What a difference two years makes.
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What a difference two years makes.
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Graphic by: Amanda Buck
Officially, the Great Recession lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. A mere 18 months—about average, as recessions go. Yet if the trauma this time feels deep and lasting, that may be because, as the figures on these pages show, so many disruptions have upended national life at once.
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, nearly every state faces a budget shortfall, and hundreds of banks have shut their doors. The young are unemployed, living at home, and playing video games. The ranks of third-party candidates have swollen, militias have proliferated, and national leaders of both parties have seen their support decline. Of course, times of flux are often times of anxiety and unrest. But as the economy begins its slow and stuttering recovery, the vast changes wrought by this recession will continue to reverberate for many years—in ways predictable and otherwise.
David H. Freedman on smartphone apps and the perfected self, Mark Bowden on being in the dumb kids' class, James Parker on Glenn Beck, Isaac Chotiner on P. G. Wodehouse, and more
Browse back issues of The Atlantic that have appeared on the Web. From September 1995 to the present, the archive is essentially complete, with the exception of a few articles, the online rights to which are held exclusively by the authors.
See All Back Issues: September 1995
Journalism's Gender Imbalance Includes Who's Quoted, Too
Obama Makes Nice with Poland
How 'The Wire' Found Its Omar: 'The Omars of the World are Warriors'
Why You Should Say 'Hello' to Strangers on the Street
Rethinking the Economics of Traffic Congestion
How to Handle a City of Tourists
![The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/nancy_scola/amercia.thumb.screenshot.jpg "The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]")
New York City Ballet: A Crystal Palace 
The Speed of Light 
Synthetic Biology 
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