January/February 2009

Michael Hirschorn on how The New York Times could survive; Mark Bowden considers the hardest job in football; Ta-Nehisi Coates profiles Michelle Obama; Hua-Hsu on post-white America; James Parker on Battlestar Gallactica; Wayne Curtis on the return of the classic cocktail; and much more.

The Atlantic - January/February 2009

Also in this issue

Are We White?

Letters to the editor

What's Your Problem?

How to poison your guests, and other advice

Other articles in this issue

Quick Study

The mailbox monopoly; back to futures

In a Word

Mind control-alt-delete; liminal laundry

Features

The End of White America?

Culturally, America is already post-white. Demographically, we're headed there, too.
Flashbacks: Articles from the turn of the 20th century onwards show that the breakdown of racial hegemony in America has been a slow, challenging process

American Girl

The radical normalcy of Michelle Obama.

[Web only: Video: "South Side Story"]

Race Over?

An inside look at how the Obama campaign tackled the thorniest issue of all
Interviews: Archbishop Desmond Tutu reflects on terrorism, torture, and what the first African American president might mean for Africa.

Then and Now

How has America changed since 2000?
Spotlight: Reports and commentary by James Fallows, Mark Bowden, Christopher Hitchens, Pat Buchanan, Robert D. Kaplan, and others.

The Founders’ Great Mistake

The true culprits behind the excesses of the Bush presidency
State of the Union: The filibuster is obstructive, anachronistic, and undemocratic. It's time to kill it off for good.

The Man in the Middle

What Chuck Schumer thinks he knows about the middle class; a profile
Dispatch: Market crashes are inevitable, but financial innovation and globalization have massively increased our vulnerability to them. Unless we make big regulatory changes—changes on a global scale—we should prepare for more years like this one.

The Hardest Job in Football

Producing NFL games is an art peculiar to the modern age. Meet Bob Fishman, master of the form

Dispatches

Security Blanket

Afghanistan’s most venerable relic faces its greatest challenge.

Road Worriers

With volatile gas prices, imploding suburban real estate, and an incoming administration, the New Urbanists seize their moment.

Dirty Sexy Money

Is porn recession-proof?

Food Fight

Iron Chef, Armed-Forces style

Found in Translation

The Basques reclaim their cultural identity, one word at a time.

Old-Fashioned

Our correspondent toasts a growing trend: the return of the classic cocktail

Strange Paradise

Panama has pristine jungles, a nascent ecotourism industry—and the dark allure of a Graham Greene novel.

[Web only: Slideshow: "Panama’s Brooding History"]

iGov

How geeks are opening up government on the Web

Books

Globaloney

A new report from the country’s top intelligence office predicts a fundamental change in America’s foreign policy—but not the change Barack Obama has promised.

Imperfect Union

A brilliant new book probes the intimate, unequal relationship between Virginia Woolf and the woman who cared for her.

Mercy!

Toni Morrison’s new historical novel is a monotonous series of flashbacks, larded with anachronisms.

Cool Cat

Our new president has a feline’s legendary nimbleness and luck—but there are downsides to being a cat.

Columns

Lost In Space

Is Battlestar Galactica a great television epic—or proof that there is no such thing?

[Web only: Video: "Far Out"]

End Times

Can America’s paper of record survive the death of newsprint? Can journalism?


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

Video

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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