Books in Brief

Education and Wisdom, by George N. Shuster (Harper, $3.50). George N. Shuster, the priest who became a “leader in the field of modern education,” inadvertently reveals the secret of his success in this batch of trivial essays and addresses: to become a respected teacher among the educationists, simply refuse to teach. Speaking to educators, he advises them to learn from students; before students, he thanks them for all they have revealed to him. “The Great Books” is a great program because it gets people together and talking — everyone learning and no one teaching, the • followers following the followers. In Dr. Shuster’s own tearful phrase, “The good teacher is a good friend.” His years as college president seem to have perfected his gift for banality and made him forever incapable of understanding the book for which, recently, he wrote a preface—Newman’s Idea of a University. G. WILLS

Grant Moves South, by Bruce Cat- ton (Little, Brown, $6.50). “Grant sat motionless … an untasted cup of coffee in his hand . . . judging by the sound, this was a real fight and not just a skirmish. Grant set his cup down, stood up, and said: ‘Gentlemen, the ball is in motion. Let’s be off.’ ” Recognize the prose? That’s Bruce Catton, back with still another Civil War Book. Another big one (564 pages), too—Mr. Catton never writes a mere skirmish. This time, he gives us the second volume of the three-part life of Grant started by Lloyd Lewis, who died in 1950 just after completing the notable first volume, Captain Sam Grant. Catton was an obvious choice to finish the work. Certainly he knows his subject, and for those who like his half-historian’s, half-popularizer’s style, this is a good book. It is probably Catton at his best. But the elaborate, chummy re-creation of the hero’s personality is not Grant at his best. J. p. mcfadden

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Education and Wisdom, by George N. Shuster (Harper, $3.50). George N. Shuster, the priest who became a “leader in the field of modern education,” inadvertently reveals the secret of his success in this batch of trivial essays and addresses: to become a respected teacher among the educationists, simply refuse to teach. Speaking to educators, he advises them to learn from students; before students, he thanks them for all they have revealed to him. “The Great Books” is a great program because it gets people together and talking — everyone learning and no one teaching, the • followers following the followers. In Dr. Shuster’s own tearful phrase, “The good teacher is a good friend.” His years as college president seem to have perfected his gift for banality and made him forever incapable of understanding the book for which, recently, he wrote a preface—Newman’s Idea of a University. G. WILLS

Grant Moves South, by Bruce Cat- ton (Little, Brown, $6.50). “Grant sat motionless … an untasted cup of coffee in his hand . . . judging by the sound, this was a real fight and not just a skirmish. Grant set his cup down, stood up, and said: ‘Gentlemen, the ball is in motion. Let’s be off.’ ” Recognize the prose? That’s Bruce Catton, back with still another Civil War Book. Another big one (564 pages), too—Mr. Catton never writes a mere skirmish. This time, he gives us the second volume of the three-part life of Grant started by Lloyd Lewis, who died in 1950 just after completing the notable first volume, Captain Sam Grant. Catton was an obvious choice to finish the work. Certainly he knows his subject, and for those who like his half-historian’s, half-popularizer’s style, this is a good book. It is probably Catton at his best. But the elaborate, chummy re-creation of the hero’s personality is not Grant at his best. J. p. mcfadden