FOR THI FIRST TIMS IN ROOK FORM
Some of his most memorable writings
■STEPHEN VINCENT BENfTTS
The last Circle
SHORT STORIES AND POEMS
Fifteen stories, and as many poems, by one of America s truly
great writers. Si-00
The inspiring story of the first
woman newspaper publisher in America
HnnoZenger
By KENT COOPER
Executive Director of the Associated Press
The novelized biography of one of the ggsat unheralded Amer
ican heroines ... a key figure in the birth of freedom in
America. S3-73
A frank, brutal, yet tender novel
of a desperate love
the Dim Uieui
fry BASIL HEATTER
This is the story of a young Naval officer with a private sense
of doom ... and of an Australian girl who was wise enough to
love him first, and let the questions go. "In a class with Ernest
Hemingwayt farewell to armi.”-Cosmopolitan.
Third printing, $2,50
Delightful, racy memories of a man
who has done almost everything
MESSMORE KENDALL’S
never left
Weather Interfere
“Like Life V'/th Father written by Father. An endless source of
anecdote... full of celebrities, and of amusing tales concerning
them."—BooLof-the-Month Club News. $5-75
A fascinating collection of
quizzes and questionnaires
Haul much Do Vou Know?
Edited by SYLVAN HOFFMAN
A mine of questions and answers, to enliven your parties, or
for a quiet evening at home, selected from fifty-odd popular
publications and radio programs. _$2:i0
. . ■ [ff\ MYSTERIES
The lilond \lJ \
FRANCIS BRETT YOVNG Punch |
An epic poem—lyric, vigorous, lllitll FflPB
affectionate ... by a distinguished ■"I ™
oovclist and poet. S330 By PHOEBE ATWOOD
_________ TAYLOR
Thera Ulere
Turn Pirates Pendly
-Will remind you of Intfn"- 111600011
THS NSW VOUCH 13 00 Br WADE mLLER
Dope smuggling, illicit love,
suspense, and murder. 12.00
A Reader's Guide to Politics
k .
\ * 8KED to write a review
of the year’s production
of books on the subject
JL JL of politics, I asked in
turn for the books. About
30 books were thereupon de
j posited In my office and I’ve
been looking them over. The
result of which is that this re
view could properly end right
here. For apparently almost the
only book on politics, as we
usually use the term, to come off
the press during 1946 was an ex
cellent two-bit handbook by the
present writer, who la too
modest to say anything more
about It.
When most of us think of
politics we think of the business
CaK UannaMfl onH
Reece are engaged in, full time,
and that every public official is
supposed to be engaged in, at
least part time. It is the busi
ness of getting yourself or some
body else elected to office. It is
a vast and intricate business,
filled with fascination for the
participants and the onlookers.
It runs the gamut of human
emotions, from insane delight
in victory to numb despair in
defeat. Noble purposes contend
with cheap ambitions. Truth
and falsehood, brave men and
cowards, play their separate
i parts. Women have become in
volved in a big way and heart
throbs abound. It is unceasing
battle and, next to war, just
about the rawest of human con
flicts.
Somebody really should write
a book about politics—American
domestic politics — but, hardly
I anybody appears to have done so
in the year 1946.
The Field Has Been
Left Wide Open
The pile of books sent up by
i the book editor proves the point.
Not a single one undertakes to
tell either what the Democratic
Port.v hfifi hAPn im fn In rpppnt.
years or what we may expect of
the Republican Party if it comes
into national power. None ex
poses the current operations of
j the Democratic city machines
on the one hand or the machina
' tions of Wall Street on the other.
Even the political phenomenon
of our time, the CJO-PAC, has
not been put between covers,
although enough has been writ
ten about it for the newspapers
and periodicals to fill a middle
sized Carnegie library.
The recent congressional cam
paign had for its burning issues
the price of meat, the increasing
power of labor organizations and
the customary question of wheth
er or not the men in office were
rascals who should be turned
out. Almost no books were writ
ten on those topics. They were
I written chiefly about foreign af
fairs and various phases of our
j foreign policy.
There are some exceptions, of
course. In "The Shore Dimly
| Seen,” Gov. Ellis Arnall of
I Georgia lays down a philosophy
i of American political life, well
buttressed by his own experi
ence. It is eminently well worth
reading by anybody interested in
the creation of a better pattern
of democratic government than
that provided by the present
confusion of State and Federal
powers and purposes.
Wendell Beige’s "Economic
Freedom for the West” exposes
the dangers the author, an
Assistant Attorney General, has
found in great monopolies that
afflict our final frontier, holding
back its natural development.
His discussion opens up certain
real political questions.
m • « •
v>miii|;ai^u maici lai 111
‘Washington Tapestry’
Olive Clapper's “Washington
Tapestry,” amusing and informa
tive. contains some shrewd side
lights on well-known political
figures. Her
character
sketch of
Henry Wal
lace, for ex
ample, could
be used nicely
by his politi
cal managers
if he should
e v e r be a
candidate for
office.
Wallace
himself pro
duced a couple
of books. His
“Sixty Mil- Henry A. Wallace.
lion Jobs” had its edge blunted
by the rapid appearance of almost
• that many Jobs. If those jobs
presently begin to fade away, the
book probably will return to its
place in the best seller list. “Soviet
Asia Mission.” contains the famil
By Lowell Mellett
—Sketch by Newman Sudduth.
*
far and not unpopular theme that
war with Russia is not inevitable.”
