August 1978
In This Issue
Explore the August 1978 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.
Articles
In The Dry
“August seems early for the hills to rust with dying trees, early for embankments to show patches of pale clay between milkweed and thistle. All is ripe for fire.”
Botswana: In the Shadow of Pretoria
Independent since 1966, this land, the size of France, is one of only five countries on the African continent with a multiparty, parliamentarian government. It is an island of calm and stability in a sea of racial antagonism and violence.
The North Dakota Plan
A few weeks ago a Paris-based organization called APHIA (Association for the Promotion of Humor in International Affairs) made its annual award for the most relaxed and innovative figure in the field of international affairs to John Kenneth Galbraith. In accordance with the rules of the organization, the recipient of the award was required to make a significantly innovative contribution to the field of foreign policy. Mr. Galbraith, in consequence, thought and proposed the North Dakota Plan, here revealed to an American audience for the first time.
Growing Up in the Land of Promise
He didn’t have time to read Horatio Alger—he was too busy being a Jewish version of an Alger hero. In the Hebrew school he learned about the God of the Jews; in the public school he was aroused to the call of history; and in the streets he learned the American “hustle.” Then, at Harvard, the aggressive, ambitious young man, from the Jewish ghetto of Boston, studying under a newsboys’ scholarship, got his compass boxed and set out “in search of history.” As they say, “Only in America.”
The Editor's Page
Return to the River
The Incredible Shrinking Dollar
“Inflation in America not only disrupts and demoralizes our own society but also, in Churchill’s terms, ‘cheats our creditors.’ ” The practical and moral way to a sensible world money system, says an experienced reporter of economic affairs, lies with the development of a world currency, other than the dollar, as the basis of international lending.
Germany: The "Rediscovery" of Hitler
Moralists and pragmatists argue fervently about collective guilt. Whatever the outcome of the debate, says the author, the parents should not pass to their children the blame for the Hitler era.
Going
Hyperion
The Smallest Part
Moon
Alice's Treat
“This is only the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” she said of Paul Bocuse’s foie gras—and she was a woman who knew the pleasures of raccoon stew.
Rented Rooms
The Way We Weren't
Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories
Margaret Fuller: A Feminist View
The Left-Handed Woman
The Other Half
Inventive Paris Clothes 1909-1939
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, or the Adventure of the Sanguinary Count
Rembrandt's House
In Patagonia
My Wilderness Wildcats
Magubane's South Africa
The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse Chosen
The Atlantic Puzzler
The twelve unclued lights, taken in the order of their appearance (with Across lights preceding Down lights), form a progression of words which may be linked back to back. Clue answers include six proper words; 10 Across is uncommon; a variant spelling is involved in 17 Across. Remember that punctuation in the clues may be used deceptively.
