davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1961-05-07
AStudy Communist
Propaganda 7 echnique

system - Moscow's agents
were faced with major OBJ
stacles. In their continuing
efforts to produce a Czecho-
slovak counterpart Of the
ideal Soviet man." the prop
agandists had to distort the
image Of the First Republic
and its founder, Thomas
Masaryk, whose liberal politi-
cal philosophy made Czecho-
slovagia a European show
piece Of democracy.
The author documents the
deterioration Of an outstand-
ing educational system, the
revision of Czechoslovak his
tories and textbooks to con-
form to Soviet models, and
the Identification of art and
literature with Socialist
realism"
The superiority of the So
Wet Union and its inhabitants
is repetitiously proclaimed at
all times, and is emphasized
IN the schools. With what
result? THE propaganda
barrage." says DR.. de Dubnic,
"and the captivity that are
products Of the Communist
monopoly Of thought have a
repelling effect"
Although indoctrination In
Czechoslovakia is ION the in
Evening star., 1961-05-07
Cats, Cots, Cots

Two short books for those
who take cats seriously
(adults and children are
likely to become favorites.
THE SEVEN SPECIAL CATS
by Richard Koenig world:
S2.75), is profusely illustrated
by Peggy Bacon's wise and
worldly alley cats, Manhattan
variety.
The story concerns the
eviction Of Leonore and her
six kittens from an aban-
doned house on lower Broad
way. Mrs. Thwickle warns
the wreckers that no good
will come of it, but even Mrs.
Thwickle cannot foresee the
commotion those seven cats
will cause from Wall Street
to Grand Central.
THE CATS STAND AC-
CUSED, by J. David Town
send (Houghton, Mifflin;
$2.75), is murder mystery,
the trial of two cats for the
murder" OF a guinea pig.
This is for sophisticated
readers only. who can stand
the gruesome theme.
Cats are king also in Ylla's
Photographic picture book,
LISTEN, LISTEN CHarpers;
Evening star., 1961-05-07

characters, Zeb, the touchy
old Negro servant, DR.. Snod-
grass, who is pure W. c.
Fields. and his daughter Mil
licent.
HumOr Highlight
Mr.. Taylor reaches his
comic peak with a descrip-
tion Of a medicine show
staged by DR.. Snodgrass, who
is not above introducing
some well-paid cures" into
the act. Then they all sashay
off to the Southern planta-
ton owned by a comrade in
arms of the Captains and
there they run into heir
switching. leprosy and all
sorts Of skullduggery.
For q while the escapes
split into two parties, and it
seemed to this avid reader,
that Mr.. Taylor's lively story
sagged a trifle, until all par
ties we're reunited to resume
the search for buried treas
ure on the Florida coast.
"A Journey to Matecumbe"
has everything to entertain
the reader, unless there is one
who does not enjoy humor,
danger, suspense. romance,
historical lore and flights
through swamps.
Evening star., 1961-05-07
REPORT OF THE COUNTY

REPORT OF THE COUNTY
CHAIRMAN. BY James A.
Michener. (Random House;
$3.50
Best selling author James
A. Michener, a Republican
turned-Democrat, turned pre-
cinct worker to help send
John Kennedy to the White
House. His report on his
conversion to the cause and
his work as chairman. of q
Citizens for Kennedy organi-
cation is a lively, readable
affair which will help readers
relive what he admits was not
a dramatic campaign except
for the overriding issue Of
religion.
Mr.. Michener, a native and
resident OF HepuDIlcan BUCKS
County. Pa, was a Stevenson
man, married to an ardent
Stevensonian. who came
around to the Kennedy ban
ner. despite some reserva-
tionS. on the simple aSsump-
ton that Kennedy could win.
Both Micheners. incidentally,
were positive that Gov. Rookie
feller of New York could
have swamped the country
had he been nominated.
Illuminating Issues
Mr.. Michener is no stylist,
but he has q gift for illumi-
mating great issues out Of
small incidents. And he tells
Evening star., 1961-05-07
COMMUNIST PROPA

