The Spies Who Loved Us? The Spies Who Loved Us?
I still kick myself for not having saved the short story I wrote for composition class in seventh grade in which I described how the Russians took over my small suburban communit...
May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Ellen Schrecker
Fading Czech Velvet Fading Czech Velvet
As I'm driven to the home of Ivan Klima, one of the Czech Republic's most internationally respected writers, the hand of fate slips in beside me in the taxi.
Apr 29, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Mark Schapiro
Rushdie as Orpheus, on Guitar Rushdie as Orpheus, on Guitar
From the Satanic Versifier, more love and more death, with a song in his heart.
Apr 21, 1999 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard
Bioterrorism Hits Home Bioterrorism Hits Home
The high moral tone in Washington and London about "rogue" states, such as Iraq, building arsenals of biological weapons belies a shameful past.
Apr 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Peter Pringle
Solzhenitsyn’s History Lesson Solzhenitsyn’s History Lesson
Knowledge of Khrushchev's reaction cited above is personal; he was the author's grandfather.
Apr 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Nina Khrushcheva
France’s Philosophe Impolitique France’s Philosophe Impolitique
Recent French philosophy has been most passionately loved and hated for its militant radicalism.
Apr 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Richard Shusterman
Political Chapter, Bible Verse Political Chapter, Bible Verse
After writing this, her fourth book on the Christian right, Sara Diamond donated fourteen years' worth of research--right-wing pamphlets, fliers and position papers--to the Unive...
Apr 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Abby Scher
False History Lessons False History Lessons
Confronted with the inexplicable, policy-makers and pundits alike grope for the apt historical analogy. It's a natural human reaction.
Apr 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Kai Bird
Front Page With a Human Face Front Page With a Human Face
Back in the fifties, before the term "new journalism" was coined, back when Gay Talese was writing minor obituaries for the New York Times, Tom Wolfe was a grad student at Yale a...
Apr 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Dan Wakefield
Comic Relief, NEA-Style Comic Relief, NEA-Style
The world is a bleak canvas, all black and white, with only some grays "so that the black and the white [don't] bump into each other so hard." The gods are quarrelsome and bored...
Apr 1, 1999 / Books & the Arts / JoAnn Wypijewski