Highlights in this issue:

The article ‘Before the Fall’, which wondered about the possible signs of the decline of American world power along the lines of past empires which inevitably fell, fueled by how horrible 1968 was, with street riots and the assassinations of RFK and MLK. In the ‘signs of decadence’ photo collage, in addition to things like hippie squalor and the burning of Chicago’s ghetto, was the ‘mannish woman’ of all things, and ‘alien creeds’, showing a picture of Mia Farrow with her Indian guru. Horrors.

The article on Sir Isaac Newton, aloof genius who advanced science and math perhaps more than any other, but whose deepest purpose was to prove God truly governed and sustained his creation.

The article on Gaudi, with all sorts of photos of his architecture. Fantastic. I was not aware that he had died after being hit by a streetcar near the Sagrada Familia shortly before his 74th birthday, but because his old clothes marked him as a person of no importance, he was not recognized or treated immediately, and died a few days later on a pauper’s bed in a local hospital. Inexplicably, Roy McMullen, the author of the article, concludes that “Gaudi was not, after all, a great architect … he lacked the ultimate humility of the really great ones, and their sense of architecture as a practical delight, a beautiful necessity.” Wow.

Lastly, “The Hidden Art of the High Himalaya”. Madanjeet Singh needed to make 35 arduous treks through the mountains, carrying a special letter from the Dalai Lama, to overcome the religious ban on photographs in monasteries. The 10 full color, full page photos of Himalayan art reproduced here, taken in a hidden temple-fortress and never before seen, are special. ( )