CURRENT ISSUE

February 2006

Features

With the world's coral reefs in crisis, the author's childhood memories guide a far-reaching study of the problem in the Bahamas

Gordon Chaplin

Photographic plates discovered in a dusty shed offer an astonishing look at life in the American woods more than a century ago

Ronald E. Ostman and Harry Littell

A new exhibition brings the doomed residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum vividly to life

South Pacific villagers worship a mysterious American they call John Frum - believing he'll one day shower their remote island with riches

On the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth, the author scours Salzburg and Vienna for traces of the master's mischievous spirit

Edward Rothstein

Indelible Images

Photojournalist Chris Hondros, recently killed in Libya, discussed his work in war-torn Liberia with Smithsonian in 2006

Christine Dell'Amore

People File

To prosecutors, it was child abuse - an Amish baby covered in bruises, but Dr. D. Holmes Morton had other ideas

Tom Shachtman

Presence of Mind

How an Egyptian student came to study 1950s America and left determined to wage holy war

David Von Drehle

Editor's Note