Grand Crossing

In this well-written first novel, Mr. Saxton steers Michael, a young socialite, through disillusionment at Harvard to the University of Chicago, and finally to the career of railroad switchman. Leftist friends pull him one way while those of the Right, whom he has always known, seek to restrain him. His conversion is too sudden; he accepts the underprivileged too readily. The blue-bloods at Harvard are real, the other people mere types. Harvard is made to appear a collection of aesthetes; the University of Chicago a haunt of fine, socially conscious men. But Cambridge and Chicago come vividly to life.

Mr. Saxton has an excellent dramatic sense and with a group of more believable characters he will one day write a powerful novel.