Acheson Country: A Memoir

Engaging but slight, this collection of vignettes limns a ``personal character portrait'' of Dean Acheson, Truman's Secretary of State (1949-1953). David Acheson, editor of This Vast External Realm: Essays of Dean Acheson , writes about his father warmly and fluidly. Dean Acheson's upbringing acquired ``a distinctly nineteenth-century flavor'' from his teachers, his father and his senior law partners, all of whom encouraged him to face life with a sense of vigor and adventure. His wife Alice, a good complement, was flinty and unpretentious. Acheson reveled in Fourth of July fireworks, practiced weekend cabinet-making for escape from his work because, he held, ``loafing is not relaxing; concentration is,'' and wore wild colors at home in summer as a release from conformity. There are minor anecdotes regarding Truman and Felix Frankfurter. More substantial are the author's final reflections on his father's values of fairness, honesty, service and realism, and his affectionate regard for people who shared those values. This was the basis, according to the author, of Acheson's devotion to Truman. Photos not seen by PW . (Aug.)