ing at home were going mad from beingntoo much in the world.nThe ritual that Edmund invents andnadheres to throughout his life is onenthat centers on devotion to the householdngods, as it were. From the timenthat he is an adolescent, he returns tonNantucket in the summers and watchesnthe ferry unload, trying to pick the mostnperfect family. In his later years, he isndistressed that the families are not likenthose of yesteryear; there are fewernfamilies and more single men andnwomen. Perhaps in the single lonersndisgorged from the ferry he really seesnhimself.nThe solitude of 20th-century man andnthe pain of that solitariness permeatenWorld Without End and Baby. Bothnnovels testify to the anguish of livingnfor oneself alone, or for some inanimatenobject, or for a cause unworthy of one’sndevotion. The great modern refugeescapism—isnitself a prison of illusionnfar more constraining than the bonds ofnmatrimony, family or faith. The titlesnof these two books are metaphoric, butnperhaps not in the way their authorsnintended. Man can either be the baby ornhave the baby. He either condemnsnhimself to an eternal infancy or to atnleast genetic immortality. If man insistsnon being the baby, he lives in a worldnwhich is forever becoming, but nevernis. DnAmong the Visionariesn& Economic Stand-up ComicsnTom Hayden: The American Future:nNew Visions Beyond OldnFrontiers; South End Press; Boston.nRobert Kuttner: Revolt of thenHaves; Simon & Schuster; NewnYork.nby Gavin D. ArbucklenOince the advent of the Dictaphonenthere is no longer any guarantee that anpublished author will be literate. Mr.nHayden brings this sign of the times anfew steps further: he proves that a visionarynneed not be coherent. We somehownknow that truth all too well fromnthe daily press and television, but it isnalways interesting to see it confirmednin a published volume of radicaln”philosophy.”nThe first half of Hayden’s book containsnhis revelations about the naturenof American lite. His views must benseen as revelation, since they are cer-nMr. Arbuckle is an attorney in Ottawa,nOntario, Canada.ntainly not derived from any careful studynof earthly evidence. Not only is the booknalmost totally devoid of solid evidencen(for fairly obvious reasons), but also itncontains virtually no argument or analysis.nHe admiringly discusses the deepnspirituality of the AyatoUah Khomeini,ncated issue lying bleeding in the roadnand crying out for investigation and analysis,nhe invariably passes by on the othernside. Thus he states that Iranian culturenis not inferior to American culture, butnhe shows not the slightest interest in indicatingnwhat standards might be used inncomparing cultural qualities. He assertsnthat corporate power causes inflation butnhas nothing to say about the possible relationshipnbetween rates of change of corporateconcentration,nrates of inflation ornthe effects of macroeconomic policies.nHe calls simultaneously for nationwidenprice controls on fuel and necessities andnfor a reduction in the size and power ofngovernment bureaucracies. He has noninterest in the actual workings of pricecontrolnschemes and makes no attemptnto resolve the inconsistency of hisntwo recommendations.nAll that is enough to lead one to suspectnthat Hayden is not a thinker but whatnJames N. Wood called a corsair of democracy—anprofessional mob-master, a merchantnof delusions, a pumper-up of popularnfears and rages. He forces every contemporaryncondition, from poverty toncancer, from inflation to the flight ofnrefugees from Vietnam, into the servicenof his grim litany on the oppressivenessnof his two obsessions—American cul-n”Tom Hayden’s important new book on the American future … is serious, welldocumentednand … he strikes a creative balance between the pragmatic andnthe ideal.”n— The Nationnsolemnly informs us that the AmericannConstitution is derived from the institutionsnof the Iroquis (sic), and claimsnthat comprehensive price controls willnsolve a multitude of economic problems.nWhen an author seeks to define the tempernof our times and to capture the essencenof a nation’s cultural heritage, itnseems a trifle churlish to demand that hisnevery observation be solidly grounded innfactual evidence. What cannot be forgivennis that Hayden’s revelations arenso uniformly dull and stupid.nHayden is an intellectual Levite. Whennhe chances upon an interesting or compli-nnnture and American business.nJ. he second part of Mr. Hayden’snbook presents his program for “economicndemocracy,” which turns out to be decentralizednsocialism. Here again, characteristically,nHayden appears to be unawareofnany of the complications and difficultiesnhis scheme would involve. Innkeeping with his hostile view of businessnactivity, he recommends what amountsnto a wholesale reallocation of propertynrights from those who produce thingsnto those supposedly suffering the unfortunatenside effects of production. Price,nMarch/^prill98Sn