Politics & Society

Gut Reactions

The termite’s stomach, of all things, has become the focus of large-scale scientific investigations. Could the same properties that make the termite such a costly pest help us solve global warming? [Web only: Video: "How to Hunt for Termites"] By Lisa Margonelli.

The Front-Runner’s Fall

Hillary Clinton’s campaign was undone by a clash of personalities more toxic than anyone imagined. E-mails and memos—published here for the first time—reveal the backstabbing and conflicting strategies that produced an epic meltdown. By Joshua Green.

Rhetorical Questions

Who will win the presidential debates? What does each candidate’s use of words say about how he would govern as president? Can Obama’s rhetorical skills lift him to the heights of Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan—or will his speechmaking do him in? After watching all 47 (!) of the primary season’s debates, our correspondent has the answers—and some harsh criticism for the moderators. By James Fallows.

Reconcilable Differences

Obama and McCain both say they want to usher in a new, less divisive brand of politics. Which of them has the better chance? Is bipartisanship still possible? By Ronald Brownstein.

Comment

My Big Fat Straight Wedding

What’s the difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals? In matters outside the bedroom, American culture and law are at last acknowledging that there is none. By Andrew Sullivan.

Featured Archive Content

death penalty, supreme court

The Executioner's Swan Song?

In 2005, Benjamin Wittes contended that the Supreme Court's tolerance for the death penalty is rapidly diminishing. (October 2005)

Big Brother Is Listening

The Senate has approved telecom immunity for eavesdropping. In 2006, James Bamford warned of the dangers of such encroachments on citizen privacy.

The Atlantic@Aspen


lamentationsRead about and watch clips from this year's Aspen Ideas Festival—a gathering of scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, religious figures, and others for a week of conversation and debate.

Red vs. Blue America

"In Red America churches are everywhere. In Blue America Thai restaurants are everywhere. In Red America they have QVC, the Pro Bowlers Tour, and hunting. In Blue America we have NPR, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and socially conscious investing..." By David Brooks (December 2002)

The Genesis of the Gang

To the lawlessness of the street the home opposes no obstacle. By Jacob Riis (September 1899)

First Wave at Omaha Beach

Combat historian S.L.A. Marshall recalled the carnage he witnessed on Omaha Beach during D-Day. (November 1960)

A More Perfect Union

How the Founding Fathers would have handled gay marriage. By Jonathan Rauch (April 2004)

Forecasting the Real Estate Bubbble

The U.S. real-estate bubble is likely to leak, not pop. By Don Peck (July/August 2005)

Who Needs Harvard?

The pressure on smart kids to get into top schools has never been higher. But the differences between these schools and the next tier down have never been smaller. (October 2004)

The Angry American

"Praise be, America's social-anger thermometer is on the rise." By Paul Starobin (January/February 2004)

The World's Economic Outlook

In the midst of the Great Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes considered the prospects for capitalism's survival. (May 1932)

The Best Is Yet to Come

"Fabulous divorce used to be the prerogative of the rich and famous, but not anymore." By Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

Recently in the Atlantic

Dispatch

Who Says Penn is Finished?

He could be back sooner than you think. By Joshua Green.

Excerpts: Paul Campos on Obesity

Law professor Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth, speaks with Megan McArdle about America's cultural bias against weight.

Distracting Miss Daisy

Why stop signs and speed limits endanger Americans. By John Staddon.

American Murder Mystery

Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades. By Hanna Rosin.

Electro-Shock Therapy

With the Chevy Volt, General Motors—battered, struggling for profitability, fed up with being eclipsed by Toyota and the Prius—is out to reinvent the automobile, and itself. By Jonathan Rauch.

Re-Thinking Jeffrey Goldberg

Intrigued (and alarmed) by the new science of “neuromarketing,” our correspondent peers into his own brain via an MRI machine and learns what he really thinks about Jimmy Carter, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bruce Springsteen, and Edie Falco. By Jeffrey Goldberg.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

What the Internet is doing to our brains. By Nicholas Carr.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

What the Internet is doing to our brains. By Nicholas Carr.

Mr. Murdoch Goes to War

Rupert Murdoch wants his Wall Street Journal to displace The New York Times as the world’s paper of record. His ambitions could be good news for the newspaper industry— or another nail in the coffin of serious journalism. [Web only: Video: "Rupert Murdoch: The Last Hope for Journalism"] By Mark Bowden.

Comment

Infectious Exuberance

Financial bubbles are like epidemics— and we should treat them both the same way. By Robert J. Shiller.

Report

Conspiracy Theory

Climate-change litigation is heating up. Will the legal strategy that brought down Big Tobacco work against Big Oil? By Stephan Faris.

Comment

Redeeming Dubya

The national memory often confuses hubris with greatness. That’s good news for George W. Bush. By Ross Douthat.

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower

The idea that a university education is for everyone is a destructive myth. An instructor at a “college of last resort” explains why. By Professor X.

The Amazing Money Machine

How Silicon Valley made Barack Obama this year’s hottest start-up. By Joshua Green.

The Atlantic Unbound

Dispatch

The Palin Effect

Where grassroots delegates and professional operatives part ways. By Joshua Green.

Dispatch

Military Resistance at the RNC

Former infantryman Brian Mockenhaupt reports from the Twin Cities where Iraq Veterans Against the War are holding their own convention. By Brian Mockenhaupt.

Dispatch

The Mother-In-Law of All Storms

Our correspondent, in exile from his New Orleans home, keeps tabs on Hurricane Gustav with the help of TV and Twitter. By Wayne Curtis.

Dispatch

The "Eagleton Scenario"

Could Sarah Palin become the first running mate since Thomas Eagleton in 1972 to be dropped from a major-party ticket? Joshua Green offers a look at how such a scenario would unfold. By Joshua Green.

Sage, Ink

Mystery Babies

By Sage Stossel.

Dispatch

What McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin

And why he probably would have picked her anyway. By Marc Ambinder.

Dispatch

Bill Clinton Is Back

"Given the pettiness of recent intraparty squabbling, in particular Clinton's own behavior in the primaries, his speech was a reminder of his astonishing political skill... his legacy and his future as his party's elder statesman are more than intact." By Joshua Green.

Sage, Ink

World News

By Sage Stossel.

Dispatch

Hillary Goes Out With a Whimper

"Clinton didn't seem angry or betrayed or entitled or any of the things that critics have attributed to her—she seemed merely unenthused, and so did the audience." By Joshua Green.

Flashbacks

Notes on the Conventions

Four articles spanning nearly a hundred years consider the changing role of political conventions in America's electoral process. Introduction by Ian Breen.

Sage, Ink

McCain Steps Up

By Sage Stossel.

Dispatch

In Defense of the Beta Blocker

Is this a performance drug that could actually increase the fairness of Olympic contests? By Carl Elliott.

Dispatch

An Air-Conditioned Nightmare

In Afghanistan, some soldiers are pampered. Should they be? By Graeme Wood.

Sage, Ink

Bear Hug

By Sage Stossel.