MUNIST PROPA-
GANDA METHODS: A
Case Study on Czechoslo-
vakia. BY Vladimir Reisky
de Dubnic. Frederick A.
Praeger; So
A little-known aspect of
Moscow's domination Of East
ern Europe is In the process
of mental sovietization" de-
scribed in this case study on
CzechoSlovakia.
Mental sovietization, the
author points out, is intended
to complement the economic
and political sovietization Of
a satellite regime. Needless
to say. 1t is far more diff
cult to transform national
characteristics and individual
attitudes than to alter po-
litical forms.
Following the Communist
takeover Of February 25.
1948. the Communist Party
Of Czechoslovakia moved
swiftly to sovietize all aspects
Of government and private
enterprise. But this was not
enough to insure the COM
plete fealty Of the nation to
the USSR.
In Czechoslo"akia-a re-
public with an advanced So
cial, political and educational
Evening star., 1961-05-07

moral, as some books turn
out to be when the author
tries too hard to be imagin-
ative or funny. Mary Nash
writes about mischievous
children with a happy, care
free air. as if it really might
have happened this way.
Children often dream of
keeping house by themselves,
but few could imagine such
whacky adventures as those
enjoyed by Molly, Malcolm
and Theobald, better known
as the Toad.
The three Persever children
always mean well. Yes, in
deed. Malcolm is the eldest
and very responsible. Molly,
a practical l0-year-old. tries
very hard TO civilize Toad by
reading the classics to him.
A less strong-minded girl
would have given up for
Toad's mind is a tangle of
bright ideas about food, cats
and magic tricks. When
Toad mobilizes all his re-
sources to outwit the sugary
spinster who lives next door.
even Malcolm and Molly
can't circumvent his plotting
Evening star., 1961-05-07

tellectual defensive" the
author admits that apathy is
the prevailing mood Of his
countrymen. When univer-
sity students in May, 1856,
staged widespread demon
strations against the regime,
the public remained unmoved.
Soviet achievements in SCI
ence have been a major fac
tor in the Czechoslovaks'
pragmatic reaction to COM
munism, DR.. de Dubnic be-
lieves. Equally important,
perhaps, is the knowledge
that Russian tanks must
always be reckoned with.
This is a perceptive analysis
Of Communist propaganda
technique and a shrewd ap-
praisal Of its effectiveness in
CzechoSlovakia.
GEORGE w. CRONYN.
Evening star., 1961-05-07

Of Washington. There is the
type of the Congressman, the
diplomat, the government
lawyer, the lobbyist, and the
literary man. C"Every Presi-
dent thinks it respectable to
have at least one literary
man in his pay" Adams re-
marks, "and Mr.. Cores
prospects were fair for OBJ
tanning his object, as he had
the active support of the
majority Of the Massachu-
sets delegation.") Made
leine's beauty and charm
tingle the blood of everybody,
particularly of Senator Rat
cliffe Of Illinois, and of John
Darlington. a young Virginia
lawyer made destitute by the
War.
If Ratcliffe were merely
a brilliant and corrupt poll
tician, shining and sinking
like the mackerel in moon
light, Democracy" would be
nothing more than a dated
novel of Washington in
trigue. But he is in his way
an honorable man who freely
tells his intimates that mo-
rality is a luxury unavailable
to a politician in the service
of democracy. Anything that
is Of value to the country is
fair, and no good can accrue
to the country except through
the party. He is set off against
the idealistic Darlington, who
believes that popular gov
ernment and the probity Of
the individual are not in
compatible. AS for Madeleine,
though she may be a bit pale
as heroine Of a novel, she is
vivid as a Washington So
ciety matron interested in the
current tSmS. And suppos-
ing your experiment fails"
she asks. suppose your So
ciety destroys itself with uni
versal suffrage, corruption,
and communism" 1t seems to
me a delightfully."- perceptive
observation on the decent
public's distinction Of politi-
cal immoralities that Made
leine is not greatly shocked
Evening star., 1961-05-07

the juniors still thirst for
adventure and the seniors for
escape. 1t also is quite un-
abashedly Informative. and
Mr.. Taylor. occasionally to
the detriment of the story,
pauses often to supply the
reader with great wads of
data about Kentucky, life
in Kentucky. the Mississippi
River and the Florida Keys
just after the Civil War, and
Seminole Indians.
Huckleberry Heroes
1t has a real hero, which
is a nice change in current
fiction. He is a tall, hand
some. uch-decorated vet
eran Of the Civil War (CSA
of course) and he is equal
to absolutely any peril MIR.
Taylor can push him into.
The narrator is his 12-year-
old nephew Davie. The pair
when we discover them are
about to flee from the minis
trations of the local chapter
of the Ku Klux Klan which
has taken social justice. as
the hooded men see it, into
their own hands.
The captain and Davie,
who might almost have read
"Huckleberry Finn" take to
the river. AS they go, they
pick up some wonderful
Evening star., 1961-05-07
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
New Spring Fiction
Appeals to All Ages
By BARBARA NOLEN
GnntrIknttrn q NIrriinr

