Category: Imported

THE ACADEMYnWhose Women’snStudies?nby Elizabeth Fox-GenovesenWomen’s studies has emergednand, in large measure, won itsnplace in the academy as an unabashedlynpolitical undertaking. “Teaching,” accordingnto Florence Howe, a pathnbreaker in women’s studies, “is a politicalnact.” “Education,” Deborah Rosenfeltnadds, “is the kind of political act thatncontrols destinies.” In effect, they insistnthat education as we have known it untilnvery recently...

which no consideration for things-asthey-are-and-have-beennshould benallowed to prevail. The sense of embattlementndoubtless accounts for much ofntheir unwillingness seriously to addressnthe responsibilities of running the world.nTheir mission is to transform it. Now.nLike other zealots, they impatientlynreject inherited niceties, including freedomnof speech. The oppression ofnwomen has been such that the strugglenagainst it justifies extreme methods.nThe weak, who...

read — and also noted that the numbersnof women authors had recentlynbegun to increase in all courses. Shenwas not complaining about, certainlynnot berating, her professors, whom shenobviously very much admired (andnwhose syllabi she had kept), but she didnhope that things might be different innthe future. “If inspiration can take thenform of a charge or revelation,”...

FILMnCrimes andnPunishmentsnby David R. SlavittnThe Cook, The Thief, His Wifen& Her LovernProduced by Kees KasandernWritten and directed bynPeter GreenawaynReleased by Miramax FilmsnThe Plot Against HarrynProduced by Michael Roemer andnRobert YoungnWritten and directed bynMichael RoemernReleased by King ScreennLust, greed, betrayal, murder, andnrevenge are not at all unusual asnthe subjects of movies, but Peter Greenaway’snextension of these...

maggoty meat (Adam and Eve expellednfrom Paradise?), and head fornthe book depository because that’s notna place that Albert is likely to frequent.nWhat terrible degradations can anyonenimagine performing with a book?nThis departure from the restaurant’snimmediate precincts is the film’s weakestnsection. The usual idea that moviemakersnhave of opening up their worknfrom the confinement of the stage tonshow...

liitro[lucing…Tlie NewsnMagazine of the 1990snP ollsnshow that most Americansnare fed up with the arrogant,nexploitive tactics of the mediangiants. Time, CBS, and the rest ofnthe entrenched media establishment havenaccelerated their campaign to brandnAmericans as ignorant and out of step ifnthey do not accept gun control andnmassive defense cuts. They label asn”homophobes” all who disagree with thenmilitant...

Quite simply: tlie fittestnotte-volitttte Cltt^tiatt referettcenitt tlte ff^ttglislt-spealdttg w^orldn”Indispensabk’.. ”has no peer”… **the sir^k mostnuseful r^emux book for Christianity” — a few of thenaccolades for this magisterial woiknNothing of Christian interest is absent from these pages. The sweep is awesome:nThe history of the Church • doctrines • denominations • short biographies of somen4,500 eminent Christians:...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnKatherine DaltonnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, Jr.nASSISTANT EDITORnTheodore PappasnART DIREGTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnGORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton Reed,nGary VasilashnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnEDITORIAL INTERNnChristine HaynesnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnASSOCIATE PUBLISHERnMichael WardernPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. RejfettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA Publication of The Rockford...

loved ones are for? (However, he nevernplayed tag in the library or rode his bikenup the steps of the bank, and if he hadndone either of those things, I wouldnhave made him cut it out, no matternwhat kind of a day he was having.)nAs for Mr. St. Marie’s assertion thatn”[ejach of us is responsible, individuallynand...

presses the free market forces and hasnturned the Sephardic Jews (as well asnthe Arab minority) into its obedientnserfs.nWhenever the Sephardic Jews havenbeen able to operate in conditions of anfree market, in the few capitalist islandsnin Israel (and certainly in places likenFrance and Canada), they have donenmuch better than the Ashkenazic Jews.nA recent study released by...

THIS AUGUST ISSUE has beennlong in the works. Supported by angenerous grant from the William H.nDonner Foundation, which has underwrittennthis entire issue, we were ablento hold a little meeting at the DrakenHotel in Chicago in January. To discussnthe question of environmentalnethics, we assembled a diverse group ofnpeople, almost none of them known toneach other. In...

