May 2001
In This Issue
Jeffrey Tayler, “Russia Is Finished”; Simon Winchester, “Word Imperfect”; Jack El-Hai, “One Smart Bookie”; Ian Frazier, “Techno-Thriller”; fiction by Anthony Doerr; and much more.
Articles
New & Noteworthy
One Establishment Meets Another
Avery Dulles's long journey to the Catholic cardinalate
The Oval Office and the Diamond
A selective survey of America's First Fans
The Nihilist
Philip Roth's hard, isolate—and heroic—vision
The Hunter's Wife
A short story
Byte, Byte, Against the Dying of the Light
A new senior-care facility e-monitors every move
One Smart Bookie
He can't tell right from wrong
New & Noteworthy
Techno-Thriller
Now showing continuously at a theater near you
Getting Used to the Greenback
The peculiar hitches of a growing Third World trend: conversion to the dollar. "In bars and banks and at the airport people could be seen holding the new bills up to the light, turning them this way and that as they scrutinized the cryptic imagery and the portrait gallery of American leaders."
Putting Guests in Their Place
Never mind the food. The essence of a good dinner party lies in seating everyone properly
The Stationery Self
There is no substitute for engraved writing paper
Letters to the editor
Ayn Rand Comes to Somalia
In the absence of government bureaucracy and foreign aid, business is starting to boom
77 North Washington Street
Everything You Need to Know
All Things Considered has only improved with age, the author finds. But it could still aim for deeper realms
Who's in Charge?
People talk about a lack of leadership—but leadership seems to be everywhere
New & Noteworthy
Lost and Found
New & Noteworthy
New & Noteworthy
William Makepeace Thackeray and James T. Fields
Russia Is Finished
The unstoppable descent of a once great power into social catastrophe and strategic irrelevance
Bron and His "Affec. Papa"
Auberon Waugh, the acerbic British man of letters, died in January. Our author remembers him and reflects on Waugh's complex, heartbreaking relationship with his father, Evelyn
Ordinary People
In her latest novel, as in all her work, Anne Tyler explores un-hip, gentle lives of fortitude and decency
Word Imperfect
Roget's Thesaurus has long been considered one of the great lexicographical achievements in the history of the English language, a reference work of astonishing ubiquity and far-reaching influence. But now the author of The Professor and the Madman—the best-selling tale of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—questions the legacy of the definitive list of synonyms that the brilliant Peter Mark Roget compiled 150 years ago. Is the name Roget becoming a synonym for intellectually second-rate?
Word Court
Hong Kong and Macau Reflagged
They may now be part of China, but they remain distinct—and distinctly marvelous
