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September 24, 2001

In "Around City Hall" Elizabeth Kolbert applauds the calm courage of NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the days after the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. But she does raise an intriguing chiastic question: (p.40)

"One of the mysteries of Giuliani's tenure has always been
why, in moments of civic calm, he creates such havoc,
and then, in genuine crises, behaves so calmly."

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June 14, 1999

In "Sister Act," critic Daphne Merkin reviews Judith Hennesee's new biography, Betty Friedan: Her Life, and reveals how Friedan was cast off for not being revolutionary enough by the very revolutionaries she had originally inspired. According to Merkin, Friedan's "unwavering commitment to a populist constituency" eventually brought on the wrath of the radical elements of the women's movement, especially militant lesbians. The person who would succeed Friedan as the movement's most visible spokesperson, Gloria Steinem, was more effective at steering the course between the divergent elements, but also not without difficulty. Merkin writes:

"Steinem's attempt to correct Freidan's bourgeois bias
and court the clamorously disenfranchised would prove
too radical for the mainstream,
too mainstream for the radicals."

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April 26 & May 3, 1999

In "Our Money, Ourselves," Daphne Merkin explores the double-edged sword of inherited wealth and reflects on the troubles that come with growing up rich. Discussing the way money can mess with people's minds, she offers a neat example of conceptual chiasmus.

"Naturally, our own irrational demands
strike us as having the force of needs,
while other people's needs strike us
as capricious indulgences."

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March 22, 1999

In an "Annals of Advertising" piece titled "True Colors," Malcolm Gladwell chronicles the significance of several female pioneers in advertising history. One of them, Herta Herzog, helped bring the methodology of motivational research, especially the unstructured interview, to advertising. Gladwell says Herzog used "the techniques of healing to figure out the secrets of selling," adding (p.79)

"She wouldn't ask about hair-color products
in order to find out about you …
she would ask about you
in order to learn about hair-color products."

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March 8, 1999

In "The Accidental Führer", Jane Kramer reviews Ian Kershaw's new book, Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris, which details how Hitler reinvented himself and Germany on his path to power. According to Kramer, Mr. Kershaw was not interested in joining the popular debate among British historians as to whether Hitler was a shrewd cynic or a true believer. She then says of Kershaw: (p. 88)

"Nor was he much interested in joining
the German debate over whether
Hitler had produced the Germany he wanted
or Germany the Hitler it wanted."

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March 8, 1999

In a "Fax From Los Angeles" in "The Talk of the Town," Katie Roiphe describes a visit with Ken Starr's doppelgänger (another great word that belongs in the vocabulary of all literate people), Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. After Flynt announced his plan to "out" naughty Republicans, Speaker-elect Robert Livingston resigned from the House. According to Roiphe, Flynt "suddenly became one of the most feared men in Washington." Adding a chiastic twist to the story, Roiphe added:

"The point was not that Flynt
had entered the world of politics
but that politics
had entered the world of Flynt."