case ma)’ be, correctie.rnHarold O.J. Brown is religion editor forrnChronicles and a professor of theologyrnand philosophy at Reformed TheologicalrnSeminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.rnOne of thernLucky Onesrnby Katherine DaltonrnString of Pearlsrnfev Priscilla BuckleyrnNew York: Thomas Dunne Books/St.rnMartm’sPress;lH3 pp., $21.95rnPriscilla Buckle) has long been wellrnknown to readers of conservativernjoiunalism. For nearly three decades,rnshe was managing editor o^ National Review,rna constant font of editing skill, institutionalrnknowledge, good humor, andrncourtesy. Sliehada 12-year career beforernNR, however, and it is those dozen yearsrnwith United Press in New York and Parisrnthat are the subject of this memoir.rnMiss Buckley was graduated fromrnSmith College in 194”, a member of onernof those few classes of women who werernable to find man’s work in the war years ofrn1942-45. “What none of us realized,” shernwrites,rnwas that because at the height ofrnhostilities nearly eleven millionrnyoung American men were in uniform,rnjobs in the civil economy thatrnwould hae been closed to womenrnho years earlier, and would bernclosed to thenr three years laterrnwlicn the veterans came home,rnw ere there for the plucking. . . .rnWe were the lucky ones.rnIt was January 1944 when Miss Bucklevrnwent looking for work in New York.rnShe had the good sense to turn down arndecent salan- at the children’s encyclopediarnThe Book of Knowledge to accept insteadrnjust over half the pav —starvationrnwages—at United Press. It was a choicernshe never regretted. -A.nd her engagingrnmemoir is just what her title suggests: arnstring of her best anecdotes from thosernve;irs spent covering World War II and itsrnaftermath.rnMiss Buckley tells man good stories.rnIn 1946, as the New York newsroom waitedrnfor the FLASH that the Nurembergrnwar criminals had been hanged, the staffrnwas greatly surprised to see their bossesrnfrom the business offices making an unaccustomedrnvisit. This was a story thatrnneeded to be handled from the top, theyrnwere told. In came the FI ASH; quickly,rnthe top man wrote the leader that wouldrngo out to all UP bureaus: “I lermann Goeringrncheated death by committing suicide.”rnThen the brass left. As the doorrnshut, the newsroom laughed as someonernquickly added a elarif)”ing “bv hanging”rnafter “death” to the outgoing bulletin.rnWhen in Paris, Miss Buckley coveredrnthe restoration of the Moroccan king SultanrnMuhammad V and the transfer ofrnpower to him from the Berber tribalrnleader El Glaoui at a ceremony held at arnchateau outside the citj-. Buckley and herrnfriend, Time correspondent Frank White,rnonly managed to view die event through arnwindow, but they could see cleariy that, asrnthe 80-year-old El Claoui marched in andrnbegan to kneel, the young king rose, tookrnhim by the arms, and graciously raisedrnhim for an embrace. Consequently,rnBuckley was greatlv smprised to readrna few days later, in Time’s account ofrnthe ceremony, that Muhammad V hadrnpushed the old man’s head to the floor.rnWlien she asked Wliite about it, he toldrnher he had written what they both hadrnseen, but evidenfly a New York editor hadrnfound the amended version more dramatic.rnIt was the kind of tiling that happenedrnto Time and Newsweek correspondents allrnthe time, he said.rnPerhaps niy favorite stor’ is her simplestrnone, from very early in her career.rnJust weeks into her new job at UP, havingrnbeen assigned to the sports desk over thernobjections of its editor, Miss Buckleyrnmade a mistake in a baseball score. A colleague,rnresponding to the several complaintsrnfrom local bureaus, sent out a correction,rnthen issued one directly tornBuckley herself at the top of his lungs.rn”Pitts Buckley, you can call Franklin DelanornRoosevelt a g sonofa , butrnyou can’t make a mistake in a baseballrnscore!”rnThis is a book of great charm, funny,rnand somewhat nostalgic. Though Stringrnof Pearls is about news and newsmen, itrnclearly portrays a New York (and norndoubt a Paris, though I can’t speak tornthat) long gone. Indirecfly, despite thernfact that most of these tales are about otherrnpeople, it also presents a clear picturernof the author herself—a )oung womanrninterested in the world and amused withrnmuch of it. Knowing Miss Buckley’s NationalrnReview history as many of us do, itrnis still a bit of a surprise to learn that, inrn1956, she was glad to give up UnitedrnPress and Paris and return to the States tornhelp her younger brother Bill with hisrnnew magazine. But then—by t h e n -rnMiss Buckley had reached the pointrnwhere she longed for family and home. Irnfeel certain she has no regrets about thisrndecision, either. s she continues to writernin retirement, a memoir of her years atrnNational Review is ]5robably her next envisagedrnproject. If so, I would expect it tornmake a book as enjoyable as this one.rnContributing editor Katherine Daltonrnwrites from New Castle, Kentucky.rnThe Study ofrnWisdomrnby Jeffrey MeyersrnBertrand Russell: The Ghost ofrnMadness, 1921-1970rnby Rav MonkrnNew York: Free Press; 574 pp., $40.00rnThe second half of the life ofrnBertrand Russell (1872-1970) is notrnnearly as interesting as the first, whenrnRussell did his major work in philosophyrnand mathematics and, through closerncontacts with the Bloomsbury Group,rnknew all the major writers of his time. Inrnthis second volume, Ray Monk picks hisrnway through the trail of psychologicalrnwreckage caused b- both Russell’s fear ofrnmadness and his colossal vanity. Withrnscant sympathy. Monk convincingly portraysrnRussell as emotionally maimed andrnincapable of loving, no longer dedicatedrnto serious intellectual work, and “astonishinglyrnout of touch with political realit)’.”rnFrequently “superficial and dishonest,”rnRussell lapsed into “empty rhetoricrnand blind dogmatism,” dismissing ratherrnthan countering the arguments of his opponents.rnIn this fascinating book, one ofrnthe great minds of the centun,’ is shown tornhave been a windbag and a bore.rnMonk, author of a brilliant life ofrnOCTOBER 2001/31rnrnrn