Word: essay
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...essay, "The Crisis of Black Leadership," West writes, "The time is past for black political and intellectual leaders to pose as the voice for black America....The days of brokering for the black turf--of posing as the Head Negro in Charge (H.N.I.C.) are over...
...Lewis Grossberger's amusing commentary [ESSAY, March 23] on the mistaken announcement by astronomers that a "Giant Killer Asteroid" is streaking toward Earth: Wouldn't it be great if more people agreed with Grossberger that we earthlings have really not accomplished much and "the end of civilization as we know it isn't such a bad idea"? We could take his advice and issue press releases saying, "Hey, we gave it our best shot, but we really weren't up to this existence business. So, we're outta here." Deep inside, you know who you are. ALAN REID Abbeydale, England...
...AMERICAN CENTURY That's what TIME's founder Henry Luce called it in a 1941 essay. He was using the phrase to exhort his compatriots to prepare for war, to engage in the struggle for freedom. They did, yet again. And they won. Some countries base their foreign policy on realism or its Prussian-accented cousin, realpolitik: a cold and careful calculation of strategic interests. America is unique in that it is equally motivated by idealism. Whether it is the fight against fascism or communism, or even misconceived interventions like Vietnam, America's mission is to further not only...
...being a professional historian, I take on this essay with fear and trembling. That's because, although defeated, although dead, this man is frightening...
...earliest surviving essay, written when he was 19, was on one of China's most celebrated early exponents of cynicism and realpolitik, the fearsome 4th century B.C. administrator Shang Yang. Mao took Shang Yang's experiences as emblematic of China's crisis. Shang Yang had instituted a set of ruthlessly enforced laws, designed "to punish the wicked and rebellious, in order to preserve the rights of the people." That the people continued to fear Shang Yang was proof to Mao they were "stupid." Mao attributed this fear and distrust not to Shang Yang's policies but to the perception...