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Best New Yorker Articles of 1981

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1981 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: Susan Sheehan (4)

Most featured section: A Reporter at Large

Featured Picks

THE MONEY MACHINE
John Brooks · Profiles · January 5

PROFILE of Citibank, the second largest bank in the world (after the California-based Bank of America), and the one most given to technological as well as …

SAND RIVERS
Peter Matthiessen · A Reporter at Large · January 12

REPORTER AT LARGE about a foot safari made by the writer in September, 1979, in the far south of the Selous Game Reserve, in Tanzania. He went with Brian …

The Philosophy Circle
Jeremy Bernstein · Fiction · January 19

The narrator, a professor of Philosophy, will be the host of this week's meeting of the Philosophy Circle this evening. The subject of discussion is to…

PRESENCE
Winthrop Sargeant · Profiles · January 26

PROFILE of the opera singer Teresa Stratas. A lyric soprano, Miss Stratas's versatility as both singer and actress makes her, in her early forties, one…

Smart Money
Philip Roth · Fiction · February 2

Nathan Zuckerman is a writer trying to cope with the instant celebrity he has achieved since the publication of his book "Carnovsky" and the cover story …

I-SHUTTLE
Henry S. F. Cooper · A Reporter at Large · February 9

REPORTER AT LARGE about the space shuttle, which takes off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Mar. 17th. It is named Columbia and is…

II-SHUTTLE
Henry S. F. Cooper · A Reporter at Large · February 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about the space shuttle, NASA's first reusable spacecraft with a large cargo bay for carrying, among other things, satellites to be …

MINIHYDRO
John McPhee · A Reporter at Large · February 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about restoring small-scale hydroelectric power facilities in New York State. In the past the power of falling water was utilized but in …

STEELHEAD
Bill Barich · A Reporter at Large · March 2

REPORTER AT LARGE about fishing for the elusive steelhead, a subspecies of rainbow trout. Writer lives on the Russian River in Northern Calif. Most Russian…

The Conner Girls
Edna O’Brien · Fiction · March 9

The narrator is a young girl living in a town in Ireland at the beginning of the story; at the end, she is married, with one small child. In the town are …

EARLY DAYS
Elizabeth Drew · A Reporter at Large · March 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about the efforts by the new Reagan Administration to maneuver successfully through the early phase of the Presidency. Although there is …

SOUTH OF 60 DEGREES SOUTH
Katherine Bouton · A Reporter at Large · March 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about a visit to Antarctica. The writer was there in late 1979, summer in the Southern Hemisphere, dividing her time between the naval …

... From Our Spring Catalogue
Jack Ziegler · Fiction · March 30

Cartoon parody of garden catalogue. Six items are pictured: Manual lawnmower, with caption, "Fell Zillions of blades of grass in mere hours! Incredible …

THREE MILE ISLAND I-CLASS NINE ACCIDENT
Daniel Ford · A Reporter at Large · April 6

REPORTER AT LARGE about the accident on Mar. 28, 1979, at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear power plant, ten miles southeast of Harrisburg, Pa. The …

THREE MILE ISLAND II-THE PAPER TRAIL
Daniel Ford · A Reporter at Large · April 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about the inadequacy of safety precautions in nuclear power plants and the accident on 3/28/79 at Three Mile Island. The latter is one of…

Stephanie, Stephen, Steph, Steve
Penelope Gilliatt · Fiction · April 20

Stephanie Angelica Bysehe Talbot Duncan is born in 1929, the daughter of Stephen and Stephanie Duncan. Her mother's great-great-grandfather Stephen had…

THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
Richard J. Barnet · A Reporter at Large · April 27

REPORTER AT LARGE about national security. Americans' ideas of their nation's power have changed in the last six years. Until the withdrawal from …

SECRETARY WATT
Elizabeth Drew · A Reporter at Large · May 4

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Dept. of the Interior and its new Secretary James Watt. Tells about the functions of the dept. In recent years it has become …

Venezuela for Visitors
John Updike · Fiction · May 11

All Venezuela, except for the negligible middle class, is divided between the Indians (los indios) and the rich (los ricos). The Indians are very poor and …

A Disciplined, Charging Army
Frances FitzGerald · A Reporter at Large · May 18

Frances FitzGerald on the rise of the Christian right as a voting bloc.

The Patient
Susan Sheehan · A Reporter at Large · May 25

Writing in 1981, Susan Sheehan reports on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, a state-run mental institution serving the people of Queens.

THE PATIENT II-DISAPPEARING INCIDENTS
Susan Sheehan · A Reporter at Large · June 1

REPORTER AT LARGE about Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and the stay there, beginning June 16, 1978, of Sylvia Frumkin, 30. Between June 30 and July 6 she …

THE PATIENT III - IS THERE NO PLACE ON EARTH FOR ME?
Susan Sheehan · A Reporter at Large · June 8

REPORTER AT LARGE about the case history of Sylvia Frumkin (pseudonym), a patient at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Writer describes her family: her …

THE PATIENT IV - THE AIR IS TOO STILL
Susan Sheehan · A Reporter at Large · June 15

REPORTER AT LARGE about Sylvia Frumkin (pseud.), a 33-year old patient at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens. Writer chronicles her medical history …

On the Way to the Acropolis
Harry L. Mountzoures · Fiction · June 22

Carol is 20 years old, a waitress who lives with her parents and takes night courses at a local college. She goes to a discotheque with her friends one …

Harlem—I
Jervis Anderson · That Was New York · June 29

Part 1 of Jervis Anderson’s sweeping report about the history of a neighborhood—and a refuge—for the Black community of twentieth-century Manhattan.

