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Show ' WW IF: EsstMiflC of the epoch War art basis for Janies Jones text WW II, by James Jones; Grosset Dunldp, Inc., 272 pp., iiius., tuiui' plates, $25. In the beginning, WW II was the idea of Art Weithal, who has been art director of Y ar.k magazine. He thought there was a book in the collections of art with World War II subjects. Many of the works were in Washington, commissioned by one of the armed services and stored there, not yet published. There was a b.g Life magazine collection There were captured collections of German and Japanese pictures It all amounted to a potential highly graphic depiction of the epoch, as Jones paraphrases Weithas idea. Author ot . To t.temity And Weithas had the further idea that Jones, autnor of From Here to Eternity, should write the text for the book he proposed In his foreward, Jones reports he was told he could write anything I wanted to write, say anything I wanted to say - The idea could have produced only a coffee tahje hook that few would read and no one would remember. Yet the publishers boast that WW II may ilfuve to be the single volume that most reveals the essence of that war is surprisingly well justified Many readers with nothing to sell will agree that Weithas and Jones have produced a superlative book, which for them most reveals the essence of that war. And though the many pictures, some folding out to an impressive 32 inches wide, are indeed highly graphic," it is Jones text that primarily makes this book the sear in triumph it is & TI is not a book exposing the one as an antiwar hook m intent, though for many it will be that ir effect Jones tnes not to make debating points but to tell people WW anny It does not impress An Eloquent Record . A Tough Assignment Jones had a tough assignment. not there, for whatever reason, what u was like to be there. In reviewing what began as a book of pictures, something should be said about the illustrations. There are scores of them, many m color, and they have been selected with an honesty and candor comparable to those with which Jones writes. Jones saw them before he wrote, and at times in the book he writes about hem. Both Jones and Weithas, who chose them, prefer the artists who communicated the truth and give them most cf the space. The text and the illustrations reinforce each other, where the tent is not about the pictures as well as where it is. who were "WW II will be different things to different persons For veterans who were evolved soldiers, it will evoke meimmes both bitter and profoundly satisfying. Some may say to their wives and children, At last 1 have a way to Career lot you know hew it was military men can rejoice in it as an ehguent record of the characteristics and functions of fighting men in this century. Pacifists earn take it as confirmation of some of their reascni for rejecting perticinatin in war WW II as Anyore can salute providing vivid vicarious experience, a extension into new territory of whatever one knew before, not only about wir but about human Alfred C. Ames, Chicago nature Tribune. James Jones Horrors Catch of Combat Describes Two Deaths James Jones has written WW II witn passion, projected in accounts of actions he never saw no less than of actions in which he participated. He gives his comprehensive account impact by telling m detail about the deaths lii action that in hindsight he found most memorable. Wnen he writes of Iwo little Jima that the inland cost the United States 2'i.OOO casualties, of whom 6,821 were dead, the reader can shaie with Jones in connecting those two most memorable combat deaths with the figure 6,821. The pace and passion of the writing (So not sag between the parts wTitten m the first person. Here is history written fcv a creative writer, able to deliver whether the subject is himself, someone he knew, or some battle on the other side of the world from hint. Hello, Wiliy, Joe Of course, WW II reproduces Bill .Mauldin's cartoon, from the Italian campaign, captioned Youli get over it. Joe. Once I wus gonna write a book exposin the army after the war myself. McAulay prose agile, tough Catch Rides, by Sara McAulay, Alfred Co., Inc., 256 pp. $7.95. v. . i r inline uui uuu avio a uic Muuut a of or without kind, design plan any any identifiable hopes, without even any fantasies about her future. The idea of having expectations of any sort seems to her as incongruous as, say, wearing white gloves or a hat with a veil. She laughs at the idea of starting at the beginning and ending at the end. She says, "Stop moving and how do you know you arent dead? You shouldnt close doors, she believes, that you havent yet tried to ODen Annie makes a living riding in small town horse shows. She almost made the Olympic riding team when she was a teen-age- r but was dropped because she wouldnt go gung-ho- . Prejudices Yes, I now the type, some of you will be saying yet Annie is not a type. She is so reasonable that she makes you your porejudices about some of her feelings She is attractive, affectionate sesy, iiunical, thoughtful, nature loving, loyal all sorts of good things. And she rides to win; she likes to do things well. Sara