably his havingrnslaughtered thousands of birds to serve asrnsubjects for his palette. She also remindsrnher readers, however, that it does us littlerngood to judge past actions solely by contemporaryrnmorality and that Audubonrnhimself understood the error of his waysrnwhen the birds became fewer and fewer.rnFor all his faults, John James Audubonrnlooms large on the American frontier.rnHis brilliance as an artist and naturalistrnmerits him a permanent place in the nationalrnmemory, and Streshinsky’s book,rnfor all its shortcomings, is a worthy testamentrnto it.rnGregory McNamee is the author of Gila:rnThe Life and Death of an AmericanrnRiver, soon to he published by Crown.rnRecomposingrnSociologyrnby Paul GottfriedrnThe Decomposition of Sociologyrnby Irving Louis HorowitzrnNew York: Oxford University Press;rn282 pp., $35.00rnThe Decomposition of Sociology, anrnanthology of essays, testifies tornthe breadth of its author’s interests andrnreading. While the book has a centralrntheme—which is the problems, somernself-inflicted, that modern sociologistsrnface in making their discipline rigorousrnand nonideological—^within the confinesrnof that theme, Horowitz ranges freelyrnand confidently among many topics,rnsome brought in to illustrate his arguments.rnSome of the best analyticalrnstretches in the book deal only parentheticallyrnwith Horowitz’s main theme,rne.g., the penetrating sociological critiquernof, one, Emil Fackenheim’s propositionsrnconcerning the uniqueness of the holocaustrnand, two, successive generationsrnof American Jewish sociologists trying—rnwithout being too obvious—to understandrntheir Jewishness through the mediumrnof their research. Though onlyrnloosely organized, the book is consistentlyrnprovocative, resembling personalrnconversations with its author, who can bernvexing but who is also never boring andrnalways prodigiously informative.rnI, for one, am surprised to see how favorablyrnFlorowitz treats the sociologistrnWerner Sombart and the intellectualrnhistorian Ernst Nolte, both of whomrnhave been routinely accused (Nolte bothrnretroactively and anachronistically) ofrnharboring Nazi sympathies. Horowitzrnproperly relies on Sombart’s views (withoutrnadopting Sombart’s values) on Jewishrneconomic attitudes to explain thernThernAmericanrnInterestsrnLecturernSeriesrnA Project of thernU.S. Industrial CouncilrnEducational FoundationrnAre you fed up with campus political correctness? Mandatedrncollege and workplace sensitivity training? A curriculumrnthat always paints America as the bad guy? If so, the USICrnEducational Foundation’s speakers programs might be thernanswer for you.rnNow in its second full year, the American InterestsrnLecture Series is a major forum that directly confronts thesernissues on today’s college and university campuses. ThernFoundation recognizes that respect for the unique heritage ofrnthe United States ~ its institutions, its tradition of individualrnentrepreneurship, and its remarkable history of free andrnunrestricted exchange of ideas ~ is vital if we are going tornmaintain America’s position as the world’s political, cultural,rnand economic leader.rnAny faculty member, campus administrator, orrnstudent organization is invited to participate in the AmericanrnInterests Lecture Series. We’ll even make it easy for you byrncovering the entire cost of speaker honorarium and air fare.rnIf you would like more information on the program andrnwould like a list of available speakers, please call USIC EducationalrnFoundation offices at (202) 662-8755 or fax your requestrnto us at (202) 662-8754.rnU.S. Industrial Council Educational Foundationrn220 National Press Building Washington, D.C. 20045rn(202) 662-8755 (202) 662-8754 faxrn28/CHRONICLESrnrnrn