CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
ANNE APPLEBAUM isajournalistbased inWarsawandLondon
KAREN ARMSTRONG isareligious historian
PAUL BROKS isaclinical neuropsychologist.Hisbook,Intothe Silent Land, willbepublishednextyear
JASON COWLEY istheauthorof UnknownPleasures (Faber)
EMMA DUNCAN ismediaeditorof The Economist. Hersurveyon e-entertainmentispublishedon 7thOctober
ANTHONY DWORKIN isawriterlivingin London
KONSTANTY GEBERT ispublisherof Midrasz andwritesforPoland'sbiggest daily,Gazeta fVyborcza
CHARLES GRANT isthedirectorofthe CentreforEuropeanReformand authorofEUS010, publishedlater thismonth
AC GRAYLING'S biographyofHazlitt willbepublishedinNovember (Weidenfeld&Nicolson)
ROBERT HAZELL isprofessorof governmentandconstitutionatthe SchoolofPublicPolicy,UCL
CAR HILLS isawriterlivinginLondon
RICHARD HOGGART wasthefirst directoroftheCentrefor ContemporaryCulturalStudies, BirminghamUniversity
KATHRYN HUGHES isawriterliving inLondon
RICHARD JENKYNS isprofessorofthe classicaltraditionatOxfordUniversity andfellowofLadyMargaretHall
JOHN KAY isavisitingprofessoratthe LondonSchoolofEconomics
ANATOL LIEVEN isaseniorassociateat theCarnegieEndowment.Hisbook, Chechnya:Tombstoneof RussianPower, is publishedbyYaleUniversityPress
MICHAEL LIND isseniorfellowat theNewAmericaFoundationin WashingtonDC
JOHN LLOYD isafreelancejournalist livinginLondon
TIM PARKS isanovelist.Helecturesin comparativeliteratureandtranslation atIULMUniversity,Milan
MATT RIDLEY isasciencewriter.His mostrecentbook,Genome, was publishedby4thEstate
TOM STANDAGE isscienceand technologycorrespondentatThe Economist. Hisbook,TheNeptune File, willbepublishedbyAllenLane
2 PROSPECT October 2000
contents Issue fifty-six October2000
BIRTHDAY POLL 10 Taking the pulse AC GRAYLING Ontheoccasionofits5thbirthday. Prospect assessesthestate ofmindofthethinkingclasses.
OPINIONS 13 Media madness EMMA DUNCAN Media groups havepoured billions of dollars down the digital drain. 14 Culture wars JASON COWLEY John Drummond, JohnTusa, George Waldenand the culture of complaint. 16 Loose ends ROBERT HAZELL Weneedastronger centre in Whitehall, checkedbyamore independent Westminster.
ESSAY MichaelLindsaystwocheersfornationalism
DEBATE 18 Was communism as bad as Nazism? ANATOL LIEVEN VS ANNE APPLEBAUM Iscomparing Nazism and communism legitimate? Hasthe west been too lenient towards communism?
Time for abit of magic.
ESSAYS 32 Defending Khomeini KAREN ARMSTRONG The Islamic revolution inIran maycometo beseen asone of the great modernising eruptions of the 20th century. 38 Potter in the past RICHARD JENKYNS The successof the Harry Potter stories owessomething to their roots inthe reactionary boarding school genre.
Theethnicallyhomogeneousnation-stateisaliveandwell.Itremainsthelargestfeasiblefocusforbothbelonginganddemocracy.
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SPECIAL REPORT 50 Why Napster matters TOM STANDAGE Napster signifies the return to the internet’soriginal communitarian spirit: against centralisation and the domination bybig business.
