CURRENT ISSUE

July/August 2018

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine image Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine mobile image

Features

JULAUG2018_H06_BigWave.jpg

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

McNamara

Giant Killer

A Brazilian surfer had to conquer PTSD before he was ready to break Garrett McNamara’s world record

Surf Ranch

Endless Summer

A technology breakthrough allows surf legend Kelly Slater to engineer the perfect wave over and over again

The Torah scroll from Ein Gedi

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

The train to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

Identity Crisis

In our chaotic era, there are outcasts—and people who take them in

A home on the storm-battered southeastern coast

Other America

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria approaches, Puerto Ricans feel not only devastated but abandoned.

Standing Rock #2

The Resistance

From the American West to the Middle East, the powerless face stark choices when confronted by the powerful.

remnants of a house

The Rescuers

For four hundred years the people of a mountain village in France have opened their arms to the world’s refugees.

Images of Jones for the March 1969 Jet profile

The Counterfeit Queen of Soul

A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom

KULAUG2018_L01_SpanishCivilWar.jpg

The Battle to Remember

With nationalism surging in Europe, a war over the memory of a dictator and his victims is tearing Spain apart

Departments

Discussion

Discussion of our June Issue

Full Circle

A loopy 60-year-old toy comes back around

Birds in Hand

Tally ho! When English swan lovers come to their census

The American Crusade

Disbanded seven centuries ago, the most famous of the medieval Christian orders is fighting for new conquests.

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

Today's raging border controversy began with a surprising incident 100 years ago this summer.

Slush Fun

A Texas restaurant owner blended tequila, ice and automation. America has been hung over ever since

The Murder of the Tsar

Despite a century of conspiracy theories to the contrary, no one survived the 1918 killing of Nicholas and his family. In the race to save the Romanovs, Helen Rappaport wonders: Could anyone have rescued them from their fate?

Ask Smithsonian

Your questions answered by our experts