Even My Own Brother

A STURDY and creditable first novel about an American fascist in the making. Lang Taylor is by turns garage mechanic, freight handler, ward heeler, and, finally, organizer for a national society concerned with breeding interracial hatreds. But, whatever his activities, his sole design is to get ahead, preferably without effort. He lets no silly loyalties or affections stand in his way, and, having been a traitor to individuals, he finds the step towards treason against the nation an easy one. He loses his friends and is deserted by his family, but his egotism remains impervious to any sense of loss or shame. He is a recognizable type and a dangerous one. Of the many other characters, — laborers, politicians, businessmen, and members of his family, — several have liveliness and truth, his wife Marcy and his old uncle Purdy being particularly appealing. The chapters about the American Equality Society are of course timely, but the basic contrast between the opportunist without morals and his victims who are true to some code of loyalty would be valuable and true without them. R. M. G.