Sex AidsnMademoiselle—once an organnof college-age young women—nhighlights two features on itsnJanuary 1981 cover: “How tonGet Your Way in Bed” and “Vibrators:nToday’s Love Toy.”nThe first is written by a “psychotherapist”nand the second by an”medical doctor”—the legitimacynof cool expertise is thus assured.nIt would be fatuous to arguenthat in other ages and culturesncollege-age girls (18-24) didn’tnknow what vibrators...

»-nTWO CULTURESn*^- .-^is’^r ••”^•s. -^sfMn•i^’i*’- :: % ‘ni: • a’ 1; Vn’V^* it^.i-ih^ni^ ^iiii y t,.n”^^^ – >n^i^’-ra-^’^iyn^.nTHE PEOPLEntin. %;!n• ” ‘ .’ -J ;:^ in-^WL •-n- m -AdnWP’^-‘^Jm •n. i vm irle^n^tmiMm-nSjMhSh^l-*.-^’nTHE THIRD PARTYnInNORMALCY—OUR SIXTH SENSEnNomidky-Our Sixth Senseny-n•i*.nChimiclc.sniT^”-“^n’ *-•nHOUR OF TRIALn-II 1*1 w .n:_:_Jn’ ‘* ‘ I i^-* ^ in; /^.int/’nTOWARD CONSERVATISMnWITH A HUMAN...

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Ectitor^s CommeiitnOn the threshold of the 1980’s, we wish to make it clearnthat:n—the deepest sources of discord in America are not politicalnor economic, but ideological and cultural;n—the two main political parties are ideologically undefinable;ntheir differences are in sociopolitical postulates;n—the authentic and meaningful disagreement is betweennthose who call themselves conservatives and those whoncall themselves liberals.nX he...

culture, which the evidence from recent decades hasnproved to be morally and existentially superior to anynother behavioral proposition.nThe liberal occupation of the American mind, of Americannsensitivities, of the American sense of moral attractiveness,ndaily choices, preferences, proclivities and even everydaynlogic, creates an unhealthy situation in which conservativencounterproposals are doomed to a stunted existence. Thenliberal appropriation of...

opinions & VicivsnFrom Robespierre with LovenBertram Gross: Friendly Fascism:nThe New Face of Power in America;nM. Evans & Co.; New York.nRichard Lingeman: Small TvwnnAmerica: A Narrative History, 1620n— The Present; G. P. Putnam’s Sons;nNew York.nby James J. Thompson, Jr.nA.merican leftists had best pondernan old saying that still makes the roundsnamong God-fearing folks: “Be carefulnwhat you pray...

government, but they will reject out ofnhand his criticisms of corporate power.nIn doing so, they supply the left withnone of its most compelling argumentsnfor destroying capitalism altogether.nThe conservative, above all of hisncompatriots, should possess an acutenawareness of the sinful nature of man,nof the fallen condition of humankindnthat leads men into the paths of evil,nwhere they...

cratic masses.nJL/eep in the hearts of Gross andnLingeman lurks a fierce desire to destroynAmerican capitalism and to restructurenthe economy to suit the tastes of theneditorial staff of The Nation. With bignbusiness out of the way “Friendly Fascism”nwould no longer threaten, andnthe federal government, now strippednof its war-making capacity, could turnnits full attention to the enforcement...

ism was blasted out of existence in 1945.nMoreover, the authors claim, Americanninvestment and aid in Latin Americanand the high economic growth fosterednby regimes like that in Brazil actuallynimpoverish people—evidently by anneconomic process so arcane that it can-never, Chomsky and Herman polish thentarnished myths of the Indochina warnand defend the new communist regimes.nThe amount of straddling...

ism,” so they deem it ideologically necessarynto whitewash the vilest regime innthe world. In reality, of course, manynhave managed to shift part of the blamenfor the Cambodian horrors onto thenUnited States. In claiming thatnCambodia was forced into the war bynAmerican actions in its border region—nrather than because of the stationingnof North Vietnamese troops there—nChomsky and...

