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Best New Yorker Articles of 1974

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1974 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: Robert A. Caro (4)

Most featured section: Profiles

Featured Picks

A QUALITY THAT LETS YOU IN
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · January 7

PROFILE of Tony Bennett, who has become the most widely admired American popular singer. Writer spends a few days with him, at his East Side apartment, in …

THE OUTSIDER
Joseph Wechsberg · Profiles · January 14

PROFILE of Willy Brandt, 61, Chancellor of West Germany & chairman of the German Social Democratic Party. He is more a European statesman than a German …

Whenas In Gilt My Julio Goes
S. J. Perelman · Fiction · January 21

This story is preceded by an excerpt from the London Times about a cloth that has been produced with gold thread. / Prince Florizel of Bohemia, and his …

The Photographs
Donald Barthelme · Fiction · January 28

Dr. Reginald Hobson, F.R.S., of Britain's Cavendish Laboratory shows a friend and colleague, Dr. Winston Watnick-Mealie, photos which he had Pioneer 10…

GUILTY, WITH AN EXPLANATION
Penelope Gilliatt · Profiles · February 4

PROFILE of Woody Allen, comedian, writer & film producer. Allen works all the time, in California & N.Y.; one's impression is that he gives up anything…

Dylan
Hendrik Hertzberg · The Talk of the Town · February 11

Talk story about Bob Dylan and his recent concert at Madison Square Garden. Friends of the writer discuss Dylan's image and music. Gives highlights of …

SLIGHTLY EXAGGERATED ENTHUSIASMS
Frances FitzGerald · A Reporter at Large · February 18

REPORTER AT LARGE about Cuba. Writer visited there last summer, & saw the July 26 20th anniversary celebration of Castro's first armed gesture of …

DASHIN' ABOUT
Thomas Whiteside · Profiles · February 25

PROFILE of Ted Adams, 44, a Cockney street trader of flowers & antiques in London, who is known as Teddy the Monk. He is in the junkier end of the …

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Vision
Calvin Tomkins · Profiles · March 4

Calvin Tomkins’s 1974 Profile of the painter, reported from Ghost Ranch, in New Mexico.

Come Down To Queue
Peter De Vries · Fiction · March 11

The writer is padding through East Side mid-Manhattan when he runs into his friend, Artie Pringle, who is standing on a day-long line in the rain waiting …

Journey To Eddie
Maureen Connell · Fiction · March 18

An English woman, now separeated from her husband, visits her uncle Eddie in Chunya, a small town in East Africa near Tanzania. She must take a charter …

FIREWOOD
John McPhee · A Reporter at Large · March 25

REPORTER AT LARGE about firewood in N.Y. State. As petroleum reserves ran low early this winter a memorandum went out from Albany, from the director of the…

Son
Berry Morgan · Fiction · April 1

A Black woman is a patient in a mental hospital. One day, her dr. entrusts another patient, a young white boy who is the only son (Son is what they call …

THE UGANDA ASIANS
· Profiles · April 8

PROFILE of the members of Akbar Hassan's family, who are among the 27,000 Uganda Asian settlers forced to leave for England when Gen. Amin expelled …

Long Distance
Penelope Mortimer · Fiction · April 15

Section One A woman at a sanatorium for mental patients tells her story. Upon her arrival she is met by Mrs. April, the "transit-officer," who leads her to…

A REPORTER AT LARGE THINKING IN TIME
· A Reporter at Large · April 22

REPORTER AT LARGE about Alexander Marshack's innovative calendric interpretation of prehistoric cave art. It would appear unlikely that an untrained …

Milkman's Boy
Harry L. Mountzoures · Fiction · April 29

A boy of twelve is taken from his home in Providence to his aunt's house in the country because his mother is sick and cannot care for him. His …

Kaddish and Other Matters
Helen Yglesias · Fiction · May 6

Anne, the youngest of 7 children born to Jewish immigrants, reconstructs incidents concerning her mother. Her recollections extend over a period of many …

SUPERTANKERS-I
Noel Mostert · Profiles · May 13

PROFILE of supertankers, which have evolved at an astonishing pace. Oil is the principal sea cargo; without oil tankers much of the world would simply …

Weighing in on the Watergate Tapes
The New Yorker · Comment · May 20

Norman Mailer, Henry Ford, and others react to the “un-Presidential” tone of the Watergate tapes.

ABSOLUTE TRUST
Winthrop Sargeant · Profiles · May 27

PROFILE of Georg Solti, 61, who has been chief conductor of the Chicago Symphony since 1969. In 1970, Solti & the Chicagoans suddenly became known as the …

A LIFE ON A CLOUD
Janet Flanner · Profiles · June 3

PROFILE of Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), founder of "The Little Review" in Chicago in March 1914. Her most remarkable labor was the serialization, over 3 …

Balcony
Henry Bromell · Fiction · June 10

The writer is a 22 yr. old man spending some time on the island of Crete with his lover Susan, whom he has known for three yrs. The story is told through …

The School
Donald Barthelme · Fiction · June 17

Fiction, from 1974: “They asked me, where did they go? The trees, the salamander, the tropical fish, Edgar, the poppas and mommas, Matthew and Tony?”

