Saturday Review

Ah, the still literate 50s & 60s, when magazines would publish pocket book sized anthologies of highlights for sale on the book racks. Whenever I see one of these in thrift stores or, if moderately priced, in bookstores, I snap them up, and occasionally I actually read one! I completed this one, read as a "between book" (see first post) last night. Published in 1954, this book is described on its cover thusly: "Containing 28 articles of permanent value on a world-wide range of topics, plus 8 representative poems." And: "A third outstanding selection from The Saturday Review." I've read a few of these sorts of anthologies and they are instructive, often, in a "the more things change . . . " kind of way. This anthology, for example, contains Seymour St. John's essay, "The Fifth Freedom." This fifth freedom, St John says, "is one we are in danger of losing--the freedom to be one's best." Now, where have I heard that complaint before? There is also the requisite mourning for the death of literacy among the general populace, here provided by Gilbert Seldes in "Radio, TV and the Common Man."

I don't want to seem too glib about all this, however, both of those essays were well-written, thoughtful and, yes, even enlightening, even if the subject matter is familiar. The volume also contained some interesting time pieces, such as Dana W. Atchley's "The Healer and the Scientist," which describes how, in the mid-1950s, the traditional roles of healer and scientist were finally coming together in the field of medicine, creating doctors who were able to simultaneously fulfill both roles. It was of interest to me to get a perspective on how recent a development that is (if we even consider it to be true within modern corporate medicine anymore, at least in the U.S.). John Mason Brown's "The Trumans Leave the White House" and Paul Hume's "Rosa Ponselle of Via Pace" are two examples of the fine personal profiles contained herein.

So, overall, a fine selection of well-written essays and profiles, and some interesting time travel back to the concerns and the notable figures in the U.S., circa 1954 when this volume was published.… (more)