Books: A Second Look

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Few historical figures have captured literary imaginations as thoroughly as Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered 800 years ago at the instigation of his King and former friend, Henry II. T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral and Jean Anouilh's play and film Becket examined the irresistible character who, upon slipping into clerical garb, warned his King that he would serve his new divine master as faithfully as he had served his old human one. He became a devoted protector of church rights and, inevitably, a resolute enemy of his monarch. Richard Winston, a translator who has also written a biography of Charlemagne, has produced an exceptionally clear and precise account of that momentous confrontation. In his hands, the antagonists emerge not only as complicated personalities who fall victim to situations of their own making but also as resonant symbols of the bitter struggle between church and state—a struggle that was to significantly alter Western history.

CHILDREN OF CRTSISA STUDY OF COURAGE AND FEAR by Robert Coles. 401 pages. Atlantic-Little, Brown. $8.50.

Since 1958, Robert Coles, a research psychiatrist at Harvard, has studied the reactions of both blacks and whites who were involved in the desegregation of Southern schools. His findings are compelling evidence of the psychological damage that can be caused by virulent racism. A small Negro girl, Coles notes, drew pictures of white people as larger and more lifelike than Negroes; when she drew Negroes, their bodies were disjointed. A white boy depicted Negroes as more animal than human. By the time they are three years old, Coles says, black children are already learning the values and fears of the color caste system. Yet Coles found that, in general, those Negro children who were thrust into the front ranks of the integration crises came through their experiences without serious emotional wounds. In fact, many seemed to gain strength from their awareness of the historical significance of their roles. Acts of courage by ordinary people were common. Coles could find no definite correlation between certain psychological types and civil rights activists. Rather, he feels that it was some interaction between person and situation that determined what form behavior took. What raises Coles's book far above the level of an interesting series of case studies is the warmth of tone, the freedom from specialist jargon and the understanding of differences. Although he is a strong supporter of civil rights, Coles also shows great respect for the traditions of the South.

THE CHINESE LOOKING GLASS by Dennis Bloodworth. 432 pages. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $6.95.