Afternoon Of The House
Padma Perera · Fiction · June 24

In the southern plains of India, in a large house gleaming white between the trees, Mina was playing in the cool garden. Mina was the daughter of a Hindu …

INTO THE BRAIN
Gerald Jonas · A Reporter at Large · July 1

A REPORTER AT LARGE about the Fifth International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Future of the Brain Sciences, held in N.Y. The conference allowed a …

THE CENTER OF THE NOTE
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · July 8

PROFILE of Ruby Braff, 47, the most intense, inventive, & eloquent trumpeter/cornettist we have. He came to the fore in the mid-1950's, with a style …

A Love Story
Penelope Mortimer · Fiction · July 15

Ann, 44 is unhappily married to James, an English banker. At age 40, when all her children left home, Ann left London & travelled for nearly 2 years. She …

The Power Broker—I: How Robert Moses Transformed New York
Robert A. Caro · Annals of Politics · July 22

Robert A. Caro on how an idealistic urban planner discovered that decisions about the city’s future would not be based on democracy. They would be based on power.

The Power Broker—II: Robert Moses Takes On Long Island’s Millionaires
Robert A. Caro · Annals of Politics · July 29

Part 2 of Robert A. Caro’s 1974 report: To give New York City residents public beaches, Moses reappropriated dunes and woodlands to the east. Then he faced down the wealthy golfers who lived there.

The Park
Arturo Vivante · Fiction · August 5

Story about a park, which was laid out about 1840 at the end of a long cypress drive from the Tuscan villa. The estate was inherited by a religious couple,…

The Power Broker—III: How Robert Moses Got Things Done
Robert A. Caro · Annals of Politics · August 12

Part 3 of Robert A. Caro’s 1974 report: By the nineteen-fifties, Moses had total dominion over New York City’s housing, parks, and transportation. How did an unelected official gain so much control?

The Power Broker—IV: How Robert Moses Lost His Empire
Robert A. Caro · Annals of Politics · August 19

Part 4 of Robert A. Caro’s 1974 report: He warped New York’s democratic processes in order to achieve his own vision. What sort of city did he leave behind?

The Biggest Event This Year
George W. S. Trow · A Reporter at Large · August 26

George W. S. Trow’s 1974 account of the wedding of Sly Stone and Kathy Silva, at Madison Square Garden.

THE WORKING-CLASS MAJORITY
Andrew Levison · A Reporter at Large · September 2

REPORTER AT LARGE about misconceptions about and prolems of blue-collar workers. These are defined as craftsmen & foremen; operatives (men who operate …

CITY IN TRANSITION
Fred Powledge · Profiles · September 9
LOOK TO THE THINGS AROUND YOU
· Profiles · September 16

PROFILE of American photographer Paul Strand. Strand, now well into his eighties lives with his third wife, the former Hazel Kingsbury, in Orgeval, France,…

Missing Masterpieces
Dean Vietor · Fiction · September 23

Illustrated story about four painters who temporarily veered away from painting due to other interests. Emile Zola gave Paul Cezanne a motorcycle with a …

Around the Horne
Garrison Keillor · Fiction · September 30

By Bill Horne Column by Ed Farr (today's replacement for Bill Horne who is sick) about the Flyers, a baseball team that played poorly this season. Farr…

The Earthly Paradise
Robert Hemenway · Fiction · October 7

After having separated from his wife, Jack Davis moved into a small N.Y. Village apt. & tried to forget his unsuccessful marriage to Irene. After 7 months …

Sodom And Gomorrah
Richard Berczeller · Fiction · October 14

A young Hungarian Jew and his family escaped Fascist Hungary in the 1920's and went to Vienna where the young man entered medical school. Because they …

MOONBEAM MOSCOWITZ Popular Singer
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · October 21
A FRIEND IN DISGUISE
Berton Roueché · Profiles · October 28

PROFILE of garlic, quoting from many sources about the history of garlic use, its long-heralded therapeutic value, which has little basis in medical fact.

EXPLORER I-A BRUTAL FACT
William Wertenbaker · Profiles · November 4

PROFILE of the late William Maurice Ewing (1906-1974), marine geophysicist, who founded the Lamont Geological Observatory in 1949. It has since become the …

EXPLORER
William Wertenbaker · Profiles · November 11

PROFILE of the late William Maurice Ewing (1906-1974), marine geophysicist, who founded the Lamont Geological Observatory in 1949. Tells about his lifelong…

EXPLORER III-SOME GREAT OVERRIDING PROCESS
William Wertenbaker · Profiles · November 18

PROFILE of Maurice Ewing, marine geophysicist. Gives brief outline of geologic theories of the past, & describes Wegener's continental drift theory, …

The Bank Drama
Daniel Lang · A Reporter at Large · November 25

Daniel Lang on the 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, during which four hostages began to sympathize with their captors.

I-GLOBAL REACH
Ronald Muller · A Reporter at Large · December 2

REPORTER AT LARGE about exploitation of poor countries by multinational or global corporations. The men who run them make a credible try at managing the …

BOFFOS AND BUSTOS
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · December 9

PROFILE of Arthur Loeb Mayer, the 87-yr. old movie businessman, now a motion-picture pedagogue. He was one of the first to make people aware that motion …

The Whore of Mensa
Woody Allen · Other · December 16

Woody Allen imagines a call-girl racket in which young, brainy women engage in intellectual—rather than physical—intercourse.

Cooking with Julia Child
Calvin Tomkins · Profiles · December 23

Calvin Tomkins’s 1974 profile of Julia Child, the co-author of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” who was celebrated for her down-to-earth cooking style on the hit television program “The French Chef.”

A Magnetic Blur
Pauline Kael · The Current Cinema · December 30

Review of "Young Frankenstein,” with Gene Wilder in the title role. Critique of his acting in this & other films.

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