PRISONER WITHOUT A NAME, CELL WITHOUT A NUMBER by Jacobo Timerman Translated by Toby Talbot Knopf; 164 pages; $10.95
Half a century ago, the Republic of Argentina was one of the most promising countries in the West. In the past two generations, behind a façade of "European" style, the country has degenerated into narcissism. Where some countries have aspirations, the Argentines have dreams. These they inflict upon each other in spasms of nationalism, socialism, Peronism, fascism and pure terrorism. As Jacobo Timerman points out in this harrowing account, violence amounts to a national...