questions of man’s inner life.nBoth writers experienced exclusionnand alienation. Marquand had a sensenof being unjustly excluded in youthnfrom the elite society of Newburyportnand Harvard. Millicent Bell demonstratesnthat this became the compellingnmotive of his life. He erected a mythnof his own disadvantage that, psychicallynspeaking, became his reality. Butnin his life and writing this motivenscarcely transcends the...

tual terms. He confronts an incompletenessnof utterance, an indeterminacy ofnmeaning, a seemingly unconscious ornrandom association of images, whichnsimultaneously demand and defynexegesis.”nEven clearly recognizing this problem,nWatt refuses to accept the aestheticnand symbolist doctrines of the separationnof art from life, and he claims fornConrad the same refusal. His interpretationsnof Conrad’s novels include welldevelopednsections on biographical andnhistorical sources...

militarist in the face of Soviet and communistnaggression, shares Lippmann’snnaive enthusiasm for “Wilson’s war.”nThe German and Austrian Kaisers inn1914 were, after all, less peacelovingnthan Stalin in 1945—or such is the impressionnhis book seeks to give. Nor doesnSteel bother to criticize Lippmann’s petitioningnthe Secretary of War for a draftnexemption soon after other Americansnhad begun to bleed...

All in the FamilynTodd Gitlin: The Whole World isnWatching: Mass Media in the Makingn& Unmaking of the New Left;nUniversity of California Press;nBerkeley, California.nby Gary S. VasilashnAmerican journalism, as it’s practicedntoday, has its roots in the nation’snjunior high schools. There, the buddingnjournalist learns one lesson that is nevernforgotten and is neglected only at greatnperil: everyone wants...

otherwise generally uncooperative.nThat point (the fact that journalistsnaren’t very sharp) is stressed throughoutnthe book. First Gitlin asserts, “thenarchetypical news story is a crime story,nand an opposition movement is ordinarily,nroutinely, and unthinkingly treatednas a sort of crime.” Thinking is out because:n”Extending the news story wouldnentail hard and unaccustomed work,noutside normal newsgathering routines,ngoing beyond the given scene,...

part of the “State,” which has “an oligopolized,nprivately controlled corporateneconomy.” This corporate command hasnan “intimate ally, the bureaucratic nationalnsecurity state.”nJournalists—but not the sympatheticnones, I assume—are tools of the State.nThey work within structures calledn”frames”: “principles of selection, emphasis,nand presentation composed ofnlittle tacit theories about what exists,nwhat happens, and what matters.”nFrames are constructed by “politicalnand economic elites”...

and Roosevelt, however, is a more-thanordinarilynq’nical book. It portrays neithernthe President nor his instrumentnas having been men of any particularnhonor, principle or even pretense. Theynmet to take advantage of each othernand they both succeeded. In the coursenof their long collaboration they servednto both epitomize and symbolize thendegradation of the democratic dogma innthe United States. Mr....

cal plums. Having achieved this turnaround,nFDR promptly dropped Kennedy.nAfter the United States was propelledninto war by Japan and Hitler,nKennedy was ignored until the beginningnof Roosevelt’s fourth term. ThennRoosevelt put on his charm for the lastntime, and for the last time Kennedyncapitulated.nX hat is the outline of Beschloss’sntale. It is well documented and studdednwith illustrious names....

givable on the basis of larger issues andnhigher goals. But the fact is that Mr.nRoosevelt weakened, as Joe Kennedynsaid he would, the democracy he claimednto defend. And Kennedy sold his sponsornshort behind his back, as Roosevelt predictednhe would do. The record of theirnrelationship, therefore, leaves a sad andnsour aftertaste. It makes depressingnreading for anyone who...

