Word: harshness
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...once vast Jewish community is neglected, except for brief mentions that downgrade its economic and cultural contributions. Jews are usually characterized as moneylenders or itinerant musicians, although they were the bulwark of the country's middle class during the 16th and part of the 17th centuries. The harsh restrictions on Jews and the frequent pogroms from the mid-17th century onward are summarized in four words: "Animosities did sometimes flare." Allowances are made for a German SS officer: "In his favor, it should be said that he himself never tortured a prisoner, not even...
...America's most lustrous political family is both a blessing and a curse. He basks in the reflected glory of his kin, but he also feels the burden of living up to his celebrated name. And at times of personal crisis, he can find himself bunking in the harsh spotlight of national attention. That is what happened last week to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 29, the third eldest child of the late New York Senator...
...with a crucial difference. The state, via the commune, has replaced the old landlord. It owns the fields; the peasant rents an allotted share of land; if he meets the state's quota (once called the landlord's rent), he keeps the rest. This is progress. It is harsh; yet the Great Cultural Revolution was far more cruel...
...killing all 269 passengers, the renascent détente in Washington was effectively stopped in its tracks. Thanks in just about equal parts to George Shultz's moderating influence and the lack of viable sanctions, Reagan's immediate response to the Soviet's brutal deed was mild: the usual harsh rhetoric coupled with some minor restrictions on cultural and diplomatic exchange. But despite the President's reaffirmation of his commitment to arms control, it is clear that this latest East-West crisis has been a boon to Reagan, slowing the nuclear freeze movement and weakening the Democrats' resolve to criticize...
...advice was irritating. But her sorrowful goodbye and the haggard, living example she provided tempered my extremist aversion to the idea of marriage and a family. Lulla's predicament enlightened me to the fact that, for all the polemical feminist literature I'd digested since I was 12, my harsh beliefs had essentially taken shape within the safe and cozy confines of a happy middle-class suburban household. It struck me, many years later actually, that radicalism is a privilege which most people haven't the right to abuse...