Smithsonian Magazine: July 2008

Features

Raiders or Traders?

A replica Viking vessel plying the North Sea this month is part of an effort to learn more about what the Norsemen were really up to

Precarious Lebanon

Stricken by sectarian warfare and still reeling from the 2005 murder of its former Prime Minister, the Mediterranean nation brokers a fragile peace

Welcome to Your World

This year's photo contest winners reflect decidedly international points of view

John Muir's Yosemite

The father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness

The Great Human Migration

Why humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world

True Colors

Call them gaudy, call them kitsch, but archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target

Silken Treasure

The Italian city of Como, celebrated for its silk and scenery, has inspired notables from Leonardo da Vinci and Giuseppe Verdi to Winston Churchill and George Clooney

Departments

Indelible Images

It's in the Bag

Sports Illustrated photographer Neil Leifer hit a grand slam when he set out to capture a double play on film

Presence of Mind

Wonders and Whoppers

Following in Marco Polo's footsteps through Asia leads our intrepid author to some surprising conclusions

From the Editor

Stouthearted Men

Brutal, yes, but also strong-willed

Wild Things

Wild Things

Life as We Know It

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Readers Respond to the April and May Issues

This Month in History

July Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

From the Castle

From the Castle

A Look Forward

Around the Mall

Lunar Living

The quest to return to the moon ignites new hope and vision at the 50-year-old space agency

The Object at Hand

The Smithsonian's Crystal Skull

How the museum's quartz cranium highlights the epic silliness of the new Indiana Jones movie

What's Up

What's Up

The Last Page

Dream On

Why your nightmares hold the key to workplace success

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