is greeted with a Hallmark card in placenof baptism. Of all the basic human conditionsnfamily is, it seems, most subjectnto the trivializing pathos of sentimentality.nLet me be specific. Eli’s brutal usenof Elizabeth as “a baby machine” isncertainly frowned upon, and rathernforcefully portrayed, but the ultimatencause of the frown (should it be a terriblenscowl.”) is never...

formally ended. The reader can surelynsense the fun and delight that an economistnwould derive (perversely, perhaps)nby pointing out how simple the cause isnof unemployment—and crime, schoolndiscipline problems and even youthfulndespair—and what great personal satisfactionnmust come when, with a flourishnof chalk, the economist can simply prescribenwiping the minimum wage lawnoff the books. Fun and delightful, yes.nBut...

less, Thurow analyzes problems of energy,ninflation, slow economic growth,nenvironmental problems, rules andnregulations, and income redistributionnin a basic and straightforward mannernwith which most economists would findnlittle to quibble.nMore fundamentally, though, Thurownis introducing some new thoughtsnon these problems—or rather on thensolutions for these problems. He recognizesnthat the standard economic answersnsuch as eliminating the minimumnwage to reduce unemployment...

Black Thunder tind 100 Years of NegronFreedom and the Broadway play St,nLouis Woman, which was attacked bynWalter White and other black leadersnfor allegedly perpetuating the demeaningnstereotype of the peasant Negro.nLangston Hughes has been called thenfirst black American to earn his livingnentirely from writing. He wrote SelectednPoems, The Big Sea, I Wandernas I Wander, the lyrics...

North. In a 1942 letter, Bontempsnwrites of a Chicago literary party: “Onlyntwo Negroes . . . We didn’t get our invitationsntill nearly the last day. S. Evans,ntop man under Marshall Field, strucknthe colored names off the list and had tonbe pressured by the head man to replacenthem . . . .”niNI either Hughes nor Bontemps...

speculating About JusticenCharles Rembar: The Law of thenLand: The Evolution of Our LegalnSystem; Simon & Schuster; NewnYork.nby Clarence B. Carsonn1 would like to know why one communicatesnwith United States DistrictnCourts on fourteen-inch-long paper andnwith Circuit Courts of Appeal on eleveninch-longnpaper. Beyond that, I wondernon what length and width paper onencommunicates with the Supreme Court,nif, that...

considers that no major objection since,nas he observes, we already have a greatndeal of socialism anyway. What harmncould there be, after all, in throwing justnone more shovel of dirt on a person whonis in the process of being buried alive?n1 think he is overlooking some relevantndetails. The move that he is suggestingnwould be in the...

ral, the editorials launched into a discussionnof Solzhenitsyn the man. Twonyears after that controversial Harvardnaddress, the issues raised by Solzhenitsynnhave not yet been laid to rest. Angreat service to the cause of accuratenrhetoric has been done by publishingnthe original speech, twelve typical representationsnof the early editorial responsesnand six new essays—by SidneynHook and Richard Pipes, among...

Still more puzzling is the failure ofnmost critics to answer Solzhenitsyn’snfundamental premise, which he spellednout quite clearly in his speech. Arguingnthat the failure of Western willnreflected a cause deep within our politicalntraditions, he concluded that: “Thisnmeans that the mistake must be at thenvery root, at the very foundation ofnthought in modern times. I refer to...

ComnieriiiablesnPodhoretz’s MonitionnNorman Podhoretz: ThenPresent Danger; Simon & Schuster;nNew York.nby Alan J. LevinenNorman Podhoretz has writtennfar and away the best of thenrecent spate of warnings aboutnthe international situation andnreappraisals of America’s position.nIt is a brief and penetratingnexamination of the dilemmasnfacing the Western world. Podhoretz’snaccount of the evolutionnof American attitudes andnpolicies since 1960 and the impactnof the...

look at Avedon’s full frontalnmug shots, which claim to findnthe basic truth of each subject,nin order to realize how muchnartificiality of style and substance,nthey encapsulate. At thensame time, one becomes awarenthat a spontaneous grace, kindnessnand decency of form residenin the photography of CecilnBeaton. DnPerceptiblesnAmin Saikal: The Rise andnFall of the Shah; Princeton UniversitynPress; Princeton, New...

