Lipset goes on to become a central figure in Kelman's intellectual pilgrimage, calling Kelman to ask advice and giving evidence to support Kelman's theories. It is no huge surprise when he appears on Kelman's back cover to blurb the book as "the best discussion of conflict in the university that has come from undergraduate ranks."

THE CENTRAL complaint Kelman lodges against the radicals-that they are elitists who assume a know-it-all pose-is a peculiar one, considering his own stance in the book. Toting a portable pulpit around with him, Kelman hops up from time to time to point out the true meaning of various incidents.

This pose is most irritating in the improbable scenarios which make up much of the book. The plot of these encounters is nearly always the same: Kelman enters a scene of political confusion, dispenses a few well-chosen? words, and leaves the previously-muddled speechless and enlightened. One of the best of these comes from Kelman's freshman diary, when he straightens out a few blacks:

Many Negroes don't like to be described as "Negroes" anymore. I always try to use the preferred expression, "blacks" or "black people."

The debate moves on, and we are given a glimpse of Kelman's tactics:

I was carefully heightening my responses... I swept my hair back from my damp forehead... I cut in to lighten the air heavy from adversary debating.

And finally, reason triumphs:

We seemed to have reached a climax.... I hadn't finished my chicken yet, but everyone else was preparing to leave. There was no advance indication of what the other Negro kid said as he left. "How do I go about joining YPSL?"

Compounding the problem of tone is the whining note of self-justification that runs through the book. Kelman's theory of democratic pluralism says that any reform group must act by convincing a majority of the people it is right. But since his own YPSL has so obviously failed by those standards at Harvard, Kelman has to find an alibi. Maybe it's because all the kids, are crazy. Or maybe the press has conspired to squash YPSL. Kelman's reluctance to consider any other reason inspires visions of Lyndon Johnson, muttering down on the ranch about how all the people just never got a chance to understand him.

If you are eager to learn more, much more, about the YPSL view of recent events, here is your chance to get 287 pages worth. There may not be another book like this for a while.