Atrocities of the Mind: Essays on Violence and Politics in the American Century, by Dwight Macdonald, edited by John Summers, University of Chicago Press, 310 pages, $25
If the mid–20th century was the nadir of American liberties and the (Caesarist) salad days of the American imperium, it was also a golden age of literary journalism whose luster was enhanced by the slashing wit of that self-described "conservative anarchist," Dwight Macdonald. Historian John Summers has compiled 25 of Macdonald's best essays in Atrocities of the Mind, and boy, is this ever welcome.
