November/December 2001 Editor's Note The Nobel Centennial A Multiplicity of Voices Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright Derek Walcott talks with NEH Chairman William R. Ferris about literature, Caribbean culture, and Robinson Crusoe. A Bard for the Powerless Novelist John Steinbeck, who spoke for the marginalized, is feted in a centennial celebration. By Lisa Rogers The Passions of Woodrow Wilson From his politics to his love letters, the president's fiery convictions are revealed in a new film. By Lynn Fabian Lasner An Iliad for Our Time: Walcott's Caribbean Epic Fishermen on the island of St. Lucia vie for Helen's favor in a struggle of heroic scale and scope. By William A. Shullenberger Searching for Meanings Islam and Democracy Some Muslim scholars argue that democracy is a requirement of Islam in the contemporary world. By John L. Esposito and John O. Voll A Labor of Love Covering the English language from the Norman Conquest to the advent of printing, the Middle English Dictionary is published. By Maggie Riechers Around the Nation On the Trail African American history is interpreted in a tour of some of Virginia's oldest churches and schools that played a vital role in integration. By Anne Edison-Swift In Focus Victor Swenson has tried to end illiteracy by encouraging a love of reading in adults. By Rebecca Webber