CURRENT ISSUE

December 2003

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Features

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A Century of Flight - Taking Wing

From the Wright brothers' breakthrough 100 years ago this month to the latest robot jets, the past century has been shaped by the men and women who got us off the ground

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American Bounty

A new book documents a week in the life of America in all its rich, colorful, contradictory, nostalgic, emotional, heartfelt and, oh yes, exuberant...glory

To Catch A Thief

When biologists study food theft among endangered roseate terns, they find that crime most definitely pays

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The Elusive Marc Chagall

With his wild and whimsical imagery, the Russian-born artist bucked the trends of 20th-century art

Iraq's Oppressed Majority

For nearly a century, the nation's 15 million Shiite Muslims have been denied access to political power

Jazzed About Roy Haynes

A robust 78, one of the greatest drummers of all time still riffs up a storm and wows fellow musicians

Departments

Indelible Images

Too Hot to Handle

Taken at the start of his multifaceted career, Gordon Parks' photograph of a Washington, D.C. worker was so inflammatory it was buried for decades

Points of Interest

Little Shop Around the Coroner

The Los Angeles County Morgue sells ghoulish souvenirs for a good cause

Kevin Roderick
The Object at Hand

Prize Fight

Raymond Damadian refuses to take his failure to win a Nobel Prize, for a prototype MRI machine, lying down

Rick Weiss
Presence of Mind

Who Was Deep Throat?

An investigative reporter enlists his journalism students to help him solve Watergate's most intriguing puzzle

William Gaines
People File

Man of the Hour

Master horologist John Metcalfe keeps on ticking

Patrick Cooke
Editor's Note

Our Man in Karbala

Coming to terms with Shiite beliefs

From the Secretary

A Century's Roar and Buzz

Thanks to an immigrant's generosity, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center opens its massive doors to the public

Lewis and Clark

Gets His Marching Orders

Jefferson spells out the mission

Smithsonian magazine
The Last Page

Dear Santa

The world's most heartfelt wishes find their way to a post office near Rovaniemi, Finland

Barbara Sjoholm