Chroniclesrn« M A G A Z I H E OF A M E R I C A N C U L T U R ErnPERSPECTIVErnDial M for Murdochrnby Thomas FlemingrnThe conservative daisy chain.rn10rnVIEWSrnA Hothouse of Goofiness by Tony OuthwaiternThe American book industry.rnMaxwell Perkins Is Dead by Clay ReynoldsrnThe decline of commercial publishing.rnReading and Weeping by George GarrettrnOur “low self of steam.”rnGod and Mammon in Ghristian Publishingrnby Gene Edward VeithrnThe new corporate masters.rnThe Unscholarly World of Scholarly Publishingrnby Gregory McNameernThe state of the universit}’ press.rnThree Poemsrnby Wendell Berr’rn”To a Writer of Reputation,” and other poems.rnOPINIONSrnOver My Dead Body by J.O. TaternRobert Polito, Editor: Crime Novels:rnAmerican Noir of the 1930s and 40s.rnRobert Polito, Editor: Crime Novels:rnAmerican Noir of the J 950s.rnWh’ bad reading is good.rnThe Kennedy Legacy by James HillrnSeymour M. Hersh: The Dark Side ofCamelot.rn”Just the facts, ma’am.’rn13rn18rn22rn24rn27rn30rn31rn34rnTwenty-Eight Days on the Russian Front, WinterrnJ 942-J 943 by Eugenia Corti, writes WaynernAllensworth ••• David M. Jacobs is sober andrnserious, really, in The Threat: The SecretrnAlien Agenda, reports Samuel Francis •rnCORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Rome: Nothing Better to Dornby Andrei NavrozovrnLetter From Alabama: The League Repliesrnby Michael HillrnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnPRINCIPALITIES & POWERSrnAbraham the Unreadyrnby Samuel FrancisrnTHE HUNDREDTH MERIDIANrnWhat Do Environmentalists Want?rnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rn41rn42rnVITAL SIGNSrnPUBLISHING: The Life and Times of the 43rnKing Plagiarism Storyrnby Theodore PappasrnMEDIA: Return of the Alehouse 46rnby Jesse WalkerrnECONOMICS: Wiping Out the Middle Class 47rnby Bob DjurdjevicrnDEPARTMENTSrn4rn5rn39rn49rnREVIEWS ON THE COVERrnThe reader goes to Hell and back in Few Returned: 37 Cover and inside illustrations by Anna Mycek-WodeckirnMAY 1998/3rnrnrn