April 2003
In This Issue
Richard Brookhiser, “The Mind of George W. Bush”; Robert D. Kaplan, “A Tale of Two Colonies”; Bruce Hoffman, “The Leadership Secrets of Osama bin Laden”; David Brooks, “The Return of the Pig”; Christopher Hitchens, “Holy Writ”; P. J. O'Rourke, “The Veterans of Domestic Disorders Memorial”; fiction by Christopher Buckley; and much more.
Articles
Gaudy Butterfly in a Drab Chrysalis
William Taubman's new biography of Krushchev is compelling as a character study but not fully satisfying as a history
The Return of the Pig
The revival of blatant sexism in American culture has many progressive thinkers flummoxed
We Have a Pope!
A short story
Holy Writ
Recent writers on Islam need to be more stringent in their criticism. Stephen Schwartz is an exception
The Leadership Secrets of Osama bin Laden
The terrorist as CEO
A Tale of Two Colonies
Our correspondent travels to Yemen and Eritrea, and finds that the war on terrorism is forcing U.S. involvement with the one country's tribal turbulence and the other's obsessive fear of chaos
What Now?
Developments, encouraging and otherwise
Beyond Belief
Going once, going twice—sold to the man with the pointed tail
New & Noteworthy
What to read this month
The Veterans of Domestic Disorders Memorial
How to remember the not-quite-greatest-generation
Other Reviews
Memory Spaces
John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls finds redemption in September 11, and should bring contemporary classical music to a new audience
Overkill
"I was always interested in animals," says Thomas Venezia, recently the subject of an extensive criminal investigation stemming from his hunting practices. "I always wanted to be near them"
Word Court
Paddy Solemn and the Desperate Chancer
The conflict between two eternal Irish types
Cult of the Master
The later Henry James was a master of technique. But how good a novelist was he?
Close Up: The Mind of George W. Bush
The decisions—about Iraq, about Korea, about fighting terrorism—that confrontthis U.S. President may turn out to be as momentous as any an American leader has faced in decades. What capacities does President Bush bring to his decision-making? What limitations hamper his judgment? The author, a journalist and a historian, speaks with people close to the President and probes his private life and public career. Bush is, he concludes, focused, quick to make decisions, persevering, a good judge of character, and yes, "smart enough" to be an effective President. The unknown quantity is imagination—the imagination to foresee consequences, the imagination to be a wartime President
Letters to the Editors
