September 2005
Smithsonian magazine delivers trusted and incisive reporting on history, science, nature, culture and travel.
Features
Back from the Brink
Not every endangered species is doomed. Thanks to tough laws, dedicated researchers, and plenty of money and effort, success stories abound
Born into Bondage
Despite denials by government officials, slavery remains a way of life in the African nation of Niger
The Ambush That Changed History
An amateur archaeologist discovers the field where wily Germanic warriors halted the spread of the Roman Empire
Lesson of a Lifetime
Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage
Jazz Man
Louis Armstrong before he was Satchmo? A youthful Ella? For photographs of musicians great or obscure, just about everyone turns to Frank Driggs
Navigating Siberia
A 2,300-mile boat trip down the Lena River, one of the last great unspoiled waterways, is a journey into Russia's dark pastand perhaps its future as well
Departments
Ties That Bind
At last, all parties were ready to make peace in the Middle East. Whoops ... Not So Fast
John Lennon's First Album
A boyhood collection of stamps opens a new page on the teenage Beatle-to-be
Fuel for Thought
Cars that run on vegetable oil? Do-it-yourselfers and entrepreneurs alike fill 'er up with the nation's fastest-growing propellant
The Best Offense
A buried Civil War battery in a Kentucky suburb tells of valiant men standing at the ready... and waiting... and waiting....
On Not Naming Names
The reporter was given a choice: Identify his confidential sources or go to jail. He chose jail
New Faces
Artists, emerging and renowned alike, will vie to display their works in the National Portrait Gallery when it reopens next July
Cold and Hungry
When snow blankets the mountains, the expedition is once again imperiled