The spring fiction has comfortable number of
excellent titles Familiar authors have turned to themes
and authors have enlivened old themes with ap
proach One of the interesting developments tendency
for these fiction titles to defy rigid classification
Family stories animal stories picture books all these stay
long time the chds bookshelf if they Go repel the
older reader.
There's no moral in MRS. COVERLETS MAGICIANs
Evening star., 1961-05-07

from the girls open bag, as
she turns to powder her nose
in a mirror.
The Last Chukka" defies
the short-story canon which
rules that the center of in
terest must remain constant.
1t is about an Englishman in
Siam who loses his mind
through fear Of leprosy. but
in the last page or two the
story modulates to throw
into relief the employer who
always manages, almost
against his will. to do what
is expected Of him.
Mr.. Waugh frequently in
PRODUCES historical persons
into his fiction, and when he
does the reader feels that the
picture is true to life. The
Woman Who Knew Frank
Harris" is a story the best
part of which perhaps is the
brief, understanding, sympa-
thetic portrait Of the writer
now almost as forgotten as
his books. Yet the piece is
no mere literary character
sketch. for the account OF
the aged woman poet whose
whole life has been shaped
by a few weeks in her youth
under the influence of Har-
ris is sharp, accurate and
very moving.
The most remarkable
thing about Circle Of De-
ception" is Mr.. Waugh's re-
mark that the story went the
rounds Of English magazine
editors for 40 months before
it was accepted for publica-
tion. The war story of the
intelligence agent who gives
herself in cold blood to as
certain the qualifications Of
prospective commando
whose job 1t will be to break
down under torture, after
having been betrayed by de-
sign, is so dramatic, so
plausible, and so skillfully
told that one would suppose
it would Immediately catch
the eye Of the blindest editor.
1t did not. and Waugh, with
just a trace Of his ironic
smile. tells US that 1t was
improved in, its movie ver-
sion by a twist invented by
the director Nigel Balchin.
1t may be so.
Mr.. Waugh's reputation as
a connoisseur Of wines makes
me hesitate to make sly fun
Of one Of his adjectives. May
be a knowledgeable reader
can tell me whether to say
red Chianti" is not like
speaking Of salty brine"
Evening star., 1961-05-07
Our FictionuI Inhabitants
Seem to Be All Politicians

DEMOCRACY, a novel by
Henry Adams. "a New
American Library Paper
back; so centsD Also,
DEMOCRACY together with
ESTHER, a second novel by
Adams. GA Doubleday An
chor Paperback; $1.45D
Henry Adams, grandson
and great-grandson of Presi-
dents Of the United States,
never would defile himself
with the pitch of politics, but
he never seemed to want to
, rid his nostrils Of its strong,
tarry smell. While today he
is best known as a literary
man by his Education of
Henry Adams" and Mont
Saint-Michel and Chartres,"
1t may be that sometime,
p when controlled prejudice is
not considered a flaw in his
torical writing, his great
History of the United States
During the Administrations
of Jefferson and Madison"
will come to be his chef
d'oeuUre. Much of his other
writing is about politics in
theory or practice-the lives
of Gallatin and of John Ran
dolph, many of his letters,
and his first novel "Democ-
racy," the last now re-issued
almost simultaneously in two
paperback editions.
The city Of Washington
has never been a locale par
ticularly attractive to novel;
lists. When their stories are
centered here. they inevitably
are about politics-our fic-
tional inhabitants tend to
be politicians, as those
Of Great Neck are commu-
ters. In Democracy" writ
ten in 1873, Madeleine Lee,
q tremendously wealthy
young widow cher annual in
. come is between twenty and
thirty thousand dollarsD de-
cides to come to Washing
ton In search Of power
and of insight into gov
ernment. To her brilliant
salon in Lafayette Square
come the representative elite
Evening star., 1961-05-07
A Journey to Escape
These Troubled Times
BY MARY McGRORY
Star Staff Writer

