Books by Neighbors AN EGECTIC TRIO: POLITICS,
~ ~onnie Barbach, Ph.D., and Linda
Vtne, ACSW. New York: Anchor ress/Doubleday. 360 pp. $12.95.
rl'wo specialists in the field of sexuality rese~t a potpourri of ideas-gleaned ~llltnterviews with women who ranged iodely. in age, geographical areas, relanship status and sexual orientation non ho"': to keep one's sexual life thriv&. Judgmg by this book there are a lot or · · . ' 1n e una~matlve housewives out there ill A.menca's hinterlands than this ~ropolite, at least, supposed. ~ hapters range from "Setting the ...ene •" to sex during pregnancy and in ~ ·~ later years, with the sure favorite 1 ourmet Lovemaking " in which the ~thors note "our bigg~t problem with s chapter was what to leave out." 'o :fter a brief introduction to each ~ /c, several interviewees are described quo~eage. and pertinent data and are then the· d tn their own words regarding do~~-experienc.es in th~t area. Their to-earth mformat10n and earthy
ETHNIC C OOKING
AND SEX
language is a welcome change from the pseudo-sexual articles found in so-called "women's magazines." One wonders how the authors managed to find such untongue-tied subjects. Barbach is at the University of California on the psychiatry department faculty, and Levine, a graduate of Catholic University and a sex therapist, is in private practice in Washington, D.C., and is a consultant for the Center for Depression. The authors almost spoil the no-nonsense yet welcomely unclinical nature of the work by the rather cutesy jacket comment that they ''hope to give women permission to try some sexual activities they have always wanted to try but felt that no respectable woman would consider doing.'' One hopes most American women today, especially in light of the wide-ranging survey of them represented here, are under no such puritanical restraints. In any case, this is a useful and entertaining book for both men and women, preferably to be shared. -SUSAN ELLIS
REVITALIZING AMERICA: POLITICS FOR PROSPERITY.
observe and analyze the behavior of multinational corporations. But it goes beyond mere observation by demonstrating the inadequacies and shortcomings of traditional economic policies, as they are applied in the current stagflation drift. While Reagan administration supply-siders and Friedman monetarists will undoubtedly cringe at the idea, Muller fully documents the transformation of the classical competitive marketplace into a dual economy, where some 800 U.S. multinational conglomerates account for 70 percent of private sector business-a kind of supereconomy-while some 14 million smaller firms dogfight down below for the remaining 30 percent of domestic business. For example, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, thi s nation 's big stick to fight inflation, is simply impotent in the face of the supereconomy's ability to ignore domestic interest rates. Giants in the supereconomy can go to the trillion dollar Eurocurrency market to borrow or invest, and Eurodollars and Eurobanks are outside the board's orb of authority and influence. Muller's prescriptions for bringing
By Ronald E . Muller. New York:
Simon and Schuster. 325 pp. $13.95. For those concerned about the rudderless U.S. economy, this book is must reading. Ronald Muller is ideally suited to the task of analyzing America's current economic decline, not only because he happens to be professor of economics and international finance at American University in Washington, D.C., but also because he is a pragmatist whose advice and counsel is sought all over the world by government ministers, corporation heads and trade union leaders. A half dozen years ago he co-authored
Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations, with Richard J. Barnet, Washington's other, perhaps only other, credible global economist. Revitalizing America continues to
BY RONALD E. MULLER COAUTHOR OFGWBAL REACH
DossierI February I 98 II 17