Books in Brief

The Stupidity Problem, And Other Harassments, by John Fischer (Harper, $4.95). These are samples collected from the “Easy Chair” feature in Harper’s—many dealing with the award-giving foundations, which intrigue Fischer; some ephemeral and badly out of date, despite revision (he still calls Look a conservative magazine) ; conventionally Liberal when litanizing against McCarthy, Congress, and the magazine you are benighted enough to be holding in your hands; unconventionally liberal when interviewing Khrushchev, popularizing Calhoun, laughing at the vaudeville performance of those “country slickers” who go through the motions of farming to please their Washington audience, asking that Negro leaders lead, and arguing that stupidity cannot be schooled out of people who are—let’s face it—stupid. This last essay, along with Lewis Anthony Dexter’s The Tyranny of Schooling, may by next year do for Stupidity what Michael Harrington did last year for Poverty. Mr. Fischer proves there still are liberals with a small “1,” though it will no doubt disturb him that he was called one here.

G. WILLS

Featured Tags

The Stupidity Problem, And Other Harassments, by John Fischer (Harper, $4.95). These are samples collected from the “Easy Chair” feature in Harper’s—many dealing with the award-giving foundations, which intrigue Fischer; some ephemeral and badly out of date, despite revision (he still calls Look a conservative magazine) ; conventionally Liberal when litanizing against McCarthy, Congress, and the magazine you are benighted enough to be holding in your hands; unconventionally liberal when interviewing Khrushchev, popularizing Calhoun, laughing at the vaudeville performance of those “country slickers” who go through the motions of farming to please their Washington audience, asking that Negro leaders lead, and arguing that stupidity cannot be schooled out of people who are—let’s face it—stupid. This last essay, along with Lewis Anthony Dexter’s The Tyranny of Schooling, may by next year do for Stupidity what Michael Harrington did last year for Poverty. Mr. Fischer proves there still are liberals with a small “1,” though it will no doubt disturb him that he was called one here.

G. WILLS