JOURNEY TO MATECUMBE. BY Robert Lewis TAYLOR
(McCraw-Hil $3.50
Robert Lewis Taylor author Of the Pulitzer
novel, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters" is kind of
story teller need in these troubled times inventive
extravagant and funny If the warp of Journey to
Matecumbe is violence the woof is humor The blood
freely and hardly chapter by without heads being
cracked or severed but there chuckle
Mr. Tayors bubbling narrative is of those of which
you can without being paronzng can be read
with equal pleasure by and old alike pesumng that
Evening star., 1961-05-07
GENERAL

RENATA -TEBALDI. The
Woman and the Diva. BY
Victor Seroft. (Appleton-
Century -Crofts, Inc. $4}.
A biography of the great
soprano of the Metropoli-
tan Opera. The style is
complete admiration.
RELUCTANT GENERAL. BY
Robert Libscomb Duncan.
(Dutton, So The life and
times of the many-faceted
Confederate General Albert
Pike.
Evening star., 1961-05-07
To Reed Aloud

Picture books and poems
must have some lasting quail
ity to be worth reading aloud
more than once. Francoise.
who specializes in pastoral
French scenes, comes up with
winner in THE BIG RAIN
(Scribners; $2.95). Jeanne
Marie in her red 'kerchief Ia
a French counterpart of Lois
Lenski's Mr.. Small.
In COWBOY AND HIS
FRIEND, by Joan Walsh
Anglund (Marcourt: $1.95),
the brave cowboys secret
friend is an enormous bear,
who will easily win the hearts
of small children. The pic
lures are printed in black
and brown, a device which
helps to give the feeling of
another dimension.
LET'S BE ENEMIES, by
Janice May Udry, with pic
lures by Maurice Sendak
tHarpers; $1.95, has the de-
licious sour flavor of a pickle.
James and John are typical
friends. they spend half their
time fighting.
Did someone mention rab-
bit books? The output is
prolific this spring. I venture
to guess the children's favor
ite will be HUGE HAROLD,
written and illustrated by
Bill Peet (Houghton- -Mifflin;
So. The story is told in GAL
loping verse. for which the
author has a genuine flair.
Susan B. Warner uses verse
successfully in TOBIAS AND
HIS BIG RED SATCHEL
(Knopf; So, a variation on
the theme that a boys pock-
cts are always full of trash,
or treasure.
Evening star., 1961-05-07

mer of approval; then one by
one they went off the mar
ket. OF the books published
before 1856, only three are
still in print. two of them
precariously. My only novel
that has been consistently ir,
circulation is the first I wrote
The Loom of Youth.
Thus disarmingly, but
without -disparaeement,
Mr.. Waugh continues that re
hopes to find in his lifewcrk
enough worthy of rescue from
oblivion to fill a couple Of
volumes. This first book con-
tains II stories, all told
in the first person. They are
all fiction, but there is
: enough Of actuality in the
teller to cause the author to
precede each chronological
group with a few autobio-
graphical notes. Ranging in
time from 1920 to 1852, the
stories are located in Lon
don." World Tour" Eng
land" Second World War"
and Travel Years" The
point of the books title is
that Mr.. Waugh thinks Of
himself as a story-teller like
those I have seen in Mar
rakesh and Baghdad taking
their place in the Bazaar.
with their audience squatted
round them on their
hauncheS."
1t may be true that these
tales were lost in piles of Stag
and baser ore. but as they
are refined here they show
that Mr.. Waugh is a story
teller who can take his place
with the best now writing.
The approach and the tech
nique change during 80 years,
but the craftsmanship was
there to begin with; the
earliest story is as intense
and well-timed as the last.
Mr.. Waugh's stories bear q
superficial resemblance to
those Of Vaughan. They are
told from the point Of view
Of a cultivated, observing and
sentient EngliShman. But
form and ma tier are
more homogeneous. With
Vaughan one feels too often
that a commonplace story of
contrived senSationaliSm is
veneered with its writer's
never-failing sophisticated,
expertly prepared gloss. like
the Philadelphia Orchestra
playing Brahms. with
Waugh, on the other hand,
the treatment is determined
by the story, and every story
is different, with a character
Of its own. as true as art and
much neater than life.
The first story Is as good
as any In the book. Morrison
is an officer in the First
World War. intelligent, de-
cent and highly individual.
His fatal flaw is that while
he can take care of himself,
is capable Of handling or
avoiding any situation. he
cannot build any cushion Of
reserve credit with the men
and women he comes in con-
tact with. He always remains
at par.
AN Unfinished Story" is a
charming fantasy of an au-
thor who. observing an inter-
esting man and woman in q
restaurant. quickly contrives
three or four situations that
might fit them very well. The
possibilities Of his fiction are
greatly expanded when the
man takes two pound notes
Evening star., 1961-05-07
BOOKS IN REVIEW
A AStory Teller
Among the Best
BY DAY THORPE
star Book Critic

