Economist, Aug. 16
(posted Saturday, Aug. 16)
India's 50th birthday is celebrated, ambivalently, as the cover package praises the country's democracy and condemns its history of socialism. Recent economic liberalization has started to improve living standards, but the editors urge the government to privatize and deregulate faster. A piece commends Madeleine Albright for her "splendid bluntness" and her belief that the United States must act as the world's moral (and actual) policeman. But even she may not be able to force peace on the Middle East. Also, an Economist obsession: The magazine advises Britain to legalize drugs, at least marijuana and ecstasy (MDMA). A related article describes, lovingly, the many medical benefits of pot smoking.
New Republic, Sept. 1
(posted Friday, Aug. 15)
The cover story marvels at Lanny Davis, the White House lawyer who does spin control for the Senate campaign-finance investigation. The administration's "minister for scandal," Davis brilliantly defused the Thompson hearings by convincing reporters that the witnesses' testimony was old news. "Heil Harvard" describes how Austria's far-right leader, the repellent Jorg Haider, is polishing his reputation by attending Harvard conferences and schmoozing American politicians. Haider, the author reminds us, praised the SS and has proposed expelling all immigrants and foreigners from Austria. A biography of efficiency expert Frederick Winslow Taylor is reviewed. The conclusion: Taylor was a terrible man, and he should be blamed for the dehumanization of the American workplace.
New York Times Magazine, Aug. 17
(posted Friday, Aug. 15)
An article calls Japanese primary schools the best in the world. Why? Kids cooperate on everything, are encouraged to think creatively, and learn responsibility from chores. (They clean the school building because there are no janitors.) The bad news: Japan's high-pressure, exam-oriented secondary schools undo the primary schools' good work. The magazine interviews Boeing CEO Philip Condit, who defends the company's safety record, its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, and its pro-China policy. Most astonishing moment: Condit likens the Rodney King beating to the Tiananmen Square massacre. The cover story profiles celebrity chef David Bouley, who's trying to launch a nationwide gourmet-food empire, complete with overnight delivery of flash-frozen, vacuum-packed, four-star meals.
Time and Newsweek, Aug. 18
David Plotz is the Editor of Slate. He's the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank and Good Book. He appears on Slate's Political Gabfest.