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HOME / other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

By AnonymousPosted Saturday, Oct. 5, 1996, at 3:30 AM ET

New Republic, Oct. 21, and Economist, Oct. 5
(posted Friday, Oct. 4)

Both magazines publish cover editorials about the Israel violence, but disagree about the cause of the bloodshed and the remedy for it. The Economist's editorial blames both sides: Israel for halting the peace process, the Palestinians for resorting so quickly to violence. It argues that Israel can't impose peace with force, then encourages Netanyahu "to confound both his friends and his enemies" by immediately negotiating a final settlement. (This settlement, the magazine notes, would be total "separation," not a "cosy peace.") Also in the Economist: The magazine polls leading economists and finds that they favor Clinton's economic plan over Dole's by a 3-to-1 margin.
The New Republic blames the bloodshed on Yasser Arafat, and holds out little hope for a negotiated peace. The opening editorial argues that the rioting served Arafat by uniting fractious Palestinians against Israel. It also takes the usual TNR line that the peace process has failed because the Palestinians won't compromise: Israel conceded land and security; the Palestinians conceded nothing. Also in TNR: a Clinton backlash. One writer explains why he is voting for Dole (because he's a compromiser, but not a waffler); another explains why he is voting for Nader (because he's not Clinton). And a long book review argues that teen-age motherhood is a bad thing.

New York Times Magazine, Oct. 6
(posted Thursday, Oct. 3)

The Supreme Court's new term begins this week, and the magazine uses the occasion to survey "The Rehnquist Years." The cover story concludes that the chief justice is sitting pretty: Rehnquist runs the court efficiently and decisively (unlike his predecessors), and his judicial philosophy of restraining federal power has largely triumphed, especially in death-penalty cases. (The magazine does note, however, that it is Anthony Kennedy, not Rehnquist, who casts the court's deciding vote.) A profile of underdog Victor Morales, Phil Gramm's opponent in the Texas Senate race, finds him charming, sincere, hopelessly naïve, and totally out-gunned. Also, an article on why today's baseball players are better than Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and the rest of the old-timers.

Time, Oct. 7, and Newsweek, Oct. 7
(posted Monday, Sept. 30)

It's the Week of the Woman, and the covers of Time and Newsweek 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, says the magazine, taps an alleged "bottomless well of shared female rage," and then describes how wives--Hollywood wives, that is--cope with divorce.
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).

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.

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.

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."