By Mark Kurlansky.
Addison Wesley. 336 pp. $22.95
By Andrew Hacker.
Scribner's. 257 pp. $24.95
By Stephen S. Hall.
Random House. 477 pp. $30
By William Rathje and Cullen Murphy.
HarperCollins. 250 pp. $23
Daniel Bell, the esteemed Harvard University sociologist who died recently at the age of 91, surveyed America's intellectual scene in this essay, which originally appeared in 1992.
Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and others now comprise eight percent of the U.S. population, yet have no clear collective Hispanic identity. Will they become a racial minority, an ethnic group, or some combination of the two?
Robert J. Donovan and Ray Scherer
s a young reporter for the
Richmond Times-Dis-
patch, Charles McDowell
was one of the first inside
witnesses to television's
impact on politics. sheer chance he observed at the Republi- can National Convention in Chicago in 1952 how people's reaction to what they saw on television influenced political deci- sions-a phenomenon that would pro- foundly change the workings of the politi- cal system.
The Republican convention in 1952 was the first at which te...
s a young reporter for the
Richmond Times-Dis-
patch, Charles McDowell
was one of the first inside
witnesses to television's
impact on politics. By sheer chance he observed at the Republi- can National Convention in Chicago in 1952 how people's reaction to what they saw on television influenced political deci- sions-a phenomenon that would pro- foundly change the workings of the politi- cal system.
The Republican convention in 1952 was the first at which television news had the technical re...
The tyranny of the sound
bite has been universally denounced as a leading cause of the low state of America's political dis- course. "If you couldn't say
it in less than 10 seconds," former gover- nor Michael Dukakis declared after the 1988 presidential campaign, "it wasn't heard because it wasn't aired." Somewhat chastened, the nation's television networks now are suggesting that they will be more generous in covering the 1992 campaign, and some candidates have already be...
An autumn episode of America's most consis- tently intelligent and fiercely realistic prime- time television series opened with Homer Simpson watching the news. "And, to con- clude this Halloween newscast on a sca-a- ry note," said the anchorman, "remember, the presidential primaries are only a few months away. Heh-heh-heh."
There is no escaping now. Since mid- January, the Washington Post and New York Times have allocated at least one full inside page to the 1992 campaign...