McAulay seems to know all about Aiii.ic a world. Annie reminds me a lot of rebels under 25 that I have met, only she is not really a rebel. She doesn't preach, doesnt want to change the world, hurls no accusations. She is simply separated from the conventions by what amounts to a reflex. At one point in "Catcn Rides, we see her trying to wnte a letter to her mother; she loves her mother, is grateful to her for many things, doesn't despite her way of life, wants very much to make her feel good with this letter Chronicles ot Surface Doings But the letter simply will not bridge the gap between them. It becomes an essay on a subject that might conceivably interest her mother, a chronicle of the surface doings m her life, a parody of herself. She can't find a vehicle for her love. same way with Annies men. sleeps with Bill Fntchie because ho It is the She is so graceful on a horse, because they have interests in common, because he appreciates her for what she is, because he larelv asks for anything she cannot give. She loves him, m a way, because he is of her woild, because he is there for her as most people are not. But here. too. there is no vehicle She loves Terry in much the same way she might love a horse. He is not a stud, hut a painfully sincere animal, beautiful, to use her word, in his simplicity. Her more complex feelings are a fence she is trying to teach him to jump. Not for any other reason than the sheer pleasure of it. Sits Easily in Saddle Annie lives in the present, the here and now, more than any other character I can easily call to mind. Although we haven't got a single thing in common, in the sense of developed interest, I'm sure Id like henf I knew her. She is one of those people who transcend their cicumMances. I fed that, the way the world is tending, it may come up with a role or a place for her - or accept what she is doing as a new convention In Catch Rides, Sara McAulay sits easily in the saddle. She is not there are some overly pei fed sentimental moments and her caricatures can get heavy but her prose is generally as agile and tough as a An.iuie Bio) aid. New mustang. York Times. Host Sollors New Yor Times Service Best seller list besed on report fwn more in HO communett tten 250 books mrouoriout fbe Untied Slates Weeks are not necesse tlv consecutive FICTION Last Weeks This Week RMtirm, Dorfo'Ow Lootttne For Mr Good bar, Roswter 3 The Money cnaneers. Hatiev 4 StKMun, Ctaveil 6 The Great Train Robbery Crichton 6 The Eaie Has Landed. MacDonald 7 Crcus Maclean Mtcrwww ? Centennial GENERAL Sylvia Porter's Book Porter Money 2 TM, B'OOmhfid 3 Breach el Fa th. I On L.cf 8 2 Wh To Total Fitness. Morehote and Gross Without Feathers, Alien 4 Winnins Through Intimidation, fttnqer 7 The Save Your Lite Diet. Reuben 8 How hi Good Guvs Finally Won, Besnn 4 5 (COPVTtqht) n. Hammett. Joe Gores; G. P. Putnam and Sons, Inc., $7.95. Literature imitates life, but literature also imitates literature Last year I attended a dinner in San Frdnciseo, where the chap across the table told me that his friend Joe Gores was writing a detective novel about Dashiell Hammett, the great detective novelist of the 30s. The idea seemed like a lot of fun, but I wondered whether the book would turn out to be much more than a g'mmick. Not a Gag, ho( Parody As it turns out Hammett is not a gag, not a parody. It is a serious and successful novel ore of the most interesting novelc of this year. Hammett is a good writers act of tribute to his master. Gores, the author of four successful mystery novels and winner of two Edgars, the genres 26 10 its value is not restricted to mystery buffs, they will embrace it as a useful addition to Hammett scholarship. detective-turned-writ- He is reluctantly deflected from his writing by a case involving municipal corruption and dead Oriental women. An old Pinkerton friend is murdered, and Hammett feels compelled to do something about it. The plot is straight Continental Op, featuring an unbelievably evil criminal and abundant violence. What saves Hammett" from degenerating into an imitation hard-boile- d novel is the fact that the style comes naturally to Gores, who knows how to write all by himself. 11 16 cAcr I;i- I llie Gate' Thayne novel satisfying "Never Past the (ale,'' by Emma Lou Thayne; Peregrine Smith, Inc., 220 pp.. $7.93. Once in a while a book cone-along that suupiv ignores artificial boundaries, and then you know you've really gut something on your hands. Emma Lou Tliavno s novel Never Past the Gate, leaps all sorts of hurdles without even noticing them. Its a story about which should automatichildren but it reaches out cally type it beyond the limitations of its genre Regional Fiction In another sense, it is regional a nostalgic and meticulous fiction summoi up rendering of a long-paa canyon outside Salt Lake City. Cut Mrs. lliayne has su.neiiuw escaped bevond the insulation of h r chosen setting and its sheltered way of life and written a book that is a study i human decency, transcending either tune or place V Host of Others Never Past the Gate is the story of a kid sister's 10th summer. She spends it surrounded, first of all and most directly, by her brothers, lmt also by a host of