Book Reviews : The Superfluous Anarchist: Albert Jay Nock. By MICHAEL WRESZIN. (Providence: Brown University Press, 1972. PP. xi, 196. $8.50.)

• Author: Steve Wasby
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297202500421
• Date: 01 December 1972
• Published date: 01 December 1972
• Subject Matter: Articles

796

versus

democratization

of

our

diplomatic

corps,

repeatedly

citing

Warren

Ilch-

man’s

Professional

Diplomacy

in

the

U.S.:

1779-1939.

But

that

leaves

a

gap

of

over

thirty

years

to

the

present

time.

And

during

three

decades

revolutionary

changes

have

taken

place.

The

author

is

not

dogmatic.

Regarding

new

recruits:

&dquo;My

guess

is

that

if

the

background

were

examined ....&dquo;

Regarding

religious

background,

&dquo;My

guess

is

that....&dquo;

&dquo;Perhaps

students

who

specialize ....&dquo;

However,

the

refreshing

modesty

in

style

is

hardly

a

substitute

for

empirical

research.

Erroneous

assumptions,

such

as

&dquo;any

organization

that

requires

prospective

candidates

to

acquire

a

college

edu-

cation

in

order

to

be

eligible

for

recruitment ...

,&dquo;

do

not

create

confidence:

neither

the

military

nor

the

foreign

service

requires

a

college

degree.

Except

for

a

distrust

of

communism

and

of

disarmament,

it

is

not

made

clear

in

what

way

the

beliefs

of

the

military

are

more

&dquo;hard-line&dquo;

than

their

counterparts

in

diplomacy.

Thus

the

chapter

on

&dquo;Foreign

Policy

Beliefs&dquo;

is

doubly

disappointing:

(a)

it

does

not

fulfill

the

promise

of

the

book’s

title,

and

(b)

the

reader

is

left

totally

in

the

dark

as

to

what

a

&dquo;hard-line&dquo;

policy

might

be,

let

us

say,

toward

Japan,

or

Bangladesh,

or

Rhodesia.

Professor

Mennis

concludes

that

more

research

is

needed.

Agreed.

WILLARD

F.

BARBER

University

of

Maryland

The

Superfluous

Anarchist:

Albert

Jay

Nock.

By

MICHAEL

WRESZIN.

(Providence:

Brown

University

Press,

1972.

PP.

xi,

196.

$8.50.)

Essays

on

Radicalism

in

Contemporary

America.

By

JEROME

L.

RODNITSKY

AND

OTHERS.

(Austin:

University

of

Texas

Press,

1972.

Pp. xiv, 114.

$5.00.)

Violence:

An

Element

of

American

Life.

Edited

by

KARL

K.

TAYLOR

and

FRED

W.

SOADY,

JR.

(Boston:

Holbrook

Press,

1972,

Pp.

xii,

350.)

These

three

volumes

fit

together

only

loosely

in

terms

of

subject-matter,

but

collectively

they

say

something

to

us

about

book

construction.

The

Wreszin

volume

is

a

tightly-knit

gem,

while

the

others

are

held

together

by

little

else

than

their

covers.

Wreszin

has

written

a

fine

politico-philosophical

biography,

important

for

those

interested

in

the

history

of

ideas,

American

political

thought,

or

political

journal-

ism.

We

see

well

the

aristocratic

bias

in

an

anarchist’s

insistence

on

individual

genius,

and

Wreszin

emphasizes

the

political

position

espoused

by

an

anarchist

even

when

he

talks

of

withdrawal

from

politics

or

is

more

concerned

about

a

mood,

way

of

life,

or

general

social

and

moral

ideas

than

with

political

doctrine.

With

a

stress

on

elitist

anarchism,

the

author

gives

us

a

look

at

some

important

topics

-

including

education,

the

Progressive

movement,

violence,

and

war

and

pacifism

-

through

discussion

of

a

man,

his

work,

and

those

with

whom

the

man

interacted.

In

so

doing,

Wreszin

does

an

excellent

job

of

&dquo;compare

and

contrast&dquo;

with

Nock’s

work

and

the

thoughts

of

other

writers.

The

many

and

varied

strands

of

the

volume

are

handled

nicely

without

either

entangling

or

losing

the

reader.

In

closing,

Wreszin