[873] in libertarians
John Chamberlain (1903-1995)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Tue Apr 11 16:02:52 1995
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 15:58:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
John Chamberlain, the libertarian-conservative journalist, passed away
last Sunday, April 9. Yet another great champion of liberty is gone.
In lieu of a proper obituary, I thought you might be interested in this
review of Chamberlain's autobiography, written by Roy Childs while
Chamberlain was still going strong.
____________________________
A LIFE WITH THE PRINTED WORD
by John Chamberlain
(reviewed by Roy A. Childs, Jr., August 1985)
The veteran conservative libertarian journalist John Chamberlain was
born in 1903, and took his first job in journalism in 1925. Sixty years
later, he is still going strong, as a syndicated columnist, reviewer,
essayist, and now as the author of this gem of a memoir, *A Life
With the Printed Word*.
And what a life it has been! Chamberlain began his career as
something of a socialist (he recounts how he joined none other than
Henry Hazlitt in supporting Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party
candidate for president in 1932), and moved on to become a
prominent libertarian and critic of collectivism. Along the way, he
seems to have known everyone worthy of being known. Indeed, one
of the delights of *A Life* is that it is so sprinkled with names and
events and personal portraits that a large chunk of the twentieth
century seems more alive than ever before.
Chamberlain grew up at a time when figures like Randolph Bourne,
Irving Babbitt and John Dos Passos were at the height of their
influence. One encounters them in this memoir, of course, along with
figures like Thomas Wolfe, Malcolm Cowley, Granville Hicks,
Corliss Lamont, Roger Baldwin (founder of ACLU) and Henry Luce
(founder of TIME, Inc.). The sections of his memoir on the twenties
and thirties, when he was getting his start as a young journalist, are
fascinating for the portrait they paint of some of the most important
figures of our time. Not many people today know that John
Chamberlain was the first author of the daily book review column for
the *New York Times*. He had to prove to publisher Arthur
Sulzburger that he could stand the pace of writing five reviews a
week. He passed the test with flying colors, and for the next three
years belted out literally hundreds of reviews. Similar stints for
*Fortune*, *Time* and other publications kept Chamberlain busy for
decades.
He was tireless: his integrity was always unimpeachable. That rare
combination of ability and character kept Chamberlain busy
intellectually as well. His early socialism began to fade in the 1930s,
and his memoir recounts the left's fratricidal struggles throughout the
decade. If he had any illusions about the Soviet Union, they simply
disappeared as the mounting evidence of the crimes by this gangster
state began to roll in. He read some of the early accounts of life in the
Soviet Union, and took them seriously. Once he heard the *Times'*
own Moscow correspondent, Walter Duranty, casually mention in an
elevator that three million people had died in Russia in what
amounted to a man-made famine in that country, his anticommunism
never faltered. Not only had he found Duranty's attitude heartless, he
was appalled by the fact that Duranty hadn't reported what he knew in
the *Times*. "He had betrayed his calling as a journalist,"
Chamberlain writes, and his callousness made a deep impression on
Chamberlain.
Libertarians and conservatives will find Chamberlain's memories of
the forties and fifties fascinating because he was there at the birth of
the modern libertarian and conservative movements. He was deeply
affected by three libertarian works during the forties--Rose Wilder
Lane's *Discovery of Freedom*, Isabel Paterson's *The God of the
Machine*, and Ayn Rand's *The Fountainhead*--and became close to
Ludwig von Mises, Robert Bleiberg, Bill Buckley, John T. Flynn, and
a host of other important figures. He was there when a handful of
libertarians attempted to revive Albert Jay Nock's *The Freeman*,
and we watch its problems first-hand. And he was present, too, at the
creation of *National Review*.
*A Life With the Printed Word* is filled with anecdotes and people.
Sadly, it is one of the few memoirs written by anyone of
Chamberlain's generation and political views. It is, unfortunately, too
short, but John is probably too busy commenting on the passing scene
today to live much in the past. This is a charming memoir of a busy
and fruitful life--one that, happily, shows no sign of slowing down.
CC1061 (hardcover) 191p. publisher's price $12.95
LAISSEZ FAIRE BOOKS PRICE $8.95
------------------------------------------------------------------
Feel free to send this to anyone who you think might be interested
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have any questions or comments, would like to order Chamberlain's
autobiography, or would like more information about Laissez Faire Books,
our monthly print catalog, our book news e-mail list, or our web pages,
just let me know.
Chris
-------------------------------------------------------
Chris Whitten LFB@panix.com
Laissez Faire Books 1-800-326-0996
---The world's largest selection of books on liberty---
-------------------------------------------------------
Ask me about free Book News e-mail list, print catalog,
http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/lf/Laissez-Faire.html
-------------------------------------------------------
