Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights: 0of Cloudless and Carefree American Days

Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Greene (Rebound) here presents a collection of 104 columns, many of them laments for the days when life in America seemed simpler and Americans more civil. His premise is that ""[t]he real truths of our lives don't make the morning paper or the six o'clock news."" He tells of a surgeon who saved a woman's eyesight, a farmer who won 11 ribbons at an Ohio county fair, a 47-year-old man afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease who located the selfsame car he had driven at age 17, a businessman who worked until he was 94 and a high school soccer player who requested that his game-winning goal be disallowed. But this is not a feel-good view of the country; Greene also writes of present-day urban violence, parents abusing their children, children persecuting their peers for real or fancied differences. Included in the mix are anecdotes about the famous--Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, Stan Musial. In all, the message in this collection is a depressing one: Greene seems convinced that the fabric of American life is unraveling and is likely to unravel further. (Aug.)