“American Foreign Policy in
Recommended
THE SHORE DIMLY SEEN,
by Gov. Ellis Araall. (Lippin
cott; $3.) 4
ECONOMIC FREEDOM FOR
THE WEST, by Wendell Serge.
(University of Nebraska Press;
$2.)
WASHINGTON TAPESTRY,
by Olive Clapper. (Whittlesey;
$2.75).
AS RE SAW IT, by Elliott
n_/rv.nll . so \
FRONTIERS OF THE PO
TOMAC, by Jonathan Daniels.
(Macmillan; $2.75.)
the Making," by Dr. Charles
A. Beard (given further dis
cussion on Page 13. See:
“In the Light of History.”),
could be used as a cam
paign document against Franklin
D. Roosevelt
if that now
a c cepted
statesman
had not end
ed his earthly
career. The
hist orian
demonstrates
to his own
satisfact i o n,
and doubtless
to that of his
many ad
mirers, that
R o o s e velt’s
method of
making our Charle* A. Beard,
foreign policy was very devious.
Another volume calculated to
increase tne commence of Roose
velt’s political opponents is Henry
Hazlitt’s "Economics in One Les
son”, designed to demonstrate a
basic fallacy in New Deal think
ing
Elliott Roosevelt’s
Remarkable Whodunit
"As He Saw It,” by President
Roosevelt’s son Elliott, is a re
markable whodunit that gives
away the villain too quickly. You
are able to
guess imme
diately that
Churchill
done it. You
would find it
even easier to
put your fin
ger on the
culprit if you
had first read
Louis Ada
mic's “Dinner
at the White
House.” Or
Ralph Inger
soll's “T o p
Secret.” Elliott Roosevelt.
If military men should come to
play a part In American politics
comparable to that they tavf ^
some other democracies, it win
be because too few of us have
read Donald Nelson’s "Arsenal
of Democracy,” drawn from his
experience as head of the War
Production Board. “The lesson
taught by these recent yean of
war is clear,” he says. “Our whole
economic and social system will
be in peril if it is controlled by
the military men.”
Many Books About
The White House
Of books about the White
House there have been many,
but none with serious political
implications. This Is true of
“Tha
Mr.
dent,"
riman
based
press
encei
“St a
the '
nouse, u y
Starling; "I
Guarded F. D.
R.” by Mike
Reilly, and
even of the
best selling
“Frontiers of
the Potomac,” •>»»«■.
by Jonathan Daniels.
For those obsessed by fears
that Communists may become
important politically in this
country, Victor Kravchenko’s "I
Choose Freedom,” telling of life
in Russia, may be regarded as
a salutary warning of the conse
quences.
The postwar world, whether
it shall be one or two worlds,
is the theme of a number of
books, mostly nonpartisan in the
domestic political sense. “One
■frorld or None,” by a group of
such scientists as Einstein, Shap
ley and their distinguished fel
lows, presents the threat of the
atomic bomb effectively. “Two
Worlds,” by William B. Ziff,
presents the danger of our being
caught in the middle between
Russia and Great Britain. Since
Ziff Is convinced that Great
Britain can exist only by Ameri
can charity, and suggests we
might better take over some parts
of the empire, including England
and Canada, he offers a real do
mestic political issue if anybody
takes the idea seriously.
Argument for a world govern
ment is presented by Louis
Fischer in “The Great Chal
lenge,” and by Leland Stowe in
“While Time Remains.” We
must lead the proposed world
i _ n*._ U.li..... L..1
ovniivi wvvnv mviiu • mmv »»w
finds us woefully Ignorant and
indifferent to our responsibility.
Reverting to the meat short
age and related matters, which
became so political in November,
Aldous Huxley treats the subject
from a world viewpoint in “Sci
ence, fciberty and Peace.” He
says, “Scientific and technical
means must be found for mak
ing it possible for even the most
densely populated countries to
feed their inhabitants.”
Just received is "Manual of
Practical Political Action,” a
loose-leaf book of instructions
for anybody wishing to engage
in politics. Published by the
National Citizens’ Political Ac
tion Committee, it is the work
of the “faculty” of that or
ganization’s School of Polit
ical Action Techniques. Pre
pared primarily for the benefit
of citizens habitually left of
center it should be equally val
uable to folks on the right. No
detail of political work seems to
be missing, but on the chance
that something may have been
overlooked the loose-leaf for
mat permits additional items to
be inserted. _
Christmas Gift Books
THE LEACOCK ROUND
ABOUT. (Dodd, Mead; $3.50.)
A thick volume containing some
of Stephen Leacock’s best work;
422 pages.
THE SHORTER NOVELS OF
STENDHAL. Translated by C.
K. Scott-Moncrieff. (Liveright;
$2.49.) “Armance,” “The Abbess
of Castro,” “Vittoria Accoram
boni,” “The Cenci,” “The Duchess
of Palliano” and “Vanina Vanini,”
for the first time in one volume.
TALES OF HOFFMAN, edited
by Christopher Lazare. Illus
trated by Richard Lindner. (A.
A. Wyn; $7.50.) A modern trans
lation of the famous tales. In a
gift-styled volume, cellophane
wrapped.
THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS,
by Eric Temple Bell. Whittlesey
House; $3.50.) A history of the
numerical system. For the stu
dent or the lover of the curious.
RUSSIAN WONDER TALES,
by Post Wheeler. With the orig
inal Bilibin illustrations in full
color. (Beechurst Press; $3.50.)
A new enlarged edition of an old
favorite in folk tales. Most at
tractive.