The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 46

Page4E December 13, 1992 Anne Lindbergh: An anchor in two lives "ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH," by Dorothy Herrmann: Ticknor Fields, New York, 1992, $24.95. It must be difficult for those born after the midpoint of the century to comprehend fully the place Charles Nuremburg: Prosecutor weighs law By Cleophus Thomas, Jr. "THE ANATOMY OF THE NUREMBERG TRIALS," by Telford Taylor: Knopf, New York, 1992, $35. Aside from being a masterful account of the Nuremberg war crimes trials which followed World War II, "The Anatomy of the vi i ti i and Anne Lindbergh held in American life in those earlier decades, but to an older generation it is still unforgettable. We recall with affection an amateur but creditable oil portrait of a grinning "Lindy," in heavy, padded flying suit and helmet, which hung in a place of honor for years in our great-aunt's Illinois study, a tribute to the boyish young flyer who braved the Atlantic yT 1 N.

I I inais is a lyrical Ull iiiicinmiuiiai law uy uic American chief prosecutor in those trials. Author Telford Taylor's 1 erudite rendering of the trial in- I eludes an easily comprehended summary of the philosophy which considered herself a writer from the time she could hold a pencil. She met Charles, a handsome young favorite fresh from his 1927 Paris triumph and already a leader in American aviation development, when her father was U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and they were married at home in May, 1929, without a previous announcement to the press, almost exactly two years after the flight of the Spirit of St. Louis.

For shy Anne, suddenly catapulted into the limelight as a hero's bride, it was an intimidating change, but she was equal to the challenge. THOUGH SEEMINGLY the most unlikely of aviatrices, she found she loved flying, rejoicing in the escape from earth and the quiet togetherness with the husband she adored. Charles, happily, encouraged her, and before long, Anne had earned all her advanced licenses and gained enough skill and experience to serve as co-pilot and navigator for her world-hopping spouse, a vital role that gave her deep satisfaction. But the kidnapping and death of their 20-month-old son in March, 1932, was a horror that was to alter their whole lives. Thrusting them into a nightmare of publicity at the hands of a frenzied press corps eager to take advantage of a whole nation's shocked sorrow, the tragedy had much to do with their reclusive and somewhat disoriented life style from then on, as they moved from one place to another, even abroad for some years, in search of privacy.

AND SENSITIVE ANNE, though she gave birth to five other sons and daughters, mourned her lost first-born grievously ever afterward, unable to forget or compensate, Charles Lindbergh, whether by intent or merely through the facts of his life, does not come off well in Ms. Herrmann's book, emerging as a brilliant but inexcusably thoughtless man who took advantage of his quiet wife and exercised bad judgment in his evaluation of people and causes. Becoming interested in Germany and her air power in the years just prior to World War II, he did not hide his admiration for the Nazi regime, frequently underlay the idea of international law. Indeed, he is such an excellent summarizer that he is apt to make non-stop in 1927, to become a hero Herrmann and favorite all over the world. And one ot our most haunting childhood memories is the far-off voice of a Brooklyn, N.

newsboy hawking yet another nighttime extra about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932, the crime that horrified a whole nation. BY THE TIME WE fell in love with Anne Morrow Lindbergh's classic "Gift from the Sea" in 1955, she was an old friend to all of us, shy, fey, controversial, but well-beloved, emerging by then from the cloud of disfavor that unexpectedly engulfed the couple when Charles espoused isolationism as World War II closed in. But throughout it all, Charles and Anne were inseparable, flying and writing together, rearing the five children born after their eldest was lost, facing down severe public censure in mid-life, and enduring until time and circumstances restored their popularity. It is no wonder that biographer Dorothy Herrmann's "Anne Morrow Lindbergh" is as much an examination of Charles' personality as Anne's own, for they were an entity. ANNE BEGAN LIFE as a child of privilege and old money, daughter of the wealthy, prominent American political figure, Dwight Whitney Morrow, and grew into a quiet, well-educated girl who THE LINDBERGHS visiting such leaders as Goring, and even accepting a high German medal, while working tirelessly back in the States with non-intervention groups.

