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REVIEWS IN BRIEF *As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin Laurence Bergreen (Viking, $24.95)A colorful history of our greatest popular art-the music that emerged out of the ethnic and social commotion of 20th- century America-as well as a vivid biography of its foremost exponent. A
*Boone Brooks Hansen and Nick Davis (Summit, $19.95) An overly ambitious, desperately chic first novel about a performance artist and cult hero. C
*The Burden of Proof Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22.95) Although The Burden of Proof lacks the surefire thriller devices that helped make Presumed Innocent such a commanding piece of storytelling, readers who persevere will be rewarded. B
*The Burning Season Andrew Revkin (Houghton Mifflin, $19.95) The story of Chico Mendes and his efforts to prevent the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. B+
*Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tiananmen Square (Collier, $19.95) A handsome collection of photographs, speeches, and newspaper accounts documenting the ill-fated democracy movement in China. B+
*Coyote Waits Tony Hillerman (Harper & Row, $19.95) The 11th tale in Hillerman's series about the Navajo Tribal Police is sturdy work from an incorruptible craftsman. A-
*Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the Rock 'n' Roll Revolution Charles Shaar Murray (St. Martin's, $18.95) The best book yet on Hendrix-and also a sweeping historical discussion of soul, jazz, the blues, and the impact of electronic technology on pop music. A
*Get Shorty Elmore Leonard (Delacorte, $18.95) Hollywood has been good to Elmore Leonard, and Leonard has returned the favor with a blackly comic thriller set there. A-
*Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business Frederic Dannen (Times Books, $19.95) A revealing look at the men who manipulate the rock & roll business. A
*The Innocent Ian McEwan (Doubleday, $18.95) Far more than an intelligent thriller, The Innocent is also a haunting black comedy charged with psychological complexity, sex, and suspense. A
*Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices From Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond Will Friedwald (Scribner's, $29.95) The author's quirks aside, this is quite simply the best available guide to the art of jazz singing. A-
*Language Maven Strikes Again William Safire (Doubleday, $24.95) The sixth collection of Sa re's pun- mongering ''On Language'' columns. B
*Saratoga Hexameter Stephen Dobyns (Viking, $16.95) A charming small-town mystery-comedy. B+
*Stardust Robert Parker (Putnam, $18.95) A new episode for Spenser, mysterydom's most self-satis ed shamus. B-
*Too Good to Be True: The Outlandish Story of Wedtech James Traub (Doubleday, $21.95) As Traub deftly shows us, this is a story not about venality but about human frailty. A
ALSO NOTED *The Best Comics of the Decade 1980-1990 Selected by the Editors of The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics Books, paperback, $12.95) From the well-known (Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening) to the more marginal but equally interesting (Melinda Gebbie, Peter Bagge).
*Erotic Wars: What Happened to the Sexual Revolution? Lillian B. Rubin, Ph.D. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $18.95) Psychologist Rubin ) surveyed almost a thousand Americans about what the sexual revolution has meant to its pioneers and the generation after them.
*From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas Friedman (Anchor Books, paperback, $12.95) A New York Times reporter's book on his beat-the Middle East. *The History of Luminous Motion Scott Brad eld (Vintage, paperback, $8.95) A gripping novel about a brilliant but very disturbed boy.
*An Invisible Spectator: A Biography of Paul Bowles Christopher Sawyer- Laucanno (The Ecco Press, paperback, $14.95) The author of The Sheltering Sky gets a well-deserved biography.
*Miss Mary Mac All Dressed in Black Scott E. Hastings Jr. (August House, paperback, $7.95) New England tongue twisters and jump-rope rhymes.
*Running in Place: Scenes From the South of France Nicholas Delbanco (Atlantic Monthly Press, paperback, $9.95) Crisp, elegant essays about Provence.
*William Wegman: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, Videotapes (Abrams, $39.95) A complete retrospective of Wegman's work in four mediums.
