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CalendarLetters to the Editor
COMMENT The Man Who Would Be King George W. Bush threatens creeping autocracy unless Congress and the courts act jointly—and forcefully—to stop him
by Stuart Taylor Jr.
PHOTO OP Then and Now Photograph by Igor Kostin
FIRST PRINCIPLES Poison Pill Big, politically ugly changes to America's health-care system are unavoidable—consumer-driven health care may be the least-bad option
by Clive Crook
THE ODDS Bombing Iran
by Terrence Henry
WASHINGTON Jock Itch Lynn Swann's run for governor shows why political pros are big fans of star athletes
by Joshua Green
FOREIGN AFFAIRS Worse Than Iraq? Nigeria's president and onetime hope for a stable future is leading his country toward implosion—and possible U.S. military intervention
by Jeffrey Tayler
BRIEF LIVES Gingrich's Long Game The former speaker of the House is looking for a second act. Will he get it?
by Ross Douthat
POLL States of Insecurity
Primary Sources Another problem for Pakistan; the teachers nobody wants; why you can't trust what you read; unhappier by the dozen?
Double Blind
The untold story of how British intelligence infiltrated and undermined the Irish Republican Army
by Matthew Teague
Big Brother Is Listening
What happens when the technology of espionage outstrips the law’s ability to protect ordinary citizens from it?
by James Bamford
The Coming Normalcy?
Whatever else the American occupation of Iraq may be, it serves as a laboratory for ideas about how to wring stability out of chaos—the great foreign-policy challenge of the twenty-first century
by Robert D. Kaplan
The Drug Pushers
As America turns its health-care system over to the market, pharmaceutical reps are wielding more and more influence—and the line between them and doctors is beginning to blur
by Carl Elliott
Markets and Morals
Atlantic writings by Henry Demarest Lloyd, John Maynard Keynes, John Kenneth Galbraith, Peter Drucker, and others.
POETRY Meditatio
by Mary Karr
How to Shampoo in French
A reference guide
by Con Chapman
EDITOR’S CHOICE Lee and Sherman
Fever, by Peter Richmond; Upon the Altar of the Nation, by Harry S. Stout; Scars of War, Wounds of Peace, by Shlomo Ben-Ami; Barrier by Isabel Kershner
by Benjamin Schwarz
Bottoms Up
Ian Fleming, the man behind James Bond, was a sadist, a narcissist, and a pervert. But he also saw past the confines of the Cold War
by Christopher Hitchens
New Fiction
Abide With Me, by Elizabeth Strout
by Joseph O’Neill
ROUNDUP Touch of Evil
A selective investigation of recent mysteries and thrillers
by B. R. Myers
Cry Wolfe
In defense of the last writer in the world who needs defending
by Mark Bowden
NEW FICTION A Close Read
High Lonesome: Stories 1966-2006, by Joyce Carol Oates
by Christina Schwarz
New Fiction
Elements of Style, by Wendy Wasserstein
by Elizabeth Judd
Found in Translation?
A new version of War and Peace seeks naturalism through slang
by Mona Simpson
READING LIST Cult Classics
Edifying or entertaining sacred texts you’ve never read
by Philip Jenkins
Cover to Cover
A guide to current releases
by Benjamin Healy and Benjamin Schwarz
TRAVELS Empire's End
A hike along Hadrian's Wall—and through the mists of time
by Cullen Murphy
FOOD Spring Chickens
Heirloom poultry is poised to become “the other red meat”—if fears about avian flu don’t keep people away
by Corby Kummer
TECHNOLOGY A Thousand Words
Cameras and telephones are coming together—and bringing people together—in ways that can shape society
by James Fallows
THE PUZZLER Box SetWord Court
by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon [Web only]
by Barbara Wallraff
POST MORTEM The Last Edwardian
Michael Wharton (1913–2006)
by Mark Steyn
Who's Who
A selective index to this month’s issue, compiled by Benjamin Healy