And everyone had Reader’snDigest Condensed Books andnread them and the women hadncoffee klatches late in thenmorning and there was a roundnof swirl of Entenmann’s coffeencake and they would leave deepnred lipstick marks on the coffeencups and they wore pedalnpushers and bounced babies onntheir freckled knees andngossiped about . . . what?nThose red lipstick marks and thosenfreckled knees perfectly expressnNoonan’s loathing, adding just the extrantouch to the other details of her ownn. . . superiority.nThe amount of loathing in this booknis extraordinary, perhaps even pathological,nand it is always expressed innterms of taste or aesthetics: “Wherevernthe president was his top staff was.nThey’d sit there in a row in his officenlike frogs on a log.” And here isnNoonan’s (quite clever) mockery ofnher White House colleagues, expressednin a parody of their lingo:nYou had a notion instead of anthought and a dustup instead ofna fight, you had a can-donattitude and you were in touchnwith the Zeitgeist [sic]. No onenhad intentions they had annagenda and no one was wrongnthey were fundamentally wrongnand you didn’t work onnsomething you broke your picknon it and it wasn’t an agreementnit was a done deal.nThat is pretty fiinny, and recognizable,nbut not exactly dripping with charitynand fellowship. It is in the mode ofnFlaubert’s Bouvard and Pecuchet, ifnone wishes to compare the great withnthe microscopic.nThe comparison with Flaubert remindsnme of another peculiar qualitynof Noonan’s book, with its range ofnreference to movie and TV figures.nShe has read Hemingway and evennthinks Thomas Wolfe was a good writer,nbut she much more comfortablynrefers for illustration and comparisonnto pop-cult figures who are at bestnmarginal to the adult consciousness. Asnshe herself puts it, “No one has livednfor and been immersed in the ephemeranof the entertainment era like myngeneration.” Speak for yourself, Peggy.nReading her prose is like taking Eliot’snWaste Land, subtracting the allusionsnto Dante and Shakespeare and the rest,nand substituting references to JohnnynCarson and Robert Redford. The readernexperiences a sort of cultural decompression.nIt must also be said that What I Sawnat the Revolution is the mostnnarcissistic item to come along sincenMilton’s Eve gazed at her kisser in thenreflecting water and decided that shenwas beautiful. The repetition of thenpronoun “I” sounds at first like hailstonesnon a tin roof and finally, fromnrelentless repetition, like machine-gunnbullets hitting a wall. The shift from icento hot lead occurred to this reader asnearly as page six:nI was so swept away that whennmy fifth-grade teacher. MissnScott, told my mother I didn’tnDay Care: ChildnPsychology &nAdult Economicsn166 pp.n$9.95 Paperbackn$15.95 HardcovernFinally a book that makesnsense out of the current debatenover day care. The psychologicalnrisks and the economic implicationsnreceive thoughtfulnscrutiny from leading analysts,nincluding Jay Belsky, JacknWestman, Peter Barglow, andnRobert Rector Essential readingnfor anyone interested innchild care.ndo my homework, I explained,nseriously, that I was too busynwith the [Kennedy] campaign.nThis degree of self-regard is always onnthe threshold of taking offense:nA few weeks later I was walkingnthrough the East Wing when Insaw the first lady and hernentourage coming my way. I’dnnever met her and didn’t knownif I was supposed to look at hernand make eye contact and saynhello or leave her to her privacy,nof which she had not had muchnthese many years. I decided tonlook to see if I could seenanything interesting in her eyes.nShe looked at me in a way thatnseemed to have no meaning.nThen she looked down at whatnI was wearing which was,nunfortunately, a wrinkled khakinThe Family Wage:nWork, Gender, andnChildren in thenModem Economyn138 pp.n$11.50 PaperbacknA fascinating collection of essaysnthat will help Americansnbetter understand the currentneconomic challenges to familynlife.n”A groundbreaking and timely investigationnof an economic concept oncencentral to American social thought Fornanyone who has wondered why the familynis now under such financial pressure,nthis book will answer a host of questions.”n—Robert NisbetnPublished by The Rockford Institute Center on the Family in Americanas part of The Family Research Series.nFor your copy please fill out order form and returnn(Please add $2.50 each for postage & handling)nName_nD YES, please send mencopy(ies) of The Family Wage: Work,nGender, and Children in the ModemnEconomy at the low price of $11.50nD YES, please send mencopy(ies) of Day Care: Child Psychologyn& Adult Economics. .nD $15.95 Hardcover D $9.95 Paperbackn(Please check reference)nAddress,nCity_nnnState. -Zip.nComplete form and mail check or money order to;nThe Rockford Instituten934 North Main St.nRockford, IL 61103nJUNE 1990/31n