The courage of turtles

by Edward Hoagland

"Journalism, especially personal or polemical journalism, is a popular vehicle these days. Yet not many real essays are being written--pieces which have no occasion except the author's desire to speak at his convenience as he wishes, linking together memories and observations--perhaps because the form depends as much upon discipline as upon passion. Edward Hoagland's essays are sometimes autobiographical, and usually quite personal, but several are also about events and places; in any case, none is limited to the subject that it begins with. Here he writes about tigers, girl friends, show business, his father, and becoming a father, and the problem of how we treat each other in a world growing steadily more overcrowded. Although he writes painfully and eloquently about matters like stuttering, divorce and death, he tends to seize on subjects he rejoices in--the Vermont woods, county fairs, cowboys, street life, and harbor happenings. He offers even a kind of plan for survival, among ot