Books in Brief

The Reader’s Encyclopedia of American Literature, by Max J. Herzberg (Crowell, $12.95). The new Encyclopedia of American Literature is fascinating in two respects: for what’s not in it, and for its careful adherence to political liberalism. For obvious reasons one is bound to the other. You can find all the “good guys” like Stevenson, Adlai E(wing); Bunche, Ralph J (ohnson) ; Mills, C(harles) Wright; Schlesinger, Arthur M(eier) in the R.E.A.L., and of course there’s Kennedy, John F(itzgerald). Nixon? Who’s he? And James Burnham presumably has never written a single book. But conservatives are not dismissed entirely from the bulky volume. William Buckley is listed under McCarthyism. Book titles? Thousands! Everything from Mamba’s Daughters to Crisis of the Old Order, but you can’t find The Conscience of a Conservative. If, however, you’ve forgotten that “K-K-K-Katy” was a song popular in World War I you can look it up here. Perhaps one should be grateful for the sheer number of references. Where else could you find such complete information on Robert Hare, inventor of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe?

J. BOLAND

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The Reader’s Encyclopedia of American Literature, by Max J. Herzberg (Crowell, $12.95). The new Encyclopedia of American Literature is fascinating in two respects: for what’s not in it, and for its careful adherence to political liberalism. For obvious reasons one is bound to the other. You can find all the “good guys” like Stevenson, Adlai E(wing); Bunche, Ralph J (ohnson) ; Mills, C(harles) Wright; Schlesinger, Arthur M(eier) in the R.E.A.L., and of course there’s Kennedy, John F(itzgerald). Nixon? Who’s he? And James Burnham presumably has never written a single book. But conservatives are not dismissed entirely from the bulky volume. William Buckley is listed under McCarthyism. Book titles? Thousands! Everything from Mamba’s Daughters to Crisis of the Old Order, but you can’t find The Conscience of a Conservative. If, however, you’ve forgotten that “K-K-K-Katy” was a song popular in World War I you can look it up here. Perhaps one should be grateful for the sheer number of references. Where else could you find such complete information on Robert Hare, inventor of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe?

J. BOLAND