THE TALK OF THE TOWN
COMMENT/ NEWSHOUNDS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the White House press-corps pets.
HERE TODAY DEPT/ GATED/ Peter Schjeldahl on what Christo and Jeanne-Claude did to Central Park.
THE PICTURES/ ONE BILLION/ Daniel Radosh wonders how many people watch the Oscars.
STRIPES DEPT./ NIGHT AT THE OPERA/ Rebecca Mead at the Met with West Point cadets.
POSTSCRIPT/ MISS GOULD/ David Remnick remembers the New Yorker grammarian.

LETTER FROM BASRA/ George Packer/ Testing Ground/ Religion, division, and hope on Election Day.
SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Ian Frazier/ Here to Tell You
FICTION/ Aleksandar Hemon/"The Conductor

THE CRITICS
A CRITIC AT LARGE/ Tim Holt/ Time Bandits/ What were Einstein and G–del talking about?
BOOKS/ Francine du Plessix Gray/ Dirty Dancing/ The rise and fall of American striptease.
THE THEATRE/ Hilton Als/ Performance Anxiety/ Three Off Broadway plays.
MUSICAL EVENTS/ Alex Ross/ Four Hands/ Piano performances by Radu Lupu and Piotr Anderszewski.
THE CURRENT CINEMA/ Anthony Lane/ Oral Values/ "Inside Deep Throat."

FROM THE ARCHIVE
A REPORTER AT LARGE/ The Great Foreigner/ by NiccolÚ Tucci/ Recounting an afternoon with Albert Einstein/ Issue of 1947-11-22