THE IDEA INVADERS

Mountain-high data went into the tome here, so note its trio of authors- all of NYU's Communications Arts Group- but frankly the tone's frequently strident or slap-dash, and the content, while timely, is trite. Or is if you've been keeping up with the Sunday Supplements. Are we losing the East-West propaganda battle? Is the American ""image"" being misrepresented? How can we turn our massive mass communication outlets into ""windows on the world""? These and other queries are ""alarmingly"" posed and answered. Generally, we're a mess. After a bow towards history (Goebbels' Big Lie technique; Marxist-Leninist agitprops), the survey swings through oca Cola vs the French winegrowers, Khrushchev's visit to gaudy, gutless Hollywood, ur entertainment exports of sex and violence, our lack of uplifting or consistent cultural exchanges, the disadvantages of parochia, pampered Americans abroad, the problems of hard sell and soft sell via USIA, VOA and Radio Free Europe, the old bit about America's materialistic, anti-intellectual temper etc., etc. So-called closeups and case-studies are used, and lots of hard-hitting attitudes struck. Strictly for those who've been away off in the country ever so long.