Economist , Nov. 15 (posted Saturday, Nov. 15) The cover editorial cautions that global deflation is possible if Asian governments don't "reform and revive" their banks. The other potential causes of global deflation--excess supply and lagging demand--are easily remedied by liberal trade policies. For the second week in a row, the Economist calls for military action if Iraq won't comply with U.N. demands: "Mr. Hussein is not a theoretical threat to peace. He is a proven one." The magazine profiles Microsoft's "accidental billionaire," Paul Allen, whose "fortune seems a burden." Allen is too rich to bother investing in tiny, exciting startups, but too quirky to be a major deal-maker. New Republic , Dec. 1 (posted Friday, Nov. 14) An editorial calls for unilateral military action by the United States to enforce inspection of Iraq's weapons plants if the United Nations backs down. An article attributes the defeat of fast-track trade authority to a resurgence of nationalism in both parties. Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot stoked nationalist fires in their presidential campaigns--now Congress is obsessed with American "sovereignty." The cover story mourns the death of Oxford philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin. Berlin's "objective pluralism" combined a hatred of both absolutism and relativism with a nationalist's love for England and Israel. New York Times Magazine , Nov. 16 (posted Thursday, Nov. 13) The third "special issue" in two months addresses Hollywood's split personality--the joy-ride blockbuster vs. the soulful indie. An article says the two camps can learn from each other: Indies offer character development and plot, while big-budget movies create "a coveted gloss and Zeitgeist energy that cannot be matched in the world of the shoestring budget." Martin Scorsese converses with Woody Allen about Hollywood. Scorsese explains why some stars won't work with him: "Usually in the pictures I make, the characters are not the most likable people." A profile says that Julianne Moore, star of gigahit The Lost World and indie Boogie Nights , is as bewitching as her characters. Moore reads Joan Didion and owns nothing but a Volvo. An interview with Quentin Tarantino finds him supremely confident: "It ain't about the moment. I'm not making films for right now--I'm making films for 40 years from now." Time and Newsweek , Nov. 17 (posted Tuesday, Nov. 11) Time criticizes Seymour Hersh's controversial JFK book, The Dark Side of Camelot . Hersh's juicy stories are recycled from other books, the magazine says, and sources for damaging accusations are dubious or misquoted. ( Slate 's Jacob Weisberg reviews the book in his column, "Strange Bedfellow.") Newsweek 's 11 th medical cover of the year tracks "The New Science of Impotence." New drugs make flaccid men potent, but not without dangers (one man remained aroused for more than 24 hours). The buzz on Pfizer's forthcoming potency pill, Viagra, is so good that the company's stock has already soared 74 percent. (See also Slate 's take on the culture of impotence.) A Time story says Levi Strauss faces stiff competition from trendier competitors (Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo). Levi relies on its famous brand name--competitors rely on their stylish cuts. A Newsweek story counters the popular wisdom that McDonald's is in trouble. (See Slate 's "Falling Arches.") McDonald's still maintains a 42-percent market share compared with Burger King's 19 percent. And the Prince Charles reappraisal continues: Newsweek says Charles is witty and charming, a wonderful philanthropist, and a better parent than Di was. U.S. News & World Report , Nov. 17 (posted Tuesday, Nov. 11) U.S. News puts the Unabomber case on the cover. An article outlines Ted Kaczynski's insanity defense. His lawyers hope to ship his backwoods shack to Sacramento so jurors will understand that only a crazy person could live there. Una-brother David Kaczynski pens a plea for no death penalty: "There is no way around the fear and sorrow that comes with knowing you may have a hand in causing the death of someone you love ... these crimes were the product of illness, rather than evil." Other stories warn of biological terrorism and detail the growing legion of federal counter-terrorism programs. Also, an article says the millennium bug is not the only computer nightmare on the horizon. The new euro, based on nine different currencies, could wreak havoc with financial computing. The New Yorker , Nov. 17 (posted Tuesday, Nov. 11) A paean to playwright David Mamet explains his famous ear for dialogue: a childhood with a tough labor-lawyer father. "In my family ... we liked to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, solely based on our ability to speak the language viciously." His second marriage and his bucolic Vermont retreat have soothed Mamet without softening his brutal work. An article doubts that new Los Angeles Times publisher Mark Willes (a k a "Cap'n Crunch") is as dangerous as critics fear. Willes may breach some barriers between editorial and business, but his optimism about the newspaper business is inspiring--he wants to raise circulation 50 percent. (See Slate 's Assessment of Willes for a similar take.) Also, the horrible life story of abortion-clinic murderer John Salvi. His loving parents didn't recognize the incipient signs of Salvi's schizophrenia, and so never sought psychiatric treatment for him. Weekly Standard , Nov. 17 (posted Tuesday, Nov. 11) The cover package crows over Republican election victories. An analysis of the elections argues that "the lessons from 1997 are fairly simple. Republicans win if they promise to cut taxes. They lose or come uncomfortably close to losing if they don't." Another article says one reason Rudy Giuliani won re-election was his strong connection to New York's long-neglected outer-borough residents. A story claims President Clinton has moved to the left now that he's a lame duck. Clinton recently criticized the car-tax cut in Virginia and attended the dinner of a gay organization, things he wouldn't have done before the 1996 election. Also, a review marks the 10 th anniversary of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities , noting its undue pessimism: "After all, the economic boom of the 1980s is still humming in the '90s; New York itself is a vastly cleaner, safer place than the city Wolfe described. ... Even the graffiti on the subway cars, so lovingly described in Bonfire , have been cleaned up." The Nation , Nov. 24 (posted Tuesday, Nov. 11) The cover story calls the failure to find a U.S. distributor for the new film version of Lolita one more example of our misplaced puritanism: "Statutes like ... the Child Pornography Prevention Act are our home-grown fairy tales, ghostly adumbrations of the hysteria that swept over us in the eighties. We know perfectly well that children are most at risk at home, from their own families and adult friends." An editorial blasts New York Times columnist A.M. Rosenthal's "shameless sycophancy" toward Israel and Netanyahu. Also, an essay says that working mothers are the real victims in the au pair murder case. The media have demonized them. --Seth Stevenson