ScreennPride and Prejudice and Cliche PeoplenKagemusha (The Shadow Warrior);nWritten and directed by Akira Kurosawa;nTwentieth Century Fox.nPrivate Benjamin; Written by NancynMeyers, Charles Shyer and HarveynMiller; Directed by Howard Zieff;nWarner Brothers.nOrdinary People; Screenplay by AlvinnSargent; Directed by RobertnRedford; Paramount Pictures.nby Eric ShapearonWe no longer make movies likenKagemusha in this country; in Americaneven tragedy, these days, is expressednthrough...

succeeded in making a comedy which isnrooted in a doctrinaire outloolt. A doctrinairencomedy cannot use laughter asnits substance; it can operate on a scoffnor a sneer, but not on hilarity. But lifenis even more cruel to the creators ofnPrivate Benjamin: they wound up withna caricature of comedy—a feat in itself,nto be sure.nThe script of PB...

stupidity swells when simple humannterms are hopelessly mauled by thenscript, which presents the drama ofncommunication in so-called ethnicnstereotypes: WASPs are close-mouthednformalists, casualties of their behavioralnmini-rules, the Jewish psychoanalystnis actually all warmth and understanding,neven if he does exude all the charmnand insight of a drill sergeant.nThere is still one character in thenmovie who deserves a few...

ArtnHopper at WhitneynThe fact that Hopper’s exhibition immediatelynfollows Picasso’s retrospectivenmay be a source of musing. Without detractingnfrom the Spaniard’s position asna giant in his field we may ask (meekly,nto be sure): Which of them better expressesnour time, gives testimony to itsnpoignancy? As we were leaving thenWhitney Museum, we were not certainnwe would have an unambiguous...

Marxoid clergy.nSuch a combination may strike thenAmerican reader as rather odd; yet thesenseeming paradoxes characterize the effervescentnFrench climate, in whichnintellectual questioning and counterquestioningnthrive. There is a similarncontradiction behind ND’s popularity.nThe followers are mostly young peoplenfrom bourgeois Catholic-rightist families,nstudents, bureaucrats, professionals,njournalists, who feel let down notnonly by the repeated failures of the Maurrassiannright, but also by...

liked and which in withered conditionnstill had something enchanting aboutnit) and finally the color of the ivorynwhite wood of the stick (that smelledndamp and tempted one to lick it, butnsoon became sadly shrivelled and dry,nwhich spoiled my pleasure in thisnwhite from the very beginning).nMany people have drawn a parallelnbetween Schoenberg’s atonality andnKandinsky’s move to abstract,...

if he persists in being one, somethingnwill happen to his Presidency (somethingnNixonian, we presume.nThe CBS-New York Times poll (as ifnpolls were not the laughingstock ofnthis event) taken two weeks after thenelection which found out (with thenhelp of subtly contrived questions)nthat Mr. Reagan had better be a meeknand humble moderate and not dare tonimplement the ideas...

way they handle words like “liberal,”n”compassion,” “decency” and “justice.”nThe Nation piously believes that immoralitynis programmed into capitalism;nthat Soviet Russia is an honorable adversarynwho never lies to us, while we alwaysnlie to her; that the CIA stinks becausenit defends a rotten order (whichnhappens to be our order); that nuclearnenergy is demonic when it serves ourneconomy, while...

