April 2006

Matthew Teague, "Double Blind"; James Bamford, "Big Brother Is Listening"; Robert D. Kaplan, "The Coming Normalcy?"; Carl Elliott, "The Drug Pushers"; Christopher Hitchens on "James Bond"; James Fallows on Camera Phones; Ross Douthat on Newt Gingrich's return; and much more.

The Atlantic - April 2006

Other articles in this issue

"He's in the Backseat!"

The NSA searches the world’s airwaves for faint whispers of suicide bombers and elusive terrorists. One Sunday in November of 2002, its listeners scored a rare hit

What to Do and Where to Stay

Grignolino

Italy's Beaujolais is as rare as good chicken

Five Recipes for Roast Chicken

Features

Double Blind

The untold story of how British intelligence infiltrated and undermined the Irish Republican Army

Big Brother Is Listening

What happens when the technology of espionage outstrips the law’s ability to protect ordinary citizens from it?

The Coming Normalcy?

Whatever else the American occupation of Iraq may be, it serves as a laboratory for ideas about how to wring stability out of chaos—the great foreign-policy challenge of the twenty-first century

The Drug Pushers

As America turns its health-care system over to the market, pharmaceutical reps are wielding more and more influence—and the line between them and doctors is beginning to blur

Markets and Morals

Atlantic writings by Henry Demarest Lloyd, John Maynard Keynes, John Kenneth Galbraith, Peter Drucker, and others.

Agenda

The Man Who Would Be King

George W. Bush threatens creeping autocracy unless Congress and the courts act jointly—and forcefully—to stop him

Poison Pill

Big, politically ugly changes to America's health-care system are unavoidable—consumer-driven health care may be the least-bad option

Jock Itch

Lynn Swann's run for governor shows why political pros are big fans of star athletes

Worse Than Iraq?

Nigeria's president and onetime hope for a stable future is leading his country toward implosion—and possible U.S. military intervention

Gingrich's Long Game

The former speaker of the House is looking for a second act. Will he get it?

Primary Sources

Another problem for Pakistan; the teachers nobody wants; why you can't trust what you read; unhappier by the dozen?

Books

Lee and Sherman

Fever, by Peter Richmond; Upon the Altar of the Nation, by Harry S. Stout; Scars of War, Wounds of Peace, by Shlomo Ben-Ami; Barrier by Isabel Kershner

Bottoms Up

Ian Fleming, the man behind James Bond, was a sadist, a narcissist, and a pervert. But he also saw past the confines of the Cold War

New Fiction

Abide With Me, by Elizabeth Strout

Touch of Evil

A selective investigation of recent mysteries and thrillers

Cry Wolfe

In defense of the last writer in the world who needs defending

A Close Read

High Lonesome: Stories 1966-2006, by Joyce Carol Oates

New Fiction

Elements of Style, by Wendy Wasserstein

Found in Translation?

A new version of War and Peace seeks naturalism through slang

Cult Classics

Edifying or entertaining sacred texts you’ve never read

Pursuits

Empire's End

A hike along Hadrian's Wall—and through the mists of time

Spring Chickens

Heirloom poultry is poised to become “the other red meat”—if fears about avian flu don’t keep people away

A Thousand Words

Cameras and telephones are coming together—and bringing people together—in ways that can shape society

The Last Edwardian

Michael Wharton (1913–2006)

Who's Who

A selective index to this month’s issue, compiled by Benjamin Healy


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

Video

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

Video

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

Video

What Does It Take to Make Real Craft Gin?

Tour the Green Hat Gin distillery

Video

Letter From the Editor

The June 2013 issue

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What Straights Can Learn From Same-Sex Couples

New insight from decades of research

Video

The End of the Mall Rat

A tribute to that pillar of teen culture

Writers

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