Bradley beam., 1945-03-17
.1a SPEAKING K SA 0E
 M BOOKS
JoE PRIVATE SAYS i,

Grab your shillelagh, cushlamo-
 chree,
 Begorra, it's NICE at the Base
 Library.
 Begorra, 'tis! And for your read in this week we've chosen the two new Book-of- the Month selections, even though their locales are far distant from the Emerald Isle.
 GLENN WESTCOTT'S LATEST
 "All this happened to a Greek family named Helianos." So, very simply, GlenWay Westcott begins his latest novel, Apartment in Athens" The action of the story, as it's title suggests, takes place in an apartment in Athens during the German occupation of that city. On this household, already dazed by the impact of the Greek defeat and the German domination, is quartered one Captain Ernst Rob ert Kalter. It is the development of Kalter and his subtly calculated influence on the Helianos family that makes this book one of the most dramatic, penetrating studies to come out of the war. It was the
 tyranny of this German on the family rather than the total effect of the war that consummated the Helianos' despair, that made a mar tyr of the husband, hero of the son, and made the widowed mother give her other son over to the un- derground. Kalter's lectures to the poor, bewildered family, explaining himself, and the German people, should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the postwar world. But for us", says Kalter, "1osing a war, a given war, makes no difference. Do you see? It made no difference in 1918. Now suppose we were to lose the present war. What of it? .. It would only strengthen us in the long run !. :. Forever and forever, history will always give us another chance" You will be hearing a lot of this book. It is novel of extraordinary power, delicacy and tragic force!
 NATIVE SON OF THE SOUTH
 Five years ago Richard Wright, a Negro author, wrote "Native Son., moving study of Negro life, hailed by the critics as "an- other American Tragedy, "strong meat", showing Dostoievsky-like insight. Last month MT. Wright again made the headlines with "Black Boy", a moving and terrible story of how Negro boy grew up in the South. But this story is true and as such, more effective and challenging than his novel. It is not easy for us who have had happier childhoods, with less restraint or fear in them, to face the truth of this childhood of Richard Wright. Poor, perennially hungry, aIban- doned by his father, baffled by his family, unable to find refuge in religion, forced to make his way alone in an unkind world, it is a | wonder that he did not end in some wild and futile revolt. But the vio- fence in his soul was sublimated to appear in another form-writing. | It is a dreadful, heartbreaking story of a Negro childhood and youth, the story of an American! As such, it is book to challenge the thinking of a nation.
 Just a year ago in this column we wrote around the theme "Know Where You're Going and When". No, we didn't read palms or tea-leaves, nor did we draw up your horoscope. We were just tell ing you about our complete guide of time tables, bus, train, and plane, and offering to read them; for you so that you could get from Bradley Field to Yiphank Junction in time for a spot of the stew only ] Mother can make. The offer still holds good. So does the offer of a book for the train-ride-mystery, Western. or best-seller. We told