Category: Reviews

42 I CHRONICLESn—that God saves the weak^ that Godnrescues those who moan for the burdennof their sins, that the ChristiannGod helps only those who havenstopped trying to help themselves.nAlas, it was not to be, and evangelicalsnturned once again to power or itsnsubstitutes.nLess Than Conquerors is a disturbingnand powerful book, nowhere morenmoving than when describing the...

28 / CHRONICLESnsome of them were inconsistent andncontradictory.”nThe conclusions of neither authornare satisfactory. Randall wrenchesnFranklin from his 18th-century context,nwhile Wright seems contentednwith Van Doren’s conclusion thatnSecurity Safari by Odie B. FaulknFranklin was “a harmonious humannmultitude.” But what provided thenharmony, the organizing principle,nthe larger character that unified thenmany small roles? I think it was this:nFranklin set...

24 / CHRONICLESnOPINIONSnA Fool in the Forest by Fred Chappelln”Shall they hoist me up and show me to the shoutingnvarletry of censuring Rome?”n—William ShakespearenThe Tristia of Ovid, translated bynDavid R. Slavitt, Cleveland:nBellflower Press.nThe true facts of the case will lienhidden in time forever. For ournpurpose here, we can accept the officialnversion; that the emperor Augustusnin...

34 / CHRONICLESnA Spymaster Defectsnby F. W. BrownlownA Perfect Spy by John Le Carre,nNew York: Alfred A. Knopf; $18.95.nAs a member of the last generation ofnEnglish middle-class boys brought upnon great expectahons of prosperity,nglamour, and power, John Le Carrenfirst became famous in America whennhis obsession with the failed promise ofnhis own society supplied an analogy...

Letters From Tocqueville by John Lukacsn”I am rich in letters. …”nAlexis de Tocqueville: SelectednLetters on Politics and Society,nedited by Roger Boesche; translatednby James Toupin and RogernBoesche, Berkeley: University ofnCalifornia Press; $24.95.nAlexis de Tocqueville was an immenselynprolific writer. His friendnGustave de Beaumont wrote that “fornone volume he published he wrote ten;nand the notes he cast aside...

2B / CHRONICLESnHillbillies and Rednecks by Tommy W. Rogersn”Taake my word for it, Sammy, the poor in a loompnis bad.”n—TennysonnThe Southern Redneck: AnPhenomenological Class Study bynJulian B. Roebuck and MarknHickson III, New York: Praeger.nTwo professors at Mississippi StatenUniversity, a sociologist and ancommunicationist, have decoupagedntheir observations, experiences, andnintrapsychic projections into a “phenomenologicalnanalysis” of the Southernnredneck. If...

28 / CHRONICLESnOPINIONSnUncivil Rights by William A. Donohuen’It is better that some should be unhappy, than thatnnone should be happy, which would be the case in angeneral state of equality.”n—Samuel JohnsonnAlan R. White: Rights; ClarendonnPress/Oxford University Press; NewnYork; $19.95.nNicholas Capaldi: Out of Order;nPrometheus Books; Buffalo, NY;n$17.95.nMichael Novak: Freedom WithoutnJustice; Harper & Row; SannFrancisco.nRichard A. Posner:...

OPINIONSnLife, Interpreted Lueely by Allan C. Carlsonnwhere the pictures for the page atone. “n—Alexander PopenLife: The Second Decaden1946-1955; Photographs selected bynDoris C. O’Neil; Little, Brown;nBoston.nNo contemporary could write promotionncopy quite like HenrynLuce. His 1936 prospectus for a newnmagazine featuring photographs, tentativelyncalled The Show-Book of thenWorld, still has few equals:nTo see life; to see the world;...