July 1990
In This Issue
Explore the July 1990 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
The Lion in Winter
Lawyers and Thieves
Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist
Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist
The New Women and the Old Men
The Bear Flag
On Writing
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
Room Temperature
The Last Running
The Puzzler
Word Histories: Etymologies Derived From the Files of the Dictionary of American Regional English
The July Almanac
Notes: True Colors
What’s licorice and bisque and jalapeho all over?
Africa: The Long Good-Bye
Concluding that sub-Saharan Africa can’t be helped, Western governments and businesses are losing interest
Japan: Air Control
Japan’s principal international airport is a traveler’s nightmare—and destined to stay that way
745 Boylston Street
Contributors
What Dreams Are (Really) Made Of
The psychiatrist and neuroscientist Allan Hobson suggests replacing the traditional Freudian view—that dreams stem from unacceptable, hidden wishes and fears—with a more commonsense theory. Dreams, he says, are caused by spontaneous electrochemical signals in the brain, and their meaning is transparent, not obscure
Yellow Jackets
He was wary of the hornets, but knew the wasps to be his mortal enemy
On the Marginality of Poets
Brigham Young and Captain Richard Burton
The Case Against Intervention
We have no significant strategic interests in the Third World; neither do the Soviets. Yet this year the Pentagon will spend $97 billion for forces designed for intervention in the Third World, and U.S. funds will go to sponsor purposeless killing on three continents
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Invasion of the Zebra Mussels
A tiny but troublesome mollusk, accidentally introduced into a North American lake a few years ago, may soon infest most of the continent
Notes on the Mirror With a Memory: The Most Overwhelming Cultural Invention of the Modern Age
The most overwhelming cultural invention of the modern age.
Is Coffee Harmful? What Science Says Now About Caffeine and Decaffeination
The Interdependent Crystal Ball
