cover image Busted

Busted

W. D. Ehrhart. University of Massachusetts Press, $27.5 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-87023-955-7

The author of the memoirs Persakie-Vietnam and Passing Time completes his trilogy on the war and his reaction to it with this account of how he got busted for possession of marijuana, was harassed by cops in New York and New Jersey for his countercultural appearance and won his legal battle to retain his seaman's card. It isn't clear who the bad guys are in these pages other than ``the Rusks and the Rostows and the McNamaras and the Bundys'' and their ilk, nor why the government is culpable for his bitter reaction to military service, since he volunteered for the Marines and Vietnam. What is clear is that Ehrhart, 47, is mired in simplistic sensibilities, viewing all authority as evil, expressing admiration for the Symbionese Liberation Front, agreeing with a pal that presidents are ``always assholes.'' (May)