PSYCHOLOGY
What Makes Us Happy?
An inside look at an unprecedented seven-decade study of a group of Harvard men suggests that one thing, above all, truly makes a difference.
Dr. George Vaillant, director of the 72-year study, explains what makes people strive for fame and why dirty laundry can symbolize a perfect life.
Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post, talks about his role in the Harvard study.
Historian Donald Cole, selected to participate in the study in the 1940s, reflects on how it affected his life.
ECONOMY
Do CEOs Matter?
Apple’s stock rises and falls with the faintest rumors about Steve Jobs's health. But how much influence do CEOs really have?
MAP
Hope Floats
As the recession blows a gale, the world’s most expensive cruise ship nears completion.
STYLE
Fashion in Dark Times
As the ever-frivolous industry enters a new era, customers are thinking more—a prospect that thrills the best designers
PROFILE
Jacob’s Ladder
Is South Africa's next president a savior, a criminal, a Marxist revolutionary—or all of the above?
Quick Study
Speaking richly; mobster movies
GALLERY
Homecoming
GALLERY
Stroking Won't Boost Economy
GALLERY
Mother Earth
GALLERY
Hope Hangover
POETRY
Embrace
POETRY
Riddle
Delphine Schrank visits the empty lakes and scattered elephant bones left behind by the DRC's ongoing violence.
CINEMA
From Russia, With Self-Loathing
Meet Agniya Kuznetsova, the It Girl for a poorer, darker, angrier Russia.
Trevor Corson visits a diverse group of chefs who are adding new cultural inflections to traditional Japanese sushi making
DRINK
Cold Fusion
Ice—the most neglected of cocktail ingredients—can ruin a drink or make it come alive.
TRAVEL
Beijing’s Almost-Perfect Hotel
The Opposite House is an idealistic island in a country that rarely worries about details
Hemingway's Libidinous Feast
In a restored edition of a great classic, sexual anxiety looms large.
Touched by Evil
The real spiritual drama in Flannery O’Connor’s fiction was even darker than the one she acknowledged.
Cover to Cover
Reconsider the rhino; Nightingale unveiled; admissions of guilt; and more
James Parker deconstructs the tormented irony and contagious optimism of a SpongeBob episode.
