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December 1978 Issue
December 1978 Cover
This magazine has been fully digitized as a part of The Atlantic's archive. Each article originally printed in this magazine is available here, complete and unedited from the historical print. Read more from this magazine, or explore the full archive.
  • "Maybe I Am Easily Scared"
    Adam Smith™
  • The Atlantic Puzzler
    Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
  • Washington: Quarterbacking for the Gop
    Adam Clymer
  • Remembrance of Things Almost Past
    Caskie Stinnett
  • Southeast Asia: Doing Business in the Third World
    Melville J. Ulmer
  • A Salesman of Death
    Wallace E. Knight

A Short Natural History of Nostalgia

It’s an affliction of the spirit—dangerous, but these days seldom fatal.

By Anthony Brandt
December 1978 Issue

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