JANUARY 1999 | Volume 283 No. 1   What Is the Koran? Most Muslims believe it to be the literal and unchanging Word of God. But Islam's holiest text has become the subject of new historical scrutiny, a process calling to mind the revolutionary critique of the Bible that began in the nineteenth century. It has been a theologically and politically delicate endeavor -- though in the minds of some critics not delicate enough. by Toby Lester The Liquid Earth If asked to name America's deadliest and costliest form of natural disaster, many people would come up last with the disaster that should come up first: the landslide. by Brenda Bell When Evil Is "Cool" In both the commercial milieu of popular culture and the serious precincts of higher criticism, the author warns, we must guard against the tendency to see evil as mere "transgression," or even as a kind of greatness. by Roger Shattuck   Reports Notes & Comment: Technology Versus African-Americans From the era of slavery through the computer age, the author argues, the story for America's black community has been "one negative encounter after another." by Anthony Walton Foreign Affairs: Dead Souls The health of the Russian people is far worse than outsiders have realized. by Murray Feshbach Americana: Going All Out for Chinese In the vast Sino-suburbia of California's San Gabriel Valley are restaurants that offer the best Chinese food outside China. by Benjamin and Christina Schwarz Humor, Fiction, & Poetry Fan Letters A poetry anthology by Dana Stevens, Susan Donnelly, and Mary Jo Salter Plea for Forgiveness A poem by Rodney Jones The Next Best Kiss A short story by Carol Shields Web-Only: A Likely Story An Atlantic Unbound interview with Carol Shields. "He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do" A poem by Philip Levine Security Blanket A drawing by Guy Billout Arts & Leisure Travel: Senses of Place Eight Atlantic contributors evoke some favorite places associated with special books and writers. Books A Cataclysm of Thought Einstein's Miraculous Year: Five Papers That Changed the Face of Physics, edited by John Stachel by Alan Lightman Lost in Post-Reality Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, by Neal Gabler by Nicholas Lemann Brief Reviews by Phoebe-Lou Adams Other Departments 77 North Washington Street Contributors Letters (Send a letter to the editor.) The January Almanac The Puzzler by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon Word Court by Barbara Wallraff The seahorse symbol indicates that an article is supplemented with audio, an author interview, or other Web-only sidebar. Browse and search The Atlantic's online archive. All material copyright © 1999 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.