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Time, Oct. 7, Newsweek, Oct. 7, and Economist, Sept. 28
(posted Monday, Sept. 30)
It's the Week of the Woman, and the covers of Time, Newsweek, and the Economist celebrate the female of the species at the expense of the male.
Newsweek's piece on astronaut Shannon Lucid explains how "The Right Stuff" of the old, macho fighter-pilot astronauts has been eclipsed by "The New Stuff" of today's scientist/astronauts. Time pegs its story, "Hell Hath No Fury," to the popularity of The First Wives Club. The movie taps an alleged "bottomless well of shared female rage," and then describes how wives--Hollywood wives, that is--cope with divorce. The Economist explains that the information and service economies favor women, who do better in school, don't depend on disappearing blue-collar jobs, and are willing to work cheap. The forecast: a plague of unemployed, dangerous young men. The remedy: male teachers and vocational programs.
Also, Time and Newsweek describe the presidential debate as Dole's last chance, and advise him to be upbeat. Both give nearly as much space to John F. Kennedy's wedding as they do to the bloodshed in Israel. Newsweek is the first of the weeklies (but undoubtedly not the last) to commemorate the Oct. 16 anniversary of the Million Man March. The magazine's conclusion: The march inspired some men, but has not transformed black America. And Newsweek considers, skeptically, Born to Rebel, a book by Frank Sulloway arguing that birth order explains character: Firstborns are aggressive and conservative (Saddam Hussein); later-borns are iconoclastic and ingratiating (David Letterman).
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U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 7
(posted Monday, Sept. 30)
"The Debate That Really Matters" pits liberal and conservative education experts against each other, then--in typical U.S. News fashion--stakes out the middle ground. The piece admires the rigor and emphasis on knowledge touted by E.D. Hirsch Jr., but also appreciates Theodore Sizer's focus on intellectual engagement and creativity. (A related article condemns Bob Dole's school-voucher proposal.) The influence of the magazine's new editor, James "National Defense" Fallows, is felt in a story that questions why the Pentagon wants $200 billion worth of new fighter planes when the United States already enjoys total air superiority. And U.S. News doubts if the U.S. Postal Service can beat back the combined challenges of e-mail, faxes, Federal Express, and UPS.
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The New Yorker, Oct. 7
(posted Monday, Sept. 30)
The New Yorker has only nice things to say about Born to Rebel. A lionizing profile of author Sulloway suggests that his sibling theory will revolutionize understanding of human behavior by "cast[ing] aside modernity's Freudian and Marxist scaffolding ... and replac[ing] them with a thoroughly Darwinian view of human behavior." A long article studies Brett Kimberlin, the convict who made headlines in 1992 by claiming he sold pot to Dan Quayle. The author, Mark Singer, wrote a long New Yorker article in 1992, sympathetic to Kimberlin's claims. This week's long article says he was probably duped. Also, a "Paris Journal" explores the French obsession with a 5th-century king named Clovis, whose right-wing supporters claim he is the father of France.
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Weekly Standard, Oct. 7
(posted Monday, Sept. 30)
The Standard publishes its second cover story on pedophilia in six months. It traces the life of Nobel-prize winning scientist/accused child molester Carleton Gajdusek. According to the Standard, Gajdusek possessed both a deep fascination for unspoiled cultures and an empathy for children, but could not separate them from his darker urges. Also, the Standard asserts that the United States betrayed the Kurds of Iraq, calling Clinton's unwillingness to intervene on the their behalf his "Bay of Pigs."
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New Republic, Oct. 14
(posted Friday, Sept. 27)
The cover story champions atheism. "The Last Taboo" scoffs at the conventional wisdom that America is hostile to religion. In fact, TNR writes, America is dangerously reverent, and its excessive religiosity has fostered a softheaded public morality ("[f]aith denies facts, and that is not always a virtue"). Speaking of softheaded, a campaign journal paints Jack Kemp as "the classic B student," someone who only understands one (bad) idea. Also, as part of a libel-suit settlement, TNR apologizes for calling Cuban exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa a "Miami Mobster." A separate article describes the newly elected Bosnian Serb leaders as the "Pale Mafia."
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New York Times Magazine, Sept. 29
(posted Thursday, Sept. 26)
The magazine celebrates its centennial--again. Earlier in the year, it published two backward-looking special issues (100 years of photographs; 100 years of articles); this week, it considers "The Next Hundred Years." The 216-page behemoth overflows with predictions: "Race Is Over"; "America Remains No. 1"; Walt Disney becomes the world's largest corporation; squirrel monkeys are a popular pet. An article titled "The Optimists Are Right" explains why life on earth will continue to get better and better. Times' critics pick the 21st-century canon: Taxi Driver, Christo, Gravity's Rainbow, Cats, and the Sex Pistols make the cut.
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