Category: Imported

fertility now stands at four births pernMexican woman, according to thenPopulation Reference Bureau innWashington, DC. Even higher fertilitynrates are found in some other LatinnAmerican countries, producing anbountiful supply of immigrants to exportnto the United States.nAmerica has generally welcomednnew immigrants, but a naturally growingnand youthful population can assimilatenan influx of newcomers farnbetter than a nation of...

8 I CHRONICLESnsaid Wilhelm Joseph, president of thenNational Conference of Black Lawyers,napropos the latest jury acquittalnof Bernhard Goetz.n”What we are being told by thisnverdict is that the society cannot guaranteenand assure people of Africanndescent life or liberty—and certainlynwe are frustrated at every level in ournpursuit of happiness,” said C. VernonnMason, black lawyer for DarrellnCabey, the...

Is the family in Americanan outdated relic of the past?nIs the Intact nuclear family now just a memory from days gone by … a vestigialnsocial form that was, at best, oversentimentalized and, at worst, a narrow prison,nforcing men, women, and children into stereotypical roles that stultified freedom and individuality?nIntroducing a monthly newsletternthat holds this truth...

10 I CHRONICLESnTen Years of American Chroniclesn(September 1977 – September 1987)nIf Rockford, Illinois, was an unlikelynplace to launch a serious magazinenof literature and the arts, it was sonmuch better for Leopold Tyrmand, anman who appreciated life’s ironies.nHaving once escaped from Warsaw’snCommunist rule, Tyrmand had morenrecently fled from an oppressive NewnYork literary scene. Now, he was...

nnSEPTEMBER 1987 111n Add to Favorites

The IlluminatorsnArmed with steel pen instead of sword,nour first illustrator, Warren Chappell,nserved Chronicles like a knight. Elves,ncharging horsemen, centaurs rampantncame forth under his hand to spreadnbeyond the hundreds of his books, intona world of cultural polemic. Chappellndid not fade away—resplendent in thenblaze of his joyous covers he stillnfollows us, writing praise or admonitionnas he sees...

Illustration by Warren ChappellnY^ M^ mi^*v^ j^ ,^^ft^ysCS Xh^’^^*^^^^^^^nC hy^CPtYvyu cA^jyi’nnnSEPTEMBER 1987 113n Add to Favorites

”l 1nf-^ -^.••n4:. ‘%i:- -inJn/ • • ^ – • ^nOur latest ally, Anna Wodecki, hasnturned out to be among our bestnrecruiters—her plumed men and enigmaticnwomen have hooked morenreaders on Chronicles than some of ournwiliest advertising. Chronicles, Annanknows, being another exile from Communism,nmust be its own best herald;nand like good gardeners, we hope tonprovide delight...

New From Hillsdale College Pressn”A book the liki-^ d uhiili ut h:ii- iniL si-ni iiinnearly a cenuir :i f^i-minK niurjl luliiiral i’^>>j^nAnd what Gt-nrui- KKLMI- h.!- in ^.l is iini uii[nprofoundly tiui’. ii i- !lii’riiu):lilv iTiirni/inn .i:iilninspiriting.*’nUltl^f /A’l-/rr Ixi-iutiw l)irx-t’irnIlv f ”fHmilttY h’r .t Irci Uo»WnALSO BY GEORGE ROCHEniiiDii:nteSs”.nAmericanBy The ThroatnA blistering attack on red...

together. I lose; you lose; he, she, it loses. Call it anconjugation for clowns, syntax for suckers. Then try tonthink positively about it. Chances are you will always havennext to nothing to lose. No Book of Job for you. WhennDeath comes knock, knock, knockin’, early or late, you’llnbe about half glad to unlock, unbolt, and...

18 I CHRONICLESnNever mind, it’s one thing that most of you kids are reallyngood at. Cultivate a full rich fantasy life and try to behavenyourself. Being an integral part of someone else’s fantasynlife, maybe that’s the modern definition of true love. . . .nWhere does all this leave us, except almost out of time?nSince this...

matic initiative, every treaty they sign, their every statistic,ndecree, and communique are lies. There is only one truth:na successful Soviet citizen must remember not to remember,nand his memory must tell him not to have one. Whatnhappened yesterday happened tomorrow; what will happenntomorrow took place yesterday.nNow The Single Lie is not an everyday phenomenon ornform of...

