Politics & Society

Health

Does the Vaccine Matter?

To prevent a devastating flu pandemic, the government is relying heavily on vaccines and antivirals. Some experts say that both are quite possibly useless. By Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer.

Technology

Filtering Reality

How an emerging technology could threaten civility. By Jamais Cascio.

Business

Misleading Indicator

Will the Great Recession finally end our misguided obsession with gross domestic product? By Megan McArdle.

Design

Houses of the Future

In New Orleans, a new kind of house is rising from the ruins of Katrina. Cheap, green, and radically hip, it may change architecture for a generation. By Wayne Curtis.

The Military

Wipeout

Guam’s surfers fret about the impact of a $15 billion defense buildup on their island. By Jeannette Lee.

Modern Plagues

The Boar War

A wild menace invades Houston. By Malcolm Gay.

The Snatchback

When Todd Hopson wanted to get Andres, the 9-year-old boy he'd raised from infancy, back from his biological father in Costa Rica, he called Gus Zamora, who retrieves internationally abducted children for a living. Here’s what happened next. By Nadya Labi.

Brave Thinkers

Twenty-seven people with courageous ideas—from relocating endangered species to hiring autistics to printing loads of money—that are shaping our future. The first installment of an annual feature.

Featured Archive Content

george w. bush leaves office

Unwinding Bush

How long will it take to fix his mistakes? By Jonathan Rauch

1491

Before it became the New World, the Western Hemisphere was vastly more populous and sophisticated than has been thought. What the New World was really like at the time of Columbus's discovery. By Charles C. Mann (March 2002)

The Apocalypse of Adolescence

In 2002, two Vermont teenagers were charged with the knifing murder of two Dartmouth College professors. The case offers entry to a disturbing subject—acts of lethal violence committed by "ordinary" teenagers from "ordinary" communities, teenagers who have become detached from civic life, saturated by the mythic violent imagery of popular culture, and consumed by the dictates of some private murderous fantasy. (May 1994)

The Rush Limbaugh story

"Liberals who are used to thinking of Limbaugh as another Falwell or Buchanan should instead think of his radio program, at its best, as another Saturday Night Live." By James Fallows (May 1994)

When was the last time a conservative talk show changed a mind?

"I would agree all the more with Limbaugh if, after he returned from rehab, he'd shouted (as most Americans ought to), 'I'm sorry I had fun! I promise not to have any more!'" P.J. O'Rourke

Bucking the Herd

Parents who refuse vaccination for their children may be putting entire communities at risk. By Arthur Allen

The Great Depression

Atlantic articles from the 1930s reveal how Americans reinvented banking, restructured the economy, and dealt with challenges unsettlingly parallel to those of today

The Drug Pushers

Starting in 2009, drug companies have agreed to stop giving out drug-company-branded trinkets. In 2006, Carl Elliott warned that pharmaceutical reps are wielding more and more influence—and that the line between them and doctors is beginning to blur.

The Chicago Complex

The roots of a city's corruption. (October 1930)

The Balanced-Budget Debate

Can it be done? Should it be done? Writings on these questions from the past seventy years.

The World's Economic Outlook

In the midst of the Great Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes considered the prospects for capitalism's survival. (May 1932)

The Best Is Yet to Come

"Fabulous divorce used to be the prerogative of the rich and famous, but not anymore." By Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

First Wave at Omaha Beach

Combat historian S.L.A. Marshall recalled the carnage he witnessed on Omaha Beach during D-Day. (November 1960)

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. (October 2004)

A More Perfect Union

How the Founding Fathers would have handled gay marriage. By Jonathan Rauch (April 2004)

The Angry American

"Praise be, America's social-anger thermometer is on the rise." By Paul Starobin (January/February 2004)

The Coming Death Shortage

Why the longevity boom will make us sorry to be alive. By Charles C. Mann

The Royal Road to Bankruptcy

By One Who Took the Ride (January 1933)

Would Shakespeare Get Into Swarthmore?

How several well-known writers (and the Unabomber) would fare on the new SAT. (March 2004)

Recently in the Atlantic

Editor's Note

Truth and Reconciliation

By James Bennet.

Media

The Story Behind the Story

Much of the news you see on TV is the work of political hit men—not journalists. And it’s only getting worse. By Mark Bowden.

