Book Reviews : Poltical Hysteria in America: The Democratic Gapacity for Repression. By MUR- RAY B. LEVIN. (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 197 1. Pp. 312. $8.50.)

• Date: 01 December 1972
• Published date: 01 December 1972
• Author: Gordon Lloyd
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297202500418
• Subject Matter: Articles

792

However,

389

pages

of

notes

covering

the

nine

chapters

of

the

book

follow

the

289

pages

of

appendices.

These

notes

are

set

in

yet

smaller

type,

probably

6

point

on

8,

and,

therefore,

constitute

the

most

massive

section

of

the

entire

volume.

These

notes

illustrate

that

in

this

&dquo;quite

personal,

even

autobiographical&dquo;

volume,

George

Ar~astaplo

must

be

a

far

more

interesting

individual

than

conveyed,

even

in

Appen-

dix

F.

The

notes

contain,

among

other

things,

quotations

from

Hamlet,

homely

common

sense

aphorisms,

descriptive

situations

of

anecdotal

quality,

and

are

studded

with

references

and

quotations

from

Plato’s

Timaeus,

Aristotle’s

Physics,

Marcel

Proust,

the

World

Almanac,

Melville’s

Moby

Dick,

Isaiah

Berlin,

Lord

Byron,

Bernard

Shaw,

and

most

of

the

books

many

of

us

have

encountered.

Some

interesting

contemporary

value

judgments

are

rendered,

such

as

the

item

at

page

423:

&dquo;The

freest

press

in

the

world

today

may

be,

in

one

sense,

the

Congressional

Record,

reflecting

as

no

other

journal

can

divergent

sectional

prejudices

and

per-

sonal

interests.

A

study

of

its

contents ...

provides

one

a

useful

indication

of

what

one’s

fellow

citizens

are

concerned

about

and

moved

by.

(Its

principal

deficiency

today

is

with

respect

to

’radical

opinion

of

the

Left’

- but

even

that

finds

its

way

in

as

’bad

examples.’... )

&dquo;

The

389

pages

of

&dquo;Notes&dquo;

supplement

Appendix

F

as

an

indication

of

the

bibliographical

adventures

and

experiences

of

the

author,

that

range

far,

far

and

away

from

briefs

and

citations

of

case

law.

With

respect

to

the

main

text

itself,

I

came

away

with

the

feeling

that

if

Pro-

fessor

Anastaplo

had

told

us

more,

instead

of

often

telling

us

what

he

is

telling

and

explaining

what

he

is

explaining,

that

this

portion

of

the

volume

could

have

been

more

useful.

The

dust

jacket

summary

conveniently provides

information

that

Dr.

Anas-

taplo,

born

in

St.

Louis

in

1925,

received

A.B.,

J.D.

and

Ph.D.

degrees

from

the

University

of

Chicago,

is

currently

Professor

of

Political

Science

and

of

Philosophy

at

Rosary

College,

and

Lecturer

in

the

Liberal

Arts

at

the

University

of

Chicago.

Utah

System

of

Higher

Education

G.

HOMER

DURHAM

Poltical

Hysteria

in

America:

The

Democratic

Gapacity

for

Repression.

By

MUR-

RAY

B.

LEVIN.

(New

York:

Basic

Books,

Inc.,

197 1.

Pp

. 312.

$8.50.)

Murray

Levin’s

central

thesis

is

that

American

culture

is

one

dimensional

and,

consequently,

contains

an

intrinsic

capacity

for

overt

hysteria

and

seductive

repres-

sion.

Levin

argues

that

the

critical

feature

of

the

American

tradition

is

the

sys-

tematic

elimination

of

alternatives

to

the

political

and

economic

liberalism

of

John

Locke

and

Adam

Smith

by

the

techniques

of

national

panic

and

social

manipula-

tion.

The

unswerving

adherence

over

two

centuries

to

a

dogmatic

liberal

ideology

means

that

only

one

perspective

or

tradition

is

legitimate

and

taken

seriously

in

America.

Genuine

liberation

and

genuine

democracy

is

impossible

in

America

unless

fundamental

qualitative

changes

are

made

in

the

nature

of

American

culture.

But

the

American

elite

contains

and

undermines

all

changes

in

the

direction

of

genuine

socialism.

Contemporary

America

is

oppressive

and

reactionary

because