A REAL WOMAN

There are women who can make it without legislation forcing employers to fill the quotas, who do not have influential daddies to give them a long headstart in their careers, and who do not concede inferiority by spurning their equality under the law as US citizens, demanding it by special status. Yet among these Un-Fondas and Un-Steinems, some deserve special admiration, and few American women deserve more than Dixy Lee Ray.

Her biography Is it true what they say about Dixy? by L.R. Guzzo (hdbd. 234 pp., $8 ppd. from L.R. Guzzo & Asscts., Box 211, Issaquah, WA 98027) reveals a woman who made it through the Depression supporting her sisters, saving her dimes to make it to Stanford, excelling as a scientist, and emerging as a tough and competent leader who never sacrificed her principles to the Washington worms (D.C. or Olympia). In fact, what this book reveals about the latter, including Kissinger, Schlesinger, Ford, and the rest of the can, is as revealing as the career of this undauntedly courageous and principled un-politician. Very highly recommended.