New YorkerestThe essential reads from every New Yorker issue
Best of The New Yorker

Best New Yorker Articles of 1961

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1961 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: John Bainbridge (5)

Most featured section: Profiles

Featured Picks

SPACE-AGE MAESTRO
Winthrop Sargeant · Profiles · January 7

PROFILE of the famous Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan. Like Rudolf Bing, he is dead set against opera singers who are not physicallybeautiful, …

Mrs. Kennedy's Cabinet
Susan Black · Fiction · January 14

A study of Mrs. John F. Kennedy's appointments to date, furnish a remarkable parallel to Mr. Kennedy's appointments to his Cabinet, & it is …

The Weeping Children
Frank O'Connor · Fiction · January 21

Joe Saunders, a Cockney, and his wife, Brigid, an Irish girl, had been married a year when they had their first baby. They lived outside London in a …

HOW DOES IT COME TO BE SO?
Morton M. Hunt · Profiles · January 28

PROFILE of Robert K. Merton, professor of sociology at Columbia University. Humanists have for some time derided sociologists for their tendency to cement …

The Beginning of a Long Story
Maeve Brennan · Fiction · February 4

A government clerk, his wife and three small daughters lived in a small house in Dublin. The mother was a country girl who was unsure of herself. The only …

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI THE MIDDLE-AGED FISHERMAN AND THE KEYS
Robert Lewis Taylor · Profiles · February 11

PROFILE of Cecil Green, a professional fishing guide and proprietor of Green's Acre, a guest camp on Islamorada. The Greens bought the coral acre in …

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI Donna E Mobile
Robert Lewis Taylor · Profiles · February 18

PROFILE of Cecil Green, a Florida Keys fishing guide, tells about hurricane Donna, the worst storm in this country's history, which roared through the …

A Ride On The Milky Way
Marguerite Dorian · Fiction · February 25

To remember her first poem, Miki had to remember a childhood winter in Rumania before the Second World War when she was nine years old--and Suzanna. …

AMBASSADOR
Robert Shaplen · Profiles · March 4

PROFILE of John Moors Cabot, Ambassador to Brazil. In '44, Mr. Cabot was appointed as a Counsellor of Embassy at Buenos Aires, this was during the big …

The Super-American State—I: Wheeling and Dealing
John Bainbridge · Profiles · March 11

Part 1 of John Bainbridge’s portrait of the state and its millionaires, oil tycoons, and fixation on size.

THE SUPER-AMERICAN STATE II-OIL.
John Bainbridge · Profiles · March 18

PROFILE of Texas and its oil industry. Most Texas million aires are in oil. The industry is young, inventive, brash, enterprising, powerful, well …

A SPACE FILLED IN
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · March 25

Pierce Egan, the London prize ring expert, is quoted several times in this REPORTER AT LARGE about the Miami Beach championship fight between Johansson & …

Help! Help! My Son The Doctor Is Drowning!
Lillian Ross · Fiction · April 1

Annie Melvin accepted Dr. Spencer Fifield's invitation to join him & his parents in their Passover Festival dinner because she didn't want to hurt …

IV-THE SUPER-AMERICAN STATE: YOU AND NOW-YOU.
John Bainbridge · Profiles · April 8

PROFILE of Texas deals with millionaires' homes, gardens, parties, gastronomy, drinking, society & position of women. Most of the homes are not …

A Tilted Insight
Robert Rice · Profile · April 15

Robert Price’s Profile of the comedians Mike Nichols and Elaine May.

