Even at his tender years, Mr. Levin was aware of this grim backdrop to the production.

Against this grim backdrop, exacerbated further by a permanent war on terrorism that does not resemble the first slamdunk war in Iraq, "Assassins" hits much closer to home.

With this grim backdrop, some economists are arguing for a deficit-be-damned approach of more spending early on in the Clinton Administration.

It's a recognition that the stagnation economists predict means that the 2015 election will be fought against a grim backdrop, and that to be credible Labour has to acknowledge that fact.

The ravaged neighborhoods of New Orleans make a grim backdrop for imagining the future of American cities.

The pre-pandemic case fatality ratio of over 50% provides a grim backdrop for the fact that the currently circulating H5N1 strains have certain genetic similarities with the Spanish Influenza pandemic virus.

The red-alert siren continued, a grim backdrop to the chaos all around.

It was an ever grimmer backdrop to efforts by Iraq's first Shiite-majority government to fill gaps in the new cabinet from the restive Sunni minority.

In today's increasingly disturbing world, home to Al Qaeda cells and suicide bombers, offshore sham partnerships and document-shredding auditors, the grim backdrop against which Gatsby's life plays out feels depressingly right.

It was a grim backdrop for any incumbent president to contemplate a bid for a second term.