Spring 1995
The Future that Never Came
In Essence
James Q. Wilson, in PS: Political Science &Politics (Dec. 1994), American Political Science Association, 1527 New Hampshire Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
"Reinventing" the executive branch of the fed- era1 government so that it "works better and costs less," as Vice President A1 Gore's National Performance Review is supposed to do, is a very laudable goal, says political scientist Wilson, of them responsive, we expose them to access endless reporters, lawyers, committees,...
James Q. Wilson, in PS: Political Science &Politics (Dec. 1994), American Political Science Association, 1527 New Hampshire Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
"Reinventing" the executive branch of the fed- era1 government so that it "works better and costs less," as Vice President A1 Gore's National Performance Review is supposed to do, is a very laudable goal, says political scientist Wilson, of them responsive, we expose them to access endless reporters, lawyers, committees,...
"Lyndon Johnson's Victory in the 1948 Texas Senate Race: A Reappraisal" Dale Baum and James L. Hailey, in Political Science Quarterly (Fall 19941, Academy of Political Science, 475 Riverside Dr., Ste. 1274, New York, N.Y. 10115-1274.
"Landslide Lyndon" they called Lyndon Johnson, after he won a 1948 run-off Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate by only 87 votes out of 988,295. In explaining LBJ's razor-thin victory (tantamount to election since Texas was then a virtual one-party...
A Survey of Recent Articles
If you were looking for fighting words dur- ing the 1980s, "mergers and ac-quisitions" would do nicely. This phrase could make the hair on a corporate titan's head stand on end and touch off ideological brawls among people worried about the future of the
U.S. economy. Some said the decade's extraor- dinary number of corporate mergers, takeovers, and leveraged buyouts was destroying the U.S. economy. Others insisted that these activities were a healthy development.
In...
Alex Marshall, inMetropolis (Jan.-Feb. 1995), 177 E. 87th St.,New York, N.Y. 10128.
To Americans who loathe suburban sprawl and shopping malls, Europe has always seemed the promised urban land. Writing about the woes of U.S. cities, architects and city planners frequently dot their texts with cosmopolitan asides about how much more Europeans still care about community, about public spaces, about cities. "Well, they don't. At least not as much as we think,"writes Marshall, a reporter for...
Heather Mac Donald, in City Journal (Winter 1995),Manhattan Institute, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017.
In the debate about welfare reform, the "wel- fare" under scrutiny is the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which assists single mothers and their off- spring. Reformers need to expand their hori- zons, argues Mac Donald, a contributing edi- tor of City Journal. They should take a look at
the federal government's mushrooming wel-
fare for the disabled,...
Adam Gopnik, in The New Yorker (Dec. 12,1994),20 W. 43rd St., New York, N.Y. 10036. .
"Edge" and "attitude" are very highly prized attributes in journalism today. In a front-page story about President Bill Clinton's trip to Oxford University last June, the once-somber New York Times reported that he "returned today for a sentimental journey to the univer- sity where he didn't inhale, didn't get drafted, and didn't get a degree." The president is only 'the most visible...
Adam Gopnik, in The New Yorker (Dec. 12,1994),20 W. 43rd St., New York, N.Y. 10036. .
"Edge" and "attitude" are very highly prized attributes in journalism today. In a front-page story about President Bill Clinton's trip to Oxford University last June, the once-somber New York Times reported that he "returned today for a sentimental journey to the univer- sity where he didn't inhale, didn't get drafted, and didn't get a degree." The president is only 'the most visible...
Christopher Boerner and Thomas Lambert, in The Public Interest (Winter 1995), 1112 16th St. N.W., Ste. 530, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Are poor blacks and other minorities-to add to all their other woes-made to bear more than their fair share of the burden of pollution? A disproportionate number of industrial and waste facilities are placed in their backyards, activists against "environmental racism" assert, and regulators often give owners carte blanche to pollute. In Washington, some liberal...
Christopher Boerner and Thomas Lambert, in The Public Interest (Winter 1995), 1112 16th St. N.W., Ste. 530, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Are poor blacks and other minorities-to add to all their other woes-made to bear more than their fair share of the burden of pollution? A disproportionate number of industrial and waste facilities are placed in their backyards, activists against "environmental racism" assert, and regulators often give owners carte blanche to pollute. In Washington, some liberal...
Craig B.
Stanford, in Natural History (Jan. 1995),
American Museum of Natural History,
Central Park West at 79th St., New York,
epithelium N.Y. 10024.
From Tarzan's Cheetah and Ronald Reagan's co-star in Bedtime supporting cell for Bonzo (1951) to the more recent simian thespian Willie, who stole scenes from Matthew Broderick in
connective tissue
the 1987 movie Project X, chimpan-zees have long been looked upon \ cranial nerve fiber as lovable, if mischievous, crea- tures. Even in the wild,...
' 'The High Cost of Dying' Revisited" Anne A. Scitovsky, in The Milbank Quarterly (No. 4,19941, Blackwell Publishers, 238 Main St., Cambridge, Mass. 02142.
Health-care specialists have been worrying for years about the high cost of medical care given to dying patients. A 1984 study revealed that the six percent of Medicare enrollees who died in 1978 accounted for 28 percent of all Medicare expendi- tures. A powerful force behind the nation's soaring expenditures on health care ($752 billion...