FREE-MARKET ENVIRONmentalists,nthat small band of economists,ndidn’t talk much about the NationalnPark Service in the early 1980’s.nIn their effort to convince the publicnthat the government is often a poornsteward, they concentrated on commodity-producingnagencies that arensupposed to be efficient, agencies suchnas the Forest Service and the Bureau ofnLand Management. Their recommendationnto put even these agencies intonprivate hands...

tive to medical treatment. Medical testimonynpresented by the prosecutionnrevealed not only that Robyn’s ailmentncould have been detected by an X-raynand corrected by surgery, but that hencould also have been resuscitated up tonthirty minutes after he fell into cardiacnarrest. According to the prosecution,nRobyn had been dead for at least thirtynminutes and possibly for as long asnseveral...

helps the boy take the head back, butnnot before the two of them are capturednby an angry mob. What are thesenimmoral themes? Family loyalty, localnpatriotism, the willingness to acceptnblame.nWhat really upsets America’s rulingnclass is the notion that average Americansndon’t want or need them or theirnfalse values. Bart, the underachiever, isnin one episode sufficiently temptednthat he...

mentalist lobbies that include the heavilynbureaucratized and technocraticnfunds and foundations, as well as thencorporate, governmental, and academicnorganizations that understand hownto use the movement to enhance theirnown power at the expense of socialninstitutions and habits, local jurisdictionsnand national sovereignties, andncultural identities and relationships. Itnis this part of the movement that hasneffectively created Earth Day and environmentalismnas...

PERSPECTIVEnShort Views on Earth DaynEarth Day 1990. In front of the local library a few dozennpeople dressed up like Hollywood extras in a movienabout the 60’s are “carrying signs that say hurray for ournside,” while all over town there are alleys full of garbage,ncreeks choked with old mufflers and rusted appliances. InnNew York, Chicago, and...

Foreign Affairs. In “To Prevent a World Wasteland,”nKennan called for “the establishment of a single entity” tonoversee and coordinate research on environmental questions.nSince it was only certain countries that had the meansnand the will to do something about the problem, anninternational organization on the UN model was notnfeasible. Instead, Kennan imagined a consortium of advancednnations...

own affairs and encourage us to put pressure — short ofnintervention — on other regimes that fail to live up to ournstandards. Goodin’s preference is for a model of what hencalls shared responsibilities. It is not enough to reachnminimum standards of decency or air quality ourselves, ifnoutlaw nations are dragging the general average down. If...

Like so many conflicts in the modern world, the strugglenamong environmentalists is ultimately religious, not political.nThe Greens would like to see themselves as pagans, whonhave reverence for Mother Earth, but they are not. Thatnchapter of our experience was closed even before thenEmperor Julian attempted to revive Greek paganism as ansystematic alternative to Christianity. When rationalist...

see all of these events as having coalesced into worldwidensecular trends. The release of chlorofluorocarbons in thennorthern hemisphere has opened a hole seven thousandnmiles away in the stratospheric ozone over Antarctica,nadmitting higher levels of ultraviolet radiation. This localncollapse foreshadows the fate of the global atmosphere)nthreatening higher levels of skin cancer and disruption ofnecosystems worfdwide. The...

nutrients bind with aluminum and iron or wash away in thentorrential rains. The land becomes a “wet desert,” unable tonsustain agriculture or husbandry at a profitable level fornmore than several years.nWhat are the rural poor to do if they cannot clear thenland? The answer lies partly in zoning on a broadnscale, while improving agriculture on...

Not long ago I participated in a delightful and in somenways unusual nature outing at a place called PoplarnCreek, one of the forest preserves that make up an extensivensystem of green spaces in Chicago and its suburbs.nFor three or four hours some fifty of us cut and pilednbrush, planted seeds, and used bowsaws and hammers...

including our relationship with nature in its wildest and mostnprimitive forms — rather than one that sees nature as ancollection of objects somewhere “out there.” I believe thenshift to the new paradigm will come naturally, not precludingnthe old environmentalism, but encompassing it. And Inbelieve this shift — or rather growth — is taking place nownthrough...

expresses and explores through the attempt to imitatennature. Thirdly, from a purely technical point of view,nrestoration is essentially a form of agriculture. It draws fromnall the branches of agriculture to accomplish the task ofngardening in the wild.nRestorationists frequendy resist this last identification,nfeeling that what they do is quite different from traditionalnforms of gardening and farming...

beneficial relationship with nature — an act of respect thatnbalances the act of assertion and opens up the possibility of anreciprocal and truly ecological relationship with nature.nMost fundamentally, I see restoration as a framework forna system of rituals that will provide the basis for thenreintegration of nature and culture. If this seems farfetched,nconsider how easily...

