Letters

Different Strokes

I am disappointed in your choice of Jonathan Yardley to review Andrew Blechman's Leisureville (Book World, May 25). Yardley's attitude going in is one of condescension and sniffing asides about the Villages in Florida, a place he obviously has never visited. Blechman based his conclusions on a one-month stay.

Yardley seems fixated on some unknown peril resulting from exclusion of children under 19 living there as permanent residents. Are there many homes where the owners are over 55 and have younger children living with them? Is that a real cause for concern? It certainly should not be the focus of this review. My brother-in-law and his wife have lived in the Villages for several years. They love it. Their grown children and families visit throughout the year. They have personalized golf carts! They have a beautiful home. There is dancing every night around a central bandstand featuring live music, with everything from line dancers to Arthur Murray alums. Hundreds sit and watch this fascinating show of people enjoying life.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the Villages. We loved every minute of it and considered it one of the most delightful vacations we have ever taken. Imagine not locking doors at night, scooting to the store in your golf cart without fear of getting picked off at random, engaged in golfing, swimming, tennis, whatever is your treat. Why not? I would call such peace of mind more than an even trade-off with strip malls and cities (and suburbia) where going to the store after dark is never accomplished without a sense of fear. The online reviews cite Blechman's humorous accounts of life in these communities, among other aspects. Why not concentrate on that rather than making ominous observations about no children?

Claims that the fate of our country hangs in the balance as more gated communities appear are sheer nonsense.

-- BERNARD G. ELLIKER

Laurel, Md.

Judith Shapiro's review of Simon Winchester's "The Man Who Loved China" (Book World, May 25), about the British scientist Joseph Needham, recounts that Needham headed a commission on behalf of the People's Republic of China accusing the United States of using biological weapons during the Korean War. Shapiro writes, "Winchester reports that Needham was hoodwinked. If, however, Needham was correct, that puts a different slant on his disgrace."

Shapiro appears not to know that a dozen documents from Soviet Central Committee archives were published in the "Bulletin of the Cold War International History Project" here in Washington, D.C., in 1998 proving that the allegations were fraudulent. One message from the Central Committee of the USSR to Mao dated May 2, 1953, reads: "The Soviet Government and the Central Committee of the CPSU were misled. The spread in the press of information about the use by the Americans of bacteriological weapons in Korea was based on false information. The accusations against the Americans were fictitious."

-- MILTON LEITENBERG

Center for International and Security Studies

University of Maryland

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