Onward and Upward with the Arts II-Rewriting American History by Frances FitzGerald. ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about American history textbooks. In the late 60s & early70s they show a sense of uncertainty about national identity. Though views on this changed over the years they were remarkably uniform & simple. The shattering of this single image is an important break with...

Fiction Do You Know Me? by George W. S. Trow. I was well known. I was so well known everyone knew...

Fiction Independence Day by Mary A. Robison. Helen is staying at her father's summer house in Port Brent, a lakeside resort town in Ohio. Her estranged husband, Terry, is in Detroit. Helen and her sister Darla, who also stays at the house, do not work. Their father putters about the house and yard, attempting to fix the...

The Talk of the Town Opera Debut by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about the family of Joseph Frank, who calls himself a character tenor, whose family travelled from far and near to watch him make his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." Frank plays a minor role in the Prologue...

The Theatre TATTERED PASSIONS by Brendan Gill.

Books by George Steiner.

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town The Malibu Rock by Joseph Morgenstern. Talk story about the dislodging of a 116 ton rock from its perch above the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Ca. Because of the recent mud slides this rock was considered a hazard. Before its removal, and after several failed attempts, the California Department of Transportation insisted that the alarm...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Every once in a while, a panicky feeling of helplessness seems to sweep through the American political establishment, and the Pres. suddenly finds himself pressured to shore up everyone's confidence in the country's strength by making a display of "toughness" of one sort or another. Last week was such a...

Comment by Jeremy Bernstein. Comment on Albert Einstein, in honor of hundredth anniversary of his birth. "Einstein: A Centenary Volume" includes a memoir by John Archibald Wheeler, formerly professor of physics at Princeton, which is quoted. Wheeler had tried to persuade Einstein of the naturalness of quantum theory. Einstein had taken steps which made...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Current Cinema RUMBLING by Pauline Kael.

Cartoon Dancin' by Arnie Levin. Eight drawings showing couples dancing various comical steps...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents REPORT FROM A RENTAL by James Stevenson. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS in journal form about driving cross-country in a rented car. In New Mexico, writer visits Acoma, "Oldest Village in America," where Acoma Indians were forced by Spaniards to build a chapel. A blond waitress tells about being married to a Navajo Indian and living on...

Poetry The Choir by Galway Kinnell. Little beings with their hair blooming so...

Poetry Esperanza by James Scully. The bony black face...