SOME TIMES IN AMERICA: And Life in a Year at the New Yorker.(Review)(Brief Article)

ALEXANDER CHANCELLOR. Carroll & Graf, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-7867-0710-0

Chancellor, a veteran British editor and journalist (he has been editor of the Spectator, among other publications), has done several stints in the U.S., most recently in 1992-1993 as editor of the New Yorker's Talk of the Town section under Tina Brown. This lighthearted and rather lightweight account revolves not only around the magazine but around Chancellor's social gallivanting and his glosses on American life, clearly targeted toward a British audience-for instance, "The point of most religion in the United States is that, like liquor, it should make you feel good." (And Mr. Chancellor has …