Energy

The California Experiment

The state may be a budgetary disaster, but its energy policies are a blueprint for national innovation. By Ronald Brownstein.

Internet

The Moguls’ New Clothes

Don’t blame the Internet for the dismal performance of big media companies. Blame inept executives. By Jonathan A. Knee, Bruce C. Greenwald and Ava Seave.

Technology

The Green Case for Cities

Forget the solar panels and the rain barrels—if you want to save energy, leave the suburbs. By Witold Rybczynski.

Crime

Mourning in Chicago

A funeral home’s business is growing, for all the wrong reasons. By Linnet Myers Burden.

Business

Why Goldman Always Wins

What do investment bankers, wedding planners, funeral directors, and movie-trailer voice-over artists have in common? High fees for high-stakes, once-in-a-lifetime deals. By Megan McArdle.

Business

Why Goldman Always Wins

What do investment bankers, wedding planners, funeral directors, and movie-trailer voice-over artists have in common? High fees for high-stakes, once-in-a-lifetime deals. By Megan McArdle.

Finance

The Final Days of Merrill Lynch

The inside story of how the government forced Bank of America to acquire the financial management giant—and its spiraling losses. By William D. Cohan.

Profile

Hollywood’s Jewish Avenger

Quentin Tarantino talks about Jews, Nazis, and why his new film is so gruesome—even by his standards. By Jeffrey Goldberg.

Policy

How American Health Care Killed My Father

The incentives that drive our health care system have perverse (and sometimes fatal) consequences. It's time for a radical change. By David Goldhill.

Business

What Would Warren Do?

The Sage of Omaha has redefined the idea of value investing. But will its principles survive his inevitable passing? By Megan McArdle.

Editor's Note

What’s Good for GM

By James Bennet.

Technology

What Scares Google

How the search giant hopes to stay on top. By Kevin Maney.

Disasters

In Case of Emergency

FEMA’s new administrator has a message for Americans: get in touch with your survival instinct. By Amanda Ripley.

 

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Dispatch

Underestimating East Germany

Conventional wisdom says the East German economy is lagging. But its cities may be poised to outpace the west. By Clay Risen.

Interview

A Conversation With Gore Vidal

The American literary and cultural icon speaks out on the Polanski scandal, the Obama Presidency, the sexual exploits of Bill Clinton, and more. By John Meroney.

Dispatch

What Obama's Nobel Really Means

A growing contingent wants Obama to lead a post-nationalist global society. If he does things right, the U.S. could become history's first truly international nation. By Robert D. Kaplan.

Q&A

Facts About Swine Flu

The authors answer questions about H1N1 diagnosis and immunity.

Dispatch

How to Lobby Against Sex Ed

A retired Massachusetts businessman is using his fortune to jam abstinence-only programs into federal health care legislation. By Joe Eaton.

Dispatch

Time for Decisiveness on Afghanistan

Obama needs to get behind his chosen general and put the spectacle of indecisiveness behind him. Otherwise, in the coming months, the Democrats may be seen as having lost a war. And if that happens, not even the Nobel Peace Prize will rescue his reputation. By Robert D. Kaplan.

Sidebar

Witness to an Abduction

The author explains how she ended up following Gus Zamora around the globe.

Sage, Ink

Afghanistan's Unforeseen Costs

By Sage Stossel.

Dispatch

Behind the Autism Statistics

The CDC now says that 1 in 100 Americans has autism. But is the epidemic real? It turns out that many children with other developmental problems are being given autism diagnoses just to get them state funding. By Jody Becker.

Dispatch

Power to the Patients

The mantra has always been: Doctor Knows Best. But consumers need to seize control of their own health care. And they can, thanks to advances in science and technology. By Clayton M. Christensen and Jason Hwang.

Dispatch

How to Talk to the Iranians

A former Iran embassy hostage offers some free advice to U.S. negotiators. By John Limbert.

Sage, Ink

Escalation in Afghanistan

By Sage Stossel.

Dispatch

Pittsburgh, City of Renewal

A native Pittsburgher explains why the city makes an ideal backdrop for this year's G-20 summit. By Caitlan Smith.

Dispatch

How AIDS Became a Caribbean Crisis

Widespread homophobia has intensified the epidemic in Jamaica, where the HIV infection rate is an astounding 32 percent among gay men. By Micah Fink.