Reflections ON NATIONALISM by William Pfaff. REFLECTIONS about nationalism & its disastrous consequences for American foreign policy for the last 4 out of 5 Presidencies. They have been damaged or wrecked by attempts to dislodge or dominate radical nationalism in a non-Western country, or by the consequences of illegal measures taken by Presidents or their...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Profiles WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO MEL POWELL? by Whitney Balliett. PROFILE of Mel Powell. There are two of him. One played brilliant piano and wrote brilliant arrangements for great Benny Goodman band of 1941 & 1942 - and after several years of backing and filing, gave up jazz altogether The other is the quietly famous composer (School of Milton Babbitt, Elliott...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents OUTER BANKS by Anthony Bailey. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about the Outer Banks barrier islands that stretch 180 miles, a good deal of it down the North Carolina coast... The writer noticed that there didn't seem to be a road that led from the Virginia section of the Banks south. He drove to Kitty Hawk...

The Theatre THREE LIVES by Edith Oliver.

Comment by John Updike. Birds do it. Bees do it. US Marines in far-off lonely American Embassies do it. Jim Bakker, evidently, did it. So, the strong implication is, did Gary Hart. Why do we care? Recent news developments demonstrate, if we ever really doubted, that we do care, a lot--nocturnal pairings...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

A Reporter at Large I-A MIRACLE, A UNIVERSE by Lawrence Weschler. REPORTER AT LARGE about revealing the use of torture against political opponents by Brazilian military governments in the period 1964-1979. It was made public in the book "Torture in Brazil" (Vintage/ Random House), an English translation of "Brasil: Nunca Mais" ("Brazil: Never Again"), originally published in Petropolis in the summer...

The Talk of the Town Not Strictly All Business by Mark Singer. Talk story about Bill Schifrin, a jeweler who specializes in wedding rings... As far as Social Security Administration is concerned, Schifrin is officially retired. Before he retired, (it's been almost a year now)he sold wedding rings--for 40 years, only wedding rings--from a booth in the National Jewlers...

The Talk of the Town Peace by Fred C. Shapiro. Talk story about a recent Family Night celebration held by the Peace Corps at Chase Manhattan Plaza for relatives of volunteers living and working in developing countries around the world. Writer joined more than 200 parents and 5 children of N.Y., N.J., and Conn. members, and 35 R.P.C.V. (Returned Peace...

Fiction Seizing Control by Mary A. Robison. Narrator tells about herself and her 4 siblings, who stayed up most of the night her mother was in the hospital having Jules, and her father was at the hospital waiting. They spent a long time out in the blizzard, playing in their yard. It was so late the t.v...

The Talk of the Town Folding by Susan Orlean. Talk story about how employees fold clothing at the Benetton clothing store at 5th Ave. & 53rd St."Once you know how to fold, you always know how to fold," Robin Pinkowitz, the manager of the store told writer. But the folding they do is more than just folding. When...

The Talk of the Town A Scrap of Time by Ida Fink. For so long the narrator has wanted to talk about a certain time in Lubianki, oland, but didn't know how. She was afraid, too, that she might have forgotten things, but, she found it untouched by forgetfulness. The first action, a round up in front of town hall. The orders...

Books by William Maxwell.

Poetry Cool Lightning Over Tuscon by Richard Elman. Inside this broken bulb...

Poetry An American Naturalist Writes to a Londoner, 1758 by Brendan Galvin. Now I will tell you my manner...