January/February 2012

American manufacturing and the jobs crisis, Robert D. Kaplan on John J. Mearsheimer, James Parker on R.E.M., Caitlin Flanagan on Joan Didion, and more

The Atlantic - January/February 2012

Editor's Note

The Anxiety Economy

In an age of globalization, it's a wonder we make anything in the United States at all.

Letters

The Conversation

Responses and reverberations

Features

Making It in America

The story of Standard Motor Products, a family- run manufacturer in Queens, illuminates what it takes to survive in today’s economy—and why the jobs crisis will be so hard to solve.
State of the Union 2012: A special report on politics, jobs, and the economy

America at Work

Photographs from a year of economic uncertainty. (Selected by Alan Taylor)

Torturer’s Apprentice

The sickening parallels between today’s interrogation tactics and those used by the Inquisition reveal the dangers of yoking moral certainty to the machinery of torture.

Campaign Inc.

How a presidential election boosts the economy

Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)

The political scientist’s star has fallen in recent years, as critics have branded him an anti-Semite. But his doctrine of “offensive realism” serves as an incisive theory for understanding how states behave in an anarchic world.

Dispatches

Freed Press

Our correspondent teaches Libya’s budding reporters the ABC’s of ethics and objectivity—with mixed results.

Misfortune Teller

A statistics professor says he can predict crime before it occurs.

What We Don't Know About the Sun

How the central figure of our solar system could kill us—or erase our iPods.

The Haunted History of an Arctic Monastery

On a remote Russian archipelago, monks once served both God and Stalin.

Waiting for Mike Ditka

Thirty years after he saved Chicago, the fabled Bears coach is everywhere—and nowhere.

My Nutmeg Bender

The surprising intoxicant hidden in your spice rack

'Archery Is a Manly Game'

In Bhutan, carbon-fiber bows are becoming the weapon of choice for practitioners of the national pastime.

The Need for Speed

In the wake of a horrific crash, should air racing be allowed to continue?

Columns

The Graduates

Attending a business-school reunion in the Occupy age

America’s Rock Band

How R.E.M.’s almost-utterances allowed listeners to find their own meaning
Video: Parker traces the band's journey from art-school experimentation to high-budget stardom.

Books

The Perfect Wife

The nicest star in Hollywood, plus the man who made what Americans looked at

The Autumn of Joan Didion

The writer’s work is a triumph—and a disaster.

Cover to Cover

How the West was photographed; willpower, explained; and more


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

Writers

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