Features
Rhetorical Questions
Who will win the presidential debates? What does each candidate’s use of words say about how he would govern as president? Can Obama’s rhetorical skills lift him to the heights of Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan—or will his speechmaking do him in? After watching all 47 (!) of the primary season’s debates, our correspondent has the answers—and some harsh criticism for the moderators.
Reconcilable Differences
Obama and McCain both say they want to usher in a new, less divisive brand of politics. Which of them has the better chance? Is bipartisanship still possible?
The Front-Runner’s Fall
Hillary Clinton’s campaign was undone by a clash of personalities more toxic than anyone imagined. E-mails and memos—published here for the first time—reveal the backstabbing and conflicting strategies that produced an epic meltdown.
Memos: A complete index to the internal communications referenced in "The Front-Runner's Fall"
Gut Reactions
The termite’s stomach, of all things, has become the focus of large-scale scientific investigations. Could the same properties that make the termite such a costly pest help us solve global warming? [Web only: Video: "How to Hunt for Termites"]
Lifting the Bamboo Curtain
As China and India vie for power and influence, Burma has become a strategic battleground. Four Americans with deep ties to this fractured, resource-rich country illuminate its current troubles, and what the U.S. should do to shape its future.
From the Archives: A look back at a 70-page supplement on Burma—covering arts, culture, politics, and more—written mostly by Burmese and published by The Atlantic in 1958.
Agenda
My Big Fat Straight Wedding
What’s the difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals? In matters outside the bedroom, American culture and law are at last acknowledging that there is none.
The Calendar
Slightly Older Kids on the Block; marriage by decree; Harry Potter bares all
Primary Sources
Dread Pirate bin Laden; more than five for fighting; schizo in Gitmo
The Great Disruption
How scarcity, affluence, and biofuel production are wreaking havoc on food prices
Space Invaders
How preparations for tomorrow’s satellite wars could ruin life as we know it today
Books
A Bit of Punctuation
Editor’s Choice: A new book showcases the jewelry of Ted Muehling, whose earnest, untrendy work reaches the height of stylishness.
Girl, Interrupted
How Patty Hearst’s kidnapping reflected and ravaged American culture in the 1970s
Master of Conventions
Norman Mailer’s political journal of the summer of ‘68
Cover to Cover
A guide to additional releases: How the Reds won Russia; food in the Depression; Nigeria's oil curse; and more
Heart of Darwin
The places in and around London that shaped the naturalist as a young man
Sidebar: Statues of two 19th-century rivals battle it out in London's Natural History Museum
Dining with Dionysus
A cooking school in the Greek islands shows that simplicity plus necessity equals great cuisine. [Web only: Slideshow: "The Grecian Formula"]
Word Court
Wrong time to write right; expressing discretion
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