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![Illustration of cover of Vanity Fair magazine, tv and videos in the background](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/Naughty90s_Amherst_Final_400x381.png?h=f6a64fef&itok=9jqvbYcf&__=1512397625)
The Real National Pastime
by Rand Richards Cooper ’80
In the 1990s, did a preoccupation with sex lay the groundwork for today?
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![Illustration of Gorbachev by Rebecca Clarke](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/Mikail-Gorbachev_450x341.png?h=fa747474&itok=yKSBgoIv&__=1512398953)
Ideals Man
by Paul Statt ’78
Gorbachev boldly made his own history, but certainly not just as he pleased.
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![The Scarlet Professor rehearsal. Photo by Skylhur Tranquille ’18](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/2017_0818_Scarlet-Professor-Rehearsal_ST_902_515x700.jpg?h=67766bf4&itok=3jW8uVrA&__=1512406816)
An Old Crime, a New Opera
by Rachel Rogol
Two Amherst professors teamed up with students and professional actors to dramatize the true, local story of a Smith faculty member’s arrest.
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![Screenshot from Comrade Detective](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/XXXX1948.1.FNL_400x267.jpg?h=a61266fd&itok=n78ldjI6&__=1512407340)
Authentically Fake
by Josh Bell ’02
What if Sylvester Stallone were a proud Romanian communist? The result would be something like this buddy-cop parody.
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![Illustration by John S. Dykes](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/dog_reading_1515x700.png?h=67766bf4&itok=kvB-FWxU&__=1512407795)
Short Takes
by Katherine Duke ’05
SIT! STAY! And dog-ear these pages from Amherst alumni.
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![Poet Richard Wilbur in his home study](/system/files/styles/square_thumbnail/private/media/Wilbur3059_515x700.jpg?h=67766bf4&itok=VWa9_p4k&__=1512408150)
Becoming the Grand Old Man
by Tess Taylor ’00
What made Richard Wilbur ’42 the poet he was?