---7- li~elvi(crng~r I i y-Juuu y;- Page 10-Sunday, October 15, 1978-The Michigan Daily he cha enge, of being Anwar Sadat, w."-,"" Bill Buckley: Wine and words from the right By Sue Warner By Gregg Krupa IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY By Anwar Sadat .Harper & Row 343 pp. $12.95 T O STATE in matter of fact terms the events of a life so extraordinary as that of Anwar Sadat is a task that rivals the challenge of actually living that life. And yet it is in that style - a style totally lacking of pretention, albeit clouded by political expediency - that Anwar el-Sadat tells of his search for identity. Sadat is a man so at peace with himself he feels no necessity for self-aggrandizement. He is a man so proud there is no need to boast. The facts, as he remembers them, tell their own story. And yet he is so thoroughly a politician that he often attempts to cover the tracks of his and his country's questionable excursions Gregg Krupa is co-editor of the Dailv. as they search for identity. Digressions and qualifications abound in the book. But Sadat's purpose is not to retain per- sonal stature but rather to retain political credibility for himself and Egypt in the globar political arena - perhaps most especially with the United States. The autobiography casts Sadat in many roles, first as a country boy filled with love for the land, his country, and his family. Yet at the same time, he is filled with hatred for the colonial power, that kept him from calling the land and the country his own. He longed to have Egypt for the Egyptians as it had been for centuries before the arrival of the British and their voracious appetite for global possessions. At an early age he realized that an alien force kept Egyptians from gover- ning Egypt. He hated the British even before he knew there were British. See SADAl, Page 12 - OU'RE WRONG, Buckley. You're wrong, Buckley," bel- lows a young man, standing among the rows of empty seats. He cups his hands around his mouth and swivels slowly from left to right, repeating his message in a rhythmic drone. The rest of the crowd is filing out of Hill Auditorium but the words of the long-haired student continue to fill the auditorium until workmen arrive to clear the podium off the stage and lock the doors. But William Buckley cannot hear his critic. He is cloistered backstage in a sparse conference room, immersed in the classical music he is pounding out on an old piano. The music seems to relieve some of the tension Buckley has been under while espousing his conservative philosophy to this Ann Arbor audience, made up of many people who think he is wrong. Buckley's ideology is not popular here, or, for that matter at most colleges and universities where the liberal doctrines he so detests flourish. His political and economic ideas, such as replacing the progressive income tax with a propor- tional one, are scoffed at here, but even Buckley's most ardent opponents admit that his eloquence and rationale are dif- ficult to refute. It has become cliche for liberals to dismiss Buckley, mumbling something like, "I disagree completely with what he says, but he says it very well." Sue Warner is co-editor of the Sunday Magazine. Yet Buckley cannot be dismissed easily - as a bull-headed conservative who fails to reason out his positions. There is logic behind every statement he makes and one can hardly avoid those statements. Buckley is a prolific writer and an articulate speaker. He pops up just about everywhere, national magazines, television, and on this most recent trip to Ann Arbor, the apartment of a graduate student. After his speech, Buckley retreats to this modern apartment to talk with a group of 10 students. The host obviously did not expect this visit, as damp laun- dry is strewn throughout the living room. The flustered student scurries about, gathering up shirts and under- wear, but Buckley isn't phased. "How's the bar?" he inquires, while slouching into the couch. HE IS TRYING to fit in, sipping white wine from a chemistry beaker, but it is an odd situation. Buckley jokes that "something is rotten" because the wine is "much too good for a graduate student." Buckley makes a point of remembering the students' names; he shakes hands and autographs books but the evening 'seems to become a stilted exercise in civility. Everyone is very cordial but the talk is far from lively. As the conversation drifts from Vivaldi to Jerry Brown to the almost inevitable topic - television, Buckley. alternates between states of animation and lethargic disinterest while the Pachelbel "Canon" plays on in the background. "I bore easily," Buckley remarks at one point. His eyes are bloodshot and the demands of the lec- ture earlier that evening have taken their toll physically. And maybe Buckley is bored. He does most of the talking, and chat- ters on even wien the whistle of a train passing nearby completely drowns him out. His audience has settled into a semi-circle around him and Buckley's eyes roam from face to face, main- taining contact for almost uncomfor- table lengths of time. His words roll out over and over in the slow, east coast ac- cent often associated with the