Books in Brief: The Best of Everything

The Best of Everything, edited by William Davis (St. Martin’s, 218 pp., $9.95). The Best of Everything—subtitled (capitals in the original) “A Guide To Quality For Those Who Know How To Appreciate It” —is a festival of arbitrary judgments, some sensible and some idiotic, all of which make for a most entertaining hour’s reading. William Davis has assembled 21 chapters by 21 “authorities” on an assortment of subjects ranging from animals to politics. Alexander Walker’s chapter on films is sensationally wrong-headed; Anthony Burgess’s selection of 21 “bests” in literature, despite three or four howlers, is the classiest thing in the entire book and belongs in his next collection of essays. Burgess also scores with the single best “best” in The Best of Everything. Max Beerbohm for best humorist. Everyone else does at least a respectable job with the various categories, though a few corrections really ought to be made. To wit: Ross Macdonald as best mystery writer (instead of G. K. Chesterton); La Règle du jeu as best film of the past (instead of Citizen Kane), Peter Grimes as best twentieth century opera (instead of Pelléas et Mélisande); Evelyn Waugh as best author of travel books (instead of James Cameron and Kate Simon); and anyone as best President (instead of Franklin D. Roosevelt). So there, gentlemen. Want to make something of it? terry teachout