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

By AnonymousPosted Friday, Sept. 27, 1996, at 3:30 AM ET

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.

Newsweek and Time, Sept. 30
(posted Monday, Sept. 23)

Newsweek investigates infidelity; Time investigates Fidelity.
Newsweek concludes that spouses cheat because they desire intimacy, not sex. The adultery package also includes an interview with Dick Morris' wife, Eileen McGann. "[S]ometimes I think about dismembering him," she says.
Fidelity Investments' returns have been falling, Time reports--it has lost some of its top managers, and some of its funds (especially the $50 billion-plus Magellan Fund) have grown too big to maneuver. The magazine offers little hope for Fidelity's small-fry customers, suggesting that while the firm will thrive by recruiting institutional and foreign investors, its funds for regular investors will continue to lag.
Both magazines consider the possibility of a Democratic Congress, with Time profiling prospective Speaker of the House Richard Gephardt. It paints him as the anti-Newt--cautious, pragmatic, and dull. Also, Time mourns the destruction of coral reefs, warning that it could cripple much of the world's fishing industry.

U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 30
(posted Monday, Sept. 23)

A cover story on crime rips Dole for blaming teen-age drug use on Clinton and then whacks Clinton for taking credit for decreases in violent crime. The magazine's policy recommendations: more community policing and more local innovation by cops, prosecutors, and citizens. In a sidebar, current drug czar Barry McCaffrey and former drug czar William Bennett butt heads over drug policy in dueling interviews. Two articles bemoan negative campaign ads and repeat the new conventional wisdom about them: Clinton's subtle negative ads are more effective than Dole's heavy-handed ones. Also, a story about the anti-anti-divorce movement.

The New Yorker, Sept. 30
(posted Monday, Sept. 23)

Whom do you trust--Newsweek or The New Yorker? Two weeks ago, Newsweek's health reporter wrote that he, personally, is swallowing large quantities of the chemical DHEA in search of eternal youth. This week, The New Yorker also takes up the question of longevity (also the subject of a current Time special issue), but says that DHEA caused liver cancer in 14 of 16 rats. The New Yorker report is generally more downbeat, distinguishing between "compression of morbidity"--developments that make us healthier longer--and "expansion of morbidity"--developments that simply extend feeble old age. Also in The New Yorker, a campaign journal declares that both Al Gore and Jack Kemp are "Esperanto-type cranks." And the magazine coos over Michael Tigar, the ferocious defense attorney who represents Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols.

Weekly Standard, Sept. 30; and Economist, Sept. 21
(posted Monday, Sept. 23)

The subject is American foreign policy. The Standard takes its customary stance that America should be the world's policeman. Its cover piece condemns Clinton for refusing to commit troops to any battle where they could be killed, and argues that the United States should use force to punish enemies, not "educate" them. The editorial endorses more vigorous American military intervention in Iraq and around the world. Also, an article claims that state tax cuts have revived Michigan, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. And "A Disgraceful Newspaper Exposé and Its Fans" doubts the San Jose Mercury News' expos of the CIA/inner-city crack connection.
The Economist joins the Standard in assailing America for "its reluctance to engage" overseas. The cover editorial notes that while the United States remains the globe's "chief knocker-together-of-heads," it has been too consumed by personal vendettas (against Castro and Hussein, principally), too distrustful of multilateralism, and too focused on economic issues to lead the rest of the world. A related article blasts Sen. Jesse Helms for hating foreigners. Also, an account of the "flourishing" world slave trade, and two Eurocentric features: a long article on the benefits of the European Monetary Union and a 26-page supplement on the state of British politics.

New Republic, Oct. 7
(posted Friday, Sept. 20)

The New Republic visits a favorite topic this week: affirmative action. In the cover story, Shelby (The Content of Our Character) Steele takes his usual position that racial preferences harm America by reinforcing black victimhood and white "deference." Steele then berates Clinton, Dole, and Colin Powell for ducking the issue. Another article condemns the Census Bureau's obsession with race. Also, TNR claims that Transportation Secretary Federico Peña ignored--or lied about--data showing that ValuJet was unsafe. And a reviewer napalms David Denby's Great Books, calling it "naïve, amateurish, and a folly." For SLATE's take on Denby, see "Stealing Beauty."