A Nieman on Harvard

All the old anecdotes about Harvard--that ceased to be funny years ago because of constant repetition--are gathered together in this disappointing new book about the University.

Charles A. Wagner, a former Nieman Fellow, has written a disconnected summary of the University's history which he attempts to brighten up with these old stories. The reader finds himself first confused and then bored by a book that seems hastily written. Events as late as last spring are included by Wagner to give his work timeliness, but these recent incidents are not worked into the text.

The book is interesting as a non-alumnus' view of the University. The author is lavish with his praise of Harvard to the extent of embarrassment, but nowhere does he really analyze the sources of the University's greatness.

Wagner's only contact with Harvard came during his one year fellowship here, and he makes the mistake of over emphasizing the Niomans' place in the overall University scene. Too little is said about the other innovations of the Conant and late Lowell administrations, such as the National Scholarships, University Professors, and the Society of Follows.

More disturbing than a number of factual errors is Wagner's misinterpretation of events to suit his purposes. He turns the undergraduate Franklin D. Roosevelt into a democrat whose interests were "all work and no sham."

A heavy style makes the book more difficult to read: Wagner tells us that Zechariah Chafee is a man "around whose head the faggots of fire in the battle for personal liberty have flamed unchecked for decades."

Wagner means well, but Samutol Eliot Morison is still the man to read on Harvard history.