in the Spanish Civil War against thernCathohc nationalist side.) Moreoer,rnmuch of w hat Jenkins describes as the interwarrnultra-right in Pcnnsvlvania wasrnnot specifically rightist: e.g., Italianrnparish and civic organizations that expressedrnsolidaritv with the Italian nationalrnrevolution (a stance also taken in thern2()’s and early ?0’s by non-Italians and b’rnsome socialists, most notably at the NewrnRepublic). It is likewise hard to find deeprnideological significance in the fact thatrnat least some Pennsylvanians of Germanrndescent, who had their ancestral culturernand libraries destroyed before and duringrnMr. Wilson’s v’ar, initially showed ignorantrnsympathy for Hitler’s Germany.rnTheir sentiment did not sur’ive the war,rnnor can I discern the slightest trace ofrnGerman national consciousness in thernonce predominantly German region ofrnthe state where I live. Professor Jenkinsrnhas produced a readable and well-researchedrnmonograph, but one with questionablernconclusions that are certainlyrnless solid than the research and prose.rnPaul Gottfried is a professor ofrnhumanities at Elizahctlitown Collegernin Pennsylvania.rnEternity Gainedrnby Allan CarlsonrnA World Lostrnby Wendell BerryrnWashington, D.C.: Counterpoint;rn151 pp., $20.00rnIn his new no’el Wendell Berry returnsrnto the time and the characters foundrnin his earlier and more complex work, ArnPlace on Earth. The atmosphere is familiar:rna community subtly unsettled byrnthe distant events of Wodd \4ir II; familiesrnstill rooted in place through bondsrnto the land and to each other; homes stillrnfunctioning as small economies, completernwith cellars, smokehouses, henhouses,rnand gardens; and a continuity ofrnvision that reaches back before the CivilrnWar. As young Andy Catlett, Mr. Berry’srnsemiautobiographieal protagonist, describesrnit: “I saw how beautiful the fieldrnwas, how beautiful our work was. And itrncame to me all in a feeling how everythingrnfitted together, the place and ourselvesrnand the animals and the tools, andrnhow the sky held us.”rnThe ostensible focus of this short w orkrnis on the strange circumstances surroundingrnthe murder of the boy’s UnclernAndrew. At first, the book appears to bernbut an extended character study of thisrnfigure. Yet Mr. Berr- carefully developsrntwo other themes, both encompassed byrnthe novel’s title.rnThe first concerns the passing of anrnage, as a distinctive rural culture is quietlyrnburied by social and economic forcesrnaccelerated during Wodd War II. Intornthe 1940’s, Mr. Berry notes, the “life ofrnour fields still depended on the bodilyrnstrength and skill of people and horsesrnand mules,” and farming people carriedrnon their lives through the force of customrnbecause “they had never thought ofrnbeing anything else.” Yet in the periodrnbetween the deaths of his paternal unclernand of his grandfather—roughly 1944rnand 1945—the protagonist sees “a timernof ending, not just of lies but of a kindrnof life and a kind of world.”rnBut the more insistent message of ArnWorld Lost is the end of childhood andrnadolescence, and the narrator’s passagernto adult responsibility. Mr. Berry contrastsrnthe characters of Uncle Andrewrnand the boy’s father, Henry Catlett. Thernformer was “a man of extraordinary goodrnlooks,” of “style,” who “spoke at times arnkind of poetry of vulgarity.” A talker andrna charmer, with a vaguely sexual aura.rnUncle Andrew was harmlessly flirtatious,rnthe friend of every cafe waitress in town.rnA failure in business and a failure in marriage.rnUncle Andrew vet “seemed to bernall cnerg, intolerant of restraint, unpredictable.”rnAt once reckless and calm,rn”the idea of consequence was always anrnafterthought” to him. For voung Andy,rnwho followed him about in his daily wanderings,rn”Uncle Andrew was right at therncenter of the idea I had formed of myself.rn. . . I had wanted to be like him.”rnFor his part, Henr, the father, wasrn”purposeful and tireless, sober and passionate,rnin love with his famih’ and work,rntrue to his obligations.” His excitementrnfor farming and his affection for farmrnpeople led him into “a lifelong effort tornpreserve the economy of the smallrnfarms.” Through his labors as a countryrnlavwer and his deep sense of duty to kin,rnhe held a troubled community together.rnTempted to direct reengc on the day ofrnhis brother’s murder, Henry was restrainedrnby his wife. As Mr. Berry writes:rn”I can see how near he came to turningrnloose all that he held together, and how,rnin holding it together, with my mother’srnhelp, he preserved the possibilit^ of ourrnlife here; he quieted himself, Ined,rnstayed on, bore v’hat he had to bear.”rnAnd so, A World Lost becomes inrnessence an able retelling of an eternalrntale: of childish ways cast off, of a boy’srnpassage to adulthood, and of a youngrnman’s reconciliation with his father byrncoming to understand the meaning ofrnfilial obligation. Shaken by a brutal actrnfrom the influence of Uncle Andrew,rnyoung Andy “came at last under the influencernof my father, as perhaps I wasrndestined to do.”rnTranscending his prophetic vision of arnrural culture passing away, Berry closesrnthe novel with another vision, startlingrnand powerful, of loe, redemption, andrnreunion. “I imagine,” he writes, “therndead waking, dazed, into a shadowlessrnlight in which they know themselves altogetherrnfor the first time. It is a lightrnthat is merciless until thev can accept itsrnmercy; by it they are at once condemnedrnand redeemed. . . . In it they are lovedrncompletely, c en as they have been, andrnso are changed into what they could notrnhave been but what, if they could havernimagined it, the’ would have wished tornbe. That light can come into this worldrnonly as love, and loe can enter only byrnsuffering.” In this openlv Christian affirmation,rnMr. Berry finds hope in traged’,rnrenewal in death. A World Lost becomesrnan eternity gained, where the authorrnplaces his “true home” among “thatrncompany of immortals with whom I havernlived here da by day.”rnAllan Carlson is president ofrnThe Rockford Institute and the publisherrnof Chronicles.rn38/CHRONICLESrnrnrn