THE HARPER’S FORUM BOOK: What Are We Talking About? <i> edited by Jack Hitt (Citadel: $10.95, illustrated).</i>

The subjects of these often irreverent discussions range from how to commit a fine, literary murder to how the advertising industry would launch a print campaign to promote the Seven Deadly Sins. The debates over the legality of computer hacking and the animal-rights movement reveal the complexities of these issues, and highlight the stubborn beliefs of the participants. In the most interesting (and disturbing) chapter, a panel of professional political consultants explain how they run campaigns in which real issues are dwarfed by media image, “spin” and sound bites--a revealing indictment of the degraded American electoral process.