REFLECTIONS OF AN ANGRY MIDDLE- AGED EDITOR

For over a decade this particular ""angry middle-aged (45) editor"" has been one of the most dependable, challenging, clear-headed and outspoken of the liberals- using that much abused term in its proper sense. He is on the staff of the N.Y. Post but his voice goes farther than the audience of that paper. This volume is not autobiographical except as the man comes through his opinions. His reflections start with a public debate with Jack Kerouac, voice of the Beat Generation, and ends with a public debate with William Buckley, Jr., editor of the National Review and defender of the late Senator McCarthy. In between he lashes out at those Liberals who have retreated and the Conservatives who want to leave well enough alone. He is no respecter of shibboleths but is openly challenging and critical of people, causes and ideas that he feels deny freedom, human dignity and the so-called ""bourgeois"" virtues. There is a splendid chapter on the conversion of John Gates, one time editor of the Daily Worker; a revealing chapter on Vice President Nixon, which appeared in a recent issue of The Progressive, an intimate portrait of Senator Humphrey, whom he deeply respects but is fully cognizant of his weaknesses. Worthwhile reading in times when all Americans need to dust out the cobwebs in our thinking.