AUTHORS TAKE SIDES ON VIETNAM

The authors: more than 160, most with international reputations, alphabetically arranged, include Arendt, Burroughs, Graves, McLuhan, Pinter, Riesman, Snow, Updike... The questions (patterned after a '30's poll of writers' stands on the Spanish Civil War): ""Are you for, or against, U.S. intervention in Vietnam? How, in your opinion, should the conflict be resolved?"" Majority opinion: ""no"" to the first, ""not sure"" to the second. Dominant tone: outrage, frustration and shame from Americans, indignation and a certain contempt from Europeans. Responses are based on a variety of considerations--historical, strategic, legal, moral. When it comes to politics proper, the respondents include few professional left- or right- wingers. The number and quality of the former (Deutscher, de Beauvoir, Marcuse, I.F. Stone, Lord Russell) is greater. The latter (Buckley, Lewellyn) are more moderate than the amateur anti-Communists, from Michener to Marianue Moore. No striking correlations between fame, knowledgeability and soundness--among the most eloquent and coherent are De Vries, Holbrook, James Burnham and Uwe Johnson. An appendix gives data on each writer. Quality uneven, price right, book welcome, readership large.