What’s Your Problem?
What to wear to your trial, and other advice
Features
Beating Obesity
After years of dieting, the author finally resorted to bariatric surgery. It worked—but he realized that it’s too expensive to stem our obesity epidemic. So what to do? Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity plan, he argues, is a major first step. Developed largely in secret, and with startling comprehensiveness, it has thrilled advocates— and made the food industry anxious to cooperate.
Video: Marc Ambinder revisits his decision to have bariatric surgery
The Wrong Man
As the anthrax investigation intensified, the FBI focused increasingly on one suspect: Steven Hatfill. It began a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and 24-hour surveillance. Hatfill lost his job and his friends, fell into a spiral of depression, and found himself utterly isolated. But he was innocent—and here, for the first time, he speaks out.
The Next Empire
From oil in Algeria to zinc in Gabon to copper in the Congo, China is muscling in on natural resources all across Africa on a massive scale. Will it succeed in easing poverty where Western aid has failed? Or will it become the continent’s latest colonial overlord?
The Closers
The financial crisis may have eased, but banks are still failing at an alarming rate. Here’s an inside look at what happens when they go under.
Dispatches
Rum and Hope
Haiti’s famed Barbancourt rum factory has survived by taking self-sufficiency to an extreme.
SubTropolis, U.S.A.
A large chunk of Kansas City’s real estate lies 100 feet below ground, and offers a creative solution to global warming.
A Space Oddity
How an Afghan pilot became a cosmonaut—and a fugitive
Shafted
Runoff from old mines poisons Colorado’s rivers. Why are enviro groups trying to stop locals from cleaning them up?
Super Muslims
Can the heroes of The 99 save Islam from misunderstanding?
Interview/Slideshow: Naif al-Mutawa, creator of The 99, discusses the international cast of superheroes who populate his Islam-themed stories
The Jig Is Up
On the remote west coast of Ireland, Doolin—the epicenter of traditional Irish music—sings the economic blues away.
Slideshow: Andrew McCarthy narrates images from the town’s vibrant Irish music scene
Everything Is Illuminated
Inexpensive, handheld Raman scanners will soon enable anyone to identify just about anything.
Books
Play’s the Thing
A new book argues that play may be the primary means nature has found to develop our brains.
Getting Their Guns Off
The books that shaped HBO’s The Pacific give the lie to the notion of generational exceptionalism.
Video: Jon Zobenica comments on scenes from HBO’s The Pacific
The Dark Side of Dickens
Why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men
Cover to Cover
The latest from Deborah Eisenberg and Rachel Cusk
Interview: Deborah Eisenberg speaks about her new short story collection
Columns
The Freeloaders
How a generation of file-sharers is ruining the future of entertainment
Revenge of the Wimps
Holden Caulfield lives on as Greg Heffley, narrator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the anti–Harry Potter.
Who Owns the First Amendment?
Journalists think they do. They’re wrong.
The History of Thomas Edison 
This Must Be the Place: Byun 
Video Documentary: The Impact of a Principal 
