Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 13

isoEis and authors DETROIT FREE PRESSSUNDAY, AUG. 28, 1963 5B Plain devotion shows in Truman's letters I Barbara 7 Holliday Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959 Edited by Robert H. Ferrell W.W. Norton 593 pages, $19.95 Review by Bob McKelvey it Mim Mil 'in i'iiiii mM hiiiiiiii mm Sop Sisters," and denounced former Vice President Henry. Wallace as "a real Commy and a dangerous man." Even Franklin Roosevelt, whose political acumen Tfumaff-admired, did not escape Truman's criticism: "He's so damn-afraid he won't have all the power and glory LIKE POPEYE, Truman's creed might have been: "I yam what I yam." As such, the warts in Truman's character as well as the beauty spots are there for all to see.

His letters are laced with racial slurs against blacks, Jews, Italians, Chinese and others. In one passage (written in 191 1) he related his racial philosophy: "I am strongly of the opinion that negroes ought to be in Africa, yellow men in Asia, and white men in Europe, and America." Perhaps it is the measure of this man that he was later able to overcome such petty bigotry to become a champion of civil rights measures, particularly the racial integration of the armed forces. The central theme of "Dear Bess," however, is Truman's private life and his adoration of Bess Truman. Perhaps his finest tribute to the love of his life was expressed in 1 944. At that time, affairs of state had separated the Trumans, and the lonely husband, then 60 years old, wrote to his wife: "From Sunday school days, to grade school days, to First World War days, to the Senate, to World War II you are just the.

same to me the nicest, prettiest girl in the world. Most of my associates think there's something wrong with me because -believe in that oath I took in a certain little Episcopal Church in Independence, Missouri, about 25 years ago. But I don't what they think." Maybe Harry's devotion to Bess was not expressed as eloquently as Robert Browning's to Elizabeth Barrett, but it had more lasting power 62 adoring years. Bob McKelvey is a Free Press news editor. Consider the great lovers of history: Casanova Don Harry S.

Truman Well, maybe Harry S. Truman wasn't one of the GREAT lovers, but he certainly was one of the great writers of letters to his lady love. In fact, every time Harry Truman and Bess Wallace (later Mrs. Truman) were separated, faithful Harry would, at the drop of a semi-colon, dash off a newsy epistle about life, love and the ways of the world. Written over nearly 50 years, these letters piled up into a veritable attic full of mail.

Robert H. Ferrell, an Indiana University history professor, has mined this mountain of correspondence, edited it and compiled it. The result is "Dear Bess," an eclectic welter of Trumanisms ranging from the passionate love you as madly as a man to the banal am sorry to hear of your chickens from farm wisdom flies mean wet to philosophy succeed financially a man can't have any ROMANTIC ARDOR usually was couched in oblique terms. In one early letter Truman wished he were rich. If so, he vowed: "I'd make love to you so hard you'd either have to say yes or knock me on the head." What spared Truman's cranium and Bess's virginity for nine years was the ardent swain's penchant for failure.

He seemed to have a reverse Midas touch at everything he tried farming, Harry and Bess Truman, starting their 62-year marriage. zinc mining, oil stock speculation and, later, retailing. Lamented Truman: "I seem to have a grand admirable ability for calling tails when heads come up." Sometimes he fumbled to find the right words to win Bess's hand. "You know, were I an Italian or a poet, I would commence and use all the luscious language of two continents. I am not either but only a kind of good-for-nothing American farmer." Readers hoping to be titillated by amorous billets doux are bound to feel let down by "Dear Bess." When Truman unburdens his feelings, the letters read like a prim Victorian Era courtship.

But there was a saltier side to Truman, which became apparent after he achieved success in public life. As senator and president, he would aim candid barbs at his colleagues. He needled former Secretary of State James Byrnes as "a conversational deplored financier Bernard Baruch as "a stuffed derided columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop as "The Thorny secrets prick a family's images and illusions False Premises By Winthrop Knowlton Random House, 215 pages, $12.95 Review by Suzanne Dolezal Jeauty and practicality nark 1984 calendars to George Orwell, the year 1984 has ready endured a bad press. But calendar makers are )t easily daunted by dubious dates. An array of tractive, amusing and otherwise admirable products lould distract us from a year of wincing.