In the Children's Museum in Nashville
Ralph J. Salisbury · Fiction · April 22

In the Children's Museum in Nashville, rattlesnakes coil protected by glass and by placards warning that if teased they might just dash their brains …

A SECOND SORT OF LIFE,
John Brooks · Profiles · April 29

PROFILE of David E. Lilienthal, co-founder & chairman of the board of the Development & Resources Corporation, of 50 Broadway. D. & R.--whose co-founder & …

THE SUPER - American State Fun
John Bainbridge · Profiles · May 6

PROFILE of Texas. One Texas millionaire who has long been fascinated by the ways of chance is Ralph Lowe, who'll bet on anything. A few years ago he …

BACK TO AFRICA.
Harold R. Isaacs · A Reporter at Large · May 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about the experiences of American Negroes in West Africa. Writer travelled there last summer to observe, among other things, some of the …

THE SUPER-AMERICAN STAGE PROSPERITY IN THIS
John Bainbridge · Profiles · May 20

PROFILE of Texas. Not only the Texas landscape is changing but also the figures on it. Where is a latter-day Super-American sufficiently picturesque to be …

Other People's Houses; Mrs. Levine's House
Lore Segal · Fiction · May 27

In December, 1938, at the age of ten, the writer went on the first transport to England that the Vienna Jewish Committee had organized to rescue Jewish …

THE CLEANUP MAN
Robert Rice · Profiles · June 3

PROFILE of Dave Brubeck piano player in the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Dave grew up on a ranch, and he thinks of himself as a cowboy gone wrong. He is a devoted…

GOMILLION VERSUS LIGHTFOOT: WAITING
Bernard Taper · A Reporter at Large · June 10

REPORTER AT LARGE about the racial gerrymander in Tuskegee, designed to prevent Negroes from voting in municipal elections. In Tuskegee-the seat of Macon …

GOMILLION VERSUS LIGHTFOOT AN EMINENTLY REALISTIC BODY OF MEN
Bernard Taper · A Reporter at Large · June 17

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Supreme Court's deliberation on the Gomillion Versus Lightfoot, the Tuskegee racial gerrymander. The court ruled the act …

AD LIB.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · June 24

REPORTER AT LARGE about the light-heavyweight boxing match between Archie Moore, a Negro and Giulio Rinaldi, from Rome, Italy, at Madison Square Garden, …

The Fall
Arturo Vivante · Fiction · July 1

Writer wonders whether as the swimmer drowns he loves the sea, or the zebra the lion which devours it, or the mountain climber the cliff from which he …

THE LAST WILDERNESS; AMAZONAS JOURNAL.
Peter Matthiessen · A Reporter at Large · July 8

REPORTER AT LARGE about a journey by ship up the Amazon river, through the 2 1/2 million square miles of the region called Amazonas - the basin of the …

A GREAT GREEN CLOUD.
Berton Roueché · Profiles · July 15

PROFILE of the American elm tree, which will probably become extinct due to the Dutch elm disease. Among the tree's good qualities are that it is …

Other People’s Houses: The Married Couple
Lore Segal · Fiction · July 22

In December, 1938, at the age of ten, the writer went on the first transport that the Vienna Jewish Committee had organized to rescue Jewish children from …

Girl Reading
Elizabeth Taylor · Fiction · July 29

Etta Salkeld & Sarah Lippmann were school friends. Because Etta's widowed mother worked, Etta spent her holidays outside of London with another Jewish …

Villa Adriana
Shirley Hazzard · Fiction · August 5

Two American tourists - not yet married - were travelling through Italy. They got off the bus on the Via Tiburtina, near the Villa Adriana. She told him …

THE LAST WILDERNESS: BRAZIALIAN CHRONICLE
Peter Matthiessen · A Reporter at Large · August 12

REPORTER AT LARGE about a journey from Brasilia, across the Brazilian jungles, to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Author made a trip to Bananal Island. …

Pigeon Feathers
John Updike · Fiction · August 19

In moving from Olinger to Firetown, David Kern, fourteen, tries to work off some of his disorientation by arranging books. In "An Outline of History," by …

On The Lake
Ellen Douglas · Fiction · August 26

Anna Glover,a slight woman of 36, goes out for a day of fishing on Lake Okatukla at Philippi, a town in the lower Mississippi Valley,where she lives. Two …

The Worst Moment Of The Day
Shirley Hazzard · Fiction · September 2

Late in the summer there are 4 guests at the pensione of Marina & Daniele near Florence--an elderly English couple, the Fenwick's & a young one, …

THE LAST WILDERNESS PERUVIAN JOURNEY
Peter Matthiessen · A Reporter at Large · September 9