Harlem—II
Jervis Anderson · That Was New York · July 6

Part 2 of Jervis Anderson’s report about the neighborhood’s early development, from the rise of Black-owned businesses and ragtime, to Marcus Garvey and Madam C. J. Walker, the millionaire beautician.

The Lover and the Beloved
Wright Morris · Fiction · July 13

Paul is Lois Casey's boyfriend. Yesterday was Lois' fourteenth birthday. Paul is somewhat older than Lois, and he gets along very well with her …

JESSE HELMS
Elizabeth Drew · A Reporter at Large · July 20

REPORTER AT LARGE about Jesse Helms, the Republican senior Senator from North Carolina. Since his first election to the Senate, in 1972, Helms has …

Salman Rushdie’s Fantastical Tour de Force
V. S. Pritchett · Books · July 27

V. S. Pritchett’s 1981 review of Rushdie’s breakout novel, “Midnight’s Children,” plus “The Hangwoman,” by Pavel Kohout.

Anna
W. S. Merwin · Fiction · August 3

Anna, the writer's mother, is living alone in a large house in Western Pennsylvania after the death of her husband, a minister. The writer stays with …

Beyond the Pale
William Trevor · Fiction · August 10

An English group, Dekko, Strafe, Strafe's wife Cynthia, and Milly play bridge together, and have always spent their June holiday together in an Irish …

Stamps (Illus.)
Bruce McCall · Fiction · August 17

This parody of the disintegration of the United States Postal System takes place at the end of this century or early in the 21st. The 11 illustrations …

IMAGING SATURN
Henry S. F. Cooper · A Reporter at Large · August 24

REPORTER AT LARGE about the spacecraft Voyager 1's rendezvous with the planet Saturn, in November, 1980. Writer went to Pasadena, California and spent …

THE INDIGENISTS
E. J. Kahn · A Reporter at Large · August 31

REPORTER AT LARGE about Survival International, a 12-year-old London-based organization whose chairman is Robin Hanbury-Tenison. It is concerned with the …

UNIONIST IN REAGANLAND
A. H. Raskin · A Reporter at Large · September 7

REPORTER AT LARGE about the present state of the AFL-CIO with 15 million members. This is the 100th anniversary of organized labor but there is not much …

GARDENS
Julie Hayden · Profiles · September 14

PROFILE of the gardens at St. Luke in the Fields Episcopal Church, in Greenwich Village. Both the Corner Garden and its elder sibling, the Rectory Garden, …

WE LIKE IT THAT WAY
Berton Roueché · Profiles · September 21

PROFILE of Hope, Arkansas (pop. 10,290), the seat of Hempstead County, in the southwestern part of the state.

Labor Day Dinner
Alice Munro · Fiction · September 28

Fiction, from 1981.

Jacinto
Hildegarde Flanner · Fiction · October 5

The narrator is given the responsibility of pasturing a billy goat named Jacinto. She prefers to think of herself as a "counsellor to a smart goat," rather…

Phools
Stanislaw Lem · Fiction · October 12

On day 1,006 of his journey, Ijon Tichy, Space Traveller, landed on a planet in the middle of an open desert covered with shining discs arranged in …

NUCLEAR WASTE
Fred C. Shapiro · A Reporter at Large · October 19

REPORTER AT LARGE about radioactive waste. In the thirty-eight years since the first nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project was buried, nuclear waste has…

The New Washington: An Inside Story
Garrison Keillor · Fiction · October 26

Preceded by quotation from N.Y. Times of Charles Z. Wick, a member of President Reagan's Kitchen Cabinet. Mr. Wick expresses the opinion that …

Project Genesis
Stanislaw Lem · Fiction · November 2

(From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy, Space Traveller) Ijon Tichy tells about an expedition whose goal was the creation of the universe. A man named professor …

Rx for Matterhorn Motors
Bruce McCall · Fiction · November 9

Illustrated story in the form of suggestions to improve a failing automobile manufacturing business (Matterhorn Motors.) Eg., 1. Admit that in U.S. buyersO…

I-THE UNDERCLASS
Ken Auletta · A Reporter at Large · November 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about the underclass or hard-core unemployed. Few training or job programs reach them. An experiment to help, called supported work, was …

II- THE UNDERCLASS
Ken Auletta · A Reporter at Large · November 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about supported-work programs for the underclass or hard-core unemployed. Writer tells about a class in life skills, given by Howard …

III-THE UNDERCLASS
Ken Auletta · A Reporter at Large · November 30

REPORTER AT LARGE about poverty in the U.S. and the underclass. The Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., in N.Y., designed a supported-work experiment …

The Hotel Washington, D. C.
Ellis Weiner · Fiction · December 7

Parody of the Reagan administration in the style of John Irving's "The Hotel New Hampshire." Father, (Reagan) had a dreamy quality that had to do with …

A.I.
Jeremy Bernstein · Profiles · December 14

Jeremy Bernstein’s 1981 Profile of the artificial-intelligence pioneer.

KUROSAWA FRAMES
Lillian Ross · Profiles · December 21

PROFILES about recent visit of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa to the United States. Kurosawa was here as the guest of the Japan Society, whose Film …

TRANS EUROP UNIT
Berton Roueché · A Reporter at Large · December 28

REPORTER AT LARGE about going from Copenhagen to Paris by train. Writer booked a sleeping compartment on the Danish express to Paris that leaves Copenhagen…

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