Judy Polumbaum, in Poets & Writers Magazine (Jan.-Feb. 1995), 72 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10012.
Most observers of cultural developments in China assumed that the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and massacre would have an extremely chilling effect, particularly on Chi- nese literature. But the cultural frost was not as severe as expected. Indeed, literature in China seems to be flourishing today, reports Polumbaum, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa. In the past year alone, about...
Judy Polumbaum, in Poets & Writers Magazine (Jan.-Feb. 1995), 72 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10012.
Most observers of cultural developments in China assumed that the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and massacre would have an extremely chilling effect, particularly on Chi- nese literature. But the cultural frost was not as severe as expected. Indeed, literature in China seems to be flourishing today, reports Polumbaum, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa. In the past year alone, about...
a three-
start coming home is very fered, as the surprisingly to-two margin, fighting harder
much in error, contends strong showing dovish in Vietnam, not withdrawing
Schwarz, a RAND researcher. senator Eugene J. McCarthy in from it. Indeed, as disapproval
During the Vietnam and the March 1968 New Hamp- of the original commitment
Korean wars, as the toll of dead shire primary showed. But grew, so did the public's de-
and wounded mounted, polls Schwarz points out that ask- sire to escalate...
Book Reviews
THE ORAL HISTORY OF MODERN
ARCHITECTURE: Interviews with the
Greatest Architects of the Twentieth Cen-
tury. By John Peter. Abrams. 320 pp. $67.50
TEMPTATIONS OF A SUPER POWER. By
Ronald Steel. Harvard. 144 pp. $18.95
WORLD ORDERS, OLD AND NEW. By
Noam Chomsky. Columbia. 311 pp. $24.95
Robert Darnton. Norton. 409 pp. $27.50
Gertrude Himmelfarb. Knopf. 314 pp. $24
Marvin Kalb. Univ.
of Chicago. 248 pp. $19.95
Denis Donoghue. Knopf. 347 pp. $30
Howard Norman.
Farrar, Strauss. 289 pp. $20
Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Oxford
Univ. 454 pp. $30
Robert Alter. Univ. of Ind. 192 pp. $27.95
By Isaiah Berlin. Farrar, Strauss.
144 pp. $21
Ed. by Paul Berman.
Delacorte Press. 303 pp. $22.50
By Alice Goldfarb
Marquis. Basic. 304 pp. $25
By Renee C. Fox. Ivan R. Dee.
339 pp. $28.50
By Richard Preston.
Random House. 300 pp. $23
By Oliver Sacks.
Knopf. 315 pp. $24
Essays
Faith and art once nurtured each other. Now the relationship is uneasy. Two writers ponder what has gone wrong.
Faith and art have coexisted peacefully, even amicably, throughout most of history. In our day, however, relations between the realm of religion and the realm of literature are uneasy at best. As our contributors here suggest, the fault may lie with both sides-in the deafness of most contemporary writers to the religious yearnings of the average person; and in the aggressive intolerance of some believers who have gone the way of fundamentalism.
Faith and art have coexisted peacefully, even amicably, throughout most of history. In our day, however, relations between the realm of religion and the realm of literature are uneasy at best. As our contributors here suggest, the fault may lie with both sides-in the deafness of most contemporary writers to the religious yearnings of the average person; and in the aggressive intolerance of some believers who have gone the way of fundamentalism.
National mythologies are based as much on features of landscape as on heroic individuals, ideals, and great events. Simon Schama here tells how the "discovery" of giant sequoias in the 1850s helped to confirm America's sense of manifest destiny "at a time when the Republic was suffering its most divisive crisis since the Revolution."
In August the world will solemnly mark the 50th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Their devastation in 1945 inaugurated an age fraught with doomsday anxieties: the fear of Armageddon, of uncontrolled proliferation, and, more recently, of nuclear terrorism. Yet even before the Cold War began to fade, many countries were quietly retreating from the nuclear temptation. Mitchell Reiss explains why - and what can be done to encourage the trend.
Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the "bully pulpit" as one of the grandest prerogatives of the presidency. But the pitfalls of serving as the nation's voice have contributed to the undoing of more than one of his successors.
We all derive different, private meanings from the music that delights us, but the recurrence of certain musical patterns in the works of great composers hints at meanings of a more universal character.
Long before cetaceans became objects of popular affection and scientific scrutiny, the author had his first and most memorable encounter with the killer whale.
SkaltISkalt Not
n the whole, the arrangement
wasn't bad. Sex you learned about
mostly on the streets, long before
you were caught off guard one day by a parentwho had found thecourage to be straight-faced about the mechanics and their ("Take my word for it") spiritual dimension. The details, such as they were, resembled what you already knew about as much as a stick figure re- sembles a Reubens.
And religion you learned about mostly in school (theory) and church (practice). Th...
That maker and breaker of literary reputations, T. S. Eliot, began an essay on Ben Jonson (1572-1637) this way: "The reputation of Jonson has been of the most deadly kind that can be compelled upon the memory of a great poet. To be universally accepted; to be damned by the praise that quenches all desire to read the book; to be afflicted by the imputation of the virtues which excite the least pleasure; and to be read only by historians and antiquaries-this is the most per- fect conspiracy...
