Bullet
[with audio]
Features
Grand Illusions
With Rumsfeld and Powell gone, and Cheney’s power diminished, this is Condoleezza Rice’s moment. Can she salvage America’s standing in the Middle East—and defuse the threat of a nuclear Iran? Behind the curtain in Washington and Jerusalem with the secretary of state
Interviews: David Samuels, author of "Grand Illusions," discusses his travels with Condoleezza Rice and her ambitious efforts to secure peace in the Middle East
Interviews: Author David Samuels interviews former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, and George Schultz
How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood
And other ingenious acts of cyber-vengeance
The Army We Have
To fight today’s wars with an all-volunteer force, the U.S. Army needs more quick-thinking, strong, highly disciplined soldiers. But creating warriors out of the softest, least-willing populace in generations has required sweeping changes in basic training.
Interviews: Brian Mockenhaupt talks about the men and women who enter basic training today, and how the Army has adapted to meet their needs.
The Animal Kingdom
This is the 16th in a series of archival excerpts in honor of the magazine’s 150th anniversary.
Agenda
Rags to Rags, Riches to Riches
Maybe it’s time to stop calling America the “land of opportunity.”
Flashbacks: Articles by Eleanor Roosevelt and others take up the question of what constitutes the American ideal
Calendar
Hurricane futures; the Swiss at sea; Bill Gates finally graduates
The Movie Pirates
Will Internet bootleggers kill Hollywood, or make it stronger?
Primary Sources
Our dynastic Congress; the chess gender gap; surgeons who love Nintendo
Return of the Taliban?
The Atlantic recently asked a group of foreign-policy authorities about the future of Afghanistan.
Get Out of Jihad Free
The Saudi government is betting that instead of just locking terrorists away, it can reform them.
Books
Where Mother Saw Best
At home with the modernists
A Knoll of One’s Own
The most exhaustive book yet written about the Kennedy assassination should lay the conspiracy theories to rest once and for all—but it won’t.
Interviews: Thomas Mallon talks about JFK conspiracy theories and a new book that places the blame squarely on Lee Harvey Oswald.
If This Is a Man
Primo Levi’s Holocaust memoirs stand among the best literature of the 20th century, but his greatest creation was himself.
The Woman Who Made Iraq
Gertrude Bell scaled the Alps, mapped Arabia, and midwifed the modern Middle East.
Cover to Cover
A guide to additional releases: a raft of Kissingeria; Robert E. Lee's letters; Penelope Lively's new novel; and more
Motel Paradiso
In Florida, a quest for the classic family motel [Web only: Slideshow: "Motel Nostalgia."]
Paint of View
The color of a house is a sign of owner individuality—and a test of neighborhood tolerance.
Sidebar: Virginia Postrel tells the tale of how an enterprising first-time publisher gave the beloved children's book Mr. Pine a second life.
What Was I Thinking?
Computers may not be able to make decisions for you (yet), but they can sharpen your judgment.
The Hapless Seed
Publishers and authors should stop cowering; Google is less likely to destroy the book business than to slingshot it into the 21st century.
Word Court
Dubious distinctions; the F-word
Alter Ego 
The 100 Greatest Quotes in 'The Wire' 
Synthetic Biology 
