Time
28
WORLD: The Gorbachev revolution finally comes home
The Soviet leader ends seven decades of Communist monopoly, and 1990 may go down as the most important year in Soviet history since 1917.
-- Freedom for Nelson Mandela pushes South Africa into uncharted waters.
48
NATION: An iconoclastic plan for cutting Social Security taxes exposes Washington's dirty little secret: the true size of the deficit
-- Former President Reagan invokes Executive privilege to avoid revealing his personal diary in John Poindexter's Iran-contra trial. -- Father Bruce Ritter, founder of the nation's best program for runaway teenagers, is forced to step aside.
68
BUSINESS: Why is GM sliding at home but soaring in Europe?
General Motors can learn a few lessons from its dynamic, market-sensitive offshoot across the Atlantic. -- American taxpayers are rushing to file their returns by wire, which brings refunds in less than three weeks. -- Barbarians and liars populate a flurry of books about the '80s. -- Robert Ball on the West German mark.
74
MEDICINE: The AIDS children of Rumania
In a cruel sequel to years of political repression, hundreds of youngsters in hospitals and orphanages have become infected. An antiseizure drug may do more harm than good.
75
RELIGION: Is Mario Cuomo going to hell?
A warning from a bishop to New York's pro-choice Catholic Governor resurrects old questions about translating religious teachings into public policy.
80
LIVING: "Touching is funner"
At museums for children across the U.S., kids like learning with hands-on, climb-on exhibits that let them explore everything from coal mines to taste buds.
86
FOOD: The nuking of America's palates
Microwave ovens do not kill food; it is the people who use them. Zappity-doo- dah cooking means farewell to the old-time grilled cheese sandwich. Is a crunchy bagel also an endangered species?
95
SHOW BUSINESS: John Goodman, scene stealer
Without skipping a beat as Roseanne Barr's husband on TV's top-rated sitcom, he has emerged as the hottest character actor in Hollywood. The big guy is on a roll.
96
ART: A charivari of Georgian England from a satirist's hand
Thomas Rowlandson's drawings and watercolors at the Frick Collection in New York City are friezes of dense and rowdy life in gaming room and salon.
12 Letters
18 Interview
42 World
78 Press
82 Cinema
82 Law
84 Books
91 Behavior
91 Milestones
93 People
98 Essay
Cover: Gorbachev photograph by Sergei Guneyev -- Novosti: Lenin photograph from Sovfoto