very rich. The anecdotes he tells, tales of talk shows and phone calls from famous people, are amusing but at times he flies off on a tangent, while the students smile and bob their heads. "Does anyone remember Poujade?" Buckley interjects abruptly. "IUmmm, uh, not really ... So Buckley leans forward and delves into the story of Poujade, a Frenchman who led a tax revolt in that country during the 1950s. But when he com- pletes his monologue on Poujade, Buckley is met with blank stares. He changes the subject. THERE ARE some in the room who do not share Buckley's opinions,,but they are unwilling to challenge him. Who would? His Obsession with the Jewish past A JEW TODAY By Elie Wiesel Random House, Inc. 290 pp. $10.00 H E TELLS a story as if possessed by an unbreakable force ordering him to reveal the truth. This force rules him day and night, continually reminding him of his duty to let the young Jewish generation know what happened. In each story the message is broadcasted loud and clear: Jews have suffered and they continue to suffer. He is Elie Wiesel, the well-known Jewish historian, author, prophet and spokesman for the Jewish people. And if anyone has a story to tell, it's him. Wiesel is a survivor of the Holocaust, the Nazi crusade to annihilate Europe's Jewish population in the early 1940s. As a teenager, he suffered through a. year at Auschwitz, the concentration camp where the Germans gassed to death thousands of Jews each day. In his latest book, A Jew Today, Wiesel summons many of his most bit- ter and sad memories and explains why they still haunt him 34 years later. He says he can never again trust mankind, because they stood by passivelyhtowat- ch the Germans commit the most horrible crime of all - genocide. The book is a collection of short stories and essays mixed beautifully to Michael Arkush is a Daily day ed it or.-..E By Michael Arkush of the future. He reveals his inner struggle for freedom to escape his har- sh view of reality that Jews are both the most blessed and cursed of all peoples. In one of his stories, Wiesel talks about his grandfather who practiced Judaism every day until his death, even though he was imprisoned in a concen- tration camp. His grandfather remained strong right under the noses of the Nazi. soldiers. Refusing to bend down and plead for mercy, he stood silent and stared them straight in the eyes. The. soldiers kept laughing and taunting the old man but he did not once change his expression. Wieselcalls it another kind of resistance to the Hitler troops. Assuming his second role, Wiesel says he is afraid of another Jewish tragedy. He denies any future event could remotely approach the ramifications and everlasting effect of the Holocaust; but he says the anti- Jewish propaganda rapidly increases each day, with no apparent end in sight. He explains: "In October 1973, while the Israeli army was experiencing grave, -almost fatal reverses, Western Europe, with only rare exceptions, refused to help and, much worse;,at- tempted to sabotage America's aid. "Is a posthumous victory for Hitler conceivable?" he asks. He 'also expresses fear that right- wing scholars might become successful in blotting the memory of the Hitler atrocities out of history books. He men- tions the pamphlets that circulate around Germany which call the Holocaust the "hoax of the century". And he worries that these lies may at- tract more supporters. Wiesel reveals for the first time why it took him ten yearsuntil the mid- 1950s, to begin to tell his story. "So heavy was my anguish that I made a vow, not to speak, not to touch upon the essential for at least ten years. Long enough to see clearly. Long enough to until the language of man with the silence of the dead," he ex- plains. But he couldn't hold the truth in any longer. He realized that it is the world's right, and especially the right of every Jew, to know each aspect of the Holocaust, to know so that it won't hap- pen again, to know to understand man's potential for destruction. To know and to repent forever. Yet, man hasn't learned the lesson, according to Wiesel. Three decades af-. ter the event, man continues to destroy, and persecute, and remain unconcer- ned when tragedy strikes at the other end of the globe. See WIESEL, Page 12 hallmark ar is debate. I the room ar ber the 1966 Buckley an national TV once aske refused to a program Fi "Why does der?" Buckley a one of the s point out ar Buckley's philosophy, rebuttal. In that since Americans dropped fro "But," th have becor isn't that dr "Nope,"> pulls out a! he seems tc figures sust graph (indi has stalled per cent oui nine per cer "Oh, I s Although exaggerate has a well- society. In liberal, eas Buckley an magazine b in-chief sin country's f servative ti "I'm a c unofficial r And Buck It has beer the broad famous as ponents. I assuming a says he c] because he language. to substitu forfeit som "capacity ween parti to make"p He prat See] suit Wiesel's double role. First and foremost, he is an historian who tells the facts, fears, and prayers which ac- companied the Jews during their struggle to live..- Secondly, he is a prophet who refers tohistast asjutificatioA for his fea I