CURRENT ISSUE
October 2003
Features
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/fa/98/fa98ad47-e8cb-4750-8588-a8c59c9b9243/1200px-dubai_sunset_from_burj_khalifa.jpg)
Dazzling Dubai
The Persian Gulf kingdom has embraced openness and capitalism. Might other Mideast nations follow?
Tony Blair Goes to War
In a new book, a British journalist documents the day-by-day march into conflict in Iraq
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/gabon_crab.jpg)
Portraits in the Wild
In an unexplored region of Africa's Atlantic coast, an innovative photographer captures Gabon's bountiful wildlife
Stanley Meets Livingstone
The American journalist's harrowing 1871 quest to find England's most celebrated explorer is also a story of newfound fascination with Africa
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/folk_west.jpg)
Folk Art Jubilee
Self-taught artists and their fans mingle each fall at Alabama's up close and personal Kentuck Festival
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/obituaries_stones.jpg)
Dead Lines
Today's obituary writers sum up lives famous and not with pans as well as paeans
:focal(1648x1279:1649x1280)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/d7/0a/d70a3d8b-217e-4a39-94e6-f7034d3efcb4/1c7afab3-29d2-44ea-9d55-31e16e94da08.jpeg)
The Stubborn Scientist Who Unraveled A Mystery of the Night
Fifty years ago, Eugene Aserinksy discovered rapid eye movement and changed the way we think about sleep and dreaming
Wise Guys
From absorbing shocks to shock absorbers
Departments
Eminent Victorians
Julia Margaret Cameron's evocative photographs of Lord Tennyson and other 19th-century British notables pioneered the art of portraiture
Useful Gadget
The legendary explorers carried destiny on their expedition. But they could not have fulfilled is without this unprepossessing device
Base Deception
In 1821, the French carved a classical Greek sculpture. In the Venus de Milo, they thought they finally had one. Never mind that it wasn't really classical
All Aboard!
A new multimedia exhibition shows how innovations in transportation spurred the growth of the nation
Paper Chase
Looking up his high school Permanent Record Card leaves our author curiously grateful for his failings