December 2012

James Fallows explains why the future of industry is in America, Jeffrey Goldberg makes the case for more guns, Ann Patchett describes her battle with Amazon, Isaac Chotiner laments Salman Rushdie's decline, and more

Features

The Insourcing Boom

An exploration of the startling, sustainable, just-getting-started return of manufacturing to the United States

Mr. China Comes to America

How labor developments in China and new technology in the U.S. may reverse the decades-long relocation of American jobs to Asia
Video: James Fallows shares photos and reflections from his trip to Foxconn's controversial factory.

The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control)

How do we reduce gun crime when Americans already own nearly 300 million firearms? Maybe by allowing more people to carry them.
Video: Jonathan Rauch tells Jeffrey Goldberg why more gay people should be armed.

The Bookstore Strikes Back

When Nashville lost its only in-town bookstores, the author, a novelist, decided to step into the breach.
Video: A tour of Ann Patchett's shop

Fiction: Reply to a Dead Man

"My heart started beating rapidly after the third time I read the letter. I could have sat there and guessed for a hundred years and never come up with what my brother had to say."

Dispatches

A Boat of Biblical Proportions

For a new theme park, Creationists (with a little help from a geneticist, some Amish men, and generous tax breaks) are building a replica of Noah’s ark—exactly as God instructed.

Kisses and Hugs in the Office

How the once-intimate sign-off is feminizing the workplace, for better or worse

Perks and Recreation

In Silicon Valley, a new wave of tech companies is trying to enforce fun.
Gallery: A tour of wacky workspaces at Twitter, Airbnb, and other Silicon Valley firms.

The Data Vigilante

Students aren’t the only ones cheating—some professors are, too. Uri Simonsohn is out to bust them.

Columns

The Demonic Genius of Daniel Tosh

The Comedy Central star brings the Colosseum to your couch.
Video: James Parker demonstrates why Tosh.0 is morally superior to America's Funniest Home Videos.

What Makes Her Click

Intel's Genevieve Bell talks about why we adopt some gadgets and spurn others—and why tech companies underestimate female users.
Interview: An extended version of this conversation

Books

The Education of Virginia Woolf

The novelist's literary essays celebrated reading for the love of it.

Books of the Year 2012

The Atlantic's literary editor picks the five best of the crop.

How the Mullahs Won

Salman Rushdie’s artistic decline

Cover to Cover

An Alice Munro collection that's "autobiographical in feeling," if not in fact; Zadie Smith's uneven new novel; and more


Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

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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

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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

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Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

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Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

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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

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

Video

The Wonderful World of Capitalism

An adorable 1950s cartoon

Video

New Yorkers: Miss New York USA

An unconventional beauty queen.

Writers

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