Steven Lagerfeld's survey of the research indicates, most climatologists think that the "greenhouse effect" is here to stay.
-the study of climate and its impact. She describes past efforts to determine how changes in climate have influ- enced human history. Today, Steven Lagerfeld's survey of the re- search indicates, most climatologists think that the "greenhouse ef- fect" is here to stay. They believe that mankind can learn to live with a slight "global warming," and may be able to avert more radical shifts in temperature and rainfall.
Climate, along with the stars and the tides, is one of the...
There is a growing consensus among climatologists and other researchers that both the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion are not simply alarmist fantasies.
a su- pernova exploding in outer space.
Recently, physicist Luis Alvarez and his son Walter, a geologist, have found evidence that the planet was struck a huge asteroid at about the time of the dinosaurs' extinction. If so, it may have thrown up a massive cloud of dust, shrouding the Earth against sunlight and leading to a catastrophic cooling. On the other hand, the Earth may have warmed-or it may have gone dark, or it may have temporarily lost part of its protective ozone layer. The Alvarezes...
E. DigbyStatus and Baltzell and Howard G. Schneiderman, in Soci-the dency ety (Sept.-Oct. 1988), Rutgers Univ., New
Brunswick, N.J. 08903.
What makes a successful president? Historians have examined many presi- dential traits. "Great" presidents (as rated scholars) tend to be tall; Abraham Lincoln stood over 6' 4", and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were over 6' 2". But a chief executive's childhood, choice of college, political experience, and age at time of election...
Henry
Fairlie, in TheNew Republic (July 18-25,1988), 1220 19th St. N.K, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once described the April 19? 1775, Battle of Con- cord, the &st of the Revolutionary War, as "the shot heard round the world." But how did people abroad react to news of the Revolution? Fairlie? a New Republic contributing editor? reports that the Americans gave liberty-minded Europeans "a profound political philosophy" that im-mediately stirred controversy...
Elder Witt, in Governing State Courts (~ug. 1988), 1414 22nd st. N.w., Washington,
D.C. 20037.
In Detroit, Michigan, 400 acres are being cleared the city for a new Chrysler plant. In New Jersey, a new state income tax takes effect to help pay for local schools.
These steps, and others, were not simply initiated by elected officials. They resulted from state court actions. Witt, a Governing staff writer, notes that the supreme courts of the 50 states have moved beyond inter- preting the law and...
police in a manner that may violate a suspect's constitutional rights, contravening a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision that such evidence is admissible if acquired in "good faith."
The activism of state supreme courts, Witt predicts, will continue. "Issue issue," he observes, "state judges are proving to be willing partners in the ongoing experiment of government."
and the "Liberal Virtues, Constitutional Community" by Stephen Macedo, in The Review of Politics...
each generation. And in advancing his cause, a liberal should heed the advice of H. L. Mencken and assume that "his opponent is as decent a man as he is, and just as honest-and perhaps, after all, right."
FOREIGN POLICY & DEFENSE
erican Decline? "Understating U.S. Strength" Joseph S. Nye,
Jr., in Foreign Policy (Fall 1988), 11 Dupont
Circle N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
In recent years, many pundits and scholars, most notably Yale's Paul Ken- nedy (in The Rise and Fal...
John Mueller, and "The Political Effect of Nuclear Weapons: A Comment" Robert Jervis, in International Security (Fall 1988). MIT Press, 55 Hayward St., cambridge, ass. 02138.
Long after the Allies' victory over the Axis in 1945, Winston Churchill predicted that fears of nuclear holocaust would prevent another world war. Peace, he declared, was "the sturdy child of [nuclear] terror."
Was Churchill right? Mueller, a political scientist at the University of Rochester, contends...