August 1989

In This Issue
Explore the August 1989 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
The Real War 1939-1945
On its fiftieth anniversary, how should we think of the Second World War? What is its contemporary meaning? One possible meaning, reflected in every line of what follows, is obscured by that oddly minimizing term "conventional war." With our fears focused on nuclear destruction, we tend to be less mindful of just what conventional war between modern industrial powers is like. This article describes such war, in a stark, unromantic manner
Kids as Capital
When we grow old, we do not depend directly on our own children. Instead, we depend on other people's children.
The August Almanac
Environment: Saving the Gracids
745 Boylston Street
Contributors
Stone Fig
Someplace Like New Jersey
Maybe the only thing worse than Mother’s disappearance was the possibility that she might come back
Instant
Barbed Wire
"Hey, Let Me Outta Here!"
Three days and three flights with eight hundred voices and four hundred people
Andy Warhol the Painter: His Achievement Was to Make an Art Out of Folklore
In Praise of the Polka: Polka Dancing Is as Spirited Today as When It Stormed Europe 150 Years Ago, but Polka-Bashing Is as Old as the Dance
Roman Rapture
Harem
On the Narrow Road
Swann
Imagining the Past
Cherton
The Hill Towns of Italy
Acrostic No. 49
The Puzzler
Word Watch
Here are a few of the words being tracked by the editors of The American Heritage Dictionary, published by Houghton Mifflin. A new word that exhibits sustained use may eventually make its way into the dictionary. The information below represents the first stage of research, not the final product.
