Slate's Bizbox
other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

By David Plotz
Posted Sunday, Aug. 24, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET
Economist

Economist, Aug. 23

(posted Saturday, Aug. 23)

The cover editorial blames the world's economic problems on economists. They waste too much time on minutiae and too many of them have abandoned grand free-market principles for statism. An article notes a promising new medical procedure: "downsizing" failing hearts and lungs by trimming tissue. The smaller organs work better. Also, the magazine says graphite rackets (power over technique) and charmless players are ruining tennis.

New Republic

New Republic, Sept. 8 & 15

(posted Friday, Aug. 22)

The New Republic to end all New Republics. The 25-page cover package celebrates "Zionism at 100." An immense essay by Editor in Chief Martin Peretz traces Zionism's triumphant history, beginning with the 1897 Basel conference. Among his several conclusions: Zionism succeeded because it favored pragmatism and modernity over ideology and nostalgia. Seventeen other writers contribute short essays. The main themes: 1) Israel is a model democracy; 2) Israeli treatment of Arabs is incomparably better than Arab treatment of Israelis or Arab treatment of Arabs; 3) Zionism signifies "the Jewish preference for power over self-pity." (Ludicrous note: a back-page vodka promotion, one of many Zionist-themed ads, proclaiming "Absolut L'Chaim.")

New York Times Magazine

New York Times Magazine, Aug. 24

(posted Thursday, Aug. 21)

The cover story tracks the promising early performance of Wisconsin's welfare reforms. The state's new mandatory work policies, while more expensive than welfare checks, have pushed more people into the job market and fewer into poverty than had been expected. Critics doubt that the new workers will keep their jobs in a recession. An article profiles best-selling guru Dr. Andrew Weil, who's trying to persuade the mainstream medical establishment to accept alternative health care. Doctors are dubious. An article notes the resurgence in the Western Hemisphere of disease-bearing mosquitoes. Their near-disappearance in the '60s reduced disease immunity, and entomologists now warn that new epidemics of malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis are likely. Alarming statistic: "Mosquitoes will kill, by W.H.O. tally, roughly 1 in every 17 people currently alive on this planet."

Harper's

Harper's, September 1997

(posted Thursday, Aug. 21)

A two-story cover package damns and praises higher education. An essay by a University of Virginia professor says that today's college students seek only ironic entertainment in the classroom. Raised on the cool medium of television, undergrads are skeptical about passionate ideas, doubtful of genius, and intellectually timid. Even worse news: Bottom-line-obsessed universities won't challenge this complacency because they can't afford to offend their paying customers. The other piece glorifies an experimental humanities class for low-income, undereducated adults. The author contends that philosophy, art, and literature are empowering, because they teach the disenfranchised how to challenge the elite without violence. Evidence: The once-hopeless students have gone on to college or better jobs.

Newsweek

Newsweek, Aug. 25

(posted Tuesday, Aug. 19)

A cover story explains a movement within the Catholic Church to elevate the status of Mary to "Co-Redeemer." She's "not just another pretty face"--and she could make the Holy Trinity a Holy Quartet. A report highlights the potential effects of the UPS strike on the economy. An article exposes Europe's worsening traffic congestion. And a story speculates that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan may finally be subscribing to the view that the economy has whupped inflation.

Time

Time, Aug. 25

(posted Tuesday, Aug. 19)

The sensationalistic cover--"The Death of Privacy"--belies a more nuanced treatment of privacy in the information age. The solution isn't to keep them from knowing everything about you, but to allow you to know everything about them. An exposé details phone scams that bilk the elderly out of $40 billion a year. And an upbeat story claims that, in the wake of last year's welfare bill, churches are mobilizing against poverty.

The New Yorker

The New Yorker, Aug. 25 & Sept. 1

(posted Tuesday, Aug. 19)

A double issue about love. The highlight: the life story of the brilliant, weird Alfred Kinsey (of report fame). Gay, masochistic, and happily married, Kinsey presided, gurulike, over a utopian, sexually experimental community in Indiana. (Revolting detail: He masturbated by sticking pipe cleaners into his urethra and tying rope around his scrotum. He filmed this.) A piece depicts royal mistress Camilla Parker Bowles as a smart, funny charmer who knows how to get Prince Charles to relax. (Diana? A dim bulb.) An essay says the United States is too consumed by sex scandals: Sexual privacy would be preferable. Also, love letters by five famous authors (including Dylan Thomas and Simone de Beauvoir) prove that romantic clichés are universal. And an article says that prenuptial agreements are more popular than ever.

Weekly Standard

Weekly Standard, Aug. 25 & Sept. 1

(posted Tuesday, Aug. 19)

Yet another thumb-sucker about the right-wing crisis, the fourth this year. "Is There a Worldwide Conservative Crack-Up?" includes contributions from 28 writers, including Gary Bauer, David Brock, David Gelernter, Grover Norquist, and James Q. Wilson. The consensus: No crack-up. Conservative ideas have triumphed, and left-wing politicians are being elected only because they have stolen right-wing ideology. The other main theme: Conservatives must practice a principled, moral politics, and not pander to voters as Clinton does. Dissenting views: Two contributors propose a muscular, pro-government Teddy Roosevelt conservatism. And the lone Democrat, pollster Stanley Greenberg, says that center-left politicians are winning because voters think conservatives are extremist kooks.

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David Plotz is Slate's editor. He is the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank. You can e-mail him at .
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