Page 14-Saturday, June 3, 1978-The Michigan Daily
A tale of atomic terrorism by Rowe
(Contnued from Page8)
Military and economic aid, he surmises,
only secures another colony for our par-
ticular ideological virus.
THE SANITY or justification of
grand scale nuclear proliferation is the
central conflict here, but the author
chooses not to develop this to any great
extent, leaving us only with the
assurances of an imminent destruction
of U.S.-U.S.S.R. hegemony. No exten-
sive objection is made to this on any
grounds other than patriotism which is
in itself quite shallow unless that
patriotiam extenda to the entire
human race; the issue is one of global
significance. It is in the title that we
find a larger consideration. The Judas
The characters who comprise the
terroristic force are entirely one-
dimensional. Profit is their only
motivation. They are armed forces
veterans mustered out under the post-
war policy of eliminating excess of-
ficers. Dissatisfaction is an acceptable
justification these days, or at least a
workable one. Their evolution to a
capable assault force and from there to
their objective is written in a
dispassionate, explicit manner; the
development is steadfast and credible.
Rowe's motive is clearly informative,
and The Judas Squad should be
recommended to anyone interested in
the fate of American nuclear develop-
ment and its entailing bureacuracy, a
subject in which the author demon-
strates extraordinary expertise.
One question remains. Because of the
current status of nuclear power, the
author seems to edge precipitously
close to a literary form which does not
as yet have a name. The Judas Squad
could quite easily become non-fiction
given a continuance of laxity of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. How
many pounds of nuclear material was
lost last year due to "bad accounting"?
Can we safely call Rowe's concept fic-
tion? Until the recent fire that almost
caused a cataclysm at the Brown's
Ferry plant, Nerves was so much
baseless fiction. At the moment, as the
full disaster of Nerves or The Judas
Squad has yet to be realized, both
remain in a categorical limbo between
fact and fantasy. Perhaps if The Judas
Squad is given appropriate con-
sideration we may shelve it permanen-
tly under fiction, however realistically
speculative.
The geodesic dome is the only man-
made object that becomes structurally
stronger as its size increases.
Squad, like the Judas goat of
Slautherhouse fame, is leading Earth's Journaism ,critiquesbE
pslation .(Coninued raom Page9) NOR DOES presidential election White's every idiosnycrasy-and he has
is the future, and it works, and that coverage qualify as journalism. In many-and she mocks his writing style
Bu Pepandsass megroukhiestofedll." "Porter Goes to the Convention," perfectly, right down to his annoying
But if People and its mass marketed probably the most hilarious piece in the habit of repeating phrases and his pen-
SUMMER RATES spin-offs don't represent what Ephron collectionEphron details the foibles of chat f "colorful" detais: hit
belevs ounais ogh t b, eihe a reporter from the Tulark, Idaho Mor- flicked a cigarette ash.. from his forty-
B W LIN G does television news reporting. CBS' ning Herald as he trails the small-town sixth Marlboro of the day and took the
payment to H.R. Haldeman of $54,000 to mayor to the Democratic convention last sheet of hudred
50C per gam e appear on" uts an t issue o hoping to uncover a scandal, or at the Strathmore parchment typing paper
checkbook journalism in general con- very least some good dirt. from his twenty-two-year-old IBM
to 6 pm Daily vinced her the networks oughts to pay The election reporter who is really Executive typewriter. It was the
at the everyone for their stories. After all, she the target of Ephron's barbs, however, 19,246,753rd piece of typing paper he
says with typically scathing logic, "It is Theodore White, whose Making of the had typed in his sixty years. He was
UN ION will serve to remind us that, at this President volumes have set a regret- tired. He was old and tired. He was also
point at least, there is no reason to con- table standard in election reporting. short. But mainly he was tired."
fuse television news with journalism." Ephron's well-tuned ear catches EPHRON BLASTS White for missing
the boat on Watergate and paying
inadequate attention to the burgeoning
scandal. An interesting sidelight:
Ephron now happens to be married to
FOLD BACK THIS FLAP & SEAL WITH TAPE Carl Bernstein, who didn't miss the
boat on Watergate.
AH, NOW newspaper reporting, the
FROM hammering typewriters and jingling
FOc phones, that seems to qualify in
C Ephron's eye as journalism at its
c finest-amost. She recounts her own
a cdays at the New York Post under queen
__ _ _ _ _ _ _bee Dorothy Schiff, whom she likens to
Marie Antoinette ("As in let them read
schlock"). It was in the Post's squalid
city room some 15 years ago that
Ephron likely formed some of her early
impressions about the media.
Those who aren't the targets of
Ephron's wrath in Scribble Scribble
will no doubt adore her scathing wit.
Daily Classifieds Those who are, on the other hand, may
Student Publications Building never fully recover.
420 Maynard Street A final note: one media phenomenon
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48109 which Ephron fails to explore is the
book review. Pity.
F+
4 n
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