December 1998
In This Issue
Eric Schlosser, “The Prison-Industrial Complex”; Paul Bracken, “America's Maginot Line”; Stephen Budiansky, “Lost in Translation”; Peter Ho Davies, “Today Is Sunday”; Corby Kummer, “An Old-fashioned Christmas”; and much more.
Articles
The Prison-Industrial Complex
Correctional officials see danger in prison overcrowding. Others see opportunity. The nearly two million Americans behind bars—the majority of them nonviolent offenders—mean jobs for depressed regions and windfalls for profiteers
Lost in Translation
Efforts to design software that can translate languages fluently have encountered a problem: how do you program common sense?
America's Maginot Line
Our bases in Asia are becoming more vulnerable to attack by ballistic missiles. Defending them will be very expensive and might provoke even larger missile deployments. At stake is the United States' reputation as the world's lone superpower
Today Is Sunday
"Promise me," my father says, "if I ever get like this, you'll do me in. Knock me on the head or something"
Hoods Against Democrats
In Bulgaria the distinction between the state and organized crime is clear -- for now
Back to Basics
Easy-to-understand measures that could bring palpable improvement to public life
Neshering
Sharing a cab in Jerusalem requires making a leap of faith
An Old-fashioned Christmas
The holiday brings out the best in Austria -- and vice versa
Mahler's Unfinished Symphony
Now that several versions of Mahler's Tenth have been recorded, listeners have a variety of ways to appreciate its greatness
Dirty Hands
The success of U.S. policy in El Salvador -- preventing a guerrilla victory -- was based on 40,000 political murders
77 North Washington Street
Letters
The Almanac
Word Watch
A selection of terms that have newly been coined, that have recently acquired new currency, or that have taken on new meanings, compiled by the executive editor of
