The feature stories, dispatches, columns, essays, and original fiction in The Atlantic's December 2012 issue include:
The Insourcing Boom
After years of offshore production, General Electric is moving much of
its far-flung appliance-manufacturing operations back home. And the
company is not alone. Charles
Fishman explores the startling, sustainable,
just-getting-started return of industry to the United States. As he
reports, the offshoring rush of the past decade or more--one of the
signature economic events of our times--may have been a mistake.
Read
more
Mr. China Comes to America
For decades, every trend in manufacturing favored the developing world
and worked against the United States. Now labor developments in China
and new technology in the U.S. are slowing--and may reverse--the
decades-long relocation of American jobs to Asia. Visiting factories
across the United States and China, including the infamous Foxconn
facility, James Fallows
examines the impacts on trade around the globe.
Read
more
Digital
exclusive: Fallows discusses his recent travels in
China and narrates a series of photos he took inside Foxconn's Shenzhen
factory.
The Case for More Guns (And More
Gun Control)
How do we reduce gun crime and mass shootings like the one in Aurora,
Colorado, when Americans already own nearly 300 million guns? Maybe by
allowing people to carry more guns. After talking to advocates on both
sides of the issue, Jeffrey
Goldberg makes that argument.
Read more
The Bookstore Strikes Back
Two years ago, when Nashville lost its only in-town bookstores, the
novelist Ann Patchett
decided to step into the breach. Parnassus Books, which Patchett and
two veteran booksellers envisioned, designed, financed, and manage, is
now open for business and enjoying the ride. Here, Patchett's paean to
bookstores, and to books.
Read
more
Digital
exclusive: watch a video interview with
Patchett and take a tour of Parnassus Books.
Dispatches
A Boat of Biblical Proportions
For a new theme park, creationists (with a little help from a
geneticist, some Amish men, and generous tax breaks) are building a
replica of Noah's ark--exactly as God instructed--40 miles outside of
Cincinnati, Ohio. Amanda
Petrusich checks in on the multimillion-dollar tourist
attraction that's been years--some might say a few thousand years--in the
making.
Read
more
Kisses and Hugs in the Office
XOXO,
a sign-off once reserved for sweethearts and loved ones, is popping up
more and more in professional correspondence. Jessica Bennett and Rachel Simmons
examine how the once-intimate expression is feminizing the workplace,
for better or worse.
Read more
Perks and Recreation
In Silicon Valley, a new breed of tech company is trying to enforce
fun--and recruit and retain talented employees in the process. From
YouTube's indoor slide to Skype's pool-and-foosball room, Megan Garber
explores these perks-with-a-purpose.
Read
more
Digital
exclusive: view the wacky/fun/luxurious
office spaces that tech start-ups are using to lure and keep workers.
The Data Vigilante
Students aren't the only ones cheating--some professors are, too. As Christopher Shea
reports, a truth-seeking Wharton psychologist is out to bust academics
employing loose methodology and, at times, flagrantly dishonest
research practices.
Read
more
Columns
What Makes Her Click
In The Atlantic's
technology column, Intel's Genevieve Bell talks with Alexis Madrigal
about why we adopt some new devices and spurn others--and why tech
companies underestimate female users.
Read
more
The Demonic Genius of Daniel Tosh
Is Tosh.0,
Comedy Central's bawdy Web/stand-up/variety show, America's Funniest Home Videos
for a new generation? For James
Parker, the answer is yes. And Daniel Tosh, the show's
host, is exploiting the oddities of the Internet in all their gory
glory.
Read
more
Digital
exclusive: watch scenes from Tosh.0 and America's Funniest Home Videos,
with commentary by Parker.
Fiction
"Reply to a Dead Man," by Walter
Mosley
Roger's heart started beating rapidly after the third time he read the
letter. Six months after his brother had died of a heart attack, it was
delivered from the grave. Never in a hundred years would Roger have
guessed its contents, or a long-held family secret that would change
his life.
Read more
These
articles and more are featured in the December issue of The Atlantic,
available today, November 29, 2012, on TheAtlantic.com
and
newsstands.
About The Atlantic
Since its founding in 1857 as a magazine about "the American Idea" that would be of "no party or clique," The Atlantic has been at the forefront of brave thinking in journalism. One of the first magazines to launch on the web in the early 1990s, The Atlantic has continued to help shape the national debate across print, digital and event platforms. With the addition of its news- and opinion-tracking site, TheAtlanticWire.com, and TheAtlanticCities.com, The Atlantic is a multi-media forum on the most critical issues of our times, from politics, business, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture. The Atlantic is the flagship property of Washington, D.C.-based publisher Atlantic Media Company.
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