December 2003
In This Issue
Douglas Brinkley, “Tour of Duty”; George Soros, “The Bubble of American Supremacy”; P. J. O'Rourke, “The Backside of War”; Samantha Power, “How to Kill a Country”; Christopher Buckley, “Scrutiny on the Bounty”; Christopher Hitchens, “Pictures From an Inquisition”; fiction by Lavanya Sankaran; and much more.
Articles
Tour of Duty
Senator John F. Kerry often cites his service in Vietnam as a formative element of his character. A new account of his time there—based on interviews with those who knew him well, and on his never-before-published letters home and his voluminous "war notes"—offers the first intimate look at a traumatic and life-altering experience
Scrutiny On the Bounty: Captain Bligh's Secret Logbook
Second Puberty
The later years of W. B. Yeats brought his best poetry, along with personal melodrama on an epic scale
The Lonely Passion
A Sex and the City writer looks for love
Abizaid of Arabia
General John Abizaid has driven big changes in the American military. Now, as he commands U.S. forces in the Middle East, his ideas are being put to the test.
Pictures From An Inquisition
The work of the writer Victor Serge faultlessly captures the labrynth of bureaucratic incrimination into which the Soviet Union descended
The Holy Mountain
Intimations of the geopolitical future in a place where time stands still
Pride of Place
Oregon's artisan Pinot Noir growers are the garagistes of the Pacific Northwest
Setting The Bar
When our standards don't live up to our standards
The Backside of War
How I saved Iraq's modern art, and other confessions. A noncombatant's diary
Other Reviews
How To Kill A Country
Turning a breadbasket into a basket case in ten easy steps—the Robert Mugabe way
Primary Sources
The White House's environmental "science"; how to make Iraq more like Kosovo; the dubious constituency of anti-globalization protesters; Kansas versus a pancake (Kansas wins)
The Forgotten Millions
Communism is the deadliest fantasy in human history (but does anyone care?)
The Red Carpet
What if, after all his talk and boasting, she disgraced him as only she could?
The Bubble of American Supremacy
A prominent financier argues that the heedless assertion of American power in the world resembles a financial bubble—and the moment of truth may be here
A Stepford for Our Times
To work as social satire today, a remake of The Stepford Wives should be as much about perfecting children as about perfecting wives
Burgher Deluxe
The benefits of conspicuous consumption are conspicuously overlooked
Hailstorm
Letters to the Editors
New & Noteworthy
What to read this month
The Crucible of Hollywood's Guilt
Elia Kazan (1909-2003)