The U.S. Forest Service has custody over 192 millionnacres of national forest and rangeland — an area nearlynequal to Texas and Louisiana combined. Like the NationalnPark Service, the Forest Service is commonly viewed as anstellar example of Progressive Era legislation. However, thenForest Service clearly and recurrently violates the spirit of itsnstewardship responsibilities. Its self-interest in...

ment he increasingly values.nThe Forest Service advocates and oversees the building ofnroads throughout the national forests. While building roadsnmay seem to be a productive and harmless activity, thenenvironmental consequences are often harsh. As the timbernat lower elevations and in easily accessible valleys is harvested,nthe Forest Service builds its roads farther into thenbackcountry and on higher...

trails. In the 1940’s, the U.S. National Forest had 144,000nmiles of trails. By 1984, there were only 98,500 miles ofntrails — despite the fact that during this period the numbernof backpackers and sportsmen using the forests had increasednby a factor of ten. The problem is that backpackersncontribute little to Forest Service budgets.nThere is increased awareness...

opposition by applying the economic logic of self-interest tonthe political process. Recognizing that political obstacles tonbase closings were costing the public billions of dollars, Mr.nArmey devised a strategy that would waive the restrictions ofnO’Neill-Cohen (which mandated a comprehensive andncostly environmental impact study before a base could benclosed) and force Congress to confront closure. Under hisnplan,...

There are four main problems with this set of assumptions.nThe first is that nature is not and has not ever been static.nIt is easy to demonstrate that nature is a process ofnirreversible changes at every level of the microcosm and thenmacrocosm, both in the living world and in the world inngeneral. Among living organisms, the...

and thus to affect their destiny. This point looks reasonable ifnwe think about whales, bears, and other animals with whomnit is easy to identify. But it leads to deep absurdities. Whynshould such theorists draw the line at living organisms? Are,nthey not guilty of vitalist chauvinism, in not giving equalnrights to crystals, clumps of amorphous matter,...

dimensions. With molecules — which could not exist untilnthe universe had cooled enough to permit them — we seenthe first asymmetrical shapes and the birth of individuality.nMolecules have complex feedback systems, many degrees ofnfreedom, and the capacity to organize in periodic structuresnsuch as crystals. Living organisms are yet more asymmetrical,nfree, and capable of organization, and...

encourage beautiful crystals and sculptures—but it will donvery well. Bad technology is technology that destroysntechnology, whether in the form of the bodies of animalsnand plants, or in the form of our own rich material andnmental culture.nAs a direct implication of the injunction to increase thenorganized complexity of the world, good technology preservesnearlier stages and products...

and coherence to ecological ideas,”nBramwell traces the rise of Europeannecologism in the work of such notablesnas Ernst Haeckel and other proponentsnof German Naturphilosophie — anmovement, the great English biologistnSir Peter Medawar has noted, thatnpromulgated “a form of scientificnbelles lettres with a truly dismal tracknrecord for making sense of the puzzlesnin which biology abounds.” Medawarnmight have...

bear,” the “large-limbed mooses withnthe tripping deer,” the “red-eyed ferret”nand “ravenous howling wolf” thatnroamed the forests around the Pilgrimnsettlements of the Massachusetts BaynColony; in recognizing the supremacynof these animals in the natural worldnEurope had invaded (“there is littlenhope of their utter destruction, thencountry being so spacious and they sonnumerous”). Wood becomes the firstnexemplar of a...

‘What Men? What Needs?’nby Chilton WilUamson, Jr.n”Rational thought Calm, reasonable, gentle persuasion. It was this quality ofnmoderation in his writing that most impressed me, for my own inclinationsnalways tended toward the opposite, toward the impatient, the radical, the violent.”n— Edward Abbey on Joseph Wood KrutchnThe Desert Yearnby Joseph Wood KrutchnTucson: University of Arizona Press;n270 pp.,...

where many readers will be very content.”nIn four short sentences Horgannidentified the essence of Joseph WoodnKrutch’s appeal as a “nature writer,” innwhom the adventurer or even travelernwas not lacking but in whom also thenarmchair naturalist and essayist predominated.nOf the three volumes reviewednin this space, The ForgottennPeninsula comes closest to being antravel book without ever becomingnmuch...

however, to weep for the tainted reputationsnof deputy attorney generals andnsuch, who should find it relatively easynto lick their wounds in big firms innWashington and Wall Street. (At anynrate, individuals who are not indictednare reimbursed for all of their legalnfees.)nEasriand notes that the independentncounsel in the North investigationn”persistently tried to subpoena the Canadiannambassador to the...

federate spinster lady monarchists. Shenis the kind of eccentric that Southernnwriters have made careers out of describing,nthe kind of person you couldnnot possibly make up, and among thenfew American humorists who are actuallynfunny.nIn her novel, her autobiography, hernseveral satires, and this her third booknof essays Miss King has touched onntopics ranging from Lizzie Bordenn(with whom...

