Smithsonian Magazine: July 2004
Features
Secrets of the Maya: Deciphering Tikal
After decades of intense research, the ancient ruins of Mexico and Central America are yielding new insights into the pre-Columbia culture
By David Roberts
Of Majesty and Mayhem
An exhibition of ancient Maya art points up the opulence and violence of the great Mesoamerican civilization
By Stanley Meisler
What is This Thing Called Love?
A new movie explores composer Cole Porter's consummate musical gifts and his remarkable, unorthodox marriage
By Robert F. Howe
Hubble's Last Hurrahs?
The orbiting space telescope has captured billions of years of star births and deaths, galactic collisions and the accelerating expansion of the universe. Now its own fate is in doubt
By Laura Helmuth
Everybody Take A Seat
Comfort for the masses? Or a tacky blight? Seemingly overnight, the one-piece plastic chair has become a world fixture. Can you stand it?
By Mariana Gosnell
Letter from Lahore: Reinventing Pakistan
Welcome to Lahore, where an explosion of art and media is offering a vibrant alternative to the strictures of religious conservatives and is transforming one of America's most important and most ambivalent allies
By Mohsin Hamid
The Rocky Road to Revolution
While most members of Congress sought a negotiated settlement with England, independence advocates bided their time
By John Ferling
Departments
Indelible Images
Dazzle by the Dozen
A 1947 portrait by the renowned Irving Penn broke the fashion mold and celebrated an elegance all too rare today
By Owen Edwards
The Object at Hand
Splendid Isolation
When the first astronauts to walk on the Moon returned from their July 1969 lunar expedition, they were confined to quarters
By Owen Edwards
Points of Interest
The Anti-Burb
Arcosanti, a struggling community in the Arizona desert, preaches the virtues of close quarters
By Robert Earle Howells
Phenomena & Curiosities
Yellowstone Grumbles
Pent-up water and steam threaten to burst through the park's surface. (And we're not talking Old Faithful here)
By Kevin Krajick
Presence of Mind
Plutarch's Exemplary Lives
An ancient Greek wrote the book on biography then and now
By Lance Morrow
From the Secretary
"All Music Is Folk Music"
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings may soon be coming to a computer near you
By Lawrence M. Small
