Evening star., 1950-12-10

year for nom fiction. It was a year
that gave us notable books of
biography. history. the contemporary
scene, "reminiscences. Fiction Jagged few
PAGES to the rear.
Perhaps both writer's and readers, living
in such fateful times are finding the
factual more fascinating than romance.
But the excellence and significance of
leading non-ficti books helped push
them to the front.
Paradoxically, the most talked about
and fought-over, perhaps the widest read.
book of 1850 was novel-Ernest Heming-
ways Across the River and Into the
Trees" More of it directly.
There were solid contributions to the
thought of the day as writer's explored the
battling state of the world. There were
new interpretations of history and Of men
who had a part in making it. 1t was not
that the year failed to bring several out
standing novels and a good many others
of merit but apparently the tug was
toward non-fiction.
Histories and Biographies
OF the 1idcentury
The midcentury year produced two VOL
umes of Winston Churchill's authoritative
and incisive history of World War II. 1t
brought the first two books in a great
historical project the collection of Thomas
Jefferson's papers. The first publication
of James BosWell'S London Journal nearly
200 years after it was written made liter
ary history. There were such fine biogra-
phes as Lloyd Lewis Captain Sam
Grant" Margaret Colts John c. Calhoun:
American Portrait" and Louise Hall
Tharp's The Peabody Sisters of Salem"
When you add Irving Brant's third VOL
ume on Madison, Allan Nevins' THE
Emergence of Lincoln" and Catherine
Drinker Bowen'S John Adams and the
American Revolution you have a good
start on an imposing fiction shelf made
up only of books published in 1850. The
doctrine that has kept peace from the
world was dealt with in many books,
among them Robert Payne's striking
Zero" an explanation of communism in
terms of nihilism. Jonathan Daniels
biography of President Truman, "The Man
of independence and John Gunther's
Roosevelt in Retrospect" stirred wide in
terest and no little controversy.
The non-fiction books mentioned and
others of Importance are discussed in more
detail elsewhere in this Christmas Book
Section. 1t is the purpose here to touch
on the general picture and to review more
specifically fiction and other books of
literary interest.
Before turning aside from non-fiction
reference should be made to the usual
books of personal experience.
Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl. is the
amazing saga of six young scientists who
crossed the South Pacific on a raft. They
did it to prove that the legendary ancestor
of the people of Tiki could have gone from
Peru to the island in such craft, as their
folklore relates. The book is proving i'm
mensely appealing to a great number of
readers.
These Are Listed Among
The Outstanding Volumes
Monica Baldwins Il Leap Over the
Wall" her story of how she quit convent
with the church's blessing after % years,
and Fitzroy Macleans Escape to Adven-
ture" were two that deserved their wide
circulation. Justice William o. Douglas
"Of Men and Mountains" was compared
by some readers to Thoreau.
Henry Steele Commager contributed a
brilliant summary of American trends
since the 1880s, The American Mind"
Of