Articles

As the fabric-covered plane came to a halt, frenzied sou-venir hunters tore at it, putting French officials on guard. Hailed in his home state of Minnesota, the 25-year-old pilot hated the nickname Lucky, bestowed on him after the flight. After sleeping in splendor at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, he awoke to a life, he said, "that could hardly have been more amazing if I had landed on another planet." On an old postcard kept by the Richards family, Tudor Richards has written, "We saw him land!"

We Saw Him Land!

In a long-lost letter an American woman describes Lindbergh's tumultuous touchdown in Paris—75 years ago this month

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We've Got Mail

Archaeology at Largo di Torre Argentina, Rome

Downtown Digs

One step ahead of bulldozers, Urban archaeologists pull historic treasures from America's cityscapes

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Hell's Bells

The 19th-century trolley bell may have ding-ding-dinged, but the factory bell clanged the workday

When scouts discover a suitable plant near their nest, they leave a pheromone, or chemical, trail, to efficiently guide legions of worker ants to it. The workers soon stream back to the nest in six-inch-wide columns bearing loads up to ten times their own weight.

Small Matters

Millions of years ago, leafcutter ants learned to grow fungi. But how? And why? And what do they have to teach us?

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Goya and His Women

An exhibition at Washington's National Gallery of Art takes a fresh look at one of Spain's most celebrated artists and the women he painted

The carcass of a cargo ship, already sheared of its forward structure, sits where it was parked on the beach at Chittagong, Bangladesh, flanked by two other scrapped vessels in various states of dismemberment.

Multiple Viewpoints

Photographer Edward Burtynsky's politically charged industrial landscapes are carefully crafted to elicit different interpretations

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Shades of Merriment

Robert Capa, famous for his battle photographs, made friends along the way

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Sweet Taste of Spring

The season's first sap makes the finest maple syrup— but not without some backbreaking labors of love

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Table Talk

A magazine should have the zest of a good dinner party

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Ping-Pong Diplomacy

Blending statecraft and sport, table tennis matches between American and Chinese athletes set the stage for Nixon's breakthrough with the People's Republic

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Rising Sun

Opening this month on Alexandria's Mediterranean waterfront, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina reflects the spirit of its ancient forebear

President Abraham Lincoln delivering his second inauguration speech.

Absence of Malice

In a new book, Historian Ronald C. White, Jr., explains why Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, given just weeks before he died, was his greatest speech

It's not such a hot idea to send us slides and other meltables through the mail.

Mail Call

You may have written to us. We may have even received it

Cartwheels at 50

The Smithsonian's Wurlitzer (its console above, with the Star-Spangled Banner) likely played the national anthem before movies.

It's a Wurlitzer

The giant of the musical instrument collection makes tunes— rootin '—tootin' or romantic

A Model Son

Chesapeake Bay's maritime history comes alive in miniature wood carvings by a Maryland craftsman

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Wittgenstein's Ghost

When two philosophers nearly came to blows, they defined a debate that rages a half century later

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Changing Spots

Canadian biologist Pierre D'Amours surveys rivers (here the Restigouche in New Brunswick) to learn what is responsible for the dwindling population of Atlantic salmon.

Lost at Sea

What's killing the great Atlantic salmon?

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