but it was not until midcenturynthat the Chinese population innthe United States began to grownsignificantly. Spurred by thenpromises held out by the Californiagoldnrush, they poured intonthe United States to seek theirnfortunes. Because of the large,ninflux of Chinese immigrants,nanti-Chinese movements soonnarose among white Americans.nThis hostility led to the passagenof several exclusion acts, Violencenagainst Chinese – Americansnwas commonplace, and theynfaced harrassment, raids and deportation.nAs the era of exclusion acts andnharassment gradually passed innthe 20th century, Chinese-nAmericans built a reputation forndiscipline, integrity and hardnwork. Many Chinese-Americansnhave moved to the suburbs andnestablished themselves as membersnof the middle class. Theirnsons and daughters frequentlynexcel in their studies, and afterngraduation they take jobs in anvariety of important professions.nStill, those Chinese who live innAmerica’s Chinatowns facengrave problems. High rates ofnunemployment, crowded livingnconditions, low educational levelsnand the breakdown of the familynmake their lives considerablynmore difficult than those of theirnsuburban counterparts. Yet evennhere, new organizations havenbeen formed to deal with thesenproblems.nJack Chen’s book serves as anuseful introduction to the Chinese-Americannexperience. Itnhelps one to understand the problemsnthat these people have facednin gaining acceptance in theirnadopted country, and it makesnclear the contributions that Chinese-Americansnhave made tonthe United States. With the aidnof Chen’s book, one can go beyondnthe stereotypes that havenso often been pinned upon thisnrelatively small, but by no meansninsignificant, group of immigrants.nDnWASTE OF MONEYnFathers and MothersnJoyce Maynard: Baby Love;nAlfred A. Knopf; New York.nFrederick Busch: Take ThisnMan; Farrar, Straus & Giroux;nNew York. ^nby Bertram LippmannOne of these two novels isnabout fathers and the other isnabout mothers. In an age whenna practice identified by socialnscientists as “parenting” is beingncodified and subjected tonrules, the two books should benedifying, or at least entertaining.nThey ought to help us clarifynour ideas about what we arendoing with ourselves. It wouldnbe good if they did so, but unfortunately,nthey do not.nBaby Love is about motherhood.nThe mothers Joyce Maynardnpresents are ignorant, uneducated,nidle, unambitious andnempty-headed. They swagger ornshamble through their teen-agenyears, seemingly confident ofnthemselves and their appetitesnand tastes. They appear to shownprecocious sexual sophistication,nbut they fall victim to prematurensexual desuetude, the product ofntheir ignorance and lack ofnimagination. They slide intonmarriage and motherhood unthinkingly.nThese young womennform their “thoughts” from thenfatuous titles and puerile lyricsnof popular songs. These childrennof the new generation arenself-indulgent and dissatisfiedndependents.nDr. Lippman writes his essaysnin New York.nAs mothers, the girls do notnneglect or abuse their babies,nnor do they resent their coming,nbut they learn nothing from beingnmothers. They will passntiirough motherhood as theynpassed through junior highnschool, as nearly unaffected asnpossible. It is hard to imaginenthat the babies will learn muchnfrom the mothers And neithernwill the reader. Baby Lovenshould have been entitled InfantilenMinds.nFrederick Busch’s novel aboutnlove and fathers is a contrivance,nthe product of an orderly, decent,nconscientious mind with touchesnof modern artifice—a few dirtynwords about women, a meticulousndescription of the seductionnof a boy by a girl, a graphic, “sen-n’ sitive” scene of a young womannmasturbating, references to jazznand popular music.nThe hero is a Southerner basednOur Age’s Beastiaryn’W’AireA’QxxTchctV. At the Barricades:nForty Years on thenCutting Edge of History;nTimes Books; New York.nWhen posterity parcels outnthe culpability for the horrorsnperpetrated by communism innthe 20th century, a good deal ofnthe blame will fall upon thosenWestern intellectuals whonwielded the power of the wordnto condone murder in the namenof social justice. The intellectualnas agitprop journalist has becomena familiar sight in thenWest. Louis Fischer of the Newnnnin an army camp in Illinois at thenclose of World War II. He is anconscientious objector, evennagainst the war to stop Hitler.nAlong comes a girl, on her waynto the West coast to marry anyoung man she doesn’t love. Innthe impetuosity of sudden rapture,nshe makes love to the protagonist,nwho doesn’t object conscientiously,nand then continuesnWest to her marriage, leaving hernlove behind.nTwelve years later, she sendsnher son to find his father in thensame little prairie town where shenleft him. The mother follows,nhaving fled her husband, and thenthree take up family life together.nGood people. A normal, contented,nloving, citizenly life. Inn1963 the son gets caught upnwith revolutionaries in Maine,nwhere the family is now living.nThe radicals are unsavory creatures,n”beatniks living like licenon the land.” They ask the VillagenVoice to publicize their intendedndestruction of a navalninstallation. Rescued by his ownnnature, and his parents’ goodnsense, the young man ends up anNew York City lawyer, a part ofntheestablishment. What has happenednto the rebellious youth ofnthe Vietnam era.’ To judge fromnthis book, conventionality. DnYorkPostontWnedim the 1920’snthe pattern by which his successorsncould cut their own cloth:ntravel to communist nations asna foreign correspondent, ingratiatenoneself with the apparatchiksnand cable out dispatches that substitutenwishful thinking for hardnrealities.nSelf-delusion, ignorance andnprevarication are small pricesnto pay for a seat on the locomotivenof history. But Fischer atnleast had the decency later tonconfess his complicity with eyil;nThe God that Failed containsnhis mea culpa.ni39nJanuary/February 1982n