Page 10 RAIN July 1982 American colonies. Outlining some of the major battles in opposition and defense of free speech, as well as the philosophical questions surrounding the issue. The First Freedom traces a wave of sedition laws during the early 1900s used against the Wobblies, anarchists and other radicals; court trials debating the line of separation between church and state in the schools; freedom of the press vs. national security; freedom of assembly in opposing the Vietnam war and in support of the National Socialist Party. Several chapters are devoted specifically to First Amendment cases in the public school system — questions of censorship, obscenity, libel and the right of student journalists to protect the confidentiality of sources. Judicial commentary and personal stories are quoted extensively throughout the chronicle, transforming the abstract into vivid reality. Considering the rightward swing of the country, the renewed debate over teaching evolution in the schools, and the resurgence of the KKK and Nazi party, this little refresher course might be in order. — Laura Stuchinsky J. Robert Oppenheimer, Shatterer of Worlds, by Peter Coodchild, 1981, 301 pp., $15 hardcover from: Houghton Mifflin Company 2 Park Street Boston, MA 02107 This book tells the story of a complex man, his terrifying invention, his troubled conscience and his tragic downfall. It is the story of the beginnings of the nuclear era and of events and attitudes which continue to shape and threaten our lives. . J. Robert Oppenheimer was a briUiant physicist, the head of the Los Alamos project which produced the world's first atomic bomb. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki he was acclaimed as a national hero, but it was an accolade which clearly troubled him. ("I have blood on my hands," he blurted out during a 1946 White House visit. President Truman was greatly offended). As America moved into a period of Cold War paranoia, Op- penheimer's use of his potent influence in a futile effort to head off a nuclear arms race was viewed with increasing suspicion. Allegations surfaced regarding his left-wing past, and in 1954 he was officially branded a national security risk. Oppenheimer the hero was transformed into Oppenheimer the pariah, but among the men who condemned his proUdes and questioned his loyalty, the popularity of his awful invention continued unabated. One could wish his biography were not quite so timely. Prepared in conjunction with a seven-part B.B.C. documentary on Oppenheimer's career, it is being published just as the arms race seems to have taken a new lease on life (or death). There is fasdnating material here on the Los Alamos project and on the shaping of Oppenheimer's character, but what may strike the present-day reader most forcefully about this book is the commentary it records from postwar military and political leaders regarding the need for rapid nuclear weapons development and increased attention to "national security." There is a real sense of deja vu here, an uncomfortable confirmation that what we are hearing today are all the same old lines, uttered by a new cast of Grade B actors. — John Ferrell Land The Marketfor Rural Land: Trends, Issues, Policies, by Robert Healy and James Short, 1981,310 pp. $12.50 from: The Conservation Foundation 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20036 Written for a largely professional audience — regional planners, appraisers and public offidals — The Market for Rural Lana is a fairly technical, extensively referenced analysis of the rural land market: how it works, and what are its observable trends and surfacing issues. The first half of The Market for Rural Land is an overview of the rural land market— the underlying forces that determine supply and demand, resulting in changing ownership, prices and parcel sizes. Inflation, spreculation, new agricultural technology and changing social patterns are just a few of the factors involved. A sizeable portion of the book is devoted to the authors' original research, case studies of six rural communities scattered across the U.S. Land use issues such as increased parcellization, changing ownership patterns (e.g. from small farm operators to absentee "estate" owners) and rising land prices are common concerns of all the counties considered, as are social impacts. Economists by training, the authors view conservation through the filters of their trade. Rising land prices are blithely passed off as an incentive for more intensive use of the land by farmers and foresters. They reason that increased value will insure greater protection of soil quality, supported by public poUcy. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that higher prices will ensure greater care. In many instances the opposite has occurred. The final chapters of the book concentrate on policy alternatives, addressing absentee ownership, land-use issues, and inequalities in the distribution of land. Models of successful mixed-use developments (housing and agriculture/recreation) are suggested as means of meeting both individual and public needs. Tax incentives for rural owners who provide public access onto their land (e.g. for hunting or recreation) and tax reductions for owners who operate their land under a soil-conservation plan approved by their local Soil Conservation District are pieces of a rural tax program that might help ensure responsible rural development. The Market for Rural Land conveys the complexity of economic and social forces affecting land use. It also points the way TNIWUTMi WASHINOTOn, D. C ISOeOO DAILY mi SUNDAY SATURDAY. JULY U. IMT ’<3 U. S. ATOM SCIENTISrS BROTHER EXPOSED AS COMMUNIST WHO WORKED ON A-BOMB U.S. Speeds Arms GooIoI60mikcoU.,.,oo, . To Greece on Eye of jReoched Fint Time in History jCMI® CawWII lAIAAIi llRlNl M>.05S,000 Tm flit ImSl.Tif WRfc I.TM.000 6«toi«JM* j'"* lOA Swrf H tm mmm ^ I ^ ’***' *• (^OSJofci ^^***®*I*VS Frenk Oppenheimer Peris Perky on Aid The front page of the Washington Times Herald 12 July 1947 reporting that Oppenheimer's brother Frank was a one-time member of the Communist party. Wes At Oek Ridge, Los Alemos Plents futitlperiem ie SmI Ka«»R T« U.S. OHteteb «•» MmAi , Wm Pert MiwSii <A IPtf I la IMt r>» rr*a* [ Or J SaKtrt OAXalixawr. M l»« u»» . 'rkriKMri aiAlWH '»• A IIU Dt Fraak 0»»«a>ww> No A-Thoft IProof, Soys Hick«nloopcr| From: J. RobertOppenheimer
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