UNSURPRISINGLY, HE became almost a pariah during the war era, and it was not until years later that he won back respect and popularity. And Anne supported him all the way, fierce in her love and loyalty, making herself unpopular, as well, though she had already become a best-selling writer. "Anne Morrow. Lindbergh," though a bit overly long in places, is a thorough and detailed study of Mrs. Lindbergh and her marriage, a compassionate but honest picture of the gifted woman who has given us such a rich legacy of lyrical books, many written from the experiences of her own life.

BARBARA HODGE HALL 'Black Dogs' a complex work New fiction of interest On the winter fiction shelf: "A DUBIOUS LEGACY," by Mary Wesley: Viking, New York, 1992, $21. Once again English novelist Mary Wesley takes as tongue-in-cheek look at love, cus- 't toms and relationships among the 't "BLACK DOGS," by Ian McEwan: Double-day, New York, 1992, $19.95. This curious, understated novel, haunted by a semi-mystical incident thatNjnfJuences the life of tne woman involved, is a son-in-law's memoir of June and Bernard Tremaine, fiery early London Communists separated for years by changing ideologies Taylor the reader feel he has as sure a grip on the subtle aspects of international law as does Mr. Taylor himself. For example, we learn that the basic principles of the law of war were developed during the 18th century Enlightenment.

Jean Jacques Rosseau advanced the idea in his classic work, "The Social Contract," that war was not a relationship between individuals but one between states. Rosseau wrote: "WAR, THEN, IS NOT a relation of man to man, but of State to State in which individuals are enemies only accidentally, and not as men, nor even as citizens, but as soldiers; not as members of their country, but as its Talleyrand, Napoleon's foreign minister, further developed this notion by stating that "the law of nations does not permit that rights of war, and of conquest thence derived, should be applied to peaceable, unarmed citizens, to private property and dwellings." Thus, even in war "occupying forces" were not to take liberties (or undue liberties) with "noncomba-tants." It is this fundamental premise that the Nazi forces violated. Indeed, it was precisely this genocidal war upon a people rather than simply their government that was the thrust of their violent campaign. A CONSIDERATION OF war crimes is topical in light of the current trials of former communist leaders in eastern Europe. Former East German Prime Minister Eric Honneker on trial last week for issuing orders to shoot to kill any person attempting to breach the Berlin wall, was reported to have said that his trial was "a court of the victors over the vanquished." According to Taylor, this is precisely what such trials are, and necessarily so.

Indeed, even Otto Kranzbuehler, one of the ablest lawyers for the Nuremberg defendants, has written: "IT WAS CLEAR THAT after the obvious crimes committed under Hitler's leadership, particularly the annihilation process against the Jews, something had to happen to discharge the tension between victors and vanquished It was the United States who insisted that expiation must be sought and found by way of judicial trial. The International Military Tribunal proceedings did, in my opinion perform this function. It was the painful starting point for building the relations that exist today between Germany and her Western Allies." There is an adage among lawyers that hard cases make bad law. That is, the effort to accommodate a terrible situation may cause one to badly bend legal precedents in order to provide a remedy for the wrong. For critics of Nuremberg, the troublesome aspect of the proceeding is the punishment for what the Nuremberg tribunal retroactively criminalized: a crime against peace.

Only warriors (soldiers in uniform) can commit war crimes, says this school of thought. That view is, apparently, the minority view, one unacceptable to western sensibilities. What is unstated here is that there is a prevailing notion of natural law which no government can violate with impunity. This natural law states that human life is precious and presumed innocent. Senseless attacks on it will not be long tolerated, even if these attacks are by "legitimate, sovereign governments." This explains the American inspired trials at Nuremberg.

It explains the current American presence in Somalia, and it explains why, even in difficult economic times, America will not be able to devote itself solely to matters domestic. "The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials" then is, in an oblique way, an anatomy of our body politic. Author Thomas is an Anniston attorney. nd divereent experiences. well-to-do British, as always with unexpected wit and irony.

