authorities, kept their fiction in "the desk drawerM-to be read secretly and smuggled abroad. Only recently have many of those manuscripts been published in the West.
Despite the delays, contends Eberstadt, an American novelist, West- erners now have "a more comprehensive view of the state of culture and creative life in the Soviet Union than has been available . . . since the early '60s."
Eberstadt argues that most of the recent Soviet authors fall into three categories. First,...
Edward Roth- stein, in The New Republic (June 24, 1985), 1220 19th St. N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036.
The lives of musical geniuses are supposed to be filled with drama: bril- liant outbursts undermined alcoholism, mania, and syphillis. Or so the legends go.
But Johann Sebastian Bach, whose 300th birthday the world cele- brated this year, is a genuine exception, contends Rothstein, music critic for The New Republic. "Bach's life is considered stupefyingly ordi- nary," although his work...
Woodrow J. Kuhns, in East
European Quarterly (June 1985), 1200 Uni- InAfrica versity Ave., Boulder, Colo. 80309.
In the African arena, the Soviet Union has relied primarily on Cuba to further its aims with troops and advisers. Now, writes Kuhns, who taught political science at Pennsylvania State University, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) has joined Cuba as the Soviet Union's key helper in African affairs.
In 1981, according to estimates the U.S. Department of Defense, the GDR had more than...
Woodrow J. Kuhns, in East
European Quarterly (June 1985), 1200 Uni- InAfrica versity Ave., Boulder, Colo. 80309.
In the African arena, the Soviet Union has relied primarily on Cuba to further its aims with troops and advisers. Now, writes Kuhns, who taught political science at Pennsylvania State University, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) has joined Cuba as the Soviet Union's key helper in African affairs.
In 1981, according to estimates the U.S. Department of Defense, the GDR had more than...
That proposal, notes Huan, a Visiting Fellow from China at the US. Atlantic Council, would allow the KMT in Taipei to "maintain its social and economic system, its armed forces, and its unofficial ties with for- eign countries." In return, Taipei must surrender its claim to represent all of China and agree to become a "special administrative region." Since signing a similar agreement in 1984 with Britain on Hong Kong's future, Deng has been eager to try this arrangement with...
PERIODICALS
Reviews of articles from periodicals and specialized journals here and abroad
POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
11
RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY
30
FOREIGN POLICY & DEFENSE
15
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
32
ECONOMICS, LABOR, & BUSINESS
20
RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT
35
SOCIETY
24
ARTS & LETTERS
37
PRESS...
Paul C. 1-ight, in The Ã?â?¡rooking Review (Summer 1984), Brookings Insti-
Vice President? tution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
"Hardly worth a pitcher of warm spit " was U.S. Vice President (1933-41) John Nance Garner's estimation of his job. Were Garner around today, he would probably take a kindlier view, suggests Light, a National Academy of Public Administration researcher. During the last 10 years, the Vice Presidency has become an office...
Alice M.
Ply pets Rivlin, in Journal of Policy Analysis and
Management (Fall 1984), John Wiley and
Are Not Enough Sons. 605 Third Ave., New York. N.Y.
Making public policy was once part politics, part eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
During the last 20 years, however, computer-equipped policy analysts
have inundated elected officials with data intended to take the guesswork
out of the process. Have they improved the quality of legislation?
Not much, says Rivlin, founder and for eight years...
specialists, many written in maddeningly arcane jargon, simply overload legislators. Moreover, such analyses often reveal just how complicated a problem really is. And analysts' prescriptions are always subject to error. It all adds up to frustration for the recipients. Too often, Rivlin says, they either succumb to paralysis or, going to the opposite extreme, plump for unrealistically simple solutions.
In her view, that is how Congress and the White House got the nation into today's budgetary...
Sey-
mour Weiss, in Commentary (Nov. 1984),
165 East 65th St., New York, N.Y. 10022.
Most Americans believe that accords with the Soviets on nuclear arms control are, in general, good and necessary. Weiss, a retired U.S. diplo- mat, emphatically disagrees.
"Just what evidence exists," he asks, "that recent nuclear arms limi- tations agreements with the USSR have actually contributed to U.S. se- curity?" In his view, none. The United States enjoyed clear nuclear superiority...