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In his blunt book The Immigration Time Bomb, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm argues that the U.S. must enforce its borders and discourage the "divisiveness of pluralism." Public agitation over immigration also fuels the plot of Lamm's 1988, a political novel that envisions a motley conspiracy to place a third-party candidate, a former Texas Governor, in the White House. Co-Author Arnold Grossman is a campaign media packager, and so is the book's hero. The narrative begins with the claim that "given a large enough budget and enough creative genius, Colonel Qaddafi could get himself elected president." Voters may not be as gullible as the authors suggest: despite an $11 million expenditure, John Connally bought just one Republican delegate in 1980. Still, 1988 is provocative: it presupposes that Ronald Reagan's second term will end in failure, leading to a contest between Gary Hart and Jack Kemp. Supposedly, the voters are bored by both. Unlikely. And yet . . .
THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS by Jean M. Auel Crown; 645 pages; $19.95
The Mammoth Hunters continues the best-selling adventures of Ayla, the Cro-Magnon sexpot with the brain of gold. Having said goodbye to the Neanderthals who raised her (The Clan of the Cave Bear), and having met the blond hunk Jondalar (The Valley of Horses), the queen of the ice age finds it hard to be both beautiful and brilliant. After a hard day as animal trainer, physician, fire maker and slingshot instructor, Ayla must decide whom to choose for "a turn in the furs." Should it be dependable Jondalar or stylish Ranec, the romantic, dark-skinned artist who actually asks, "Would you like to see some of my carvings?"
Auel can be unintentionally hilarious, especially when her prehistoric characters talk in anthropological jargon ("the Arterians make a spear point with bifacial retouch"). There is a campy charm to this, as if the author had, beyond our wildest imaginings, found a way to combine The Flintstones, Dynasty and the story of Mme. Curie.