THE RIGHT BOOKS

The title of Smashing Liberal Icons: A Collection of Debates (The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002; $6), by Ernest van den Haag, is somewhat misleading, insofar as only two of the Great Debater’s opponents can be described—on the basis at least of their appearances in these fora between the beginning of 1981 and the end of 1983—as card-carrying liberals, while two others—George Gilder and Jeffrey Hart—are unapologetic, though not necessarily predictable, conservatives. (In the line of duty Jeffrey Hart has been called many things but never, to my knowledge, a Liberal Icon.) Nevertheless the logic behind the selections is obvious, the virtuosity of the featured artist taking precedence over the vehicle itself as well as over the performances of the supporting artists, some of them major talents in their own right. The result resembles a Maria Callas album made up of cuts taken from previous recordings of demanding but often second-rate works in which singers of equal note are temporarily and ritually assigned the status of mere back-ups.

Although the van den Haag temperament is nearly as notorious as the Callas one, it is scarcely at all—if ever—in evidence in the present set of exchanges, which are remarkable for a cool, even ingratiating, demeanor unnerving only in its incontrovertible lucidity. What we get from this collection (published by Heritage in commemoration of Professor van den Haag’s recent seventieth birthday) is a portrait of a mind in action, as well as glimpses into the habits of being that sustain it. The intellectual excitement generated by these forays into a variety of loosely related topics will come as a surprise only to the previously uninitiated.

CW

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Chilton Williamson Jr.

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The title of Smashing Liberal Icons: A Collection of Debates (The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002; $6), by Ernest van den Haag, is somewhat misleading, insofar as only two of the Great Debater’s opponents can be described—on the basis at least of their appearances in these fora between the beginning of 1981 and the end of 1983—as card-carrying liberals, while two others—George Gilder and Jeffrey Hart—are unapologetic, though not necessarily predictable, conservatives. (In the line of duty Jeffrey Hart has been called many things but never, to my knowledge, a Liberal Icon.) Nevertheless the logic behind the selections is obvious, the virtuosity of the featured artist taking precedence over the vehicle itself as well as over the performances of the supporting artists, some of them major talents in their own right. The result resembles a Maria Callas album made up of cuts taken from previous recordings of demanding but often second-rate works in which singers of equal note are temporarily and ritually assigned the status of mere back-ups.

Although the van den Haag temperament is nearly as notorious as the Callas one, it is scarcely at all—if ever—in evidence in the present set of exchanges, which are remarkable for a cool, even ingratiating, demeanor unnerving only in its incontrovertible lucidity. What we get from this collection (published by Heritage in commemoration of Professor van den Haag’s recent seventieth birthday) is a portrait of a mind in action, as well as glimpses into the habits of being that sustain it. The intellectual excitement generated by these forays into a variety of loosely related topics will come as a surprise only to the previously uninitiated.