VALUE JUDGMENTS by Ellen Goodman (HarperPerennial:...

VALUE JUDGMENTS by Ellen Goodman (HarperPerennial: $13; 354 pp.). In her most recent collection of columns, Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellen Goodman comments on a variety of social and political issues. She uses the Woody Allen custody battle to issue a withering dismissal of the “shrinkese” that has infiltrated American English, and deplores the polarization of the abortion issue. In one of her most stirring columns, Goodman notes that at a time when politicians are racing to deregulate more industries, “the call for ‘parental responsibility’ is increasing in direct proportion to the irresponsibility of the marketplace. Parents are expected to protect their children from an increasingly hostile environment.”