Books: Through a Glass, Darkly

A BOOK OF PROPHECY—edited & introduced by John Cournos—Scribner ($2.50).

These sibylline leaves, raked together by Novelist John Cournos, are a publisher's response to the modern impulse that makes Adolf Hitler keep a stable of astrologers, makes desperate Frenchmen con the optimistic prophecies of 7th-Century St. Odile, makes the current U.S. vogue for books about Nostradamus and his dubious doggerel.

The prophecies in this anthology range from bright to dark, from inspired vision to inspired foresight. There are prophecies for every pocketbook, every human hope, dream, fear. The most magnificent prophets are...