May 1980
In This Issue
Explore the May 1980 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
Afghanistan: Crossroads of Conflict
While U.S. policy-makers ponder who and how to help, Soviet adventurism in Afghanistan has mired Russian tanks and troops in a struggle that alarms Pakistan and Chinaand intensifies the suffering of an already desperate land
Rod McKuen's "Listen to the Warm"
The House of the Prophet
Becoming Psychiatrists: The Professional Transformation of Self
Lives of the Modern Poets
Morgan's Passing
The Twyborn Affair
Wealth Addiction
The Law of the Land: The Evolution of Our Legal System
A Gentle Occupation
The Best Friend You'll Ever Have
The Fleecing of America
The Fall of a Doll's House
Rings of Stone
Runnin' Down Some Lines
Runnin' Down Some Lines
Fatal Flowers
My Uncle Oswald
Duncton Wood
Serpent and Lily
The Gardens of Pompeii
The American House
The Atlantic Puzzler
A quote and its author are spelled out in the shaded squares. Answers include two proper nouns and two uncommon words (13A and 29 D). Punctuation may be used deceptively.
Too True to Be Good
The Editor's Page
The Paradoxical Pope: Dogma and Dissent Under John Paul Ii
The Pope from Poland quickly made his mark as a virtuoso performer, a man who charms street-sweepers and statesmen alike. But questions are now being raised about the direction in which he appears to be leading the Church and about his toughmindedness toward the clergy. Here is an analysis of John Paul II’s first eighteen months as Pope and some of the controversies of faith and dogma in which he is engaged.
Hans Rüng
Edward Schillebeeckx
The Sound of Wings
A Glad Heart: An "Atlantic First"
Crossing the Swamp
Twenty Will Not Come Again
He was America’s greatest living novelist. She was a young college student in love with literature and hungry for answers to questions she found alive in his work. They met, and began a relationship that ended with her marriage to another man, though their friendship continued until the novelist’s death.
More on "The Tests and the 'Brightest'"
In the February Atlantic, James Fallows looked closely at Scholastic Aptitude Tests and found that their results are treated with a reverence they do not necessarily deserve. Here is a selection from many letters written in response to the Fallows article.
The Poem as Time Machine
What is the function of poetry? One of America’s highly regarded younger poets here evokes ways in which the poem, like a fish playing the fiddle, transcends temporality.
The Urban Cowboy and the Stranger
Ponies
Washington: The Joy of Crisis
At home and abroad, affairs were, in the words of Captain Boyle in O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, “in a state of chassis,” but the people in the White House were smiling. Why?
The Fire to Come in South Africa
The once unthinkable came to pass in March in a country to the north of the Union of South Africa. The white minority, after decades of suppressive rule, gave over to the black majority and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. What does it portend for South Africa, where the white 17 percent of the population wields seemingly unassailable power and vows never to give equality to the 19 million blacks? Very little for the foreseeable future, believes an experienced reporter who spent several weeks studying the South African scene. But, as evidenced by last year’s trial of the Soweto Eleven, a new generation of blacks—angry, rebellious, and determined—is rising, and with it, the prospect of growing terrorism and violence.
The Trouble With Architects: The Bird's-Eye Syndrome
A Sexual Pilgrim's Progress