20 I CHRONICLESnrized experience must fail to happen. Yet it is sometimesndifficult to create this failure because of circumstancesnoutside total Politburo control: street gossip, things heardnaccidentally over Radio Liberty or the BBC, conversationsnwith foreign visitors, or overseas travel. Still, the KGB takesncare of the street gossip, jamming may hinder the memoryrestoringnWestern broadcasts, conversations with foreignersnare...

shame even some anti-Communist rhetoricians. Khrushchevnaccused Stahn of mass murder, exterminations, megalomania,ntorture of even his closest collaborators, failure asnwar leader, cowardice, hysteria, caprice, and despotism.nSuch a memory—anti-Stalinist in content but not, ofncourse, anti-Leninist—was permitted only to the top Sovietnleadership, since the speech has been published only in thenWest, though its contents were known to party...

221 CHRONICLESnPoemnby Andrei NaviozovnGeisha—gazelle or gypsy,nQuietly sad, or sly?nWild, like spring in Ipswich,nSudden, like winter’s flight?nBreathe, and the sun is setting.nStop, and the crickets sing.nEvening, like circus nethng.nNoiselessly closes in.nReal? Try to distinguish!nHonest? The ghost of Banquo—nSpilling, like fluent English,nOver the gray embankment.nWhat else is there to observe.nWhile the tongue ties, panicking.nAll of you to...

ADVICE TO A POSTULANT-PROFESSORnby Jacob NeusnernIf I could tell every first-year graduate student in Americanone thing, it is this: The campus is not a calling, it is justnanother career.nIf university teaching serves your purposes, come andnjoin us. If not, follow your star in a different firmament. Inngraduate school, learn in order to sell your knowledge...

24 I CHRONICLESnUniversities have become places of privilege and selfindulgence,nin which boredom—the cost of easy tenurenbased on political considerations, not accomplishmentn—reigns; energy and commitment to learning defy thennorm. Tenure marks not achievement but acceptability,nand those who go along get along. The road to success isnwithdrawal and disengagement. As in prison, so in anprofessorial career you...

learning. But I would do it for different reasons, and Inwould do it in a different way.nI would do it for one reason only, which is, as I said,nbecause if you want to be a scholar, you have to make anliving, and for many subjects you can make a living as anscholar only in a...

scientific, but, well aware of the high cost of public dissentnin the Soviet Union, they would have kept their doubts tonthemselves. But Mr. Piel, an American, has the goodnfortune to be a citizen of the freest country in the world.nSince he would not, therefore, have been under anyngovernment coercion to promote a particular viewpoint, wenmust...

2S I CHRONICLESn160,000, presented Mr. Piel’s words as an editorial (17nJanuary 1986 issue), along with a footnote which made itnclear that it was an excerpt from his Moscow State Universitynaddress.nAlthough the appearance of discreetly packaged Sovietnpropaganda in Science was an isolated event—a blandnglobalism characterizes the typical Science editorial on thenworld scene—it highlighted the extent of...

scends this difference by speaking wellnof both.nTo his credit, he has used arcanenStraussian concepts to produce a popularnwork of cultural criticism. Whilenthe Straussian scaffolding creaks occasionally,nthe tirades against rocknmusic, mischievous Teutons, and sensualnexcess give the work a lightern(even voyeuristic) quality. It has paidnoff. An in-depth study of Bloom in thenJune 19, 1987, issue of the...

equality and social progress and whoneven, in some cases, defended thenself-assertively heroic. These villainsnproduced not only Auschwitz but alsonthe student riots of the 60’s and thenrock culture of the 70′”s and 80’s.nEssential to modern cultural debasement,nas viewed by Bloom, was thenpreaching of historical particularitynand a will-centered ethic, which originatednin 19th-century Germany. Innone dramatic leap. Bloom...

34 I CHRONICLESnher Legend in order to examine it. It isnsignificant that few of these writers arenfilm critics, and few of the “more thannforty books” about Marilyn Monroendeal specifically with her acting.n(Once her “luminescence” on screennis acknowledged and her “flair forncomedy” discussed, what’s left to say?)nThe best-known of the Monroe chroniclersnare from the “cultural critic”nmold,...

36 I CHRONICLESnblacklisted. Unable to find work, thengreat playwright is reduced to becomingna salesgirl at Macy’s.nHellman the heroine, Hellman thenmartyr. Pentimento and ScoundrelnTime received wonderfiil reviews (theynare certainly well-written), and theynwere admirably suited for the mood ofnpost-Vietnam, post-Watergate America.nBoth books became massive bestsellersn(especially Scoundrel Time).nThey reestablished Hellman as anmajor figure in American letters, afternabout a...

bought an estate there.) Not a singlenwitness attests that she ever had tonwork at Macy’s — the very idea isnlaughable.nHellman did know someone whonsuffered for his beliefs during the 50’sn—namely, her longtime friend, lover,nand political mentor, Dashiell Hammett.nHammett went to jail in 1951nrather than testify before a grand juryninvestigating the Communist Party.nHe was a party...

38 I CHRONICLESntailoring. There is also no questionnthat despite all the bourgeois perks shenalways enjoyed, Hellman saw Americannsociety as basically evil, whilenSoviet society could do no wrong.nThus when Budd Schulberg complainednto her of Soviet oppression ofnwriters, Hellman screamed at himn”Prove it! Prove it!”; this happenednsometime around J 968.nBut Hellman also wrote her anti-nNazi play. Watch...

Protestant Polities^ Religion^ and AmericannPublic Life by Mark Nolln”Every sect is a moral check on its neighbor. Competitionnis as wholesome in religion as in commerce. “n—Walter Savage LandornUnsecular America, edited bynRichard John Neuhaus, GrandnRapids: Eerdmans; $8.95.nLess Than Conquerors: HownEvangeUcals Entered the TwentiethnCentury by Douglas W. Frank,nGrand Rapids: Eerdmans; $14.95.nWhen English Protestants fledntheir native land during...

40 I CHRONICLESnOn the level of polity, these differencesnin tone and tendency became muchnmore important. Luther was relativelynindifferent to questions of churchnorder because he knew how easilynecclesiastical propriety became spiritualnpride. Calvin acknowledged thensame reality, yet poured great energiesninto creating a truly godly church.nLuther counseled restraint in politics.nIt was better to suffer injustice from thenstate than...

repeated in the modern effort to bringnreligious reasoning to bear on publicnproblems. Neuhaus, while acknowledgingnthe problems Marsden describes,nis more concerned to drivenhome his twofold thesis: Holders ofntraditional Judeo-Christian beliefsnhave every right to a civil expression ofntheir views in public; modern secularistsnhave no right to make the publicnsquare off limits for religiously inspiredncontributions.nIn nearly 50 pages...

This brief respite was only anotherntactical maneuver, however, and thenSoviet regime soon returned to thenassault on its own people. Justifyingnhis actions with the argument that thenpeasantry would deprive the State ofnfood if only it could, Stalin felt entitlednto use the same weapon and starve thenpeasantry into submission first. Thisncampaign, which reached its peak innthe terror-famine...

46 I CHRONICLESnLetter FromnDumblandnby Bryce WebsternThe Myth of Learning DisabiUtynIn advertising, it’s called weasel type,nthose tiny bits of typography whichnexplain the nut of the matter (Offernexpires on May 31, J 997. Employees ofnXYZ Corp. are ineligible). So, herengoes the weasel type of this discourse.nI am not a teacher. Nor am I anmother. Not even a...

lies are much less likely than poornchildren to be labeled mentally retarded,nalthough both may have the samenintellectual levels. This interestingnperversion of logic, or what might bencalled The Prince and Pauper Syndrome,nseems to translate well fromntrue mental retardation to LD.nCertainly, this is true in New YorknCity. I have some so-called learningndisabled friends there: two children ofna...

48 I CHRONICLESnshow on a network affiliate—well,nthat’s a joke. In May, this occurred at anMiami-Fort Lauderdale network affiliate.nTen thousand Broward Countynstudents, the reporter said, were learningndisabled, poor dears. About thensame time, I found that two days anweek the public library didn’t opennuntil noon. Granted, the kids wouldnbe in school then. But it seemed symptomaticnof the...

words.” So that makes them stupid?nOr crazy? Listen, it’s Englishn—American EngHsh at that—thesenkids are having to learn. Maybe theynthink their way is a nifty shortcut.nAfter all, no one ever proposed that thenauthor of Winston Tastes Good Like anCigarette Should was learning disabledn—though he bent grammar to his ownnmeaning and usage. I do, however,nremember snide remarks...

50 I CHRONICLESnshe clipped her vowels and pronouncednher terminal “g’s.”nBut at least he gave her a job in thenfirst place. It was revealed a few yearsnago that some Congresspersons hadnspecified “no Southern accent” as ancriterion for hiring folks to work inntheir offices. You know, some Southernersnfind non-Southern speech ugly,ntoo: In a 1971 survey, about one...

look forward to the episode of Dallasnin which J.R. Ewing meets BeverlynInman-Ebel.nThe best solution for us all would benpluralism. Why should all radio announcersnsound as if they come fromnIowa? Why should Shakespeare soundnless strange in “standard American”nthan in a Southern accent that’s probablyncloser to the Elizabethan anyway?nBut if pluralism isn’t realistic—if non-nSoutherners continue to give...

52 I CHRONICLESnpanics that are approved, and thenUSDA won’t give us a working Hstnbecause they say they don’t want ton’endorse’ any companies. So we havento use trial-and-error to find manufacturersnthat are USDA-approved andnwill go to the trouble of getting us anletter of guarantee from their homenoffice.”nBeef jerky is what cowboys on trailndrives used to carry...

nuclear installations, centers of communications,nand the like). It wouldnbe unfair to the author to try andnsummarize his book in this space. (Inurge interested readers to order theirncopies by writing to Waterstone’s,n99-101 Old Brompton Road, LondonnSW7, because this bookseller isnequipped to handle requests fromnabroad.) But I do want to draw somenurgent conclusions.nJust as the totalitarian rulers’...

