Evening star., 1947-12-07

ment of his impressive autobiog-
raphy, covering his experience as
President Roosevelt's Ambassador
to Mexico.
Americans in Our
Political History
Among the years other important
biographies of Americans who have
figured largely in our political his
tory, special note ought to be taken
Of Toms Town." William M. Red
ding's exeellently written and well
balanced story of the rise and fall
of Tom Pendergast, the late Demo-
cratic boss of Kansas City. Also
worth particular mention are "Hor-
ace Greeley and the Republican
Party" by Peter A. Isely, and evil
liam Allen Whites America" by
Walter johnson, another study of
the sage of Emporia, and a good
one. Worth mentioning, too, is
You're the Boss" Edward j. Flynn's
own account of his life as a key
Democratic politician-an autobiog-
raphy Offering an interesting de-
tense of the vote-getting machine
as an instrument of our free way
of life.
Needless to say, the year has also
brought forth its crop of military
and naval biographies-a crop that
will grow progressively larger. Leav-
ing aside limited battle memoirs
that do not attempt to tell the full
life story, the more interesting of
these include Marshall, Citizen Sol
dier," by William Frye-the portrait
to date of our wartime Chief of
Staff and our current Secretary of
State; Montgomery" by Alan
Moorehead-a friendly and knowing
study of the controversial British
field marshal: and Born to Fight"
by Ralph Jordan "a somewhat
breathless but factually informative
account of Admiral Hasey. There
Is also the admirals own Admiral
Halsey's Story" written in collab-
grafton with j. Bryan III.
Good Examples
At Random
Finally, to draw up concluding
list Of good examples picked at ran
dom, even Carlyle probably would
be reasonably we'll pleased with the
following: For the Defense" by
Lloyd Paul Stryker-despite being
marred occasionally by superheated
prose, forceful and timely biogra-
ply OF Thomas Erskine, defender of
freedom In the Witch-hunt days of
Georges III and w; The Life of
Neville Chamberlain, by Keith Fei-
hng-an effective and sympathetic
picture of British statesman who
does not deserve all the contumely
that has been heaped upon him;
Picture Maker of the Old West"
by Clarence S. Jackson-about the
authors father, William H. Jackson,
one Of our great pioneer camera
men, with superb samples of his
American Memoir"
by Henry Seidel Canby-a wholly
enjoyable book in which the we'll
known literary man writes grace
fully and nostalgically about him
self, his friends and a pleasant
past; "Juarez and His Mexico" by
Ralph Roeder-an exceptionally fine
of the great revolutionary
reformer and his tumultuous epoch;
and "The James Family" by F.. O.
Matthiessen-a penetrating, distin-
guished and monumental study re-
chiefly around William, the
pragmatic philosopher who wrote
like novelist; Henry, the novelist
who wrote like philosopher; and
their equally remarkable father.
A roundup review of this sort
must naturally be sketchy. In a
sense, too, 1t can hardly escape be-
ing somewhat unfair. Only a small
portion of the years biographical
titles have been mentioned, and
better ones than some of those
listed probably have been overlooked
IN the process. But such discrimi-
nation, If any, has not been IN
tended. The only intention here
mas been to point out that the
American public, If it looks over
The 1947 crop and shops around, can
Ind more than a few well-written
and interesting lives, whether we'll
mt or not. TT ...., 4,
= .i,r