For every taste and budget, a paperback

The Book of Lech Walesa, introduced by Neal Ascherson. New York: A Touchstone Book/Simon & Schuster. 203 pp. $4.95.

This book, published in Poland before the imposition of martial law, is an almost hagiographic collective portrait of the Solidarity leader by several of his friends.

Walesa, we are told, is self-confident, courageous, decisive, persistent, but receptive to change, a troublemaker who is also a negotiator, a deeply religious man who is compassionate, optimistic, and unusually hardworking. But some authors also note that he is vain, stubborn, and dictatorial.

The book is an appreciation rather than a biography or political treatment, and, as such, it makes rewarding reading.