European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Books common sense the cure for americans ills in fill mul Promise a commenting on America by John Chancellor Harper amp Row 176 pp., $17.95 Peter Kumpa suppose we were Hack in the Middle Ages Ami our last five presidents had been Kings. John Chancellor believes that they might have been called Lyndon die devious Richard the Crook Gerald the Unready James the incapable and Ronald the l Schanler. All of these men die senior commentator for Nike news concedes did Good and important things but not one provided the extraordinary leadership the country needed. Rather he writes they represent �?o17 years of Hopes raised and Hopes in his commentary a peril and Promise a cd Hane Ellor holds that the United states is in crisis and offers common sense solutions that done to require turning the Constitution on its head. I Lis review of die past two decades details America s decline from a Heady Post world War ii dominance. The problems Are familiar ones a loss in technological advantage the disaster of Public education the quagmire of National debt the crumbling of cities but above All the Triumph of political mediocrity. He spares no party and no institution. Tit is is no partisan diatribe a self confess cd a frightened Optimist a Chancellor maintains that american decline is not inevitable. The country is larger and stronger than most people think he says. Above All he wants a new political vocabulary not Liberal and conservative but pragmatic reasonable and cooperative. Chancellor would abolish presidential primaries and caucuses that arc too often dominated by a zealous single Issue he would leave lie Choice of candidates to National conventions where delegates Are seasoned political professionals. Such a system might be Messy but Chancellor is sure it would produce More electable candidates and not the Darlings of either the left or right. 1 be would also ban political advertising on television. Rather than those 30-Sccond spots that invite deceit and escape from reality prime time could be opened to honest debate. Because members of Congress have to spend More time seeking Campaign funds than legislating Chancellor would Cut Back or eliminate contributions of political action committees. He would open Congress to new blood and kick out the special interests by having Public financing of campaigns. He does no to think the proposed 12-Ycar limit on congressional service is such a a wild Chancellor would raise some taxes to attack the huge National debt. He would Cut some entitlement programs even social Security payments to the Rich. And to address the crisis of an education system whose graduates can to decipher a Railroad timetable he would have a 12-month school year and a longer school Day. Three decades ago when Chancellor was Abc s Moscow correspondent he was my next door neighbor. He would bring his Telephone on its 35-foot Extension Cord the longest in town Over to my apartment. There we would discuss John Chancellor Lias some Strong Medicine Tor what ails the United states. The follies of the soviet Union its insane Economy and distorted one party politics. We agreed on the cures for the Kremlin a Many ailments. Never did i believe then that some of the same Medicine would be needed for what ails our own country. Baltimore Sun. The Book la available in stars and stripes sequel Worth forgetting memories of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon William Morrow 100 pp., $14.95 Don o Briant who n i saw that Sidney Sheldon had written a sequel to a the other Side of Midnight 1974i tried to recall exactly what his earlier novel was about. Was it the one about the feisty Beautiful heroine who was framed for murder and then became a jewel chief or was it about the feisty Beautiful heroine who was forced to flee a Convent with a gang of Basque revolutionaries one thing for sure it was about a feisty Beautiful heroine. Most of Sheldon a novels arc. In a memories of Midnight Quot his latest contribution to literary junk food the master of the melodrama trots out Catherine Douglas the american widow Given up for dead in a tire other Side of Midnight Quot Catherine s Pilot husband and his mistress have been executed by the greek government for murder a Catherine s Quot murder a and the amnesiac Sidney Sheldon Catherine has been living under a new identity in a Convent supported by the vengeful shipping tycoon Constantin Demeris. It was Decris s wife who was executed with Catherine s husband and it was Demeris who framed the now in an apparent act of kindness Demeris plucks Catherine from the Convent and gives her a Job with one of his companies in London. Has the greek repented of his sins absolutely not. He intends to kill Catherine and Complete his revenge. Arac ters have already been introduced in a the other Side of Midnight a Sheldon does not bother to develop them. The exceptions Are Spyros Lambrou a rival but lesser shipping tycoon and his sister Melina who is now married to the woman izing Demeris. The two men Are bitter rivals and much of the Book is devoted to their Competition. All of this has the makings of an interesting plot Sheldon puts in a variety of twists that would play Well on a television miniseries but the characters Are As Flat As the printed Page. And unbelievable. A shipping tycoon As shrewd As Demeris is plausible but the bumbling Spyros seems incapable of commanding a Fleet of rowboats. When he devises a plan to finance supertanker with american Oil companies Money he divulges the scheme to his sister Melina who promptly tells her husband who beats him to the punch. Even Catherine does not live up to the standards of past Sheldon heroines. Apparently Convent life took a lot out of her because she acts More like a helpless Maiden than a woman capable of taking charge of her own destiny. None of these complaints is Likely to deter those who devoured Sheldon a earlier books. But i found a memories of Midnight eminently forgettable. Bookstct3 servlc0�?~0 took 13 available at Slars and stripes pages c sunday september 30.1990
