James Fallows, "Bush's Lost Year"; Peter Bergen, "The Long Hunt for Osama"; Sridhar Pappu, "The Crusader"; Ian Frazier, "If Memory Doesn't Serve"; Jonathan Rauch, "Divided We Stand"; Michelle Cottle, "The X Factor"; P. J. O'Rourke, "To Hell With Lipitor!"; Graham Allison, "Tick, Tick, Tick"; fiction by Christopher Buckley; and much more.
By deciding to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration decided not to do many other things: not to reconstruct Afghanistan, not to deal with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, and not to wage an effective war on terror. An inventory of opportunities lost
Where has he been? How did we ever let him get away? Our correspondent—one of the few Western journalists ever to have met Osama bin Laden—traces the al-Qaeda leader's footsteps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and describes the sometimes hapless American pursuit
Sarah Jessica Parker or Sarah Michelle Gellar? Ashanti or Beyoncé? All will come clear on the Day of Reckoning
Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, has risen to national prominence by emulating Teddy Roosevelt and fearlessly taking on powerful interests. His aggressiveness has made him a lot of enemies—but it may propel him to the governor's mansion and beyond
Our annual survey of the admissions landscape uncovered recent and upcoming changes to the process, growing concern about tuition increases, and serious questions about whether colleges are fulfilling their mission
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
A new effort to determine how well schools teach
For private admissions consultants business is booming. But is their expensive expertise worth the cost?
Liberal arts or a professional education? More and more students are choosing to combine elements of both. A leading proponent describes the emerging trend he calls "practice-oriented education"
One woman's crusade to bring female emancipation to the Middle East. A short story
A drawing
Republicans and Democrats should be careful what they wish for
Americans probably care less about Teresa Heinz Kerry's outspokenness than about her exoticism. The question is what they think of it
The consequences of "the single most irresponsible decision in the modern history of the Supreme Court"
Medicare reform—an explanation
Pakistan is a nuclear time bomb—perhaps the greatest threat to American security today. Here's how to defuse it
How gay marriage could reduce the federal deficit; what your eleven-year-old has in common with presidential debaters; Cuba's looming chaos
What to read this month—and what not to
Demanding women with demanding lives, and the men who love them
A new but not improved translation
Progressive books that—like Michael Moore—(ought to) make progressives wince
Joseph O'Neill reviews William Trevor's short story collection A Bit on the Side.
Turkey is everyone's idea of a "successful" modern Muslim state. A new novel will make you think twice
Old science doesn't die ...
The flight of jobs overseas is a hot-button issue in the 2004 election. But the problem is by no means new. As this October 1879 editorial by William Vaughn Moody makes clear, concerns about losing jobs to developing nations have been with us for a long time.
Imagine college food for which students will fake IDs, write rap songs, and line up outside the dining-hall door
Francis Crick (1916-2004)
What to watch for in the weeks ahead
A winner of the Atlantic's 2007 Student Poetry Contest
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