In the wake of the economic recovery in 1983-84, a kind of euphoria spread through some, but by no means all, of the upper reaches of American society. John Naisbitt, author of the widely read book Megatrends, wrote at the …
Henry Pachter was both a historical scholar who combined an unusual breadth of horizon with deep originality of thought, and a profoundly engaged, lifelong socialist. It is therefore fitting that this second collection of his essays to appear after his …
That was quite a fuss the media made this spring about the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Magazine editors and television producers cannot resist what is known as a hook. Yet in the intensity of this outpouring there …
Zola once explained how to cope with times like these. One must buy a toad every morning and devour it alive and whole. Only after such a breakfast can one face the newspapers with a tranquil stomach, read and swallow …
The March 1985 Encounter features an address to Western Europe by Irving Kristol. A warning in three parts, with the logical structure of a syllogism backed by a gun, Kristol’s article is entitled “A Transatlantic ‘Misunderstanding’: The Case of Central …
This biography of Ilya Ehrenburg is the first serious attempt to assess the career of one of the most controversial men of our century. A writer and journalist by profession, Ehrenburg was widely regarded during the Stalin years as Russia’s …
The consequences of American individualism have been a principal subject for observers of this nation since Tocqueville. What connections can be traced between our individualistic ethos and social practices? How does individualism contribute to or hinder the democratic process? Is …
VIENNA – There is, at first, no culture shock. So much about Europe seems familiar. American civilization, after all, had followed a basically European pattern well into the 1940s. Still in the last years before the suburban dispersal, Boston, with …
Like all social formations, capitalism is not merely a Chinese puzzle in which all elements are of equal importance in locking together the whole. In capitalism as in other regimes, a central organizing principle and its institutions influence all aspects …
Earlier this year the morality of American business again became a hot public issue as one scandal after another hit the headlines. “Old-line manufacturers exposed cheating the Pentagon. Venerable banks caught laundering money. A securities firm found fraudulently kiting checks. …
Cecelia sits alone in the middle of the nearly empty theater. She is wearing her old brown coat and matching hat. She holds a small bag of popcorn which she pecks at in a distracted way. But in her face …
Consider that District Council 37 had fewer than 1,000 members when Jerry Wurf took over its leadership in 1952, and that it ultimately embraced a multiethnic, multiracial mix of locals, from laborers (Local 924), to hospital employees (Local 420), Museum …
In the general election that took place in the spring of 1988, Mrs. Thatcher was eventually defeated. The dominant issue was unemployment, as it had been for two or three years prior to the election, since the end of the …
When clerical workers reached a labor agreement with Yale University last winter, the reverberations were felt throughout the country. After a 10-week strike, the 2,500 workers, most of them women, had won substantial wage and benefit improvements. At a time …
LOMÉ- Vendors crowd the unpaved streets of Lome, selling Seiko watches and unpackaged socks. One of them, a small, barefoot boy, hawks a comic book called Il y avait une fois… Eyadema—”Once Upon a Time… Eyadema.” On the book’s glossy color …
