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Best New Yorker Articles of 1971

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1971 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: John McPhee (4)

Most featured section: Profiles

Featured Picks

U.s. Journal: Pinellas County, Florida Attractions
Calvin Trillin · Attractions · January 2

U.S. JOURNAL about several tourist attractions in the St. Petersburg area. They include a replica of the ship, "The Bounty", commissioned by MGM for use in…

THE SUPREME OPTION
Daniel Lang · A Reporter at Large · January 9

REPORTER AT LARGE about whether or not the US gov't. intends to use nuclear weapons in Indo-China. Writer talked with many people--officials in the …

THE ENIGMATIC ENZYME
Paul Brodeur · A Reporter at Large · January 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about the possible health hazards of enzyme detergents. About 80% of all laundry products sold today contain enzyme preparations designed…

Notes on Heart and Mind
Pauline Kael · The Current Cinema · January 23

Sixties Hollywood ushered in a tidal wave of commercial romantic slop, and now bad movies are more popular than good books, Pauline Kael writes. Can independent criticism save the day?

AT THE PINES II-WHEN I HAD WINGS, MY BROTHER
Mollie Panter-Downes · Profiles · January 30

PROFILE of Algernon Charles Swinburne & Theodore Watts-Dunton, who lived together 30 years at The Pines. Tells mostly about the work that each writer …

AT THE PINES III-HE WAS A REAL GOOD MAN
Mollie Panter-Downes · Profiles · February 6

PROFILE of Algernon Charles Swinburne & Theodore Watts-Dunton, who lived together 30 years at The Pines in Putney, England. Tells about the latter years of…

THE PANTHERS AND THE POLICE: A PATTERN OF GENOCIDE?
Edward Jay Epstein · A Reporter at Large · February 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about an examination of 18 cases in which Black Panthers were allegedly killed by police. The idea that the police have declared a sort …

Raising Kane—I
Pauline Kael · Onward and Upward with the Arts · February 20

Pauline Kael's 1971 essay on “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles, and Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Raising Kane—II
Pauline Kael · Onward and Upward with the Arts · February 27

Part two of Pauline Kael's 1971 essay on “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles, and Herman J. Mankiewicz.

SUPERSTAR
Winthrop Sargeant · Profiles · March 6

PROFILE of Beverly Sills, lyric coloratura, and America's most famous opera singer. She was born Belle Silverman in Brooklyn, in 1929. Tells how much …

THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE I-A COMMON CONCEPT OF JUSTICE
Gerald Jonas · A Reporter at Large · March 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about East Garfield Park Tenants Union in Chicago's black slum and the American Friends Service Committee; a Quaker founded and …

Encounters with the Archdruid—I: A Mountain
John McPhee · Profiles · March 20

Part 1 of John McPhee’s Profile of the environmentalist and longtime head of the Sierra Club David Brower and the birth of the modern conservation movement.

Encounters with the Archdruid—II: An Island
John McPhee · Profiles · March 27

Part 2 of John McPhee’s Profile of the environmentalist and longtime head of the Sierra Club David Brower and the birth of the modern conservation movement.

Encounters with the Archdruid—III: A River
John McPhee · Profiles · April 3

Part 3 of John McPhee’s Profile of the environmentalist and longtime head of the Sierra Club David Brower and the birth of the modern conservation movement.

A WHALE OF A DIFFERENCE
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · April 10

PROFILE of John Usher Monro, former dean of Harvard College & now director of freshman studies at Miles College, a small, unaccredited, hand-to-mouth black…

I-ON THE SIDE OF THE APES
Emily Hahn · A Reporter at Large · April 17

REPORTER AT LARGE about primates--apes & monkeys--used in medical & psychobiological research. Writer gives the history of such research, dealing mainly …

II-ON THE SIDE OF THE APES
Emily Hahn · A Reporter at Large · April 24

REPORTER AT LARGE bout primates--apes & monkeys--used in medical & psychobiological research. Writer visits several of this country's 7 Regional …

The Story Thus Far (Illus.)
Donald Barthelme · Fiction · May 1

Borys Althusser, wealthy young manufacturer of sensitive electronic instruments, for which he has immense govt. contracts, discovers one evening that …

Oxford Visit
Barbara Vroom · Fiction · May 8

Three months after the writer arrived in London, where she was to work for a year in a publishing firm, she received an invitation from Misses Edith and …

CHAP WITH A GOOD STORY TO TELL
Herbert Warren Wind · Profiles · May 15

PROFILE of English writer-humorist, P.G. Wodehouse. At 89, he is still one of the most prolific writer of all time, having written some 70-odd novels, over…

BROADWAY JOE
William Whitworth · Profiles · May 22

PROFILE of Joe Franklin, host of a TV talk show & a collector of old movies & records. The center of his life is his unusual talk show, which appears twice…

Charles Mingus at Peace
Whitney Balliett · A Reporter at Large · May 29

Whitney Balliett’s 1971 profile of the jazz musician Charles Mingus. “My book was written for black people, to tell them how to get through life,” Mingus said.

AFTERMATH
Philip Hamburger · A Reporter at Large · June 5

REPORTER AT LARGE about visit to Kent State University a year after 4 students were shot & killed by National Guardsmen during a campus demonstration …

The Conservative
Jose Yglesias · Fiction · June 12

In 1935, in Ybor City, a section of Tampa where Latin cigarmakers lived, there was a large family, among whom was Uncle Candido. He had been polled by the …

Testimony and Demeanor
John Casey · Fiction · June 19

Writer describes maturing effect of a 27yr. old lawyer's love for an older woman(49yr. old Ann) & friendship with a senior partner in the law …

Immortal Gatito
Mavis Gallant · Annals of Justice · June 26

Mavis Gallant on the case of Gabrielle Russier, which scandalized France.

