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
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
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
Trafficking in Verse Trafficking in Verse
Immigrants and traffickers are the subjects of a certain style of Mexican music.
Dec 20, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans
Forever Forever
for Donald Revell Even Death won't hide the poor fugitive forever; on Doomsday he will learn he must live forever. Is that nectar the cry of the desert prophets? See angels pour the Word through a sieve forever. On the gibbet Hallaj cried I Am the Truth. In this universe one dies a plaintive forever. When parents fall in love with those blond assassins, their children sign up for Western Civ forever. With a brief note he quit the Dead Letter Office-- O World, they've lost Bartleby's missive forever. Am I some Sinai, Moses, for lightning to char? See me solarized, in negative forever. In the heart's wild space lies the space of wilderness. What won't one lose, what home one won't give forever! A perfect stranger, he greeted herself in joy-- Not to be Tom, how lovely--she said--I'm Viv forever! Jamshed, inventor of wine, saw the world in his cup. Drink, cried his courtiers, for he won't live forever. He lives by his wits, wears blue all day, stars all night. Who would have guessed God would be a spiv forever? Will the Enemy smile as I pass him on the street? I'm still searching for someone to forgive forever. As landscapes rise like smoke from their eyes, the blind hear God swear by the fig and the olive forever. The Hangman washes his hands, puts his son to sleep. But for whom, come dawn, he's decisive forever? Alone in His Cave--His Dance done--He's smeared with ash. The Ganges flows from the head of Shiv forever. You've forgiven everyone, Shahid, even God-- Then how could someone like you not live forever?
Dec 20, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Agha Shahid Ali
Ms. Heads West Ms. Heads West
What's next for Ms. magazine now that it's hit the ripe age of 30 and is now heading west?
Dec 20, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Lauren Sandler
Not Just Village People Not Just Village People
Once confined to the closet, gays are now making headway in mainstream society.
Dec 13, 2001 / Books & the Arts / George De Stefano
Gorbachev’s Revolution Gorbachev’s Revolution
Gorbachev represented a unique change in Soviet statesmanship; two books examine him and the end of the Cold War.
Dec 13, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Walter C. Uhler