Editor’s CommeritnFor 200 years, things were rather simple. Both philosophersnand historians seemed to agree that the impecuniousnsocial classes, their occasional moods notwithstanding, werenthe agents of change. Deprived of the good things in life,nthey wanted a change for the better. This drive used to bencalled, by sympathetic ideologists, the push for progress.nThe upper classes, in contrast,...

an exclusive franchise on practical populism, and this newnassociation lasted until the 1970’s. Now, at the thresholdnof the 80’s, everybody knows that the Democratic Party—nthe party of Kennedy, McGovern, forced busing and militantnfeminism—is one of the mightiest and most aggressive forcesnof prescriptive populism ever witnessed in American publicnaffairs. Its only redeeming feature is that everything...

opinions & ViewsnQuestioning Mr. PercynWalker Percy: The Second Coming;nFarrar, Straus & Giroux; New York.nby Joseph SchwartznWalker Percy and Saul Bellow arencurrently the major American novelists,nand it is instructive to note that bothnare deeply concerned with ideas withoutnbeing ideologues. While Percy lacksnthe tremendous variety of character andnpace which characterizes Bellow’s work,nhe has a more profound vision...

Allison outwit the collective forces ofna decaying society to undertake the makingnof a new world by “leading the mostnordinary life imaginable.” There arenmany unexpected turns in the plot andnenough surprises to engage one’s interestnat the narrative level alone in whatnis basically, as Percy described it, a boymeets-girl,nboy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girlnstructure.nJrercy’s greatest appeal for me is hisndiagnosis of...

Love of Death as are Will and Allison,nhe is the proper person to give themninstructions. Thus, the final word onnWill:nHis heart leapt with a secret joy. Whatnis it I want from her and Him, henwondered, not only want but mustnhave.’ Is she a gift and therefore a signnof a giver.’ Could it be that the...

God, Reason & the Redistribution of IncomenRobert L. Heilbroner: Marxism: Fornand Against; W. W. Norton & Co.;nNew York.nMichael Harrington: Decade of Decision;nSimon & Schuster; NewnYork.nby William E. CagenIt is a perverse tribute to human intelligencenthat Marxism is still discussednin intellectually respectable circles. Itnis testimony to our naivete and gullibilitynthat we allow the title “Marxist state”nto...

Return, though, to the assumptionnadvanced by Harrington that most ofnhis readers (and even his critics) todaynaccept unquestioningly. The assumptionnis that income ought to be more equallyndistributed. It would be easy in replynto resort to the economic argument thatnincome differences are a spur to productivity,nand that if everyone had the samenincome no one would want to...

For those who take seriously the admonitionnthat we are to care for onenanother, the only valid response is tongive of their own substance so thatnothers may benefit. True, if such givingnwere indiscriminate, it would also doninjury to the work ethic. That sort ofnindiscriminate giving, though, is muchnless likely to occur in private charitynthan in government...

doubtedly only a matter of time untilnthe sartorial rug is pulled out fromnunder them and they fall into the readyto-wearnracks, replaced by the up-andn-coming. One indication of the declinenof the current fashion moguls is thenfact that their names and initials cannbe seen on the backs, fronts and behindsnof those who obviously frequentnK-Mart rather than Lord...

witty lines or farcical situations, butnshe points out how those things thatnmake up the “right” society in thatncorridor centered in New York Citynand running up through the poshnsuburbs in Connecticut—the conventions,nmanners, fashions and opinionsn—are out of sync with regard to livingnin the real world rather than in thatncreated by the media. It’s not that thenglittering...

Bryn Mawr grad working on her Ph.D.nat Yale (higher degrees are obviouslyn”in”), lives with a man (who turns outnto be John’s rival, crossing paths beingna characteristic of a comedy of manners)nwhom she just happened to bump inton(she thinks, “Actually she just fell intonthings because she wasn’t cynicalnenough”), and is humble enough to wishn”she was an...

er, pacifist and fighter,” says the publictelevisionnpersonality who does a documentarynon him), begins to realize whatnher father lived for, what he engenderednin society and how he became the darlingnof the anti-three-bean-salad set. Her enlightenmentncomes after her father’sndeath; he had a heart attack at an antiwarnrally in 1972.ntLzTSi Slavin was the type of mannwho was extremely...