Time Magazine Contents Page
24
COVER: After nearly three decades as the cold war's premier symbol, the Wall crumbles
With breathtaking speed, the hideous partition that split Berlin falls to the pickax of reforms inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev. As the city exults and the world ponders the consequences, one thing is certain: nothing will ever be quite the same again. -- Is one Germany better than two? -- An obituary for the Wall of Shame, where some 75 people yearning for freedom have perished.
54
NATION: In Virginia, Douglas Wilder cracks the color line to become the first black elected Governor
On a big day for black candidates, Wilder garners just enough white votes to win a narrow victory. His crossover strategy: soft-pedal race and stress abortion rights. -- Why both sides are downplaying a U.S. payment to Iran. --Kitty and Mike Dukakis suffer a nightmare year.
18
INTERVIEW: Kate Braverman on writing from L.A.
In literature, geography is destiny, she says. But there is an influential new aesthetic emerging from what she calls the "palm latitudes."
70
BUSINESS: The Big Three automakers face harder going
As car sales slow and Japanese "transplants" boost their output, Detroit is struggling. -- A pilots' strike cripples Australia. -- Andrew Tobias on white- collar crime and punishment.
81
IDEAS: Teaching the Japanese how to say no
Expanding on the themes in his provocative new book, maverick legislator Shintaro Ishihara exhorts his countrymen to become assertive, especially in their dealings with the U.S.
91
CINEMA: A holiday feast of films, good, bad and enchanting
Thanksgiving starts the glut of year-end films: an all-star Steel Magnolias, a ponderous Valmont, a shaggy-dog story and one certified stunner, Disney's fairy-tale cartoon The Little Mermaid.
101
ETHICS: The campaign to recognize gay marriages
Despite last week's setback in San Francisco, homosexual lovers are winning rights as "domestic partners," with resulting health, tax and housing benefits.
116
EDUCATION: New worries over classroom violence
Many schools are forced to spend more dollars on such security stratagems as metal detectors, concrete walls and, yes, bullet-ducking drills. -- California refuels the evolution-vs.-creation debate.
108
TECHNOLOGY: Those incredible shrinking machines
From microscopic motors to gears with teeth no larger than blood cells, advances in miniaturization could lead to robots the size of a flea -- not to mention a new generation of really portable computers.
12 Letters
22 Critics' Voices
44 World
84 Design
89 Music
95 Video
96 People
98 Show Business
98 Religion
- 104 Books
118 Medicine
120 Milestones
Cover: Photograph by Chris Niedenthal