By far the largest to arrive so far in both physical mensions (15'2 by 19 inches) and "Let me see that" )peal is the "Christie Brinkley 1984 Calendar," mon Schuster, $8.95. This popular model-with-vimsuit calendar has grown to spectacular propor-ons. Huge blown up photographs show Brinkley in jse after seaside pose. There's a handy "full year at a lance" on the inside cover, but how you use it beats ie. It drops out of sight when you hang the calendar, ays are discreetly lined vertically on the side of the tiotographs.

Maybe that's the whole idea. Get the ear out of the way with its big ominous date and ijoy the scenery. Spectacular No. 2 is "The 1984 Sail Calendar," Sail ooks, $12.95. Measuring a trim 17 inches square, lis calendar has ample room for dates and jottings id stunning sailing photographs drawn from Sail lagazine.

The yachts are famous: Vitelle, the oldest riling yacht in France, now restored; the Defender ff Newport; Aries and Williwaw during an Admiral's up race in the Solent off England's south coast. The jyer picture is repeated for December: A tranquil imber Wind, first built as a pilot schooner but now art of a windjammer fleet, rests in still water at ulpit Harbor, Maine. MOST PRACTICAL: "The Busy Family Calendar 984" by Frances Wells Burck Eden Ross Lipson, imon Schuster, $7.95. You have to see this one to elieve it. A quick reference border with space for all ie important phone numbers organized under Par-nts, After School, Medical, Schools, etc.

The flip-up alendar in the center has plenty of room for notes and list of Reminders, geared to the month. Even the tost haphazard will get organized with this one. Nature in its glory, all from Scribner's: The Audubon Nature Calendar, $6.95 is traditional and eautiful. August features a black walnut tree in a olden field of wheat near Lake Odessa, Mich. The Audubon Engagement Calendar," $6.95 offers a onus to photographers.

Camera, film and aperture re listed with each fine picture such as a lone oak at flight taken in Gladwin County, Mich. Nikon F2, iodachrome 25 at 1 secondFH. "Jacques Cousteau's 984 Undersea World Calendar," $6.95, is filled with ire sea creatures most of us never knew existed. A ansparent medusa; a Caribbean fan worm; a swim-ling file shell, black bar squirrel fish. Pictures are ramatic against glossy black borders.

"The 1984 N. oWyeth Calendar," $6.95. Here are the rich Wyeth aintings from the centennial edition of Robert Louis tevenson's "Treasure Island," issued in 1981. A erfect gift for young readers who have just discov-red pirates. All spiral bound.

i UNIQUE: "The Robert Bateman Naturalist's Dia-f1984," Holt, Rinehart WinstonMadison Press, 8.95. With 30 paintings by the naturalist-artist who ves in southern Ontario, this diary includes seasonal lformation, some of it close at hand, on where to see wildlife, plus four nature walks. It's a beauty. MAGICAL: Michael Hague's 1984 Unicorn Calen-ar, Holt, Rinehart Winston, $6.95. Hague, who lustrated last year's beautiful edition of "The Wizard Oz," has drawn a calendar full of delights.

Little eople, mermaids, gnomes, fairy godmothers and, of ourse, silvery prancing, dancing unicorns. EXQUISITE: "Metropolitan Flowers 1984," Holt, tinehart Winston, $8.95. More than two dozen lower paintings from the Metropolitan Museum are eproduced in gorgeous color, most in large detail ccompanied by a small full image. As a bonus, a enterfold by John La Farge can be removed at year's nd as a poster. When we first meet Peter Kempton, he and his mother, Sarah, are leaving their elegant no charge." The wives, all in similar crisp print dresses, look as if "they're covered all.

over with their husbands' neckties," she says. Dis-y, consolate in the life her husband and Stim have created, Sarah retreats into herself. PETER, THE NARRATOR, tells the story in flashback. When World War II explodes their lives, the big house is closed and eachjt family member sets out in separate, unexpected directions. At boarding school and then at Harvard, Peter begins his journey toward inde- pendent thinking.

