Is American industry, faced with relentless pressure from Japan and other Asian industrial countries, inevitably washed up? Can the U.S. slash its record trade deficit without further depreciating its currency and building higher barriers to imports? New books by two veteran American journalists contain widely differing reflections on these pressing economic issues of the '80s. According to David Halberstam's The Reckoning (Morrow; $19.95), the U.S. has every reason for pessimism about its industrial future. But Robert Christopher's Second to None: American Companies in Japan (Crown; $16.95) presents an argument for pragmatic optimism: many U.S. companies are competing on their opponents' home...
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