Articles

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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?

Joinery techniques in even the largest modern structures are similar to those used by Henry David Thoreau to build his simple cabin.

Building to a Different Drummer

Today's timber frame revivalists are putting up everything from millionaire mansions to a replica of Thoreau's cabin

Enormous gypsum crystals in a Naica cavern

Crystal Moonbeams

A pair of Mexican miners stumble upon a room filled with what could be the world's largest crystals

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Flights of Fancy

Orlando Martinez, who lives and breathes the age-old sport of pigeon racing, goes for the Main Event

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Cavendish, Vermont 1981 What did the Russian author like about the United States? "[He] told me the air was free in America," Benson recalls.

Cheeky Charmer

For half a century, photographer Harry Benson has been talking his way to the top of his game

Edgar Degas rarely painted a pure still life, but he often included still lifes in the backgrounds or corners of his compositions. In The Millinery Shop (1882-86), the hats—their shapes, textures and colors—take center stage; the figure is merely an accessory.

Still Delightful

A sumptuous show documents how the Impressionists breathed new life into the staid tradition of still life painting

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Migrant Madonna

Enthusiasm for genealogy brings researchers to wait before dawn for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to open.

New Routes to Old Roots

Twenty-five years after Alex Haley's best-seller topped the charts, millions of Americans are using high-tech tools to find their ancestors

The legendary Moai statues have fascinated modern civilization since their discovery.

The Secrets of Easter Island

The more we learn about the remote island from archaeologists and researchers, the more intriguing it becomes

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