Books and Ideas

Slouching to the Ouija Board Slouching to the Ouija Board

"Does the imagination dwell the most/Upon a woman won or woman lost?" Yeats asked. For most of his readers and biographers, the answer has been clear: a woman lost.

Oct 28, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Kunkel

Our Monumental Mistakes Our Monumental Mistakes

To the surprise of historians themselves, history--or at least its public presentation--has become big business.

Oct 21, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

Mourning and America Mourning and America

He's not dead yet, but the spirit of Ronald Reagan is omnipresent these days, and nowhere is it more damnably profane than in politicians' relentless invocations of the Almighty.

Oct 14, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Michael Joseph Gross

Thurow’s Infonomics Thurow’s Infonomics

We are entering, techno-boosters breathlessly proclaim, a "third industrial revolution," that of the "knowledge-based" or "new" economy.

Oct 14, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Robert J. Crawford

How We Ended the Cold War How We Ended the Cold War

It is now ten years since the Berlin wall crumbled, but the question of how and why the cold war was concluded still lingers.

Oct 14, 1999 / Feature / John Tirman

More Nixon Tapes Released More Nixon Tapes Released

Among his more peculiar views, He thought all Communists were Jews. Historians must ponder how He managed to account for Mao.

Oct 14, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Calvin Trillin

Remains of the Day Remains of the Day

Every Wednesday since January 1992, an indefatigable group of halmonis (Korean for "grandmothers") in their 70s and 80s have led a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seo...

Oct 7, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Margaret Juhae Lee

Is the Boston Tea Party Over? Is the Boston Tea Party Over?

Anyone who has led a discussion on the economy or trade or globalization in this country has faced the question, Should I buy American? Sounds simple enough.

Oct 7, 1999 / Books & the Arts / John Cavanagh

Les Étrangers Les Étrangers

Sagesse (meaning "wisdom") LaBasse, the narrator of Claire Messud's second novel, The Last Life, is French-Algerian on her father's side and American on her mother's.

Sep 30, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Jay Parini

Their Myths and Ours Their Myths and Ours

Karen Rosenberg has taught Russian literary history in the United States and Austria.

Sep 30, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Karen Rosenberg

x