Books: Search for Civitas

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The one right that is most frequently trampled on, noted Spanish Philosopher Ortega y Gasset, 40 years ago, is the right to continuity. It is that essential link with the past that Bell is intent on reforging. Others are entering similar pleas, but Bell's seems the most brilliantly argued. Moving fluently from Marx to Mallarmé to Andy Warhol, he makes use of modernists' own arguments to reject their conclusions. His adversaries should have no trouble understanding him and perhaps heeding him. Bell's book is the year's most promising start on the long road back to civitas.

Edwin Warner