Books in Brief

The Gravediggers, by Phyllis Schlafly and Chester Ward (Pere Marquette Press, 75/). Although this short paperback was prepared for use in the recent election, it is far more than a political squib. The resumes of the programmed ebb of American military force around the world and of the simplistic extremism of McNamara’s strategic planning are the most concise I’ve seen. The point is, of course, that Khrushchev was confident he would “bury” us only because he understood the essentially suicidal significance of the Liberal ideology of the West; and for every theorist who digs ideologies by the shovel, there’s a drone who uses his shovel for drone’s work—in this case, digging his, and our, grave. They, the Liberals, the appeasers, are our gravediggers. Against a shelf of books on the psychological, historical, and political “realities,” it is well to have a volume or two like this one, dealing with the hard facts and remorseless logic of military weaponry. Despite the gratuitous mention of “Bilderbergers” and “New York financial interests,” whose presence adds nothing to an already powerful argument, the book deserves the currency it has gained. At the beginning the authors prophesy that if we make the wrong choice in 1964 “there will be no second chance.” Well, we made the wrong choice, but that doesn’t mean that 26,000,000 of us will stop working for a second chance. Surely it was only a phrase of electoral oratory, and Admiral Ward and Mrs. Schlafly will already have found work for their sharp minds and fighting hearts.

W. F. RICKENBACKER

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The Gravediggers, by Phyllis Schlafly and Chester Ward (Pere Marquette Press, 75/). Although this short paperback was prepared for use in the recent election, it is far more than a political squib. The resumes of the programmed ebb of American military force around the world and of the simplistic extremism of McNamara’s strategic planning are the most concise I’ve seen. The point is, of course, that Khrushchev was confident he would “bury” us only because he understood the essentially suicidal significance of the Liberal ideology of the West; and for every theorist who digs ideologies by the shovel, there’s a drone who uses his shovel for drone’s work—in this case, digging his, and our, grave. They, the Liberals, the appeasers, are our gravediggers. Against a shelf of books on the psychological, historical, and political “realities,” it is well to have a volume or two like this one, dealing with the hard facts and remorseless logic of military weaponry. Despite the gratuitous mention of “Bilderbergers” and “New York financial interests,” whose presence adds nothing to an already powerful argument, the book deserves the currency it has gained. At the beginning the authors prophesy that if we make the wrong choice in 1964 “there will be no second chance.” Well, we made the wrong choice, but that doesn’t mean that 26,000,000 of us will stop working for a second chance. Surely it was only a phrase of electoral oratory, and Admiral Ward and Mrs. Schlafly will already have found work for their sharp minds and fighting hearts.

W. F. RICKENBACKER