Magazine Review: National Geographic July 1981 edited by Wilbur E. Garrett
National Geographic was originally titled The National Geographic Magazine when it was first published in 1888. It was the scholarly journal of the National Geographic Society. In 1905, it began including photographs to go with the articles, and began sometimes having color photographs in the 1910s though this did not become common until the 1930s. Eventually, it became a heavily photo-oriented magazine which was available on newsstands to the general public. While it is still printing as of this writing, the paper magazine is once again only available to subscribers. An issue from the 1980s fell into my hands, so let’s see what’s inside!
A bunch of ads, first, and a few at the end, kept separate from the meat of the magazine. Most striking of these is a set of “first day covers” for the wedding of Prince (now King) Charles and Diana Spencer.
The editorial notes several deaths of reporters, and various attempts to bring journalists under the thumb of governments and politicians (allegedly for their own protection.) Since the National Geographic relied heavily on spending weeks or even months in countries to research articles, the editor favors as much freedom of the press as possible.
“Voyager 1 at Saturn: Riddles of the Rings” by Rick Gore is pretty much what it sounds like. Pictures taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it passed by Saturn and its largest moon Titan in November 1980. Voyager was the first Terran spacecraft to get this close to the ringed planet, so it was loads of new data to confirm/deny/modify what scientists thought they knew. Since that time, Voyager has continued out into the interstellar void, heading roughly for Ophiuchus. As of June 13, 2024, remote rewiring was done to allow Voyager to continue sending data back to Earth, though at some point even that will have to end. Bon voyage, V’ger!
“Costa Rica Steers the Middle Course” by Kent Britt discusses the Central American country of that name. It was (and is) one of the most stable democracies in the region, having tossed out its last dictator in 1948 and abolishing the standing military. Not having an army hasn’t hurt it much due to the geography making it difficult to invade, and keeping reasonably good relations with its neighbors, and has helped by allowing the Costa Rican government to free up money for other functions.
Thus Costa Rica had the wherewithal to create robust low-cost educational and healthcare systems, and work on environmental issues. The article also spends some time on the “touristy” parts of Costa Rica, the colorful culture, delicious food and natural beauty, and even detours to visit a Quaker village.
Which is not to say it was all roses for the Costa Ricans. They were dependent on foreign oil and foreign investment for large portions of the economy. Deforestation and poaching were threatening biodiversity. And political extremists of both far left and far right persuasions were waiting for any dip of the economy or threat of war to try to bring back autocracy and militarism.
A follow up article in 2017 by National Geographic called Costa Rica “the happiest country in the world” so far so good.
“Troubled Times for Central America” by Wilbur E. Garrett is a brief rundown of the issues facing each of the Central American countries, accompanied by a fold-out map showing where they are in relation to each other. The exact problems may have changed in four decades, but it’s still troubled times.
“Living with Guanacos: Wild Camels of South America” by William L. Franklin is about that ecologist’s several-year study of these wild cousins of the llama in Tierra del Fuego. They’re threatened but not yet endangered, one of their biggest problems is that the fur of their young is especially prized by poachers. A minor piece of the story is that the ecologist’s family adopted two young guanacos as pets. One died from a dog attack, and the other was successfully returned to the wild.
“Buffalo Bill and the Enduring West” by Alice J. Hall is a puff piece on William F. Cody, the hunter, actor and showman who developed the Wild West show which informs much of popular culture’s view of the West. It’s very much about how awesome and cool he was, and downplays his more controversial aspects. At the time, there were still living people who had worked for him in their youth, and a couple of them are interviewed.
“Bombay, the Other India” by John Scofield concerns the city now officially (as of 1995) known as Mumbai. In 1535, the local government ceded the territory of Mumbai to the Portuguese, who then gave it to the British in 1661 as a wedding gift to Charles II. The English government promptly leased the place to the English East India Company, which developed the area into a major trade hub. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made the Bombay location even more of an important port. Indian independence didn’t hurt the city’s economic importance materially.
This article spends quite some time on the different ethnic groups of the city, from those believed to be the oldest inhabitants, to newcomers from other nations (due to the then-current version of tensions in the Middle East, Bombay was having an influx of wealthy Saudi Arabians.)
While at the time Bombay was the most prosperous city in India, it also had a terrible poverty and slum problem as far more people moved in than the city could safely absorb. Many of the residents, even the ones with decent jobs, lived in makeshift shacks or just slept on the sidewalks. At least one shack-dweller interviewed explained that this was still a much better life than he had experienced in his impoverished home village. One of the government projects for relieving the overpopulation was creating new suburbs to house industries that didn’t actually need to be in the city and thus their workers.
Another interesting feature discussed in the article is the “dabbawallah” food delivery system which delivered home cooked meals from workers’ homes to their scattered workplaces just in time for lunch and then the empty tiffin containers back to the homes before the worker’s return. It’s treated in the article as something of a masterpiece of organization among the largely independent workers of the delivery industry.
“Slime Mold: The Fungus That Walks” by Douglas Lee fills out the issue with a discussion of this peculiar but fascinating subcategory of life, though this article is even more than the others about the pictures.
This is a pretty standard issue of the Geographic during this time period, standing out mostly for the space program article. The photographs range from good to awesome, and the writing is instructive. Pretty much any issue is worth looking at if you happen upon one in the wild, but happy is the family that has a multi-year collection.
It should be noted that the National Geographic articles tended to be written from what was meant to be an objective neutral viewpoint, but were primarily the work of white male Americans for most of its history, so can come across as subtly or not so subtly racist, especially in earlier years.
Recommended to fans of history, geography and photography.
