THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: ...
THE HAPPINESS PARADOX.
By Ziyad Marar. Reaktion Books. 08 pp. $19.95
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS IN TIMES OF WAR.
By Carl M. Cannon. Rowman &
Littlefield. 331 pp. $24.95
A new biography reveals the major themes of one of America's most important early writers: Sorrow and imprisonment, the terrible influence of family history and names, the past with its mysterious power over the present.
By David Foster Wallace. Norton.319 pp. $23.95
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF IRELAND. Edited by Brian Lalor. Yale Univ. Press. 1218 pp. $65
LIGHTNING MAN: The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse. By Kenneth Silverman. Knopf. 503 pp. $35
TOMMY THE CORK: Washington’s Ultimate Insider, from Roosevelt to Reagan. By David McKean. Steerforth. 347 pp. $25