others parents, a unties, aunts, and grandmother, cousins. Every moment of it is magic. It comes ihiough shilling clear as omy a 10th summer can It means a Rood hit bee au.se, after s iipxt c.!i, vear Katie will be 11 But besides hat. this is the summer when she and her biotht rs discover that it will always lie necessary to gopast the no matter how gale, to descend from the protection of reluctantly the mountain cabin to the valley floor below The hook is not an escape into minx cnee, it is an attempt to square fundamental val lies with reality Poet's Feelings But none of tins is overt The story itself is what apparently occupies the authors mind and what cannot help but grip the readers Mrs Thayne vwitos with a jMiet's feeling for the sparse ly stated detail but a novelists awareness of theongomg-nes- s of things. A NeriousNovel it r kids are magnificent Tii-cope as kids that age are wont to 1 cope, encountering and creating problems that no adult c an possibly envisage Mrs Thayne handles them with joyous admiration at tin ir skill in finagling and a bracing lack of sentimentality even in the presence of their softer moments They or if they're not, they are for real are what all of us would like to think we once were In short the public ation of Never Past the Gate is an occasion A person had almost fora it n th it a serious m. v el tould I'c read for sheer, u n c o r.i o t i c a t e d pleasure Barbara licuLay. account. idea expressed in the last arrinr of the Plain Vt Indian lifestyles is to reconstruct His chief imaginatively the character of Dashieii Hammett at that point in his career. In trom his wife and 1928, separated children, Hammett had his drinking under control and was writing hard. Hammett" portrays him as exemplifying his own heroes code of honor: the man who cant be bought or frightened. Another admirable aspect of the novel is the carefully researched social a former private history. Gores knows San Francisco, and detective he has found out what he didnt already know m order to present a convincing reconstruction of the city in 1928. It is to be hoped that Joe Gores will return to his Ham melt figure and write about his later career in Hoilywood. This hope is not intended to suggest that Gores powers are limited, but lather as a compliment on his achievement in IIis method of "Hammett. is worth developing. para-buigrap- A happy by product of Hammett is that it will bring new readers to Dashiell Hammetts wrork, which is a highly satisfactory consummation 1800-186- 0 were human beings The and not just objects to be studied dispassionately." A full study into the schedule of topics Taylor outlined for himself would have produced a shelf of books; consequently the scope of this work is necessarily limited. In fact, the major flaw in The Warriors of the Plains rests in its crowded format. It's just too busy. But Taj lor covers the Indian wars and uses much of the available published writing to tell of the splendor of the Crow, the fierceness of Blackfoot and Sioux, the dignity of the Cheyenne, the religious fervor of the Mandan." and the lives cf Mato tape, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, Tall Bull, American Horse, Dull Knife, and Sitting Bull. Dislikes Custer The Warriors of the Plains, by warriors C'olin Taylor; Arco Publishing Co., 135 People illustrations, color plates, black and white; maps, bibliography, index, 144 PP-- , $15. Ten years ago, Colin Taj lor undertook research on various asDects of North American Plains Indian culture and warfare on an assignment for film maker Peter Watson, and came aw ay with the notion to write a book on the ethos of plains warriors. The Warriors of the Plains is the culmination of that challenge. Warriors Are Human Taylor makes it clear at the outset that his position is one of empatny with the Indians. Edward R. Black-mora fnend of 25 years standing and long-tim- e lecturer on plains tribes, always kept me a varc that the e, Code of Honor 7 4 Layering Leathers In the course of his work, Smith has developed new processes and material. One consists of fixing thin layers of leather one on another, and so shaving the underside of the bo tom layer that the one on top, the onlay, seems to become one w ith the piece on which it has been placed. He has also mixed bits and pieces of leather, dipped the ball into an adhesive, formed the mass into a block and then sliced pieces off the block to obtain leather strips with various colorings, sometimes with a feathered edge. Smith has gone one step further. He has taken a number of books and designed the bindings for them in such a way that each book is complete in itself and yet when put together with the others makes a large "canvas that can be viewed from the front and the back. He calls such an arrangement a work. Book publishers and the public, he said, va.it only what they know, something out of the 18th century. But if you want to work m bookbinding, it seems senseless to keep the content of the book out of Although Matthew J. Bruccoli, Chicago Daily News - international prominence. But Phillip Smith, a Briton, has achieved such excellence m the field and brought so many new ideas to it that his books