The Typewriter's Tale
By Michiel Heyns. (St. Martin's Press, 288 pages, $25.99.)
The "typewriter" in this tale is actually a young woman who is taking dictation for novelist Henry James (1843-1916), the author of "Daisy Miller," "The Wings of the Dove" and the truly creepy "The Turn of the Screw." The heroine, Frieda Wroth, is one of the first people ever taught to use the newfangled device, and she is referred to as a typewriter, a label she did not care for but one that is preferable to the title of wife as she finds her beau insufferable.
Frieda, 23, is a person of dry wit. Here is her observation about a recalcitrant spirit at a séance: "Explanations and explications she took to be the stuff of earthly commerce, from which one was exempted at death. If death was not a state of silence, there was little to be said for it."
Her observations seem a bit pithy for one so young but she might be a person of unusual insight.
This book is not for everyone: All those concise observations piled on one another can require some wading. However, it is clever with a moral sensibility that is engaging, funny and thought-provoking.
Author Michiel Heyns is a professor emeritus in English at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and clearly is an authority on Henry James.
BECKY WELTER
Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
By Bret Baier. (William Morrow, 346 pages, $28.99.)
The timing of this book — on how President Dwight Eisenhower tried to prepare President-elect John Kennedy and the nation for the challenges ahead as he left office — couldn't be better. We've recently witnessed a cross-party presidential transition of our own, and the new president is the first since Eisenhower without previous political experience. Ike's historical reputation is higher than ever; a recent C-SPAN poll of historians and political scientists rated him fifth best among all presidents, behind only Lincoln, Washington and the Roosevelts. Eisenhower's final warning on the threat to democratic government posed by concentrated influence in the armaments industry resonates more than ever today.
But this book, by a Fox News Channel anchor, is a disappointment. Bret Baier wraps a sketch of Ike's life into a recounting of his final days in office, when he delivered his Farewell Address and met with JFK. But much of the book is an unabashed love letter. There's no doubt that Eisenhower was a superior president; he ended the Korean War, avoided nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union and deftly managed the federal government. But he was slow coming to grips with civil rights (as was Kennedy), his tenure was marked by recession and he left relations with the Communist world in shambles. Baier reproves Eisenhower only for failing to publicly condemn Red-baiting Republican Sen. Joe McCarthy.
The book also suffers from sloppy editing. Ike's "worst day" in office is said to have occurred on April 31, and his Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare is said to have been "the first woman to sit on a presidential cabinet"; that would be news to Frances Perkins, secretary of labor under Franklin Roosevelt. According to the book, Ike and Mamie were interviewed by People magazine for their 50th wedding anniversary (in 1966), but People didn't hit the newsstands until 1974, five years after Eisenhower's death. If you're looking for a good recent book on Ike, better to go with selections by Jean Edward Smith, Evan Thomas or grandson David Eisenhower.
KEVIN DUCHSCHERE
