Time Magazine Contents Page

14

THE GULF: More troops, more planes, more ships. Saddam plays the hostage card. As tensions continue to build, must it mean war?

< Before the fighting starts, the U.S. should try to craft a diplomatic way out. -- In his most ominous move yet, the Iraqi leader vows to keep thousands of Americans and Britons captive until the U.S. withdraws. -- Jordan's King struggles to keep his balance.

50

INTERVIEW: A former hostage recounts his harrowing years blindfolded and chained in Lebanon

Captured in Beirut in September 1986, Frank Reed spent the next 44 months cut off from the outside world. Regularly beaten by his keepers, who put arsenic in his food and even slipped a snake into his cell, he came close to losing all hope of survival.

38

NATION: Blazes sear many parts of the West

Yosemite is saved, but drought turns the region into kindling. -- Guilty verdicts in the Central Park jogger case. -- Texas invents "the ultimate hunt."

43

WORLD: Bloody tribal violence racks South Africa

Six days of factional fighting leaves 200 people dead and threatens to destroy Nelson Mandela's authority. -- Pakistan's caretaker government begins to investigate Benazir Bhutto.

46

BUSINESS: Rising oil prices make wildcatters gush

U.S. firms are eager to sink more wells, but the industry is unlikely to rev up a new drilling boom. -- The drinking trial of three Northwest pilots raises safety fears.

56

CINEMA: They're all berating the movie ratings

In Hollywood, X is the scarlet letter. It can keep a good film from being made or played. Now critics are demanding a change in the movie-rating system -- and they may soon get one.

57

MUSIC: The Neville Brothers' voodoo dreams

The veteran purveyors of New Orleans rhythm and blues are back in the spotlight again, and they just let the good times roll around to them.

64

VIDEO: The fourth network comes of age

! It is the most anticipated TV face-off in years: Fox's cartoon clan, The Simpsons, goes head to head with nbc's powerhouse, The Cosby Show. With one bold programming stroke, a feisty upstart has served notice on the Big Three that it has arrived as a full-fledged competitor on the network battlefield.

68

BOOKS: Donald Trump comes up with a sequel

He calls his new volume Surviving at the Top, but coming at a time of marital and financial meltdown, that's questionable. There are more boasts than survival strategies in these pages.

8 Letters

13 Grapevine

53 Ethics

53 Health

58 Design

63 Press

67 Theater

67 Milestones

69 People

70 Essay

Cover:Photograph by Dennis Brack -- Black Star