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77 North Washington Street by Michael Kelly

In This Issue

Letters to the Editor

INNOCENT BYSTANDER: Walking Back the Cat
by Cullen Murphy



Washington, D.C.: Squishier Than Thou by P. J. O'Rourke
New York City: Stranger in a Strange Land by Christopher Hitchens
Gaza City: All You Need Is Love by Bruce Hoffman
Belfast: Police Powers by Conor Cruise O'Brien
Moscow: Putin's Policy of Realpolitik by Jeffrey Tayler



Washington Desk: Councils of War by James Fallows
The Law: Security Versus Civil Liberties by Richard A. Posner
Military Affairs: Fourth-Generation Warfare by Jason Vest
Public Health: Countering the Smallpox Threat by Jonathan Rauch



One Nation, Slightly Divisible
The electoral map of the 2000 presidential race became famous—big blocks of Republican red stretched across the heartland, with brackets of Democratic blue along the coasts. Our differences are real, but how deep do they go?
by David Brooks

Looking the World in the Eye
Samuel Huntington's views about a "clash of civilizations" and other matters have been widely vilified—and now tragically validated
by Robert D. Kaplan

Moonrise
A mother describes a teenage son with muscular dystrophy—the life he leads and the one he can look forward to
by Penny Wolfson

Special Collections Astronaut Laundry
by Richard Rubin

Paradiso XXXIII by Dante Alighieri, translated by W. S. Merwin

The Old Economy Husband A short story by Lesley Dormen

Literary Lives A drawing by Edward Sorel

Channel A poem by Rodney Jones [with audio]

Black Camellia A poem by Henri Cole [with audio]

Pain A poem by Laura Newbern [with audio]




TRAVEL: Storm Island by William Langewiesche
FOOD: Sweet and Intense by Corby Kummer
PALATE AT LARGE: Delfina by Corby Kummer
SPORT: Portrait of a Woman as a Young Boxer by Daniel Boyne
TECHNOLOGY: Pixels at an Exhibition by Marshall Jon Fisher



A Quiet Genius
Hateship, Friendhip, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro, reviewed by Mona Simpson

Bringing Life to Life:
A Web-only Interview With Alice Munro
A conversation with Alice Munro, whose stories are fueled by her fascination with the way people portray their own lives