Books: Gunther's America

INSIDE U.S.A. (979 pp.)—John Gunther—Harper ($5).

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen: Journalist John Gunther, who has made a tidy fortune exploring the "insides" of Europe, Asia and Latin America, would some day try to get "inside" the U.S. He has, at last—about as far inside as he ever gets. His conclusion (in a phrase he picked up from Robert E. Sherwood): the U.S. is "lousy with greatness."

To his publishers, who are using all the paper they can find to print it (they expect Inside U.S.A. to be the biggest-selling $5 book...