Not many words in the English language have suffered from Romantic puffery and what H. W. Fowler calls "slipshod exten- sion" to the degree that the word genius has. Prior to the 18th century it meant mostly a special talent or skill. But that mean- ing has for two centuries been buried in large measure by an- other which the word then took on: a person of greatness who achieves solely through the "genius" that is endowed in him by God or by nature.
Two influences brought...
economic disarray, political chaos, and outbreaks of terrorism. But what continent the Turks belong to remains a matter of dispute. Straddling Europe and Asia, Turkey is the only Islamic nation in NATO and the only NATO member in the Islamic Conference. The Turks pray in Arabic, converse in Turk- ish, and write in Latin script. Ethnically, a typical Turk is an alloy of a dozen races, from Hittites to Celts to Mongols. In one of his alliterative slogans, Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Repub- lic,...
, sud- denly beset by economic disarray, political chaos, and outbreaks of terrorism. But what continent the Turks belong to remains a matter of dispute. Straddling Europe and Asia, Turkey is the only Islamic nation in NATO and the only NATO member in the Islamic Conference. The Turks pray in Arabic, converse in Turk- ish, and write in Latin script. Ethnically, a typical Turk is an alloy of a dozen races, from Hittites to Celts to Mongols. In one of his alliterative slogans, Kemal Ataturk, founder...
for its 1974 occupation of the northern third of the island. Radio broadcasts from East- ern Europe, speaking in the name of the outlawed Turkish Communist Party, regularly assail Turkey's two-year-old mili- tary government. Around the world, Armenian nationalists, based outside Turkey and seeking to split off several eastern provinces for themselves, have taken the lives of 23 Turkish dip- lomats or members of their families since 1975.
In an interview published earlier this year, Turkey's Foreign...
far the best available and, though not always flattering to its subject, has long been a best seller in Turkey.
According to legend, Kinross writes, the Turks were guided in their ancient wanderings a gray wolf. As Islam spread north and east from Arabia after the sixth century, the Turks, dominated by the Seljuk tribe, moved from Central Asia into the Middle East, eventually substi- tuting the teachings of the Koran for their own pagan shamanistic wor- ship of earth, air, fire, and water. In 1071,...
public agencies and private institutions
"The Reagan Experiment"
Urban Institute, 2100 M St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. 600 pp. $29.95 cloth,
$12.95 paper.
Editors: John L. Palmer and Isabel V. Sawhill
President Reagan took office deter- mined to chart a "fundamentally dif- ferent [domestic] course" for the United States. But 28 specialists commissioned the Urban Institute say that budget cuts and policy changes during the first 18 months of Reagan's tenure...
Summaries of key reports given at recent Wilson Center meetings
"A Century of United States-Korean Relations"
Conference sponsored the Wilson Center's East Asia Program, June 17-19,
1982. Ronald A. Morse, moderator.
During the 100 years since its first formal contacts with the United States, Korea has constantly looked to Washington for protection from hos- tile foreign powers-and has often been disappointed. That one-sided re- lationship is beginning to change, say the 21 participants i...
Metropol means many things to a Russian. It is, literally, a
"mother of cities," a capital; it is also the name of a Moscow
hotel, noted for its modernistic facade, and of Moscow's exten-
sive and architecturally splendid subway. But to a number of
Soviet writers, Metropol, a special publication, represents a
brave, last-ditch effort to promote free expression. Vassily Ak-
syonov is one of those writers. Born in 1933, the son of a famous,
persecuted author, Evgeniya Ginsberg,...
On January 19, 1966, the parlia- struggle for independence from Brit- mentary party of the Indian National ain, had so dominated national poli- Congress Party elected Indira Gan- tics that his party, anxious to ensure dhi Prime Minister of India. a smooth succession, chose as its
No one knew quite what to expect. next leader the least controversial The 48-year-old daughter of former figure in their midst, La1 Bahadur Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Shastri, whom Nehru had appointed Mrs. Gandhi...
Charles A. Murray, in The Public Interest (Fall 1982), P.O. Box 542, Old Chelsea, New York. N.Y. 10014.
Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," launched in 1964, spurred a sharp 16-year rise in social spending. Yet Murray, former chief scientist of the American Institutes for Research, argues that Washington's new ac- tivism had a perverse result: It brought the gradual spread of American affluence to a "grinding halt."
Thanks chiefly to economic growth, the number of people living...