The WOVEN FIGURE CONSERVATISM AND AMERICA S FABRIC

In this volume, Mr. Will, distinguished political columnist and cultural critic, examines many episodes of the conservatives' tribulations and the liberals' accommodations to the new political landscape. These writings present a map of the landscape, a guide for people perplexed by the gap between contemporary political theories and practices. Here are essays about the peculiar goings-on on campuses, where "rights" - including a right to Chinese take-out food - multiply. Mr. Will is as pleased by the thirtieth anniversary of The Public Interest quarterly as he is appalled by the horrific new "sport" of "extreme fighting, " which raises questions about the limits of permissible commerce. Here are snapshots of something trivial, the 1996 presidential campaign, that illustrated something momentous, the marginalization of the presidency. Mr. Will examines the achievements and misadventures of judicial activism, the writing of national standards for the teaching of history, and the West's response to genocide in the Balkans. But as always in Mr. Will's writings, there is time for the pure fun of life in a nation blessed with ESPN and Corvettes.