Ross Douthat

Mapping the human genome wasn’t enough. Now Craig Venter is trying to create a microbe that will free us from our addiction to oil.

Who are the most influential figures in American history? The Atlantic recently asked ten eminent historians. The result was The Atlantic’s Top 100—and some insight into the nature of influence and the contingency of history. Was Walt Disney really more influential than Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Benjamin Spock than Richard Nixon? Elvis Presley than Lewis and Clark? John D. Rockefeller than Bill Gates? Babe Ruth than Frank Lloyd Wright? Let the debates begin.

When pop stars get religion

The former speaker of the House is looking for a second act. Will he get it?

A less violent world; why black mothers may be better off unwed; one (very good) reason to resist early retirement

Will Saudi Arabia's Shiites remain docile?; Europe's dim view (quelle surprise!) of the United States; new doctors as menaces; the fairer, cleaner sex

Post-Gaza Israel; the travails of black cabbies; the (continuing) migration of the Electoral College; how to spot a spy

Not if society and colleges keep failing to distinguish between wealth and merit

The prospects for a united Korea; a new study of old studies; TV dads gain financial ground; AIDS in the Islamic world

Terrorism tallies; do good grades cost minority kids popularity?; the long-term benefits of nonviolence; why athletes should wear red

A liberal's case for the death penalty; can Iraq stop worrying about Iran?; bottomless appetites; congressional cheats

Can a socially conservative Christian Republican succeed in Hollywood? By investing millions in a movie of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Philip Anschutz is betting he can

It may be hard to get into Harvard, but it's easy to get out without learning much of enduring value at all. A recent graduate's report

In the short term the EU must assimilate its small but restive Muslim populations—and in the long term it may have an Islamic majority

Federal marshals behaving badly; the relationship between terrorism and bad driving; the surprisingly high divorce rate among born-again Christians

Hundreds of thousands of swing-state radio listeners may turn the unlikely Howard Stern into a presidential kingmaker

In most of the world, yes. In the United States, not any more.