Discovery (Illus.)
James Stevenson · Fiction · July 3

"The park consists of sixteen acres of land projecting south into Long Island Sound and bounded on the north by the tracks of the Penn Central railroad." …

Rose Petals
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala · Fiction · July 10

“It is not easy to be a Minister's wife. People ask me to do all sorts of things that I don't like. They ask me to sit on welfare committees and give away prizes as cultural shows.”

The Third One; A Story
Isaac Bashevis Singer · Fiction · July 17

On a summer afternoon the writer sat in a cafeteria in midtown N.Y. An acquaintance of his, Zelig Fingerbein, came in and sat with him, and told him his …

Evel Knievel
James Stevenson · The Talk of the Town · July 24

Talk story about Evel Knievel, a 32 year-old native of Butte, Montanan, who recently jumped over 10 automobiles with his motorcycle for the Madison Square …

II-THE VILLAGE
Anthony Bailey · Profiles · July 31

PROFILE of Stonington, Conn. Writer & his family have lived there since 1961, & have become a part of the community. Writer describes life in this small …

Hailing the Elusory Mountain Lion
Edward Hoagland · Fiction · August 7

The writer is obviously concerned about the fading of the wilderness. He speaks of this mainly in terms of the mountain lion, who used to roam over the …

CONSTABLE
John Bainbridge · Profiles · August 14

PROFILE of London Metropolitan Police Force Constable Peter Roland Sawyer, who is attached to central London's Chelsea police station. Tells about …

Achievement
Roger Angell · Fiction · August 21

These are 4 humorous fictitional submissions to the Bureau of Accomplishments & Awards. The third entry is from Howard Lebo, a lyricist, who hit upon …

Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, Statesman, and Golf Nut
Thomas Meehan · Fiction · August 28

Angered at the distortion of truth on TV quiz shows, the writer hoped to set a few of the facts on Lincoln straight, especially concerning his love of …

HOME AGAIN
Daniel Lang · A Reporter at Large · September 4

REPORTER AT LARGE about a Vietnam war veteran, Frank Reed (pseudonym). Tells how this 26-year-old former Marine Corps sergeant changed his feelings …

RANGER
John McPhee · Profiles · September 11

PROFILE of George Hartzog, Director of the National Park Service. The 50-year-old Park Service has had only 7 directors, & Hartzog is the 2nd to come up …

WOULDN'T IT BE FUN?
Brendan Gill · Profiles · September 18

PROFILE of Cole Porter, songwriter, who died in 1964 at 73. Tells about his youth - attendance at Yale, sojurn in Paris. He was called a playboy, …

I-THE CLOSING CIRCLE
Barry Commoner · A Reporter at Large · September 25

REPORTER AT LARGE about how man abuses the natural resources available to him on earth. Anything which fails to fit into the ecosphere is a threat to its …

II-THE CLOSING CIRCLE
Barry Commoner · A Reporter at Large · October 2

REPORTER AT LARGE about pollution. Exploitation of the ecosystem is what generates economic growth, but the rate of the exploitation cannot increase …

Night Clubs
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · October 9

PROFILE on two night club owners, Max Gordon & Barney Josephson. Josephson now runs a place called The Cookery, in the Village, but from 1938-1948 he owned…

PRESIDENT I-WE CAN'T GO TO THE MOON!
William Edgett Smith · Profiles · October 16

PROFILE of Pres. Julius Kambarage Nyerere, of the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania was created in 1964, out of the independent nation Tanganyika. …

The Gospel According to Mark
Jorge Luis Borges · Fiction · October 23

Jorge Luis Borges, in this short story rife with paradox and irony, from 1971, explores the rifts between Argentina’s social classes and questions the nature of sacrifice.

PRESIDENT III-WE MUST RUN WHILE THEY WALK
William Edgett Smith · Profiles · October 30

PROFILE of Julius K. Nyerere, Pres. of Tanzania. Tells why Nyerere seems to lean more toward countries like China & East Germany than toward the West. …

MOVING WITH THE FLOW
· Profiles · November 6

PROFILE of Henry Geldzahler, curator of the Metropolitan Museum's Dept. of 20th Century Art. Tells about his 1969 show for the Met's centennial …

A Window of the Oligocene
Berton Roueché · A Reporter at Large · November 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Florissant fossil beds in Teller Co., Colo., 35 mi. west of Colorado Springs. The beds represent the richest repositories of …

Room To Live In
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · November 20

PROFILE of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Percy Heath is the bass player in the group. He was born in Wilmington, N. Carolina, in 1923, then moved to …

Game Plan
Don DeLillo · Fiction · November 27

Fiction, from 1971: “Here before our cubicles we sit quietly, content to suck the sweet flesh out of quartered oranges.”

PERIOD-PIECE FELLOW
Geoffrey T. Hellman · Profiles · December 4

PROFILE of prominent lawyer Francis T.P. Plimpton. At 70, he is senior partner in the law firm Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates. From 1968-1971, he was …

WASHOESE
Emily Hahn · A Reporter at Large · December 11

REPORTER AT LARGE about teaching chimpanzees sign language. Writer visits Dr. Wm. Lemmon's chimp colony in Norman, Okla., where a number of chimps can …

ARE YOU IN SHOW BUSINESS? Show Business Autograph Collector
William Whitworth · Profiles · December 18
THE HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY
Whitney Balliett · A Reporter at Large · December 25

Lengthy mention in REPORTER AT LARGE about the writer's house, which he rents, in Old Brookville, L.I. It stand 11 feet from a heavily travelled …

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