CURRENT ISSUE
July/August 2018

Features
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The Gut-churning, Teeth-chattering, Back-breaking, Death-defying, Totally Epic Quest to Ride the World’s Biggest Wave
Welcome to the new Mt. Everest of surfing, a notoriously dangerous break off the coast of Portugal
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Secrets of the Scrolls
A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization
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Identity Crisis
In our chaotic era, there are outcasts—and people who take them in
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Other America
As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria approaches, Puerto Ricans feel not only devastated but abandoned
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The Resistance
From the American West to the Middle East, the powerless face stark choices when confronted by the powerful
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The Rescuers
For centuries, the people of the mountain village of Chambon-sur-Lignon have opened their arms to the world’s displaced
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The Counterfeit Queen of Soul
A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom
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The Battle to Remember
How Spain chooses to memorialize Francisco Franco and the victims of his authoritarian regime is tearing the nation apart
Departments
Discussion
Feedback from our readers
Full Circle
How the loopy 60-year-old toy maintains its popularity
Birds in Hand
Tally ho! Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten English looks at when swan lovers come to their census
The American Crusade
Disbanded 700 years ago, the most famous of the medieval Christian orders is undergoing a 21st century revival
Fight or Flight
Hopes for a Cold War détente were sky high when the first American and Soviet flights took off 50 years ago
The Great Divide
In Nogales, Arizona, the United States and Mexico agreed to build walls separating their countries
Slush Fun
A Dallas restaurant owner blended tequila, ice and automation. America has been hungover ever since
The Murder of the Tsar
Helen Rappaport’s new book investigates if the family could have been saved
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