Word: caustically
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...there one can hear the experts mutter that maybe by 1990 we can have mass production of clean, comfortable, safe cars that average 50 or even 75 miles to the gallon. History is working for Adams' challenge. Enough people around Detroit remember Henry the First's caustic reminiscence in the 1920s. Said Ford: "All the wise people demonstrated conclusively that the new gas engine could not compete with steam...
...political disaster that will shock and appall the rest of the world." Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a late addition to Spenkelink's defense team, called the occasion "a tragic moment in American history" and gibed, "If you work at city hall you get voluntary manslaughter," a caustic reference to the lenient verdict against Dan White, the slayer of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk...
...bewitched fruits were planted in their gardens. One devotee claimed she was used as a naked altar, raped, and smeared with chicken blood, to be used later to curse the foe. In the poison phase, clotheslines were doused with smallpox serum, garden tomatoes with formic acid, and doorknobs with caustic concoctions. One of the five cultists on trial with the swami admitted popping a poisoned chocolate into a victim's mouth (disliking the flavor, the victim spat it out). In stage three, an arsenal was allegedly assembled, and bombs were planted next to two houses. No one was killed...
Galbraith, known for his caustic wit, usually wins believers for his theories even when he seems to lack empirical evidence. In Mass Poverty he tones down the wit (but not his elegant literary style). Unfortunately, his basic thesis, no matter how well phrased, seems to gloss over a complicated issue because he "proves" it with hastily explained historical examples. Although Galbraith's own experiences in government as an ambassador to India add richness to the book, many of his examples suggest counter examples, or at least cry out for more development. The solutions he suggests for mass poverty are unconvincing...
DIED. Jean Stafford, 63, caustic lady of letters whose tautly structured short stories won a 1970 Pulitzer Prize; of a heart attack; in White Plains, N.Y. Acclaimed for her first novel, Boston Adventure, at age 29, Stafford went on to publish two more novels, numerous short stories and many nonfiction works. The widow of Press Critic A.J. Liebling and a sharp wit in conversation and prose, Stafford said: "I write for myself and God and a few close friends...