- By Seth Stevenson - Slate Magazine

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

By Seth StevensonUpdated Sunday, June 7, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET

Time Time, June 8

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(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

Time's premillennial hype continues: The second installment of its end-of-the-century project celebrates the top artists and entertainers of the last 100 years. Pablo Picasso gets the biggest spread and leads off the package. James Joyce and T.S. Eliot head up the literature contingent. Steven Spielberg, Charlie Chaplin, and Marlon Brando represent filmmaking. Surprise inclusions: Oprah Winfrey, puppeteer Jim Henson, and Bart Simpson, animated "brat for the ages." ... An essay asserts a Fred Astaire-Marlon Brando dichotomy in pop culture. We spent the first half of the century aspiring to classiness and reserve (Astaire). Once Brando broke on the scene, it was all sex, violence, and rawness.

Newsweek Newsweek, June 8

(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

Newsweek's cover package says the West provoked the India-Pakistan nuke standoff by ignoring the obvious crisis waiting to happen. Our inattention drove both sides to nukes as a way to win the respect they weren't getting. A thumbnail sketch compares the two countries' leaders (Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif is a "man without ideology"; India's Atal Behari Vajpayee is "a good man in a bad party"), and a short piece profiles the engineer behind Pakistan's bomb (he stole vital information from European governments). ... A story pegged to the 30^th anniversary of RFK's death recounts the politician's final days. Run ragged by campaigning and obsessed with his own doom, Kennedy was surging in popularity just before he was shot. An accompanying essay claims that, if elected, Kennedy would have got the United States out of Vietnam. ... A story says we're running out of brand names. The explosion of small startups, lax name-registering requirements, and the need to register Web addresses means there aren't enough good names to go around. A recent attempt to register "Intuity" was contested by several companies.

U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report, June 8

(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

The cover package offers six models for improving American cities. Minneapolis; Chattanooga, Tenn; Vancouver, British Columbia; Melbourne, Australia; Curitiba, Brazil; and Tilburg, Netherlands, used effective public transportation, plentiful parks, efficient local governments, and family friendly downtowns to lure people back to stagnant city centers. Urban renewal danger: Cities such as Baltimore have relied too heavily on tourism to spur a comeback. ... Yet another story claims we're still not taking the millennium bug seriously enough. ... A story finds a new kind of vacation: weather chasing. Tourists pay Twister-type storm-chasers to cart them around the Midwest hunting tornadoes. The tour vans sometimes travel 600 miles in a day across multiple states in search of exciting weather.

The New Yorker The New Yorker, June 8

(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

A piece warns of the dangerous Islamization of Egypt, which is stifling the country's once-vigorous intellectual and cultural life. Extremist clerics and academics are using courts to silence critics, stop publication of books, and turn Egypt into a theocracy. Militant groups threaten to assassinate "blaspheming" scholars: Nobel Prize-winning novelist Nagib Mafouz was stabbed. Fear: If once-secular Egypt becomes a radical Islamic state, no Middle Eastern nation is safe. ... The New Yorker scrapes the bottom of the barrel in scandal news: A follow-up to a recent piece about Linda Tripp's long-ago arrest says Tripp probably did commit a theft when she was 19. Tripp has said she was set up. The magazine regrets its own investigation of long-forgotten teen-age misbehavior by a minor scandal figure but still runs 2,000 words on the subject. Excuse for the piece: It suggests Tripp is a liar. ... John Updike contributes a short story about a famous novelist who murders his critics.

Weekly Standard Weekly Standard, June 8

(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

The cover story is the latest and most comprehensive exposé of the hypocrisy of lefty filmmaker Michael Moore (Roger & Me, The Big One). While championing blue-collar workers, Moore treats his own employees awfully, lives in a $1.27 million apartment, regularly demands limos instead of taxis, and exaggerates his working-class roots (in fact, he grew up in a comfy suburb--not the Flint of his movies). ... The Standard's China obsession continues: A story claims the recent China scandals stink worse than Iran-Contra. The arms sold to Iran could never have been used against us (China's missile technology could) and Iran-Contra's players never derived personal gains from the wrongdoing (Clinton received campaign contributions).

The Nation The Nation, June 15

(posted Tuesday, June 2, 1998)

An essay blames Indonesia's woes on a familiar Nation nemesis: the International Monetary Fund. The IMF protects Western business interests at the expense of Indonesia's poor. Western governments cooperate by failing to pressure Indonesia into free elections and better human rights. ... A story claims America skirts the nuclear test ban treaty by conducting "virtual" tests. "Subcritical" plutonium tests and advanced computer models follow the letter of the law but not the spirit--we are still trying to advance our nuclear arsenal.

Economist Economist, May 30

(posted Saturday, May 30, 1998)

The cover editorial deplores rich Americans' lack of charity. The newly wealthy don't give enough and don't give creatively. They are breaking the "unspoken contract that underpins the American dream." ... An editorial urges strong sanctions for Pakistan in light of its nuclear tests. We must deter potential future testers by making an example of Pakistan, despite Pakistan's inevitable claims that India started it and that India is a richer country, better able to withstand sanctions. ... Latest Viagra angle: Can it save endangered species? Among the endangered animals poached for aphrodisiacs are tigers (for their penises--made into a soup) and rhinoceroses (for their horns--made into a powder). We'll pass on "nine-penis wine," apparently a hit in Southeast Asia.

New York Times Magazine New York Times Magazine, May 31

(posted Saturday, May 30, 1998)

The cover story follows investors seeking opportunity amid the economic chaos in Southeast Asia. Western investors will determine which countries and businesses bounce back and which don't. (Bet on Thailand and Korea to make it.) Big surprise: The opening of Asian companies' books has shown they were horribly run, debt-laden messes, even during the boom years. ... A story wonders why Jerry Brown wants to be mayor of Oakland. Once governor of the entire state, Brown now seeks to fix potholes. Minority mayoral candidates see paternalism in Brown's campaign. (Oakland is 43 percent black.)

New Republic New Republic, June 15

(posted Friday, May 29, 1998)

The cover piece says Democrats have a new strategy for winning back Republican congressional seats: Be Republicans. Some of the "Democratic" candidates currently supported by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are pro-life, pro-death-penalty, anti-union, anti-gun-control, and pro-school-prayer. Party leaders will do anything to regain a House majority. ... A story defends the Scholastic Assessment Test. SATs are blamed for perpetuating racial bias at elite schools, but actually they are a good measure of where kids stand and of what sort of education best suits them. ... A story praises the experiment of a public boarding school in New Jersey. The school, which receives half of its funding from donations, distances inner-city kids from the distractions they face at home. While not workable on a grand scale, the idea holds promise for areas where donations would be plentiful.

GQ, June 1998

(posted Friday, May 29, 1998)

A chilling story about an American man's murder of his mail-order wife exposes the dark side of the hired-bride industry. The brides (most of them Filipinas) marry to escape poverty. The men promise money to the brides' families, then often treat the wives as sex slaves, or worse. ... An essay claims popular culture is now so kid-oriented that kids have no model for mature adulthood. Robin Williams personifies the modern father--feminized and juvenile, with no interests beyond his own children.

--Seth Stevenson

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