The feature stories, dispatches, columns, and original fiction in The Atlantic's September issue include:
"Slugfest: Obama versus Romney"
This year's presidential debates could have as decisive an effect on the election outcome as any since 1980, if not 1960. In The Atlantic's quadrennial preview of these head-to-head matchups, James Fallows
takes stock of the strengths and weaknesses each candidate brings to
the podium. According to Fallows, a longtime analyst of the presidency,
Mitt Romney has formidable advantages over Barack Obama, but he has one
big weakness the president can exploit.
Read more
Digital exclusive: Watch behind-the-scenes footage of The Atlantic's cover shoot by the British artist Alison Jackson, who put "Barack Obama" and "Mitt Romney" through their paces in a New York boxing ring. Plus, Luke Hayman, the art director on the shoot, explains how it was conceptualized and executed.
Fear of a Black President
As
a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with
America's original sin, slavery. But as our first black president, he
has avoided mention of race almost entirely. In having to be "twice as
good" and "half as black," Ta-Nehisi Coates
argues, Obama reveals the false promise and double standard of
integration. How will this play out in the current presidential
campaign, one that reveals not the polarization of politics but its
racialization?
Read more
Digital exclusive: Coates discusses race in the Obama era with Scott Stossel, The Atlantic's editor.
For more coverage of the 2012 election, visit TheAtlantic.com's new Campaign Dashboard, a one-stop resource for the latest news and opinions on the country's pivotal contests and issues facing voters in November.
Boys on the Side
The
hookup culture that has largely replaced dating on college campuses has
been viewed, in many quarters, as socially corrosive and ultimately
toxic to women, who seemingly have little choice but to participate. Hanna Rosin, author of the forthcoming book The End of Men: And the Rise of Women, based on her blockbuster 2010 Atlantic cover story, finds that it is actually an engine of female progress--one being harnessed and driven by women themselves.
Read more
Digital exclusive: View a gallery of women, real and fictional, who have changed the way sex is viewed in popular culture.
Dispatches
Foxy Ladies
TV news has always put a premium on appearance. But Fox News has distinguished itself by embracing the "pageant queen" look. Liza Mundy investigates why the No. 1 cable-news channel is so heavy-handed with the blue eye shadow and lip gloss.
Read more
The Myth of the Latino Vote
Why do Democrats expect Mexican Americans in Arizona to line up behind a Puerto Rican guy from Harlem? As Tom Zoellner
reports, Richard Carmona, who was personally recruited by the president
to run for the state's open Senate seat, is far from a shoo-in with
Latino voters.
Read more
Toddler Man
Why is Dr. Harvey Karp, America's preeminent baby shaman, screeching like a caveman? He is demonstrating "toddler-ese" to Ed Leibowitz, all part of his crusade to teach adults how to talk like--and communicate with--toddlers.
Read more
Digital exclusive: Watch Dr. Karp in action as he gives advice on how best to interact with toddlers.
Can EuroVegas Save Spain?
Sheldon
Adelson, the American casino mogul who made billions in Las Vegas, has
set his sights on Spain and the floundering euro zone. Jonathan Blitzer visits the locales vying for the $35 billion development. Will the gamble pay off for Spaniards?
Read more
Does Tequila Make Us Crazy?
Among spirits, tequila tends to get a pretty bad rap. Everyone Wayne Curtis
encounters describes feeling or acting differently depending on the
liquor--with tequila bearing the bulk of the opprobrium. So why doesn't
the scientific research back up this perception?
Read more
My Atomic Holiday
At the Nevada Test Site, Graeme Wood
joins a group of curiosity-seekers as they explore the country's
nuclear proving ground, site of nearly 1,000 detonations since 1951.
What will these nuclear tourists discover way out in the desert?
Read more
Columns
The Cheapest Generation
Millennials
have turned against cars and houses in historic fashion. In 2010,
adults ages 21 to 34 bought just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in
America, down from the peak of 38 percent in 1985. It's the same story
for home ownership. Derek Thompson and Jordan Weissmann explore what this means for the economy.
Read more
TV's Angriest Man
With his latest reality show, Hotel Hell, the chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay extends his patented froth to the hotel business at large. The way James Parker sees it, no one has done more than Ramsay to translate the verbal violence of the high-end kitchen to the small screen.
Read more
Fiction
"Onward," by Emma Donoghue
Caroline
had given away so much of herself over the years. What was different
about putting her story down on paper? Nothing, if it meant she could
provide a better life for her little brother, Fred, and her daughter,
Pet.
Read more
These articles and more are featured in the September issue of The Atlantic, available today, August 23, 2012, on TheAtlantic.com and newsstands.
About
The Atlantic
Since its founding in 1857 as a magazine about "the American Idea" that would be of "no party or clique," The Atlantic has been at the forefront of brave thinking in journalism. One of the first magazines to launch on the web in the early 1990s, The Atlantic has continued to help shape the national debate across print, digital and event platforms. With the addition of its news- and opinion-tracking site, TheAtlanticWire.com, and TheAtlanticCities.com, The Atlantic is a multi-media forum on the most critical issues of our times, from politics, business, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture. The Atlantic is the flagship property of Washington, D.C.-based publisher Atlantic Media Company.
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