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February 2010

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Features

Sphinx statue

Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx

Who built it? Why? And how? After decades of research, American archaeologist Mark Lehner has answers

Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial

Picture of Prosperity

For more than half a century the Scurlock Studio chronicled the rise of Washington's black middle class

Venus flytrap captured katydid

The Venus Flytrap's Lethal Allure

Seldom encountered in the wild, the carnivorous plant that goes "against the order of nature" is tenaciously hanging on in its native Carolina habitat

Auschwitz gateway

Can Auschwitz Be Saved?

Sixty-five years after the concentration camp was liberated, the Polish government is struggling to preserve the decaying historic site that draws millions of visitors

Renoir The Farm at Les Collettes

Renoir Rebels Again

First he broke with tradition to pioneer Impressionism. Then he was ridiculed for breaking with Impressionism to honor tradition. Now a new exhibition rises to the defense of the French artist's controversial second act

Monument Valley Merrick Butte

Behind the Scenes in Monument Valley

Venture to parts of the Navajo tribal park most visitors never see, except in the movies

Departments

From the Editor

Novelties

In praise of contributors, including you

Indelible Images

One Way Out

Carlos Perez could have been an artist or a gangster. Photographer Donna DeCesare helped him choose

My Kind of Town

Well Grounded

She didn't plan on staying, but more than 20 years later the novelist embraces her adopted community

Presence of Mind

Migrations Forced and Free

How the great influx of people from Africa and the Caribbean since 1965 is challenging what it means to be African-American

Letters

Letters

Readers Respond to the December Issue

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Octopuses, Dinosaurs, Pandas and More...

This Month in History

February Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

From the Castle

SI in the City

Around the Mall

Local Dinosaurs

A new exhibit documents how the beasts once thrived in Maryland

The Object at Hand

Courage in Greensboro

On February 1, four college students sat down to request lunch service and ignited a struggle

Q&A

Q and A: John Gerrard

Artist John Gerrard uses 360-degree photography and 3-D gaming software to create a virtual reality

What's Up

What's Up

The Last Page

Stamp Tact

How the post office can lick other countries at their own game