Magazine

Author Mark Bowden writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: Though unmanned, remote-controlled drones had been used in times of war since World War II, they were revolutionized in 1995. The Gnat, developed by the San Diego defense contractor General Atomics, carried something new: video cameras. Soldiers had long coveted the ability to see over the next hill. Manned aircraft delivered that, from gas-filled balloons in the Civil War and from airplanes in the 20th century, but only until the pilot or his fuel was exhausted. Satellites provide an amazing panorama but they are expensive, few in number and not always overhead when needed. The Gnat gave commanders a 60-mile panorama from a platform that could stay airborne more or less permanently, with vehicles flown in 12-hour shifts. Later renamed the Predator, it quickly became the U.S. military's preferred surveillance tool. Read more of Bowden's essay.

How the Predator Drone Changed the Character of War

Mark Bowden investigates how the unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft altered the battlefield forever

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Abraham Lincoln’s Top Hat: The Inside Story

Does the hat that links us to his final hours define the president? Or does the president define the hat?

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How Cesar Chavez Changed the World

The farmworker’s initiative improved lives in America’s fields, and beyond

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A Close, Intimate Look at Walt Whitman

A haunting image captures America’s quintessential poet, writes author Mark Strand

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How the Burgess Shale Changed Our View of Evolution

The famed fossils are a link to some of the first complex creatures on Earth

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How the West Was Drawn

Explorer John Wesley Powell filled in “great blank spaces” on the map – at times buoyed by a life preserver

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What the Buffalo Tells Us About the American Spirit

Playwright David Mamet writes that whether roaming free or stuffed, this symbol of the West tells a thousand stories

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Exploring Alien Life, Cat Science and More New Books to Read

Our book reviewer looks at Red Cloud’s feat and the romance of hot air

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Where Did Yodeling Originate and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked our experts, we got the answers

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Inside America’s Great Romance With Norman Rockwell

A new biography of the artist reveals the complex inner life of our greatest and most controversial illustrator

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The CIA’s Most Highly-Trained Spies Weren’t Even Human

As a former trainer reveals, the U.S. government deployed nonhuman operatives—ravens, pigeons, even cats—to spy on cold war adversaries

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The Civil War

How the Flag Came to be Called Old Glory

New research may settle a family feud over the origins of an American icon

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“Secure Speech Cipher System”

A new poem by Linda Bierds

“There was one file on our man in the FBI,” the ex-KGB man says. “He was retired and living in Queens.” That man, he says, was the mole.

When the FBI Spent Decades Hunting for a Soviet Spy on Its Staff

A tip provided by a double-agent for the KGB set off one of the most self-destructive mole hunts in FBI history

One frame of the Zapruder film has long been considered too graphic for public view.

What Does the Zapruder Film Really Tell Us?

Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris deconstructs the most famous 26 seconds in film history

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, now Drean, a town near Algeria's northeast coast.

Why is Albert Camus Still a Stranger in His Native Algeria?

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famed novelist, our reporter searches the north African nation for signs of his legacy

It was his weekends as a Civil War re-enactor that urged Joseph McGill to campaign for the conservation of slave cabins.

One Man’s Epic Quest to Visit Every Former Slave Dwelling in the United States

Joseph McGill, a descendant of slaves, has devoted his life to ensuring the preservation of these historic sites

The computing power of an infant's brain still astounds.

Sleeping Babies Can Sense When Mommy and Daddy Are Fighting

The infant brain is even more impressionable than previously thought

Staffers are trained to both prepare food and discuss political issues with customers.

Where War Is What's for Dinner

Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen has a global menu, with dishes from countries that have diplomatic problems with the U.S.

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Is Your Cell Phone Helping to Fund a Civil War?

The rare minerals used to build your cell phone are coming under scrutiny by federal regulators

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