of the moment, but in the sense thatnthey give any intelligent reader food fornthought about his own times.nThese virtues are all splendidly marshalednin Requiem, the McDonalds’ncollection of occasional pieces on thenearly years of the American federalnrepublic. Each of the 11 essays takes upna familiar and problematic queshon ofnthose days — Shays’ Rebellion, JohnnDickinson, the “middle party” in thenPhiladelphia Convention, the relahonnof the Kramers to capitalism, the ambivalentnevolution of the doctrine ofnseparation of powers, the rituals ofn18th-century war in relation to thenAmerican War of Independence, thenrole of Alexander Hamilton, the legaciesnof Washington and Jefferson to thenoffice of the presidency, and others.nAnd each is a gem of historical analysis,ninterpretation, and nonsuperficial relevance,nfrom which the Foundersnemerge as neither plaster saints nornarchaic curiosities, but as real, flawed,nand extraordinary human beings.nIt is probably true that all goodnhistory is sober, if not indeed somber;nsuch must be the usual reaction of anynhonest student of the human condition.nFew experiences are more soberingnthan being regularly compelled toncompare the achievements of our Fathersnwith what 20th-century Americansnhave made of those achievements,nwhich perhaps justifies the melancholyntitle of this collection. The respectfulnrealism of these essays provides a goodnantidote to the mindless sentimentalitynof sunshine patriots and the compulsivenhectoring of self-appointed re-nFounders under whom we have sufferednduring the Constitution’s bicentennialncelebration.nThe last essay is a masterful historicalnexposition of “Federalism in America”nand concludes with the wisest andnsaddest words of the bicentennial: “Politicalnscientists and historians are innagreement that federalism is the greatestncontribution of the Founding Fathersnto the science of government. It isnalso the only feature of the Constitutionnthat has been successfully exported,nthat can be employed to protectnliberty elsewhere in the world. Yet whatnwe invented, and others imitate, nonlonger exists on its native shores.”nClyde Wilson is professor of history atnthe University of South Carolina.n42/CHRONICLESnThe SpeechlessnSicknby Dan McMuirynNowhere To Go: The TragicnOdyssey of the HomelessnMentally 111nby E. Fuller TorreynNew York: Harper & Row; 256 pp.n$18.95nTwo-Step is a tall, skinny black mannwho has lived at the NashvillenUnion Rescue Mission for seven years.nIn nice weather he can be seen standingnbeside the Mission holding his pajamanbottom up with one hand and doing anslow, rhythmical shuffle, hour afternhour. He has been doing this since henwas brought to the front of the Missionnseven years ago from Central State, thenmental hospital where he had spent allnhis adult life. Two-Step would like thisnbook. It would explain important thingsnto him, such as why he is now out onnthe street, doing a two-step in thensunshine, struggling to survive in anchaotic world he doesn’t understand.nBut Two-Step doesn’t understandnwhy, nor do the other mentally illnamong the half million or more homelessnpersons lining the nation’s streets ornadding to the hopelessly overburdenednjails and prisons. Dr. Torrey documentsnwith precision and clarity the process bynwhich Two-Step came to shuffie in thensunshine by the Mission, and it is a storynthat every legislator should know.nFreud is part of the tragic tale, and sonare th6 dreamy political tinkerings of thenCamelot era. But the broom that was tonsweep the mental hospitals clean wasnmade; in the busy Social PlanningnWorkshops of the Great Society ofnPresident Lyndon Johnson. From thenearly postwar years a movement led byn”politically sensitive” psychiatrists hadnactively opposed the large state mentalnhospital structure. This movementnsprung in large part from the orchestratedn”outrage” of the “conchies” (conscientiousnobjectors) who were allowed tonwork as attendants in mental hospitals innplace of serving in combat units. Andnby the late 50’s a group at the NationalnInstitute of Mental Health (NIMH)nhad begun discussing “mental health”nas a solution to the growing ills of thencities, especially poverty. Dr. LeonardnnnDuhl, then chief of planning at NIMH,nsaid that mental disease was a “sociallyndefined condition” and that mentalnhealth “must be conceived as a socialnproblem.” ,nThe problem then was no longer thencare of mentally ill patients; it was nownto minister to a “mentally ill society.”nDuhl had argued eariier that nothingnwould be accomplished if a patient frorrina low-income background was cured innthe hospital and then returned to thenpoverty community. “It is therefore thentotal society,” Duhl had said, “thatnneeds a mental health treatment program.”nNo one questioned how removingnthe mentally ill from the hospitals tonthe community would serve as a “mentalnhealth treatment program” for thencommunity. (Actually, it did. But itnwasn’t the kind of treatment programnDuhl and the others had in mind.)nBy the summer of 1963 the strugglenof the activists to replace mental hospitalsnwith community mental healthncenters (CMHC) was nearing an end.nSubstituting CMHC’s, not-yet builtnand only vaguely developed, for inpatientnmental hospitals was the firstndomino. The political groundwork wasndone by Duhl, Dumont, and othernlike-minded psychiatrists at NIMH.nSocial education was accomplished byna then-rising guru of psychedelic drugs.nKen Kesey, with his One Flew Overnthe Cuckoo’s Nest. (The movie versionnhas been required viewing for fivengenerations of college students.) Inncollege, students read Szasz’s ThenMyth of Mental Illness and Goffman’snAsylums. The first vows that mentalndiseases do not actually exist but arenmerely labels; the second asserts thatn”if somebody would just open the gatesnand let, these people out, the patientsnwould not have to behave strangelynanymore.”nAll that was needed now to accomplishnthe long-awaited task of “returningnthe mentally ill to the community”nwas somebody with the key to the gate.nJust 2 2 days before he was assassinated.nPresident Kennedy signed the legislationncreating community mental healthncenters. But those who believed thatnthe patients no longer “would have tonbehave strangely” or that they wouldnbe cared for in the community mentalnhealth centers were going to beshocked.nThere were about one-half millionn