have been exhibited both here and abroad and have become part of inprivate and public collections, cluding those of the British Museum, the Victoria and Albeit Museum and the New York Public Library. Member Restoration Team One of his books wa. a s aiut-- a gold medal at the Sao Paulo Bienale in 1972. He was chosen honorary secretary of the Society of Designer Bookbinders in Britain, and he was a member of the British team that helped in the restoration of hurt books after the damaging flood in Florence in 12SC. Edgar Mansfield, a sculptor, and himself a noted bookbinder, rails him one of the most original minds m the craft. Smith has now published a book that incorporates his ideals, New Directions m Bookbinding (Van Nostrand Reinhold), and he is visiting this country for the first time, giving lectures and promoting his book. On a recent morning he took time out to talk a little of his Academy Awards, had succeeded against the odds in writing an insiders hook that merits wide readership. Set in San Francisco in 1928, at the lime Samuel Dashiell Hammett was revising his first novel, "Red Harvest," and working on "The Dam Curse and The Maltese Falcon, the novel shows the at the beginning of his most productive period. sentence has led to what amounts to a new concept m bookbinding, one in which the binding ceases to be a decorative carapace for the printed text and becomes instead an exof the book pression of the idea rendered as a work of art. The binding is a canvas, the front, buck and spine an integrated unit. Visible Watch Movements Smiths approach has resulted in unusual detais in his bindings. The The Swiss Watch cover for contains visible watch movements embedded in it. The binding for an .Alice with illustrations hy Salvador Dali uses work by Tenniel. inseparably connected with the Lewis Carroll classic. The binder, Smith says, is a combination of artist, designer and craftsman. By Thomas Lask New York Times Writer The guild of bookbinders is so small and special that it is r.ot often that a member breaks out into Ride' His lific, serious novel mind-bendin- g earlier successes as a war novelist, wTjting abour particular indn iduals in particular circumstances, provided no guarantee that he would succeed in chronicling an overview of American participation in World War II. WW II 4 limited essentially to one nation's experience, but it embraces the African and European theaters and fighting on land, sea, and air far more than any novelist or historian could have observed personally. However wide a mans experience, however vivid his memories, this book had to be in large part written from secondary sources. Experience and Memories . Jones is a man of experience and memories, and of course he used them His book is a narrative, in chronological order. He could begin in the first person, for as a youth of 20 he was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. 1941. He was so close to the attack that he saw a topically toothy grin on the face of a Japanese pilot, and saw him w ave. ,Even then, Jones was a reflective person. "I remember thinking with a sense of profoundest awe that none of Qur lives would ever be the same. I wondered how many of ns would survive to see the end results. I wondered it I would. HammelTnetsC. , Binder s arl finds expression high marks as in extension of book content Taylor makes plain his dislike for George A. Custer, as a military man and an individual, but the Britrms use of quoted sources makes it less than clear whether he is mirroring the conclusions of other historians or if the opinions are his own. Alcohol theme in Yates yarn Disturbing the Peace, by Richard Yates; Sejmour Lawrence-Delacort$7.95. Not since Ray Milland clawed and scratched his way through The Lost Weekend has alcoholism been as frighteningly portrayed as in Disturbing the Peace. John Wilder has all the trappings of success a good job, fine family and u home in the suburbs. But even w hen we first meet him he is on the road. A vague unhappiness with his wife and three martini lunches have begun the pattern. The course that follows is relentless and terrifying, leading to the psycho ward at New Yorks Bellevue Hospital. Richard Yates pulls no punches. His prose is full of force and impact. His characters are eaught by a disease from which there is no escape Rick Kogan, Chicago Sun-Time- s. Since Tay lor has elected not to isolate these sources from the main body of the text, it is difficult to keep the narrative free and distinct. For the sake of smooth reading it might have been better to have sorted out the notes typographically. Little New Information As a popular collection of Indian lore The Warriors of the Plains w ill find a comfortable sale in the growing body of literature on the American Indian epic. But there is little new information here, and the dedicated buff will find any number of comprehensive volumes on Indian lifestyles, plains warfare and the warrior societies by consulting published authorities like John C. Ewers and George Bird Grmnell to name just two. Still, Colin Taylor has produced a work of interest and a collection of photographs consistent with his research Harold Schindler. |
