Margaret Talbot

In 1975, when the movie The Stepford Wives first came out, it was widely regarded as a chilling parable about men's fears of feminism, a tale of horror that also worked as a social satire on sexism. Sure, it struck some women's liberationists as a ham-fisted attempt to cash in on the movement. But Ira Levin, who wrote the novel on which the movie was based, seems to have been in earnest -- or as earnest as he could be… more

Every now and then a study comes along whose chief interest lies in how peculiarly askew its findings seem to be from the common perception of things. Sometimes, of course, the "surprising new study" itself turns out to be off in some way. But if the data are fundamentally sound, then what you really want to know is why sensible people hold such a contrary view.

That is certainly the question raised by a Brookings Institution report released last… more

From a certain perspective, there is something thrilling about the recent face-off between Attorney General John Ashcroft and the librarians. The American Library Association and many of its members, indignant about a provision of the U.S.A. Patriot Act that could oblige them to cooperate with federal agents by turning over the records of what some library patrons have checked out, have managed to unleash the most rigorous re-examination of the entire Patriot Act since its passage in October 2001. It… more

The Extreme skate park in downtown Louisville, Ky., sits between a loop of interstate highway and the headquarters of a grain company whose sign reads "Producer Feeds -- Since 1869." The park looks a little like a homemade Hot Wheels track, something a resourceful toy-deprived child might make out of flour-and-water paste. It has every feature a skateboarder could want, though. The city of Louisville, which opened the park a little more than a year ago, is hoping to attract… more

One question for the reviewers and readers who have professed disappointment in Hillary Clinton's new book: What did you expect? Or to put it another way: When was the last time you read a really good book by an American politician at mid-career? It probably wasn't John Ashcroft's Lessons from a Father to his Son, an inspirational tome that recounts his fairy-tale rise from Missouri state auditor to Missouri state attorney general. And I'd be surprised if it were George… more

Most people will never take an I.Q. test, and if they do, it probably won't have a big impact on them. Generally speaking, I.Q. tests do not carry much weight anymore. Not with vague charges of cultural bias still clinging to them. Not at a time when multiple intelligences -- that happy, inclusive vision in which nearly everybody is good at something -- are on the ascendancy. If you do take a Stanford-Binet or a Wechsler, and you score in… more

Why, exactly, was it front-page news (and Starbucks-line conversational fodder) that playing "first-person shooter" video games enhances visual skills? Maybe it had that tang of the counterintuitive that makes certain stories from academia attractive far beyond it: Hey, violent video games can be good for you! Maybe it was a consolation prize for parents whose kids can't get enough of games like "Grand Theft Auto 3," "Rogue Spear" and "Medal of Honor," where the object is to terminate with extreme… more

In a way, it is no surprise that more women than men oppose the war with Iraq. The gender gap on issues of war and military spending has been obvious at least since pollsters first thought to measure such a thing. On the eve of the gulf war in 1991, 67 percent of American men favored an attack on Iraq, for example, compared with 45 percent of women. On the eve of this war, two-thirds of American men supported it,… more

Whenever TV takes over a new place, you remember how few places there are where it is not. The back seats of taxicabs used to be a place where TV was not -- where you could, if you wished, let your mind drift or becalm itself. Supermarkets were another -- shopping alone, you could glide through their fish-tank fluorescence in your own little world. And the back seats of family vehicles were another. Anything could go on there -- sibling… more

Most often when the lives of the urban poor are chronicled, it's within the confines of a few familiar genres: policy reports, sociological studies, newspaper stories about the impact of welfare reform or drug laws. It is rare to read about those lives as, for instance, family sagas, in which character and temperament and circumstance all jostle for our attention, and detail accretes into textured portraits of individuals. So it is partly, but only partly, the novelty of Adrian Nicole… more