Countdown to a Meltdown
America's coming economic crisis. A look back from the election of 2016
July/August 2005
In This Issue
James Fallows, "Countdown to a Meltdown"; Benjamin M. Friedman, "Meltdown: A Case Study"; Bernard-Henri Lévy, "In the Footsteps of Tocqueville (Part Three)"; Scott Stossel, "North Korea: The War Game"; Mark Bowden, "Wolfowitz: The Exit Interviews"; Caroline Elkins, "The Wrong Lesson"; James A. Barnes and Peter Bell, "Hillary in 2008?"; and much more.
Features
Meltdown: A Case Study
What America a century ago can teach us about the moral consequences of economic decline
In the Footsteps of Tocqueville (Part Three)
Death row and a brothel in Las Vegas; a pilot's lecture on creationism; genealogy and the Mormons; higher learning in Austin; a gun show in Fort Worth; and the rain-struck opening of the Clinton Library
North Korea: The War Game
Some of this country's most prominent foreign-policy strategists recently conducted a Pentagon-style war game. Dealing with North Korea could make Iraq look like child's play
Wolfowitz: The Exit Interviews
As he prepared to leave office, the deputy secretary of defense engaged in a series of conversations with the author on Iraq, democracy, intelligence, 9/11, and how he believes America must make its way in the world
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The New Nixon
It'll be George W. Bush, if he doesn't change his economic policies soon
The Wrong Lesson
Our counterinsurgency efforts abroad are starting to resemble the British Empire's. This could mean gains now—and trouble later
Jim Young / Reuters Hillary in 2008?
Political insiders weigh in on the presidential prospects of Hillary Clinton.
The Show-Me Sheikh
The grand mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, is peddling a new kind of radical Islam—traditionalism without the extremism
A Roll of the Dice
The future of Iraq. A board game
Primary Sources
A liberal's case for the death penalty; can Iraq stop worrying about Iran?; bottomless appetites; congressional cheats
Books
Elements of Style
Sinatra, by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan; Chanel, edited by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton; Edmund Wilson, by Lewis M. Dabney; The Lights That Failed, by Zara Steiner
Calamity Jane
The incoherent life (so far) of Jane Fonda
Fidelity With a Wandering Eye
Love is noble, love is hard, and women cheat just as readily as men
The Lady Is a Tramp
Five books about endlessly inspiring, morally vacuous women
New Fiction
The Wonder Spot, by Melissa Bank
A Breath of Dust
"I wasn't even bothering whether I understood what I was saying," T. S. Eliot said of The Waste Land. A new guide to the poem inadvertently suggests we should take him at his word
A Close Read
Fascination, by William Boyd
You Might as Well Live
Nick Hornby's characters could care less
Pursuits
Masters of the Hunt
So the British have banned the killing of foxes and other wild mammals with the aid of dogs. Now what? A report from the sponge-wet moors of Barmy Britannia
A Gentleman, of a Kind
Prince Rainier of Monaco (1923-2005)
Who's Who
A selective index to this month's issue
Also in this issue
Calendar
What to watch for in July and August
Other articles in this issue
Pffffttt
The U.S. real-estate bubble is likely to leak, not pop
Poetry
Birthday
[with audio]
