PRAISED AND DAMNED; The Story of Fulton Lewis, Jr.

The popular commentator unashamedly spokesman for the right, is here presented in a wholly enthusiastic profile, by an ardent admirer. For the permanent record, the book should have more value were it somewhat more objective. Herndon has chosen in a necessarily restricted overall, those achievements of Fulton Lewis, Jr. from his earliest scoop, synthetic rubber steal, through such highspots as his charge of the suppressed Pearl report, the Canol deal (Wyman a link in both investigations, as patently suspect); Pan American Highway flasco, the OPA inefficiencies, dramatized by the incident of the 3 little Swiss, the transfer of atomic secrets (some will question the authenticity of the Jordan story). In his earlier news career, before radio widened his audience, he did his bit of unearthing skullduggery in the matter of airline subsidies, and thereby lost his column. This is not confined to the recounting of his public achievements, but goes into his happy marriage and home life, the sacrifices he has been forced to make because of his politically unpopular role, his personal and public endorsement of Nixon, of Eisenhower, of McCarthy, and his recent campaign on rotten politics in his own Maryland backyard, his crusade for the wooden churches across the line from Eastern Germany, and the project of the Children's Cathedral. Definitely a book to delight his many admirers.