Smithsonian Magazine: May 2012
Features
Tasmania's New Devil
Tasmania has been called “The Island of Inspiration,” but its reputation was more rugged: Australia’s Alcatraz and Appalachia. With one big bet, however, an art-loving professional gambler has made Tasmania into the world’s most surprising new cultural destination
By Tony Perrottet
Sympathy for the Devil
Tasmania’s most famous inhabitant is under attack by a diabolical disease
By Abigail Tucker
The 10 Best Small Towns in America
Concerts! Festivals! Jeeps! (Yes, Jeeps.) We’ve crunched the numbers and found the most interesting small towns in the country. So open your mind, buckle up your seat belt and map out your summer of smart fun
By Susan Spano and Aviva Shen
A Man and His Islands
Paul Theroux has traveled to more than 100 countries to write his best sellers. Depending on the kindness of strangers to take him in and share their stories. But the land he has found hardest to explore is the place he calls home.
By Paul Theroux
Dreams of Kenya
The dusty village near the shores of scenic Lake Victoria where Barack Obama’s father was raised had high hopes after his son was elected president. What has happened since then? Joshua Hammer journeyed to Nyang’oma Kogelo to find out
By Joshua Hammer
Mexican Mission
Mitt Romney’s father was born in a small Mormon enclave where family members still live, surrounded by rugged beauty and violent drug cartels. Héctor Tobar traveled to Colonia Juarez to explore the presumptive Republican nominee’s tenacious roots
By Héctor Tobar
Chairman of the Board
All hail Kelly Slater, the greatest surfer of all time
By Owen Edwards
Make Way for Penguins
Few places let you get as close to the raffish birds—many of which are endangered—as South Africa’s Robben Island, where scientists working in the shadow of the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela are coming to grips with one of the most alarming population crashes in the avian world
By Charles Bergman
A Monument To Courage
To visit the brutal prison that held Mandela is haunting. And yet Inspiring
By Scott Johnson
Departments
From the Castle
The Green Museum
Secretary Clough writes on the benefits of being an environmentally savvy institution
By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Phenomena
Home
Be it ever so humble, it’s more than just a place. It’s also an idea—one where the heart is. The author of The Rural Life and other books explains
By Verlyn Klinkenborg
Phenomena
Where They Lived
A photographer's images of domestic tranquillity pay tribute to fallen U.S. service members
By T.A. Frail
Phenomena
What a Slide!
Last year major-leaguers scored the fewest runs per game in 19 seasons. A top statistician says that’s something to root, root, root for
By Steve Hirdt
Phenomena
Land of the Free
The Homestead Act transformed America into an ownership society and a rising global power
By T.A. Frail and Megan Gambino
Phenomena
Flight Plan
Birds must be geniuses because they use quantum mechanics to navigate
By Laura Helmuth
Phenomena
Home Sweet Homer
Twenty-five years after the Simpsons made their TV debut, creator
Matt Groening talks about Homer's odyssey—and his own
By Claudia De La Roca
Science
Onward, Voyagers
With the spacecraft poised to leave our solar system, the writer who helped compile the time capsules they carry reflects on our deepest foray into outer space
By Timothy Ferris
Profile
The Conscience of the King
Robert Caro has written the book of the season, the latest installment of his remarkable biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, a very American tale of Shakespearean tragedy and triumph
By Ron Rosenbaum
Books
Fruit Punch
The man who helped make the banana an American favorite also mercilessly used his company’s power to topple foreign governments
By Chloë Schama
Around the Mall
Out of the Flames
Letters salvaged from the Hindenburg disaster tell new stories
By Abigail Tucker
Around the Mall
Playlist: Kings of Romance
The Latin American artists discuss how their career began over 50 years ago
By Aviva Shen
Around the Mall
This Just In: Freedom Fighter
Two portraits of Fred Korematsu, the face of the Japanese American internment of World War II, have been donated to the National Portrait Gallery
By Aviva Shen
Fast Forward
Shot In the Dark
The search for the mysterious cosmic energies driving the universe
By Mark Strauss
