The Meaning of Muhammad The Meaning of Muhammad
My first memory of Muhammad Ali is from February 1964 in Miami's funky Fifth Street gym, just after the Beatles had departed from a memorable photo shoot. Ali was still in...
Jan 17, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Jack Newfield
Not All, Only a Few Return Not All, Only a Few Return
(after Ghalib) Just a few return from dust, disguised as roses. What hopes the earth forever covers, what faces? I too could recall moonlit roofs, those nigh...
Jan 10, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Agha Shahid Ali
‘The Light for the Heart’ ‘The Light for the Heart’
The first Arabic music I heard was in its native habitat, while riding on gaudily painted buses through Turkey, Morocco and Syria in the 1960s. Before the drivers thrashed their ...
Jan 10, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Jim Motavalli
In the Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon In the Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon
Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin's magical world of islands and archipelagoes, is going through a period of intense, uncomfortable social change. The old ways no longer work and the new ...
Jan 10, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Meredith Tax
Missile Shield or Holy Grail? Missile Shield or Holy Grail?
Nike-Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel, Safeguard, Star Wars, X-ray lasers, spaced-based neutron particle beams, Brilliant Pebbles, Ground-Based Midcourse National Missile Defense, Midcours...
Jan 10, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Walter C. Uhler
Don’t Call It Night Don’t Call It Night
In the United States the writer tends to become an entrepreneur, competing with other literary vendors marketing their characters and language, their humor or drama, to a skeptic...
Jan 3, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Morris Dickstein
Plumping for Pinochet Plumping for Pinochet
Why in 1973 did Chile's democracy, long considered the crown jewel of Latin America, turn into Augusto Pinochet's murderous regime? Why did the United States, which helped Pinoch...
Jan 3, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Greg Grandin
Artistic Economics Artistic Economics
At work recently, I went to get a ham sandwich from the university cafeteria. I discovered, to my vocal dismay, that the well-loved food counter offering homemade fare had been t...
Jan 3, 2002 / Books & the Arts / David Hawkes
In This Corner… In This Corner…
Scattered chunks of films littered the theaters this holiday season. Except for The Royal Tenenbaums, which I've told you about, there wasn't a whole movie to be found. Or, to sp...
Jan 3, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Home for the Holidays Home for the Holidays
Director Wes Anderson's 'The Royal Tenenbaums' is full of bittersweet whimsy.
Dec 20, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans