September 1961
In This Issue
Explore the September 1961 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
North Korea
Potpourri
Iran
Letters to and From the Editor
Live Students and Dead Education: Why the High School Must Be Revived
A professor of history at Harvard who has achieved national eminence for his study of the immigrant in America. OSCAR HANDLIN was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History for his book THE UPROOTED in 1952 As a teacher, Mr. Handlin has become increasingly concerned about the shortage of jobs for those in the age bracket of eighteen to twenty-four and about their unpreparedness as they leave high school.
Sculpture: The Sober Art
A native of New York who did his first sculpture on a W.P.A. project in 1938, HAROLD TOVISH is today a ranking American artist, with works shown in the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Chicago Art Institute, and other leading institutions. He is presently an instructor at the School of the Boston Museum.
Realist
Science and Industry
Flying by Guess and by God: Air Mail in the Twenties
In 1917 DEAN C. SMITH, at the aqe of sixteen, lied his way into the United States Army. At Kelly Field he was trained as a combat pilot, and as an instructor he trained others in the idiosyncrasies of the fragile planes of that day, among them the Jenny and the Sopwith Camel. At the war’s end, flying was in his blood, and after demobilization he was taken on as a pilot to fly the air mail. This narrative is drawn from Mr. Smith’s autobiography, BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS, to be published this month by Atlantic, Little-Brown.
James Michael Curley and the Last Hurrah
A native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Notre Dame in 1939, EDWIN O’CONNOR is on his way to becoming the most distinguished novelist in New England, THE LIST HURRAH winner of the Atlantic Fiction Contest in 1956, was received here with national acclaim and has since been translated into a dozen foreign editions Five years have gone info the planning and writing of his new novel, THE EDGE OF SADNESS, a pensive, penetrating study of the dedication of a Catholic priest. The ATLANTIC published Mr. O’Connor s first short story and is proud to be the publisher of his books.
A Woman of Ninety Looks at Her World
The first woman ever to teach at the Harvard Medical School, ALICE HAMILTON, M.D., was a pioneer in industrial medicine, working as a young assistant to Jane Addams in Hull House. Dr. Hamilton devised ways of prelecting our immigrant workers in the dangerous trades with such success that she was commissioned by President Wilson to pursue this quest with federal authority. Now in her nineties, she reviews the enormous progress in her chosen field.
Why Freshmen Fail
Anxiety
There is every evidence of an increasing interest in ATLANTIC poetry. Is an incentive for writers yet unestablished, twice a year we set aside a number of pages in theATLANTICto be devoted to the work of young poets.
The Sea's Gift
Reflections on the Death of a Bear
New England Graveyard
The Lost Country
The author of three novels , JOHN HEARNE grew up and was educated in Jamaica, and in his writings he describes with dramatic force the people and customs of the Caribbean countries. He is now living in London and working on a new novel. His last book , THE EYE OF THE STORM, was published by Atlantic-Little, Brown.
Yorkshire
JOHN BRAINE, who lives in Yorkshire, is one of the outstanding serious young writers to come out of postwar England. His first novel, ROOM AT THE TOP, which appeared in 1957, received much critical acclaim both in this country and abroad. His most recent book, FROM THE HAND OF THE HUNTER, was published by Houghton Mifflin last year.
Indeed There Is a Mrs. Billingsley
DILLON ANDERSON is a Houston lawyer who served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under President Eisenhower in 1955 and 1956. At our urging, Mr. Anderson published two novels about his famous characters, Clint Hightower and Claudie, and his new book about that poker-playing sportsman, Billingsley, THE BILLINGSLEY PAPERS, will be brought out this month by Simon and Schuster.
Accent on Living
Sick Transit, Etc
ED BENETT gave up newspapering to engage in free-lance editorial work. He lives in Lexington. Massachusetts.
Two-Suiter
Born in New Zealand and now living in Kentucky, LYDIA DAVIS and her widely traveling husband are authors of a joint autobiography, DR. TO THE ISLANDS.
Two-Legged Cat
Big Lying Is Better Lying
ROBERT FONTAINE is the author of books, a play, and many light articles for the ATLANTIC and other magazines.
Fez
They Shall Have Music
The Peripatetic Reviewer
Reader's Choice