Letter From thenSouthwestnby Stephen J. BodionAt the Golden SpurnIt was Saturday, the day before EarthnDay in the Golden Spur Bar in Magdalena,nand one of our always-informalnmeetings of DUCA and DUW wasnin progress. That is, three cowboysn(Drunken Underemployed Cowboys’nAssociation) and I (substitute “Writers'”nfor “Cowboys'”) were drinkingntequila shots and Coors, and doingnwhat, other than rewarding but underpaidnwork,...

doing away with stock killers. I don’tnknow if this hurdle could have beennovercome or not, but in fact the projectnnever got off the ground. A group ofnlocal greenies testified that if the wolvesnwere introduced they would go toncourt to stop all testing on the range,non the grounds that it might affect thenwolves. They also indicated...

to upstate New York (where I’m surentheir vegetarianism will be easier tonsustain than in a great barbecue townnlike Athens).nIt’s not that traditional Southernersndon’t care about the natural environment.nTake a look sometime at thenalmost lyrical portrait of man as predatornpresented by a magazine called SouthernnOutdoors. Ward introduced me tonthat marvelous repository of traditionalnwoodcraft and nature lore,...

pioneering and the worst” brings tonmind another Southerner who wrotenabout the pioneering mentality, butnwho saw it as especially characteristic ofnrural Southerners.nIn The Mind of the South, WJ.nCash described white Southerners’nfrontier-style individualism, nurturednby the frontier itself, then by the plantationnand Reconstruction. Cash drewncompelling pictures of the plantern”wholly content with his autonomynand jealously guardful that nothingnshould encroach...

Letter From thenHeartlandnby Jane GreernThe Big DustynA friend says her secret wish is for somenvery old distant relative, who she’snnever met and won’t miss, to die andnleave her a fortune. Waiting for rainnthis summer is a lot like that — only lessnrealistic.nIn what threatens to be our thirdnvirtually rainless summer, I watch thenten o’clock news...

iX.V0^n..J^m^- • In.•fv ^WtsaMfC-“}’ ..•••• :nl;|p-‘, ‘ Ipv’^^”;’..^ inREVIEWnNow?n^#WW •n.4/1 Ageinlu fill- llic iiiuiicsnWilliam !•’. ISiickley Jr. AdtlicssvnABORTION THE UNDERCLASSn_ SOI DRUGSnI HUMAN RIGHTS , BIG GOVERNMENTnI TAXES EUTHANASIAnI THE ENVIRONMENT NATIONAL SERVICEnL**%nThere’s a part of your brainnreserved for brisk, refreshing,ndiscriminating thinldng.nStimulateit.nBy introducing yourself to one of the nation’s niost stimulating, thoughtful,nand unique news magazines....

MUSICnThis Land Is MynSunshinenby Janet Scott BarlownIknow three people (and if I alonenknow three, there must be more ofnthem out there) who think “This LandnIs Your Land” is a country song — andnone of the three sings it to the tune ofn”You Are My Sunshine.” Now, it’s anfact that Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggsnonce recorded...

That doesn’t mean you can’t singnalong with bluegrass if you want to.nJust spot yourself own and glow-ry andntake your best shot. Another song Inheard over and over as a child was Flattnand Scruggs”‘ril Just Pretend,” whichnstarts out, “You spurned the love I gavenyou, darlin’.” Until I was 12 years old Inthought they were singing “Younburned...

Ottawa and the provinces, and Quebec’snstatus within — or edging out ofn— the federation.nBecause America’s industries accountnfor up to 70 percent of the acidnrain falling in some regions of Canada,nit was assumed to be a matter fornOttawa to tackle with Washington, andnCanada’s ambassadors — first AllannCotlieb and now Derek Burney —nspent a lot of their...

LAWnOld McDonald’snFarmnby Stephen B. MilesnA Call for a NationalnAgricultural PolicynNow, when world food supplies arenmore uncertain than they havenbeen for more than a century, thenUnited States badly needs a nationalnagricultural policy. While Congress andnits agricultural committees are puttingnthe finishing touches on another farmnbill to replace the one expiring, it is notnlikely that we’ll get what...

the Green Revolution it had made soneffective was probably coming to anclose, not only in America but all overnthe world. In the twenty years betweenn1970 and 1989, drought in the AfricannSahel became almost permanent;nNorth American harvests were characterizednby four droughts, each of thenlast three worse than the one before,nand at least five regional crop fiascos;ndrought,...