REPORTER AT LARGE about "an uncomfortable, perhaps foolish journey of nearly a thousand miles along Peru's jungle rivers." Plans for the expedition …

SOMNAMBULISTIC CERTAINTY
Joseph Wechsberg · Profiles · September 16

PROFILE of Otto Molden, a 43-year-old Viennese, the founder of the European Forum, in Alpbach, Austria -a program of lectures, seminars, & roundtable …

THE TEMPLESOF THE NILE
Alan Moorehead · A Reporter at Large · September 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about a journey up the Nile to Aswan the site of the new dam; about the ancient temples, monuments, tombs that will be flooded by the …

I-PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.
Morton M. Hunt · Profiles · September 30

PROFILE of Pilgrim State Hospital, world's largest mental institution, near Brentwood, L.I., under jurisdiction of N.Y. State Dept. of Mental Hygiene. …

II-PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
Morton M. Hunt · Profiles · October 7

PROFILE of Pilgrim State Hospital, largest mental institution in the world, located near Brentwood, L.I., directed by Dr. Henry Brill. On an average day 82…

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”
Muriel Spark · Fiction · October 14

Fiction, from 1961: “Even before the official opening of her prime, Miss Brodie’s colleagues in the Junior School had been gradually turning against her.”

THE PLAYER
Lillian Ross · Profiles · October 21

PROFILE sketch of William Holden, the actor, born in O'Fallon, Ill. His real name is William Franklin Beedle, Jr Mr. Holden was brought up in Pasadena,…

II-THE PLAYER.
Lillian Ross · Profiles · October 28

Short PROFILE of actress Katharine Cornell, born Feb. 16, 1898. At boarding school-the Oaksmere School in Mamaroneck she coached basketball, tennis and …

THE PLAYER
Lillian Ross · Profiles · November 4

PROFILE sketch of Simone Signoret, born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1921. Her father, Andre Kaminker was Jewish, her mother was French. When she was two, the…

THE LONDON FOG.
Joseph Wechsberg · A Reporter at Large · November 11

REPORTER AT LARGE about London fog. London is the largest urban area that is regularly afflicted with fogs, and for centuries no fogs have had more …

YOU CAN'T FORCE IT
Richard Rodgers · Profiles · November 18

PROFILE of Richard Rodgers, the composer. He has added two large & highly effective pieces of instrumental background music for TV serials. These were the …

THE TUNNEL IN THE CHALK
Thomas Whiteside · A Reporter at Large · November 25

Part II of REPORTER AT LARGE about Sir Edward Watkin's Cha nel Tunnel Company which after having succeeded in tunnelling a mile and three quarters toward …

AT THE HEART OF THE UNICEF
Joseph Wechsberg · Profiles · December 2

PROFILE of Maurice Pate, executive director of UNICEF. Six years ago, there were over 2 million cases of chronic malaria in the Mexican lowlands. Malaria …

Other Times, Other Teen-Agers
Helene Hanff · Fiction · December 9

Twenty-five years, when the writer was a teen-ager in Philadelphia she was on a committee that helped organize the Phila. Orchestra's Thursday Youth …

Other People's Houses; Albert
Lore Segal · Fiction · December 16

In December, 1938, at the age of ten, the writer went on the first transport that the Vienna Jewish Committee had organized to rescue Jewish children from …

WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING
Robert Rice · Profiles · December 23

PROFILE of Hugh K. Johnson, a member of the N.Y.C. Youth Board and chief of the street-club workers in S. Bronx. Victor Purcell, the supervisor in E. E. …

The Presbyterian Nomads
St. Clair McKelway · Fiction · December 30

The son of a Presbyterian clergyman in Washington, the writer found that during his youth his family's house was constantly filled with visiting …

Get the weekly pick in your inbox

Best Of·Leaderboard·Authors·Sections·Years·About
Back to latest issue

© 2026 New Yorkerest

Not affiliated with Condé Nast or The New Yorker Magazine. Made with respect and admiration for their exceptional editorial work.