POP CULTUREnNotes During thenDraining of LakenWobegonnby Gary S. VasilashnI am not a sports fan. In spite of thenencouragement and coercion of familynand friends, I have never taken tonhitting, throwing, or running. Yet, mynadmission of athletic indifference isnnot a boast. It’s only that it makes menacutely aware that Detroit, my home,nis what’s known as “a great...

58 I CHRONICLESnSo are his suspenders, socks, and glassnframes. There is no resemblance to,nsay, an Elton John.nKeillor’s preshow warm-up includesncomments that, per Economics 101,nthe value of the tickets is far greaternthan the price since they are in shortnsupply. All remaining shows are soldnout. Of course, the use value is highernthan either. Keillor is not above...

her mission, Beattie herself was asnamoral and indifferent as the dial.nBy the time her next novel, LovenAlways, was published in 1985, Beattienwas accorded all of the usual distinctions:n”The essential literary voicenof the generation that came of age innthe 1960’s,” wrote Christopher Lehman-Hauptnin the Times; “A literarynhigh priestess of the Baby Boomers’ngeneration,” offered Josh Rubins innThe...

Finally: a readable popularnhistory of America— and onen~^ you can trustn”Pwbabfy the best available survey history cf MnUnited States”-TEE Â¥^EMANnI •nClarence B. Carson, continues The Freeman, “has formed a richly wovenntapestry of events and the ideas that spawned them…. For Carson, history isnnot merely a collection of facts and dates, an account of explorations, settlements,nwestward...

6/CHRONICLESnThe “Contragate” hearings have beenna poor substitute for daytime soap operasnand do not begin to match thenthrills of Watergate. Perhaps it is becausenwe have heard them before:narrogantly inarticulate congressmennscoring points off frightened bureaucrats,nan administration that turns tonprivate contractors to carry on apparentlynillegal activities, and an imperialistnCongress eager to seize control ofnAmerican foreign policy.nThere were a...

to face their enemies and answer tontheir charges. (TF)nGunnai Myrdal came as the featurednspeaker at the annual meeting of thenLutheran Council in the USA—yetnanother public atheist called to givenmoral guidance to yet another demoralizednband of American religiousnleaders. I saw his presence as a godsend.nIn a sense, he was to be myndissertation project. The chance tonserve...

work was a new reality that could notnbe reversed and that the state shouldnuse its power to allow women to bensimultaneously workefs and mothers.nIn her shift to pro-natalism, Alva alsonrealized that public hypocrisy must benavoided and did her duty by bearingnher third child in 1936. Yet the subsequentnmaternal tasks did not suit her,nand the care...

PERSPECTIVEnTHE PTERODACTYLS OF LIMA by Momcilo Selicn”Whitman can sing confidently and in blitheninnocence about democracy militant becausenAmerican Utopia is confused with andnindistinguishable from American reality.”n—Octavio Paz, Walt WhitmannAs we left for Ayacucho, Lucho Monasi Cockburn tooknout his machete from under his car seat and put itnbetween the two of us. “It’s a bad road,” he...

10 / CHRONICLESnthing—without hope, or desire, for an answer.nIn Cuzco, I was continually having to make way fornoverburdened women with children on their backs as theyntried to go right through me. They ran with short, choppynsteps, contracted into wounded kernels, oblivious to gringos,nstreets, even the hills of their awesome country.nIf Octavio Paz might argue that...

pered with its pebbly beaches, undercutting the dusty chfFsnwith the city on their edge. From the ocean, gray shadowsncame and ghded between the glass curtain-walls of OldnLima.nPterodactyls were flying over Lima. Pelicans, dignified,natavistic, and funny. They were sad because there was nonmore fish, and they were starving. Pesqueros were also sadnbecause there was no fish....

Second, cultural conflict. There have been charges thatnAmericans and Mexicans hated each other, and this led tonwar. In the 141 years since that war, there has been no greatnincrease in love between the two nationalities, but this hasnnot led to another war.nThird, the vacuum theory. This is the belief that “naturenabhors a vacuum.” Thus in...

apartheid). Most of Anguilla works for a luxury hotelncomplex.nWith all the inter-island alliances failing one afternanother, England can hardly be blamed for wanting to ridnitself of these embarrassing colonial remnants, running onndeficits, and as difficult to defend as to define demographically.nIf it is true that half the present citizens of Nicaraguanare under 16, then 60...