Two 4 proper young gentlemen have taken je -ltd their girls to Cotteshaw, the home f7 of an older friend, Henry Tillotson, amicably estranged from her husband but still studying and writing and very much her own woman, visited by dutiful Jeremy, husband of her Jenny and father of their four children. Jeremy, who has intended for some years to put together an informal biography of this eccentric, but distinguished pair, realizes time is growing short, and manages to question June a bit each time he visits. But the story of the black dogs remains untold until the end of his memoir, a long-ago encounter with a pair of animals so frightening and so redolent of evil that they color this intelligent woman's whole future existence and virtually end her marriage. The path diverged shortly thereafter for the two of them Bernard, pragmatic and dowji to earth, abandoned Communism for a more conventional Labour party affiliation, while June, awakened to a spiritual faith incompatible with political activism, drew into herself to contemplate deeply universal things at her own country home in France. Short and deft, "Black Dogs" follows such novels as "The Innocent" and "The Cement Garden" for Ian McEwan, the holder of several prestigious literary prizes.

B.H.H. Told in several time-frames by 37-year-old Jeremy, orphaned early and marrying late, himself a complex personality inclined to borrow life from other, more fortunate individuals, the tale for a short holiday, nlanninc to yJ propose marriage to their sweethearts there. But none of them had reckoned with Henry's terrible leaps through the decades from McEwan the earliest days of Marxist enthusiasms for the brilliant young rebels, to 1989, when Jeremy accompanies old Bernard, now gentled into a respected political commentator, to delirious Berlin to celebrate the breaching of the Wall, an event with special meaning for the tired old widower. By that time, June has died in the nursing home where she has lived out her last few years, wife, Margaret, a self-indulgent Wesley woman who terrorizes her household from her invalid's bed, but intrigues the two young women, Barbara and Antonia, with her eccentricities. Ms.

Wesley's eighth fine novel begins with the story of that unsettled weekend, then chronicles the years that follow, as the now-married young couples return regularly to Cotteshaw and their unpredictable older friends. Looking for few gift books? "LADY OF SPAIN," by Robert Love Taylor: Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, 1992, $16.95. Nine related stories make up this fourth novel by Robert Love Taylor, longtime English professor at Bucknell, a vivid coming-of-age tale dating back to the 1950's, when dance music was slow and romantic and sex was still deeply mysterious. It's all seen through the eyes of Bill and Billy Hayes, an Oklahoma City father and son, whose lives revolve around their attractive wife and mother, much too beautiful for those conventional times. Bill is a salesman and a philanderer; Billy is growing painfully from a naive teenager curious about what can happen in the back seat of a DeSoto, to a young man of experience, facing the complexities of life and the impending loss of his father.

Nostalgic, frank, and witty, "Lady of Spain" explores a territory that any vital young male of that time and world might have found daunting. "THE SOPHISTICATED CAT," chosen by Joyce Carol Oates and Daniel Halpern: Dutton, New York, 1992, $23. Here's a wonderful anthology of stories, poems and other pieces about cats, chosen by that incredibly versatile literary dynamo, Joyce Carol Oates, and poet and editor Daniel Halpern for all those who enjoy the company of feline friends. Nearly 100 writers are represented here, both from the classical world and the contemporary scene. Balzac, Chekhov, Colette, Mark Twain, Hemingway, Keats, Emily Dickinson, and T.

S. Eliot join such moderns as Ursula Le Guin, Alice Adams, James Herriot, Roy Blount, and Miss Oates herself, for celebration or contemplation of the sleek, delightful species. No cat lover could resist this collection, perfect for happy browsing or reading straight through for pleasure. A sampling of gift books: "VAMPIRE: The Complete Guide to the World of the Undead," by Manuela Dunn Mascetti: Viking Studio Books, New York, 1992, $20. Never have vampires been so in vogue, it seems, and this timely, well-done little volume approaches the whole matter solemnly and artistically, accompanying its text with haunting photographs, movie stills and fanciful illustrations.

Growing from dark legends and endless night-time imaginings, the cult of the vampire has been gathering for millennia, not only in the misty European forests but all over the world. Here is a journey through Dracula's own Transylvania, where the real-life Vlad Drakul the Impaler killed as many as 100,000 people. And here are vampires created by famous authors of the occult, not the least among them Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. Eerie photographs, many of them the work of Simon Marsden, who specializes in the spooky, are enough to conjure up vampires where none are visible. In short, it's all a chilly treat for fans of the undead by Manuela Dunn Mascetti, also the author of "The Song of Eve," an illustrated exploration of the goddess myth.

