Books: The Treatment

ZOTZ! (286 pp.)—Walter Karig—Rinehart ($2.75)

As any amateur satirist knows, the hordes of captains, majors, commanders and other brasshats stationed in wartime Washington had other and even more crushing duties than just winning the war. Reams of mimeographed balderdash had to be stamped IMMEDIATE ACTION and provided with desk space on which to gather dust. Rival service arms had to be watched for symptoms of credit-grabbing. Above all, callers with something to offer that might help win the war had to be given The Treatment: identified, badged and tirelessly "channeled" from building to building and...