Young people caught up in events of...

Young people caught up in events of their times, teen-agers who reject the cautious conservatism of their elders and do what they believe is right, are the subjects of three books, one set in present-day South Africa, another in the United States during the Vietnam War, the third the biography of a teen-age girl said to have inspired more books than any other woman in history, Joan of Arc. Courage is the common denominator as young people ask tough questions, examine their values, make hard decisions, and act on them.

In “Chain of Fire” by Beverley Naidoo, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Lippincott: $12.95; 224 pp.) a 15-year-old Black girl resists the forced removal of her entire village from their homes to a barren “homeland,” remote, scattered fragments of the poorest land, set aside by the apartheid government of South Africa for its Blacks. The village land is to be turned over to white farmers.

Naledi and other young villagers attempt to organize a protest march. But they are opposed not only by white officials but by other Blacks; the village chief who has betrayed them, the informer who reports on them, the school principal who cruelly puts down every sign of protest, the black policemen and bulldozer operators following the orders of whites. The chain of fire of the title is the fierce anger that binds the defiant young heroine to her family, to her friends in prison, and to her people.

This is not only the story of what happens to one family and one village; it is a clear explanation of how young South African Blacks are politicized. In an author’s note, Beverly Naidoo, a white South African who has moved to England, comments on her upbringing and the anger she still feels “about the racist distortions of reality--passed on to me as a child.” Anger was my reaction too when I went to South Africa a few years ago to do research for a book, but my anger was a pale shadow of the rage of the blacks I met. Reading this fine novel reminded me of my own feelings, and of theirs.

Dan Ulvang, his sister, Sarah, and Will Spencer have been the best of friends for years. But this is the last spring they’ll be together--the boys are seniors, graduating in a month. The year is 1969. Nightly TV newscasts focus on the war in Vietnam, an issue that becomes an argument in Dan’s and Sarah’s household, where their authoritarian father silences any mumblings against the war.

As Margaret I. Rostkowski’s novel “The Best of Friends” (Harper & Row: $12.95; 192 pp.) unfolds, conflict develops among the three: Dan, the overachieving perfectionist driven by his demanding father, in turn driving Will, an easygoing and directionless sort until Dan goads him. Sarah, drawn to Will, is caught between the two. War and the peace movement are central issues as the three friends try to figure out who they are, what they really believe, and what they want for themselves.

Novels about the Vietnam years are coming along thick and fast now for the children of the children of the ‘60s. “The Best of Friends” is among the better ones.

Joan of Arc, whose noble ideals cost her her life when she was only 19, remains one of history’s most famous teen-agers. Polly Schoyer Brooks tells her story in “Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc” (Lippincott: $13.95; 160 pp.).

The first part of the book deals with Joan’s unshakable belief that she was chosen by God to rescue the kingdom of France, and with her efforts to do just that; the second part covers her imprisonment, trial, and execution. It’s a story rich in fascinating detail.

An illiterate 15th-Century peasant, Joan experienced her first vision when she was 13. “Voices” later spoke to her, urging her to fight for France against the English, comforting her when things went badly for her at the end when she was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake. Brooks points out that hearing voices was not all that unusual in the pre-scientific era, when people looked to the supernatural for explanations of their world and for help in dealing with it. The voices Joan claimed to hear have been disputed and explained away, but they were real enough to her and fueled her extraordinary courage.

Brooks makes a point of explaining the importance of Joan’s virginity. Greatly prized in those days, virginity was considered to have almost magical powers, and Joan, who had sworn to remain a virgin, submitted twice to examinations to prove that she was indeed “pure.” Had she not, she would have been instantly condemned as a witch, a consort of the devil. One of the major issues at her trial for heresy was her insistence on wearing men’s clothes, a sin according to the Bible although a practical solution for a female soldier on horseback.

Unfortunately, Brooks’s introduction, meant to explain the complex political situation of 15th-Century France, sets a tone of pedantry that’s hard to shake off. The conversational author’s note placed at the end would have been a more inviting way to introduce readers to this brilliant and courageous and altogether human young woman.