October 1990
In This Issue
Explore the October 1990 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
Was the Bard Behind It?
Old light on the Lincoln assassination
Leviathans of the Sky
A new Boeing 747 is brought to term at the Boeing facility in Everett, Washington, once every six days. This sleek, ungainly creation, whose survival was once uncertain, now rules the world of transoceanic airline travel. In its latest adaptation—as the 747-400, which can travel nonstop with ease from New York to Tokyo—it seems destined to become the beast of burden of the Pacific century
Right of Way
A Secret Florida: Out-of-the-Way Vacation Spots That Recall the State as It Used to Be
His Own Cause
Books as Works of Art
An introduction to a form that blends literature. sculpture, and painting
Preston Sturges
East Is East
There Goes Maine!
Fires in the Sky
The English Town
Hocus Pocus
The General in His Labyrinth
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.
Table of Contents
"The Designing of a Fragrance"
The October Almanac
Notes: Was the Bard Behind It?
Old light on the Lincoln assassination
The Soviet Union: Russians Against Jews
One poll suggests that 800,000 Muscovites believe that the Jews killed Christ and must pay for it. The poll is symptomatic
745 Boylston Street
Contributors
European Year of Tourism
Environment: Cleaning Up
Hazardous-waste cleanup has become big business, and more-restrictive laws mean more profits for a growing number of consultants
Innocents Abroad
The Chimera of the China Market
It isn’t only the American government that has been fooled by the bogus prospect of the “new China.”American business, bedazzled by all those customers, has suffered the same costly delusion
Eastern Economics
Circumstances that deter foreign businesses from entering Japan—particularly the prohibitive price of land—are not just coincidence
Earthly Justice
Why Transplants Don't Happen
Americans can book airline reservations and hotel rooms around the world in minutes. We can conclude stock-market transactions by the tens of millions without incident every day. So why can’t we coordinate supply and demand when it comes to desperately needed organs and tissues?
