December 2005

James Fallows, "Why Iraq Has No Army"; Paul Bloom, "Is God an Accident?"; Christopher Hitchens, "Hurricane Lolita"; Mark Bowden on the Iran hostage crisis, Hanna Rosin on Jesus in Hollywood; Corby Kummer on Long Island Merlot; Nir Rosen on leaving Iraq; and much more.

Features

Why Iraq Has No Army

An orderly exit from Iraq depends on the development of a viable Iraqi security force, but the Iraqis aren't even close. The Bush administration doesn't take the problem seriously—and it never has

Captivity Pageant

December 1979: Christmas comes for the Great Satan

Sultan of the Steppes

Kazakhstan's Soviet-schooled dictator—part economic modernizer, part Muslim progressive, part vainglorious despot—has enough oil to make himself into anything he wants

Is God an Accident?

Human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena—and this predisposition is a by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry
Interviews: Paul Bloom, the author of "Is God an Accident," on why—ironically—belief in Intelligent Design may be an inherited trait

Agenda

Our Faith-Based Future

The White House remains unperturbed by the growing prospect of economic calamity

If America Left Iraq

The case for cutting and running

Challenge Match

How the former world chess champion Garry Kasparov hopes to unseat President Vladimir Putin

The Covert Option

Can sabotage and assassination stop Iran from going nuclear?

Primary Sources

Will Saudi Arabia's Shiites remain docile?; Europe's dim view (quelle surprise!) of the United States; new doctors as menaces; the fairer, cleaner sex

Books

Passion in Fashion

Sample: Cuttings From Contemporary Fashion, edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave; Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion, edited by Valerie Steele; Mao, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday; New Art City, by Jed Perl

Books of the Year

Selected by The Atlantic's literary editor, Benjamin Schwarz
Books: Books reviewed in The Atlantic Monthly in 2005

Sit and Spin

How slot machines give gamblers the business

Cuba Libre

Castro's least favorite books

Hurricane Lolita

Fifty years ago Vladimir Nabokov published his most notorious novel. Its ravishing effects can still be felt

New Fiction

Accidents, by Yael Hedaya

A Close Read

The Truth of the Matter, by Robb Forman Dew

Serf Advisory

A practical guide for hired help, from the eighteenth century to ours

Pursuits

Back to the Future

Which way is the new Las Vegas Monorail heading?

Can Jesus Save Hollywood?

From The Passion of the Christ to The Chronicles of Narnia, the Christian audience is making spirits rise

Merlot for Snobs

A Long Island winery is challenging Merlot's deservedly dismal reputation

The Least Worst Man

Sidney Luft (1915-2005)

Who's Who

A selective index to this month's issue


Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

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The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

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Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Writers

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