November 2002

In This Issue
James Fallows, “The Fifty-first State”; Mark Bowden, “The Kabul-ki Dance”; Robert D. Kaplan, “A Post-Saddam Scenario”; Jan Morris, “Home Thoughts From Abroad”; Thomas Mallon on Samuel Pepys; Christopher Hitchens on animal rights; fiction by John Updike; and much more.
Articles
The Kabul-ki Dance
Inside the cockpit with the pilots and wizzos of the 391st Fighter Squadron, the top guns of America's air war in Afghanistan
Superiority Complex
We have democratized elitism in this country. Now everybody can be a snob
The Fifty-First State?
Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, keeping domestic peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and doing it all for years, or perhaps decades. Are we ready for this long-term relationship?
A Seventeenth-century Modern
Samuel Pepys did not, in fact, tell us everything
Political Animals
A new book asks all the right questions about animal rights, even if it doesn't canvass all the possible answers
What Now?
Developments, encouraging and otherwise
Quinoa Soup
A traditional staple of the high, cool Andes
The End of the West
The next clash of civilizations will not be between the West and the rest but between the United States and Europe—and Americans remain largely oblivious
Notes from Antiquity
Watching a play by Euripides or reading poetry by Sappho is perhaps as incomplete an experience today as watching a "play" by Wagner or reading "poetry" by Stephen Sondheim would be
"Our Saint, Our Umpire"
An appreciation of Mary McCarthy, whose literary and political writing is well represented in a new anthology
My Way
Getting in touch with your inner Turkmenbashi
New & Noteworthy
What to read this month
No Apparent Motive
A chilling characteristic of politicians is that they're not in it for the money
Other Reviews
Ranking the Movie Presidents
Four distinguished historians rate our celluloid Chief Executives
Primary Sources
Selections from recent reports, studies, and other documents
Varieties of Religious Experience
A short story
Word Court
A Post-Saddam Scenario
Iraq could become America's primary staging ground in the Middle East. And the greatest beneficial effect could come next door, in Iran
Sir David Brewster's Toy
Letters to the Editors
Home Thoughts From Abroad
Travel is largely a matter of enjoying differences, but this is seldom a permanent pleasure
