A Fiscal Fairy Tale
As White House and congressional leaders slog their way toward a budget agreement, Bush wields the sequester threat

A Pick with a Shovel
Promising to clean house, an anti-Barry reformer wins in D.C.

Adam Smith Enterprise Award (Grapevine)

American Notes ALASKA
A Job for Mother Nature

American Notes BOSTON
Flipper Fans Stop a Swap

American Notes LOS ANGELES
Chic Charity

American Notes PHILADELPHIA
City on The Skids

Bag Holder of the Week (Grapevine)

Cronkite Unbound (Grapevine)

First-Class Advice (Grapevine)

Hmmm. Guess It Needs Work . . . (Grapevine)

How About a Job As an Architect? (Grapevine)

Hugh Sidey's America Where the Buffalo Roamed
Plagued by hard times and harsh weather, the Great Plains may be stumbling back to a frontier existence dominated by prairie grass, solitude and wandering beasts

Let Them Eat Crack Advisory (Grapevine)

May The Force Be with You
In crime-weary New York City, it's time to call the cops

Supreme Confidence
Souter takes the stand, but declines to state his views on abortion rights as foes search in vain for reasons to reject his high court nomination

The George Orwell Doublespeak Explanation (Grapevine)

The Political Prop Parade (Grapevine)
A Survey of Those Silly Budget-Battle Photo Ops


Liberia Death of a President
As the regional peacekeeping force dawdles, rival rebel forces brace for a showdown

South Africa Still Crying Freedom
An antiapartheid editor, visiting home after a long exile, finds that whites have begun to accept the inevitable

Soviet Union Beyond Perestroika
Gorbachev hails a radical economic plan that could turn the Soviet Union into a nation of shopkeepers, but then suggests a few ways to dilute it

The Spy Who Spilled the Beans
Israel tries -- and fails -- to prevent publication of a former Mossad agent's book, creating an explosive best seller

World Notes COLOMBIA
Drug Lords and Mind Games

World Notes HAITI
Sliding Toward The Abyss

World Notes PAKISTAN
Laying It on The Line

World Notes TREATIES
A Farewell To Arms


An Exquisite Balancing Act (The Gulf)
Onetime playboy King Fahd tries to mingle modernity and feudalism

Call To Arms (The Gulf)
Bush issues his sternest warning yet to Saddam, and despite Tehran's call for a holy war against the U.S., the coalition against Iraq grows stronger

Lifting The Veil (The Gulf)
A secretive and deeply conservative realm, Saudi Arabia suddenly finds itself on the sword edge of change

Shi'Ites: Poorer Cousins (The Gulf)

Taking The First Shot (The Gulf)
If the embargo fails, could the U.S. launch a swift strike against Saddam that would demolish his ability to fight back?

The Political Interest (The Gulf)
Waiting for the Pretext


Noah's Ark -- the Sequel (Environment)
To test ideas for outposts on other planets, scientists have built a replica of earth in the Arizona desert


Giant Step for Gene Therapy (Medicine)
An experiment on a young girl opens a new era in the fight against hereditary diseases


Front Page vs. Bottom Line
The New York Post is reprieved, but tabs are still in trouble


What To Do When Priests Stray
How the Catholic Church deals with sexual misconduct when more and more priests are breaking their vow of celibacy


Big Yet Still Beautiful (Design)
In today's cityscapes, Cesar Pelli's buildings are like dancers among thugs


Time Magazine Contents Page (Contents)
Vol. 136, No. 13 SEPTEMBER 24, 1990

Breaking The Bank
Taxpayers beware: now the FDIC is low on cash and may need a bailout

Bright Hopes for the Blue Flame
With oil so dear, natural gas heats up as a clean substitute

Business Notes BEVERAGES
Now That's a Potent Potable

Business Notes ENTERPRISE
The Color Of Money

Business Notes INDUSTRY
There Goes Another One

Business Notes REGULATION
Cable vs.Everybody

Business Notes RETAILING
Puttin' on More Ritz

Dear Judge: Go Easy on Michael
Friends of the junk-bond king lobby for a lenient sentence


Of, By and For -- Whom?
Race and ethnicity are the battlegrounds of history class


Call of The Eco-Feminist (Books)

Country Classicists (Music)
Clint Black and Garth Brooks take the old road to Nashville

Critics' Voices (Critics' Voices)

Elephant Man (Cinema)

Hound Dog (Books)

Malignancies (Books)

Married to The Mob (Cinema)
In some spiffy new films, Hollywood hooks up with gangsters

News That Stays the News (Theater)

The Terrible Remedy (Video)
THE CIVIL WAR; PBS; Sept. 23-27, 8 p.m. on most stations

Who And Why (Books)


From Tne Publisher (From The Publisher)