A LONG ROW OF CANDLES: Memoirs and Diaries (1934-1954)

In this very lengthy memoir--the author calls it a product of ""verbal diarrhea""--of twenty years (1934-54) as a roving reporter, C. L. Sulzberger of the New York Times recalls his progress from a hard-drinking young reporter who covered the Pittsburgh morgue to an internationally known foreign correspondent who dined with statesmen and kings. The early sections of the book focus on Sulzberger's years as a cub correspondent in the Balkans. There, he got to know three strange languages and numerous lithe ladies, as well as politicians and participants in palace intrigues; the chapters in which he describes them are marked by colorful and detailed observation of daily life. Later segments, drawn from the author's diaries, record Sulzberger's postwar eminence, when he had access to such luminaries as de Gaulle, Churchill, Tito, Ben Gurion, Nehru, and Ho Chi Minh. These portions shed light on current international problems, notably on the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict and on the origins of American overinvolvement in Vietnam. In time he became critical of America's hard-line anti-Communist foreign policy. His viewpoint will be familiar to readers of his syndicated column which has appeared since 1954 on the Times editorial page. But those who regularly struggle with Sulzberger's stiff prose will be agreeably surprised by the genial and often amusing writing here. Though not highly interpretive, this journal will add to the knowledge of readers curious about the crises and stellar personalities of the most frozen Cold War years.