"CONJURING," by James Randi: St. Martin's, New York, 1992, $29.95. For more than 50 years, magician James Randi has been amazing audiences with his conjur rascal once dedicated to these wicked practices but now almost totally reformed." B.H.H. "DINING WITH PROUST," by Jean-Bernard Naudin, Anne Borrel, and Alain Senderens: Random House, New York, 1992, $40. Cookbook-ing has developed into an art form this fall, and this glorious new volume may be among the best.

For here is Proust's fin-de-siecle world in lovely photographs and exquisite recipes, recreating the dishes referred to so enticingly in his writing. Alain Senderens, chef of the Paris restaurant Lucas Carton, and a specialist at modernizing ancient recipes, has reproduced the cuisine of "Remembrance of Things Past" for modern cooks. Anne Borrel, head of the Friends of Marcel Proust Society, has provided biographical material and excerpts from the author's novels and letters, while Jean-Bernard Naudin, a Paris graphic artist, has provided the superb illustrations reproductions of Impressionist paintings, period photos, and superb modern color shots of period table settings, food, gardens, and interiors. Maclean editor proud New York Times News Service NEW YORK Editors usually breathe a sigh of relief, then crow when books they acquire or edit become best sellers. But Alan G.

Thomas, the acquisitions' editor for literature and religion at the University of Chicago Press, has taken more than average pride in seeing "Young Men and Fire," by Norman Maclean, reach best-seller lists and stay on them for months. The book, which was named one of the year's best books by The New York Times Book Review last Sunday, is the story of an elite crew of firefighters who parachuted into the Mann Gulch forest fire in Montana in 1949. Thirteen of the 16 young men were killed in the firestorm. Maclean began the book in 1976 at the age of 74, after he published "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories," which is also now on the best-seller list. He died in 1990, at 87, before he could actually complete "Young Men and Fire." ing skills, and at the same time has I devoted himself to debunking psychic frauds it is for his work in Yuletide murder Santa clues coming to town: "CRIME FOR edited by Richard Dalby: St.

Martin's, New York, 1922, $18.95. Murder has never taken time off for Christmas as this collection of short pieces by some of the old masters shows. All are centered around Christmas and the authors include Ellis Peters, Arthur Cbnan Doyle, Agatha Christie and would you believe? Wilkie Collins. "THE LAZARUS TREE," by Robert Rich-ardson: St. Martin's, New York, 1992, $17.95.

The Lazarus Tree grows in the village churchyard at Medmelton, where that canny, patient murder maven Gus Maltravers finds things have hardly changed for centuries. But the murder of an unpopular poet, an acquaintance of Maltravers', tries to hide modern passion behind ancient fables. "MURDER AT MOOT POINT," by Marlys Millhiser: Perfect CrimeDoubleday, New York, 1992, $17. Irf cold, drear Moot Point, Oregon, literary agent Charlie Greene hoped only to wrap up a bit of business for client Jack Monroe. But when she finds herself in the middle of a killing, with herself as chief suspect, the fiction she's used to becomes grim fact.

this latter field that he won the MacArthur Award in 1986. This I 1 fascinating book is a history of 4 Best Sellers famous professional magicians, both respectable artists and scoundrels, whose names have become watchwords in the business. Here's (Compiled by The New York Times) FICTION DOLORES CLAIBORNE King MIXED BLESSINGS Steel THE TALE OF THE BODY THIEF Rice nostalgia, amazement, revelation Randi and mystery, or, as Randi puts it, "a definitive history of the venerable arts of sorcery, prestidigitation, wizardry, deception and chicanery and of the mountebanks and scoundrels who have perpetrated these subterfuges on a bewildered public, in short, MAGIC!" It's both knowledgeable and all in good fun, by a man who describes himself as "a contrite Mtxiuu Michener THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER DeMille THE PELICAN BRIEF Gnsham THE STARS SHINE DOWN Sheldon MOSTI HARMI CCQ m. 9 GRIFFIN SABINE Bantock 10. SABINE'S NOTEBOOK Bantock.