CURRENT ISSUE

August 2003

Features

Fire Fight

With forests burning, U.S. officials are clashing with environmentalists over how best to reduce the risk of catastrophic blazes

Paul Trachtman

Guys and Molls

Bold, garish and steamy cover images from popular pulp-fiction magazines of the 1930s and '40s have made their way from newsstands to museum walls

Doug Stewart

Rethinking Primate Aggression

Researcher Frans de Waal shows that apes (and humans) get along better than we thought

Richard Conniff

Mesopotamian Masterpieces

Exquisite art and artifacts from the world's earliest civilization are dazzling visitors to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richard Covington

Chess Queen

At 22, Jennifer Shahade is the strongest American-born woman chess player ever

Paul Hoffman

Benjamin Franklin Joins the Revolution

Returning to Philadelphia from England in 1775, the "wisest American" kept his political leanings to himself. But not for long

Walter Isaacson

Shore Thing

In the new Boston Harbor Islands national park area, city dwellers can escape the madding crowds

Doug Stewart

Departments

Indelible Images

Dream Assignment

Photographer Bob Adelman's picture of Martin Luther King, Jr., taken 40 years ago, captures one of the greatest speeches in American history

Points of Interest

Fakahatchee Ghosts

But no exorcisms, please these rare orchids are the stars of a hit movie and a best-selling book

Jack McClintock

The Object at Hand

Wild Thing

For 100 years, Harleys have fueled our road-warrior fantasies

Robert F. Howe

Presence of Mind

Why Lewis and Clark Matter

Amid all the hoopla, it's easy to lose sight of the expedition's true significance

James P. Ronda

People File

To Touch the Heavens

Noreen Grice has given the visually impaired a feel for the universe

David L. Chandler

Editor's Note