The .4 Trillion Question
What do we owe China?
Jeffrey Goldberg on the coming map of the Middle East; Mark Bowden profiles David Simon, creator of The Wire; James Fallows on China's subsidization of the U.S. way of life; Amy Waldman explores the truth about the Jena 6; Megan McArdle looks ahead to America's coming silver age; Caitlin Flanagan assesses Katie Couric; Michael Scott Moore uncovers the German surfing scene; Virginia Postrel considers the implications of the typeface revolution; and much more.
What do we owe China?
The firebrand behind The Wire
Learn to speak Potomac!
Is Bangladesh going under?
Our readers’ view
What, after Iraq, are the problems most urgently confronting us?
A report from the new Middle East—and a glimpse of its possible future
What non-Boomers have to fear
A photo essay with text by Andrew Sullivan [Web only: Slideshow: "Life at Guantánamo"]
A modest proposal to fix the schools
Why the media got it wrong
Our inevitable withdrawal from Iraq could poison American politics for a generation.
High-stakes belly dancing; air for sale!
Dental windfalls; management secrets of the KKK; the radical engineer
The Atlantic recently asked a group of foreign-policy authorities about the future of North and South Korea.
In exurbs and fringe cities, the mortgage crisis is having a domino effect
How Dior and Balenciaga fought it out
Katie Couric’s long day’s journey into evening
How sex doomed the British Empire
A historian’s education in the ways of empire
A guide to additional releases: Nureyev's life; South Africa's fractious past; Red Lobster as muse
Surfing, schnitzel, and accordion tunes in Bavaria's landlocked capital [Web only: Slideshow: "Surfing in Munich"]
A new university in Italy aims to elevate gastronomy to an academic discipline—and put its students through a humbling workout. [Web only: Slideshow: "A Slow Food Tour of the Po Valley"]
The practical (and tacky) fruits of a revolution in typeface design. [Web only: Video: "Fine Print"]
Rules of thump; settling the score
A poem