MY PLACE IN THE BAZAAR collection of stories by Alec
Waugh Farrar, straus & Cudahy; $685.
Il wrote my first novel when IT, says Alec Waugh
in the foreword to My Place In the Bazaar am now g.
In the intervening have published books
They fill two library shelves sometimes survey them
fully They were written with high excitement and delivered
to their publishers with heady presented public
in shining and advertised glownRly the
Press they enjoyed two of them brief bright
Evening star., 1961-05-07
Atom Bomb
Still Echoes
Over japan
JAPAN sUBDUED. Bv Her

JAPAN SUBDUED. BY Her
bert Feis. princeton; 81
Sixteen years later it is
still an interesting exercise
to play President and try to
decide whether the atom
bomb should have been used
against Japan. Two broad
questions are involved: On
the basis of what facts were
known to President Truman
at the time, did he make the
right decision? On the basis
of all the facts, as they could
not be known to President
Truman, would it have been
better to take some other
decision?
Herbert Feis, as a second
guesser. might have gone
through more preliminaries,
but he probably would have
come to the same decision
to use the atomic bomb-as
Mr.. Truman.
The basic problem was to
get the Japanese to sur,
render with as little loss Of
life, American and Japanese,
as possible.
FOOtn0te
The author discIoses in a
footnote that President (then
Gem Eisenhower told Sec
retary Of War Stimson at
Potsdam he hoped the United
States would not be the first
to use the new weapon in
warfare and did not believe
1t necessary because the Jap
anese were so nearly beaten.
Mr.. Stimson was preoccupied,
however, with saving Ameri-
can lives.
Mr.. Feis believes that a
clear call for japanese sur
render. which President Tru-
man delayed from May to
July, would not have per-
suaded the Tokyo authorities
to sue for peace earlier.
On the other hand. he has
concluded the United States
should have warned the Jap
anese, with pictures of the
Alamagordo test on July Is,
1945, and with words OF the
nuclear destruction that
awaited them If they did not
surrender. By that time,
Hirohito might have been
able to persuade his cabinet
to give up, Mr.. Feis believes.
Alternative
The additional cost in
American lives that probably
would have resulted while
surrender arrangements were
made. should have been EN-
dured." he writes. Japan
probably would not have sur
rendered, anyway, but I'VE as
a people would be freer Of
any remorse. unjustified as it
may be-"
In his last sentence Mr..
Feis makes 1t clear he is
aware Of the futility of sec
ond guessing history, how
ever: But the mind, circline
upon itself. may wonder
whether II the exterminating
power Of the bomb had not
been actually displayed, the
nations would have been i'm
PEELED to make even as
faltering an effort as they
have made to agree on meas
ures to save themselves from
mutual extinction by this ulti-
mate weapon.
-E. H. V.
Evening star., 1961-05-07
New Homes

r E U RN TO GONE
AWAY, by Elizabeth Enright
CHarcourt; S3.25, may be
called a sequel which is not
a sequel. In her second sum-
mer at Gone-Away Lake,
Portia and Julian explore
an Old house from cellar
to attic and uncover a mys-
terry. It's not a bit dull,
though the general idea SIM
ply creaks with age.
Another ancient theme. an
orphan in search of a home,
is neither silly nor senti-
mental in the hands of three
expert storytellers. VAL
ENTINE, by Evan Commager
tHarpers; $685.. is the story
of Vermont girl who has to
fight the Civil War over
again on a visit to Georgia.
KEN, by Zachary Ball (Holi-
day House; $685.. is about a
boy who accidentally shoots
his own father. POPPY. IN
THE CORN, by Stella Weaver
Pantheon; $3.50, places
French war orphan in a small
English village. The compll-
cations in each story are
absorbing.