He re-examines the cious tales and images of his past. At the end of this lyrically written novel, family secrets tumble out. Peter discovers that people who shaped his childhood his mother's father, his mother, his father, Stim were not as they seemed. As his understanding grows, Peter painfully comes to terms with the -truths, illusions and false premises of his child- hood. Suzanne Dolezal is a Free Press staff'-' writer.

and writing symbols and sums in slender notebooks. Henry's hero is his wealthy English boss, Peter (Stim) Stimpson, whose domineering presence is deeply resented by Sarah. The Kempton children Randolf, Susan and Peter live in a "dazzling wisteria-drenched house" with a swimming pool, apple orchard and poodles bounding across the lawn. Against this idyllic backdrop are the chilly cross-currents of the family's relationships. Husband and wife grow farther apart with every year, and the children feel closer to the Italian gardener and the German nanny than they do to either parent.

The source of the Kempton wealth is Stim, who lives in an even bigger house nearby. Stim gives Kempton land and lends him money to build his house; his gardeners cut Kempton's grass and his ponies are ridden by the Kempton children. Kempton is grateful for the patronage, but to Sarah it is a crushing surrender. Sarah dismisses the neighborhood gentry who show up at Stim's parties as "neutrons they have bulk, they're there but they have the take-off point for Winthrop Knowlton's first novel, "False Premises," which is an exquisitely written account of childhood illusions and the thorny secrets lying just below the Kempton family's smooth facade. The story begins with Sarah's account of her father's experiments with electricity in March of 1886.

After laying cable from store to store along Main Street in Ellsworth Falls, Sarah's father assembled "everyone in the county" to watch as he pushed down hard on a metal lever. At first, nothing happened. Then the light appeared, flickered, flung itself from the storefronts and "lay on the dark, damp streets like slabs of butter." As word of his accomplishment spread, Sarah's father, "in his white suit glowing like a filament in one of his slender bulbs," made his fortune wiring other towns with electricity. WHILE SARAH considers her father a visionary hero, she has nothing but contempt for her husband, Henry, a Wall Street banker who spends most of his time reading newspapers home on Long Island North Shore to pay their monthly visit to Sarah's widowed mother in Connecticut. It is the summer of 1939 and Peter is 10.

They are driving along twisting country roads, Sarah weaving dreamy stories about the "olden days," Peter taking in every word' Knowlton like a sponge absorb ing water. Sarah Kempton's stories about her past are 13 Mars expeditions amaze future earth travelers Gef more out of life Call us. Come in. Register now. kids on kids' books The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury, Bantam Books: This is a glimpse of the world in the 2000s (21st Century).

It tells of four expeditions to Wayne State University College of Lifelong Learning Lost in the Devil's Desert, by G. Shurzynski, Lothrop Lee: This is a great book about a brave boy named Kevin. He is visiting a small place in Utah. On his stop in a junkyard, he becomes a witness of a crime. By acci Mars miring wnicn the earthlings learn that there is no other world like their own.

I thought the book was intriguing and I think that all science fiction lovers will eniov it. As dent, escaping criminals take him in a truck, dropping him in a desert. Thirst, rattlesnakes, hots, colds and loneliness are for several days trying Kevin's strength. At last a shepherd finds him and brings him College Credit Courses for degree fulfillment, professional advancement, job changes and personal enrichment Fall 1983 book notes Laura you will see, Ray Porterfield Bradbury has an incredible talent for writing futuristic settings. Laura Porterfield, 11, grade 6, Farrand School, Plymouth Shadow of a Bull, by Maia Wojcie-chowska, Atheneum: Manola lives in Mark Miller Dack to civilization.

Mark Miller, 8, grade 2, Park-dale Elementary, Milford Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harper Row: This Poetry: Black America A poet's return: Gwendolyn Brooks will make her nnual visit from Chicago, to read Sunday, Sept. 4, at 4 74 Glendale, Highland Park. Her work, which overs more than three decadesand earned a Pulitzer or poetry in 1950, deals, in the words of one with the day-by-day scene of black American life and) in the immaculate precision of her speech, is nsurpassed, even by Langston Hughes." Library series: Junior Great Books will meet ii weekly at the Detroit Main Library, 5201 Wood-vard, Oct.l-Apr. 7. Registration is free; books will ost about $8.

