A Reporter at Large AFRICAN DEMOCRACY by Raymond Bonner. REPORTER AT LARGE about the difficulty of establishing democracy in Kenya. Kenya's relative tranquillity was shaken two months ago by four days of rioting. This seemed to reflect a general demand for change and liberalization. On July 4, the government rounded up leaders of a movement calling for a multi...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Plan B by Adam Gopnik. Talk story about a piano-the 500,000th manufactured by Steinway-being put on display at Steinway Hall. Gilbert Aime, the "traffic controller," or head piano mover, for Steinway & Sons, was trying to devise a plan for getting the piano, packed in an especially elaborate case, off the truck &...

Comment by Mark Hertsgaard. Recent developments in the Middle East bear a disquieting resemblance to the history of the start of the First World War; once again, we are seeing how easy it is for events to acquire an unwanted momentum of their own. The escalation of belligerent rhetoric and muscle-flexing by both...

Profiles FOR THE NATION by Calvin Tomkins. PROFILE of J. Carter Brown, the director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. WRiter listens to him present his ideas for an exhibition called "Circa 1492" to a group of high-level corporate executives from Merrill Lynch. His talk was a virtuoso performance, replete with skills and...

Fiction Hedges by Elizabeth Jolley. It is World War II in England and Vera, a nurse, has had to leave her hospital post because she was pregnant. Her relationship with the baby's father, Dr. Jonathon Metcalf, was brief and then he was killed in the war. She has taken a job as a mother's helper...

Books by Whitney Balliett.

The Talk of the Town Looking by Richard Brookhiser. Talk story about where various statues in New York City are looking. Writer tells what Cornelius Vanderbilt, Samuel Rea, Peter Stuyvesant, Washington Irving, Franz Sigel, Abraham De Peyster, Asia, the Great God Pan, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Ezra Pound, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Christopher Columbus, El Cid, Don Quixote, Juan...

Poetry She Was Waiting to Be Told by Deborah Garrison. For you she learned to wear a short black slip...

Poetry Will by L. S. Asekoff. This morning the hibiscus is in bloom, so I stayed in bed...