The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 325

Books Toughest Jesse since James Sen Helms wins his clout by being difficult HARD RIGHT: The Rise of Jesse Helms Ernest Furgurson Norton 302 pages $1695 i amendments not as Furgurson says with the aim of making laws but to make friends and broaden his constituency All that has at times placed TT 'ms In direct confrontation with Reagan whom Helms first for president in 1976 In any cases Helms has come out the better in those contests If Helms is largely Incapable of getting legislation passed he is a master at blocking the bills of others at least until the price he demands has been paid Give Helms credit for consistency Where a George Wallace or a Strom Thurmond found it expedient to modify their public views on race as black voter registration in their states grew Helms has not visibly altered his lifelong views on the proper place of blacks in society Where other politicians pay at least lip-service to the values of the Bill of Rights Helms remains unchanged in his belief that property rights are of greater importance than such "lesser" rights as free speech and assembly Furgurson who is the Washington bureau chief of the Baltimore Sun has heroically waded through thousands of pages of prose and interviewed the senator and many of those around him to produce a competent journalistic biography of an inescapably important public figure MARVIN SEID is a Los Angeles Times editorial writer munism But the Helms agenda embraces much else besides including the entire conduct of US foreign policy education the justice system and most of all the place of religion and morality as he defines it in American life There is no reason to doi passionate sincerity as reaffirms his belief that American values rest primarily on family life property ownership proper spiritual orientation and of course anti-communism There is no doubt either that he has made those beliefs pay off as the vehicle for the most successful political fund-raising operations in the history in the development of a formidable issues-based coalition and as the philosophical foundation for the most persistent obstructionism seen in Congress in recent times To be the front man for groups that have so far raised at least $50 million and to be the rallying point for a collective of special-interest groups has endowed Helms with great political power It is instructive to see how he has used that power from the Senate seat he has held since 1973 He has not used it to win the affection or respect of his colleagues nor has he even tried His legislative clout comes from knowing and manipulating the Senate rules to make a desired negative impact Over the years he has introduced hundreds of bills and offered probably thousands of By Marvin Seid Los Angeles Times TO HIS ADMIRERS and they are many Jesse Helms is the implacable defender of traditional virtues the watchman ever alert to the encroachments of federal power and the menace of international communism To his detractors and they too are numerous the North Carolina Republican is the obstructionist Senator No a political version of Typhoid Mary as the Raleigh News and Observer has called him a zealot ready to embrace any cause that is sufficiently right-wing and antithetical to democratic processes To Ernest Furgurson his unauthorized biographer Helms stands in the long tradition of Southern demagogues although he is far superior to his predecessors in both style and the breadth of his appeal Helms in view even outreaches Joe McCarthy who had national support but who never understood how to move beyond his single-issue theme that Communists were everywhere subverting American life Helms of course yields to no one in his assertions of anti-com ERNEST FURGURSON Topping off quest Best sellers Fiction BEE CLASSIFIED 32 1-1234 SELL 4 THE ADVENTURE OF CHARLIE AND HIS WHEAT-STRAW HAT Recounted by Berniece Hiser illustrated by Mary Szilagyi Dodd Mead $1295 37 pages Ages 6-9 1 IT Stephen King Viking $22 95 The fears of childhood pursue seven people who return home to a chameleonltke horror 2 RED STORM RISING Tom Clancy Putnam $19 95 The Russians and NATO fight a limited war that threatens to escalate into a nuclear conflict 3 WANDERLUST Danielle Steel Delacorte $17 95 A woman travels the world seeking love and adventure 4 VERSION John Updike Knopf $17 95 A theology professor is confronted by a student who wants to use a computer to prove God exist-ance 5 THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY Karleen Koen Random House $1995 A woman's difficult life in a historical novel of 18th-century England 6 A MATTER OF HONOR Jeffrey Archer Simon and Schuster $1895 Adventure involving Nazi plotting and the Cold War 7 LAST OF THE BREED Louis Amour Bantam $17 95 An American pilot is pursued after his escape from a prison camp in the desolation of Siberia 8 REGRETS ONLY Sally Quinn Simon and Schuster $1895 A novel of sex and politics in the nation's capital 9 THE BEET QUEEN Louise Erdrich Holt $1695 The struggle for survival on the plains of North Dakota 10 THE PRINCE OF TIDES Pat Conroy Houghton Mifflin $19 95 A family's complicated conflicting relationships Best sellers Non-fiction 1 FATHERHOOD Bill Cosby Dolphin-Doubleday $14 95 The TV star's anecdotes about being the father of five 2 ONLY OLD ONCE Dr Seuss (Theodor Geisel) Random House $9 95 A Seuss story for grown-ups about aging and getting a medical checkup 3 MAYFLOWER MADAME Sidney Biddle Barrows William Novak Arbor House $17 95 Life among New York's high-priced prostitutes 4 SNAKE Ken Stabler Berry Stainback Doubleday $1595 The career of the retired quarterback for the Oakland Raiders 5 JAMES DOG STORIES James Herriot St Martin's $1995 A collection of the famous veterinarian's best stories from his previous books 6 McMAHONI Jim McMahon Bob Verdi Warner $1695 An autobiography of the Chicago Bears quarterback 7 NECESSARY LOSSES Judith Viorst Simon and Schuster $1795 Confronting life's big and little losses in order to grow 8 I TINA Tina Turner Kurt Loder Morrow $16 95 The rock autobiography 9 ONE KNEE EQUALS TWO FEET John Madden Dave Anderson Vil-lard $16 95 The TV sports commentator recalls favorite players and his days as the Oakland head coach 10 AND SO IT GOES Linda Ellerbee Putnam $16 95 A television journalist's view of the business i i i i i 1 1 By Sharon Snelling Special to The Bee During the years of the Civil War there lived in the mountains of Appalachia a young boy named Charlie Life was pretty tough with his father and older brother off fighting There any extra money for frills but Charlie wanted a straw hat so badly he could hardly stand it One day Charlie's granny rode her mule over to stay and help out for a while and Charlie brought his problem to her Together they worked out a solution to his problem with unexpected results Written in the Appalachian dialect Berniece story recounts a (a folk tale that the teller claims to be true) that had been told to her The imaginative and colorful language weaves a feeling of another time and place SHARON SNELLING is a former tary schdo'l teacher and frequent contributor to the BeeJ book review pages OPEN 9AM TO MIDNIGHT 365 DAYS A YEAR it Th? Sunday 'October 5 1986: Encore 31.