February/March 1983

The city has been a lure for millions, but most of the great American minds have been appalled by its excesses. Here an eminent observer, who knows firsthand the city’s threat, surveys the subject.

In 1913 the Ouija board dictated a novel. Twenty years later it commanded a murder. It is most popular in times of national catastrophe, and it’s selling pretty briskly just now.

An all-but-forgotten San Francisco photographer has left us a grand and terrible record of the destruction and rebirth of an American city

A noted historian argues that television, a relative newcomer, has nearly destroyed old—and valuable—political traditions

The decline and fall of the lamppost

…so Lincoln joked. Actually he was eager to pose for portraits.

To get started as a prairie homesteader in the 1870s you needed uncommon reserves of strength, sanity, courage, and luck. Trimm had the first three.

As painting became a respectable profession in America, artists began to celebrate their workplaces

Fifty years ago this March, Roosevelt took the oath of office and inaugurated this century’s most profound national changes. One who was there recalls the President’s unique blend of ebullience and toughness.

One of America s truly great men—scientist, philosopher, and literary genius—forged his character in the throes of adversity