The Lost Idealism of Heartland Rock
The genre of Bob Seger and John Mellencamp reached across the ideological spectrum in a way that seems unimaginable today.
Fiction
Books
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The Books That Take Revenge, Centuries Later
A new history of the Red Scare prompts the question: Does literature still have enough influence to bring down the powerful?
Who Came Up With That?
Contrary to what we think of as intellectual property, most ideas are difficult to trace back to one human mind.
What To Read
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Eight of the Most Fascinating Biographies to Read
Each is animated by the author’s love—for their subject, for language, and for pushing the boundaries of what the genre can do.
Six Books That Simply Must Be Talked About
These six books demand discussion—with a pal, a date, or a book club.
Nine Books to Reset Your View of the World
Each of these titles will widen your perspective, offering you original insight and vision.
Seven Books to Read When You Have No Time to Read
These titles are worth picking up, even if you have only a moment to spare.
Home From the Sea
KENNETH ROBERTS’S ancestors have been “ down-Easters” since 1639. He himself made his first reputation as a staff writer for the Saturday Evening Post, where his articles were featured for almost a decade. He had written no fiction whatever when, in 1928, he cut loose from journalism and with a packing case of reference books sought sanctuary in Italy, where he wrote Arundel, his first historical novel about the North Country. Rabble in Arms, Northwest Passage, and Oliver Wiswell followed, establishing his second reputation and a lasting one.
A Patron of the Arts
DONALD HEINEYpublished his first story in 1943 while he was in the Merchant Marine. For the next three years he served in the Navy in the European and South Pacific campaigns; then, after his honorable discharge, he resumed his studies at the University of Southern California, where he took his Ph.D. in literature in 1952. Mr. Heiney plans to do a novel based on Mr. Benturian, the hero of the story which follows; and if he succeeds, we hope to publish it under the Atlantic-Little, Brown imprint.
The Misbro Tree
“I was educated at the University of Chicago and at Radcliffe, writes FRANCES WEISMILLER. “Since then, aside from tico tear years, I hare trailed my husband around certain literary and academic circles, producing joui children en route. Due to a patented secret process, which we trill explain on receipt of $100,000 cash, two of these are male and two female. With this money we plan to purchase the top of a hill, a Neutra house, six horses, three cons, forty hens, and two iridescent green jaguars. My husband is a poet, a Milton scholar, and a teacher of creative writing. He didn’t write any of this.”
The Portrait
A Londoner who cherishes every vestige of the cockney, WOLF MANKOWITZ graduated from Cambridge University and within six years established himself as one of the leading dealers in wedgwood. Now in his late twenties, he writes as he pleases, dividing his time between authoritative studies of the Cortland vase, plays for the London theater, and fiction. His two latest novels. Make Me an Offer and A kid lor Two Farthings, are being filmed. Atlantic readers will recall his story, ’"The Finest Pipe Maker in Russia.’ in the November issue. We look forward to publishing a number of his other stories in the months ahead.
Hidden Caps and Drawn Sabers
Director of Magazine Information for Crusade for Europe, WALTER HENRY NELSON lived in Germany while his father was in the United States Embassy during the Hitler era. After the war he returned to that country as an editor for Military Intelligence and later as a news analyst for Radio Free Europe. In the article which follows, he describes the reappearance of sabers and fraternities among the youth in German universities.
How Can You Shame a Donkey?
A native New Yorker, MARJORIE HOUSEPIANgrew up near Gramercy Park not far from the Armenian section where most of her Armenian relatives still live. In her early teens she spent two rears abroad; she attended the New York public schools and graduated from Barnard College in 1914. She is now working as secretary to the President of Barnard, and has been studying writing at Columbia under Martha Foley.