COVER

Cuba Alone

Castro's socialist dream has turned into a nightmare. Isolated, hungry, and broke, the country hopes that a touch of capitalism will save it.

NATION

Psst! (Labor)

Mr. Clinton Would Like to Speak with You . . .

WORLD

Up with ... Fascists? (Italy)

Italian voters reject the corrupt, long-entrenched centrists and turn to extremists of the right and left

SCIENCE

Cursed, Yet Blessed

Exposed repeatedly to the AIDS virus, a group of Kenyan prostitutes appears invulnerable to the disease

HEALTH & MEDICINE

SOCIETY

Bodies of Evidence (Ethics)

A furor arises over the rights of the dead after a German university uses cadavers in car test crashes

Giving the Cold Shoulder

A cruel backlash is building against the homeless, yet a few cities show that innovative programs can help

TECHNOLOGY

First Nation in Cyberspace

Twenty million strong and adding a million new users a month, the Internet is suddenly the place to be

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A Not So Cracked Nut (The Arts & Media Dance)

Balanchine's classic Christmas fantasy finally makes it to the screen, but some of the magic is missing

Angels of No Mercy (The Arts & Media Theater)

Perestroika, the second half of Tony Kushner's AIDS epic, offers sermons and soul searching but scant spiritual redemption

Dolls and Discontents (The Arts & Media Art)

A show at the Whitney Museum highlights the flailing adolescent outlook and weird confessional talent of Mike Kelley

Easing the Sleaze (The Arts & Media Press)

Their style is cheesy, but the hustling tabloid shows have changed TV news. Now they want respect.

Mighty Raters (The Arts & Media Television)

A band of campy Ninja-esque teens takes the lead in kids' TV

Pop Pageant (The Arts & Media Books)

With rich history like this, who needs docudrama?

Punch Lines, But Little Punch (The Arts & Media Theater)

Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor recalls his writing for Sid Caesar and his own early comedies, sans higher ambition

The Chaos of Life, Irish-Style (The Arts & Media Cinema)

In a fine Stephen Frears comedy, a fractious family comes to terms with a daughter's unwanted pregnancy and with itself

The Devil's Disciples (The Arts & Media Music)

A bizarre witches' brew of a pop opera, The Black Rider is a triumph for Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs and Robert Wilson

PEOPLE

TO OUR READERS

ESSAY