Call 833-1492 from 9:30 a.m. 5:30 i.m. Tuesday through Saturday, except Wednesday, vhen hours are 1:00 to 9:00 p.m. Call or visit one of our convenient centers. Open daily Monday through Friday, evenings Monday through Thursday.

Registration Now through September 2 for classes beginning September 6. hook comes auer irn mi jim. the shadow or his dead father, a famous Spanish bullfighter. Everyone expects Manola to become a legend, too his father all over again. What no one knows is that inside, Manolo is really a coward and feels sorrv for 1 "Little House in Hi You need not be formally admitted to the University to take credit classes at one of our conveniently located extension centers in: Birmingham Groves High School 20500 W.

Thirteen Mile Birmingham 48010 642-2661 Downriver Schafer High School 15100 Northline Southgate 48195 284-5335 Northeast Detroit St. Basil School 22860 Schroeder at 9 Mile East Detroit 48021 771-3730 the Big Woods." It is about a family that crosses a big river. They lose their dog and at night they see something. It is really their bulldog but they think he's a wolf. This is Amy Gibson the bull.

Because Detroit's best-sellers Fees You can register now gnd pay in September. Visa and Master Card accepted. U.S. Current Week Detroil Previous Week Laura Coon ereat story. It of his fear, he tries the fancy turns at night with his grandfather's muleta.

Can he ever be like his honored father, a father he has never known? Amy Gibson, 13, 7th grade, Derby Middle School, Birmingham. S.W.A.K. Sealed With a Kiss, by Judith Enderle, Tempo Books: Beth is a gives you an idea of what it was like in the old days. Laura Coon. 6, grade 2, May-field School, Lapeer Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes, Houghton Mifflin: I would recommend We go out of our way So you don't have to Southfield 25610 W.

Eleven Mile Southfield 48034 358-2104 16-year-old shy, bright girl who is finding love notes addressed to her in the library where she works. Beth thinks they're from Sandy Grange, the cutest guy in school. But her friend, Ginny, thinks they're FICTION 1. Chrltlne King 2. The Seduction of Peter S.

Sanders 3. Hollywood Wlvee Collins 4. Little Drummer Girl Ie Carre 5. Name of the Rose Eco 6. Godplayer Cook 7.

August Rossner 8. Return ot the Jedl Vinge 9. The Summer ol Katya Trevanian 0. Who Killed the Robins Family? Ad-jrChastain Heartburn Ephron White Gold Wlelder Donaldson GENERAL 1. In Search of Excellence Peters Waterman 2.

Megatrends Naisbett 3. One Minute Manager Blanchard Johnson 4. Creating Wealth Allen 5. Jane Fonda's Workout Book Fonda 6. Out on a Limb MacLaine 7.

How to Live to be 100 Burns 8. Growing Up Baker 9. Blue Highways Moon 10. Nothing Down Allen Price ol Power Hersh Last Lion Manchester 1 7 2 5 3 4 5 6 4 1 8 8 6 3 7 2 9 9 10 1 1 3 3 4 2 2 4 5 6 6 5 9 7 9 7 8 8 10 10 Johnny i remain to any person, young or old, who is interested in the 1773-1775 period of American life just before the Revolutionary War. The book tells about the beginning of the war and the Sons of Liberty.

It also from Matt Mor- Jessica Haney row, Other Locations Detroit Madison Heights Mt. Clemens Oak Park Warren 577-4671 a boy in tne HDrary. ineyre a boy in Wilson Philip Wayne State University always signed: S.W.A.K. The mystery starts to make sense when Beth decides to try out for the lead in "Oklahoma!" It's very up-to-date and I loved it! Jessica Haney, 10, grade 5. Me-dowlake, Birmingham tells of famous people like Sam Adams and Paul Revere.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Philip Wilson, 12, grade 6, Brook-lands School. Rochester .1 The Detroit list Is based on a survey of area bookstores. rhA national Hsf Is romnited bv the New York Times. i idl ifli iflt nit fv iff ft i frrfH rn ii mn.