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The paperbacks

Street Without Joy and Last Reflections on a War (Schocken; $3.95 and $2.95) by Bernard B. Fall. The author was this nation's most esteemed authority on the Vietnam War before he died under fire in 1967. The first title is the best account in English of the French defeat in Indochina.

The Stilwell Papers (Schocken; $3.95) edited by Theodore H. White. Gen Joseph W. Stilwell's no-holdsbarred account of our adventures in China in World War II.

The Sunshine Soldiers (Ballantine; $1.25) by Peter Tauber. Hilarious and sometimes bitter account of eight weeks of basic training at Fort Bliss in Texas.

Decision (Ballantine; $1.50) by Richard Harris. The three-month struggle in the Senate over the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. Lots about the Nixon motivations.

Moonchildren (Delta: $2.45) by Michael Weller. The script of the hit play about a group of college students. Relevant, funny, sometimes sad.

Birds of America (Signet; $1.50) by Mary McCarthy. The author of "The Group" turns her potent weapons on the rise of the shoddy and the plastic, the decline of the natural..

Way Uptown in Another World (Lancer; $1.25) by Shane Stevens. Tortured progress through the Harlem ghetto. Shocking and sometimes terrifying.

Something You Do in the Dark (Lancer: $1.25) by Daniel Curzon. Frank story of a tormented homosexual.

Bite: New York Magazine Restaurant Strategy (Signet: $1.50) by Gael Greene. The magazine's seeker-in-chief after sensuous dining shares the secrets she has unearthed. Of value to anyone about to visit Big Town.

Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein (Vintage; $2.95), edited by Carl Van Vechten. This retrospective collection includes "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" in its entirety.

Growth Games (Bantam: $1.50) by Howard R. Lewis and Dr. Harold S. Streitfeld. The "Human Potential" movement, including touching and getting your body in tune.

Side of the Road: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the U.S. (Simon and Schuster: $1.95) by Ben Lobo and Sara Links. Aimed at the young who wear floppy hats and jeans. Sample advice: "Don't carry anything that will get you busted." And "don't hide dope in ashtrays. The fuzz look there first.

You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker (Bantam; $1.50) by John Keats. This deftly done biography of the super sophisticate was a best seller.