THE ATLANTIC | Volume 298 No. 1 | July/August 2006

Articles with headlines in gray are unavailable online.

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Atlantic cover Calendar

Letters to the Editor

The Agenda
COMMENT  Containing Iran  Cold War strategies might help us handle Tehran’s nuclear ambitions
by Jonathan Rauch

PHOTO OP  Emigration Reform
by Hector Mata

WASHINGTON  Purple Mountains  Could the interior West—long seen as an archetypal red region—be turning blue? The fate of the Republican Party may hinge on the answer
by Ryan Sager

THE LIST  Leaps of Faith  When pop stars get religion
by Ross Douthat

BRIEF LIVES  Ford’s Theater  Can Harold Ford become the first black senator from the old Confederacy since Reconstruction?
by Michael Crowley

FIRST PRINCIPLES  A Confederacy Of Eunuchs  What a lousy time for the leaders of the world’s economic powerhouses to be gripped by political weakness
by Clive Crook

THE LAW  Of Clerks and Perks  Why Supreme Court justices have more free time than ever—and why it should be taken away
by Stuart Taylor Jr. and Benjamin Wittes

POLL  War in Iraq   

Primary Sources  Pakistan’s out-of-control army; the sorry (but egalitarian) state of American health care; the happiness census

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The Monster of Florence
A true crime story
by Douglas Preston
INTERVIEWS  The Journalist and the Murderer
Douglas Preston discusses his investigation of the "Monster of Florence"—and the strange plot twist that made him a suspect in the case
by Justine Isola [Web only]
The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
How a video-store clerk and small-time crook reinvented himself as America’s nemesis in Iraq
by Mary Anne Weaver

Jihad 2.0
With the loss of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have turned to the Internet to find and train recruits. The story of one pioneer of this effort—the enigmatic “Irhabi 007”—shows how
by Nadya Labi
INTERVIEWS  Web of Terror
Nadya Labi discusses the murky world of online jihad
by Abigail Cutler [Web only]
Extreme Parenting
Does the Baby Genius Edutainment Complex enrich your child’s mind—or stifle it?
by Alissa Quart

150 YEARS OF THE ATLANTIC  Idealism & Practicality
This is the sixth in a series of archival excerpts in honor of the magazine’s 150th anniversary. This installment is introduced by James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic

Arabic
by Alexander Nemser

Frequently Asked Questions
Humor
by Evan Eisenberg

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The Critics
EDITOR'S CHOICE  Chairs, Rag Mags, Indian Wars
Phaidon Design Classics; A Dash of Daring, by Penelope Rowlands; Yellowstone Command, by Jerome A. Greene
by Benjamin Schwarz

Cheap Thrills
A story of American women in financial jeopardy
by Sandra Tsing Loh

New Fiction
Digging to America, by Anne Tyler
by Elizabeth Judd

Summer Reading
What some notables are stacking on their beach blankets this year

The Persian Version
Under the caked muck of theocracy in today’s Iran, ancient and lovely literary springs still bubble
by Christopher Hitchens

NEW FICTION  A Close Read
Stoner, by John Williams
by Christina Schwarz

Cover to Cover
A guide to additional releases
by Benjamin Healy and Benjamin Schwarz

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Pursuits and Retreats
TRAVELS  Greetings from Airworld!
Six days in five airports—a survivor’s guide
by Wayne Curtis

FOOD  Deliverance
The future of shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables
by Corby Kummer

TECHNOLOGY  The Electric Mind Meld
Two new elegantly conceived programs help you unjam your digital life
by James Fallows

COMMERCE AND CULTURE  The Next Starbucks?
How massage went from the strip club to the strip mall
by Virginia Postrel

SPORTS  Spin Doctors
Racket technology saved tennis, and Roger Federer is proof
by Tom Perrotta

POST MORTEM  The Swedes’ Swingingest Swinger
Vilgot Sjöman (1924–2006)
by Mark Steyn
THE PUZZLER  Dinner With the Crypps
by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon [Web only]
Word Fugitives
by Barbara Wallraff