A CHIP ON HER SHOULDER

Why bother having Cynthia Parsons review former Secretary of Education William Bennett’s “Back to Moral Basics” (Book Review, Dec. 25)? From the first to the last, her grousing reveals a consuming chip on her shoulder. Her readers receive hardly a glimpse of what the book is about, just how greatly Parsons disdains it and how quickly she dismisses it as so much conservative palavra.

Parsons derides Bennett for using the first person often in these speeches delivered when he was the head of the Department of Education (how dare he!)--all while she interjects a personal anecdote and her own clairvoyant assessments of Bennett’s motives for writing the book in the first place. That’s consistent.

Parsons states, “If . . . this is some ‘last hurrah,’ then only friends and fellow-believers need spend the time to read this volume.” In other words, if you like Bennett, you’ll like this book; if not, not. What does this review tell us except that Parsons belonged to the latter group--before and after she read the book.

JOHN PAUL ARNERICH

LOS ANGELES