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CalendarLetters to the Editor
COMMENT Divided We Stand Republicans and Democrats should be careful what they wish for
by Jonathan Rauch
BRIEF LIVES The X Factor Americans probably care less about Teresa Heinz Kerry's outspokenness than about her exoticism. The question is what they think of it
by Michelle Cottle
THE LIST Search Terms that Sell
by Nathan Littlefield
THE LAW Suspended Sentencing The consequences of "the single most irresponsible decision in the modern history of the Supreme Court"
by Benjamin Wittes
THE ART OF POLICY "To Hell With Lipitor!" Medicare reform—an explanation
by P. J. O'Rourke
NATIONAL SECURITY Tick, Tick, Tick Pakistan is a nuclear time bomb—perhaps the greatest threat to American security today. Here's how to defuse it
by Graham Allison
THE ODDS Arnoldus Pontifex?
by Elizabeth Shelburne
Primary Sources How gay marriage could reduce the federal deficit; what your eleven-year-old has in common with presidential debaters; Cuba's looming chaos
THE WORLD IN NUMBERS Calling All Nations
by Nathan Littlefield
Bush's Lost Year
By deciding to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration decided not to do many other things: not to reconstruct Afghanistan, not to deal with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, and not to wage an effective war on terror. An inventory of opportunities lost
by James Fallows
The Long Hunt for Osama
Where has he been? How did we ever let him get away? Our correspondent—one of the few Western journalists ever to have met Osama bin Laden—traces the al-Qaeda leader's footsteps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and describes the sometimes hapless American pursuit
by Peter Bergen
If Memory Doesn't Serve
Sarah Jessica Parker or Sarah Michelle Gellar? Ashanti or Beyoncé? All will come clear on the Day of Reckoning
by Ian Frazier
The Crusader
Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, has risen to national prominence by emulating Teddy Roosevelt and fearlessly taking on powerful interests. His aggressiveness has made him a lot of enemies—but it may propel him to the governor's mansion and beyond
by Sridhar Pappu
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS 2004 The Big Picture
Our annual survey of the admissions landscape uncovered recent and upcoming changes to the process, growing concern about tuition increases, and serious questions about whether colleges are fulfilling their mission
by James Fallows & V. V. Ganeshananthan
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS 2004 Who Needs Harvard?
The pressure on smart kids to get into top schools has never been higher. But the differences between these schools and the next tier down have never been smaller
by Gregg Easterbrook
INTERVIEWS Crying in the Kitchen Over PrincetonCOLLEGE ADMISSIONS 2004 Measure by Measure
Atlantic contributing editor Gregg Easterbrook on why the college-admissions process need not be a confidence-shattering ordeal
by Sage Stossel [Web only]
A new effort to determine how well schools teach
by Jay Mathews
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS 2004 Independent Counsel
For private admissions consultants business is booming. But is their expensive expertise worth the cost?
by Nicholas Confessore
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS 2004 The Third Way
Liberal arts or a professional education? More and more students are choosing to combine elements of both. A leading proponent describes the emerging trend he calls "practice-oriented education"
by Richard M. Freeland
FICTION Florence of Arabia (Part II)
One woman's crusade to bring female emancipation to the Middle East. A short story
by Christopher Buckley
Leak
A drawing
by Guy Billout
POETRY Progress
[with audio]
by Leonard Cochran
POETRY Praise
[with audio]
by Laurie Lamon
POETRY Bamboo
[with audio]
by David Solway
EDITOR'S CHOICE The Glass of Fashion
What to read this month—and what not to
by Benjamin Schwarz
A Gloom of One's Own
Demanding women with demanding lives, and the men who love them
by Sandra Tsing Loh
No Way, Madame Bovary
A new but not improved translation
by Clive James
READING LIST Rote From Underground
Progressive books that—like Michael Moore—(ought to) make progressives wince
by Marc Cooper
NEW FICTION The Real Thing
Joseph O'Neill reviews William Trevor's short story collection A Bit on the Side.
by Joseph O'Neill
Mind the Gap
Turkey is everyone's idea of a "successful" modern Muslim state. A new novel will make you think twice
by Christopher Hitchens
INNOCENT BYSTANDER Never Mind
Old science doesn't die ...
by Cullen Murphy
A LOOK BACK 125 Years Ago in The Atlantic
The flight of jobs overseas is a hot-button issue in the 2004 election. But the problem is by no means new. As this October 1879 editorial by William Vaughn Moody makes clear, concerns about losing jobs to developing nations have been with us for a long time.
FOOD Good-bye, Cryovac
Imagine college food for which students will fake IDs, write rap songs, and line up outside the dining-hall door
by Corby Kummer
THE PUZZLER Cryptic Journey
by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
Word Fugitives
by Barbara Wallraff
POST MORTEM The Twentieth-Century Darwin
Francis Crick (1916-2004)
by Mark Steyn
Proper-Name Index
by Benjamin Healy