Viewing page 74 of 100

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

FREEDOMWAYS           FIRST QUARTER 1968

power in Peking. He refers to a 1962 State memorandum as the responsibility of the Johnson Administration, and at another point contradicts himself by placing the same individual both in prison and out of prison during the same period of time.

There is no doubt that the growing U.S. domination of Thai political and economic affairs is leading to serious consequences which are certain to plague us and the world for some years to come. Mr. Lomax's book renders a service in alerting us to this involvement and is therefore a useful contribution to public education.

Robert S. Browne

ANTHOLOGY OF NEW WRITING

FROM THE ASHES: VOICES OF WATTS, Edited and with an introduction by Budd Schulberg, The New American Library, New York. 277 pages. $5.95.

THE MOST IMPORTANT thing about this book of literature from Watts is its existence. The fact that a sizable body of imaginative and creative literature can be credited to the residents of this community belies the assumption, advanced by some reporters and pseudo-sociologists, that this community is lost without salvation. The anthology is a testament to the fact that there is latent creative talent and hope in the ghettos of America, and this talent, depending upon how it is used, could be the cause of America's salvation or destruction.

The contents of this anthology are as different as people are different. There is no typical Watts writer. The authors contributing include a gentle ex-soldier, and eighteen-year-old high school dropout, a woman in her middle years originally from the backwoods of Louisiana, a student at Stanford, an itinerant newspaperman, a social worker and others of diverse talents and personalities. The selections range from Harry Dolan's now famous TV play Losers Weepers to Leumas Sirrah's haunting abstract poetry.

Under ordinary circumstances these writers would never have met, and some of them might not have attempted writing at all. The tragic explosion of Watts brought them together and joined them in a single effort that had many dimensions. Collectively they shared
72

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-12 17:36:02 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-12 17:39:07