Volume 303 No. 2 | March 2009

How the Crash Will Reshape America The meltdown will affect more than our economy. It will forever change our geography.
by Richard Florida

INTERACTIVE MAP: The Shaping of America Explore America's new geography

INTERVIEWS: The Great Reset Urban theorist Richard Florida explains why recession is the mother of invention.
by Conor Clarke

The Last Ace As American air superiority declines, and the age of fighter jocks returns, we're going to need more men like Cesar Rodriguez.
by Mark Bowden

VIDEO: The View from the Cockpit  Pilots at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base share their views on how to maintain American air superiority

MAP Prison Blocks Incarceration exacts a terrible toll on New Orleans
by Laura Kurgan

PROFILE The Velvet Reformation Can Rowan Williams save the Anglican Church from itself?
by Paul Elie

INTERVIEWS: A Flock Divided Paul Elie talks about Archbishop Rowan Williams's balancing act, and the schisms threatening the Anglican Church.
by Justine Isola

EDITOR'S NOTE Beyond Belief 
by James Bennet

Letters to the Editor 

Quick Study Cyberwar is hell; paranormal psychology

THE MILITARY Tragic Heroes What today’s veterans can learn from tales of the Trojan War
by Brian Mockenhaupt

CONSUMPTION Sayonara, Prada Why Japan’s young consumers are turning away from luxury goods
by Alexandra Harney

REAL ESTATE Cops and Squatters On the foreclosure beat in San Bernardino
by Matthew Quirk

LIVES Musical Chairs Michael Pettis is a finance pundit by day, a Beijing rock impresario by (very late) night.
by James Fallows

FOOD Not So Guilty Pleasure If only somebody could get the cupcake right
by Corby Kummer

VIDEO: The Frosting on the Cupcake  Corby Kummer explains the cupcake craze and demonstrates how to do a proper taste test.

TRAVEL All the Street’s a Stage New Orleans still has a way of making you feel as if you’ve been tippling, even when you’re stone sober.
by Wayne Curtis

TECHNOLOGY Pipe Dreams The quest for pure drinking water in an imperfect world
by Luke O'Brien

EDITOR'S CHOICE Designers’ Designers Three books on three couturiers who rank among the greatest America has produced
by Benjamin Schwarz

Class Dismissed A new status anxiety is infecting affluent hipdom
by Sandra Tsing Loh

Demons and Dictionaries A new book dissects Dr. Johnson’s pathologies and despair.
by Christopher Hitchens

Cover to Cover Dopes on a rope; northern lights; exhuming Fleming; classless etiquette; and more

COMMERCE & CULTURE My Drug Problem The cancer drug Herceptin saved the author’s life. It also cost $60,000. Would health-care reform put it, and other expensive new drugs, out of reach
by Virginia Postrel

MOVING PICTURES School of Rock What does Guitar Hero’s popularity mean for the future of rock and roll?
by James Parker

CONTENT The Future Is Cheese Why the networks are surrendering prime time to Jay Leno and the Lord of the Dance
by Michael Hirschorn

GALLERY Church & State 
by Nigel Holmes

GALLERY Singing Birds 
by Louie Palu

GALLERY A Firm Stance 
by Thomas Fuchs

GALLERY Local Warming 
by Guy Billout

POETRY Cemetery Moles 
by Robert Wrigley

In a Word Laundry as lingua franca; flow stoppers
by Barbara Wallraff

THE PUZZLER: Double or Nothing 
by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

ADVICE What's Your Problem? Eat this magazine, and other advice
by Jeffrey Goldberg