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January/February 2018

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Features

Arabic New Finds 8

Books of Revelation

A new project to scan manuscripts at the world’s oldest monastery is exposing amazing ancient texts

dragon statue

In Search of Vietnam

The battles of 1968 are long over. But the struggle to confront the truth goes on

John Lennon chats with Mike Love

The Road to Bliss

The ashram in India where the Beatles sought enlightenment remains a pilgrimage site for fans of music and meditation

Screen-Shot-2017-12-21-at-4.13.19-PM.jpg

A Seismic Year

Movements that had been building along the primary fault lines of the 1960s—the Vietnam War, the Cold War, civil rights, human rights, youth culture—exploded with force in 1968. The aftershocks registered both in America and abroad for decades afterward.

The Ed Sullivan Show

Fallen Angel

Teen idol Frankie Lymon soared to stardom in the 1950s. But in 1968 he came crashing down

Locals cross a small wooden foot bridge

The Ghosts of My Lai

In the hamlet where U.S. troops killed hundreds of men, women and children, survivors are ready to forgive the most infamous American soldier of the war.

National Guard troops

I Am a Man

In his final days, Martin Luther King Jr. stood by striking Memphis sanitation workers. We returned to the city to see what has changed—and what hasn’t

The book was published

Back When the End Was Near

The year’s most important book, The Population Bomb, made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world

Sumaiya Sabnam

Bobby’s Kids

At the site where Robert Kennedy was killed, students at a Los Angeles public school keep his spirit alive

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Rage Against the Machine

A witness to the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago revisits the chaos that shocked the world

Women gleefully threw objects

Dethroning Miss America

The Miss America pageant is under new leadership after a sexist email scandal. But the pageant has a long history of controversy—including the 1968 protests that touched off a feminist revolution.

Engelbart designed the mouse to replace the light pen as a pointing device.

The Man Who Invented the Future

Two decades before the personal computer, a shy engineer unveiled the tools that would drive the tech revolution. A close colleague looks back on his vision

Earthrise

Houston, We Have A Photo

Apollo 8 returned to Earth with one of the most famous images in history

Departments

Discussion

Reader responses to our November issue

Girl Power

How A Wrinkle in Time liberated young adult literature

Muses of Modern Art

How a celebrated portraitist’s glittering image of black women upends tradition

Disappearing Ink

From Rome’s holiest texts to a Chinese manuscript that wouldn’t have fit inside a shipping container, here’s our Top 10 list of the most important ancient documents that no longer exist

Duncan Barile

Hot Ticket

The biggest show in Washington 150 years ago was President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment hearings

Annette Gordon-Reed

The Forgotten Story of the Man Who Gave Us Kale

America’s first adventurer-botanist and “food spy” was David Fairchild, who traveled the world over a century ago in search of exotic crops. Daniel Stone serves up the history in a new book, The Food Explorer.

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