THE BEST OF 1997 AND THE WORST OF 1997

REMEMBER THIS YEAR? WHEN OUR SCIENCES AND ARTS MEMORIALIZED YEARS WE LIKED EVEN BETTER?

Makers of 10-best lists have to look back, but in 1997 art, science and commerce looked way back. These pages could be a catalog for your Aunt Maud's garage sale.

Everywhere, yesterday's trash culture was exhumed and hauled to new frontiers, in architecture (Coney Island replicated in Las Vegas) and astrogeology (a Martian rock dubbed Scooby Doo). Our critics select a film of a '90s novel set in 1953 and a musical of a '70s novel set in 1906 as the year's best. And what is The X-Files if not a canny updating of '50s bomb sweat? "No matter how paranoid...

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