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October 2010

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Features

Sicily fiaccolata

Defying the Godfather

Across Sicily, ordinary citizens are standing up to the Mafia and weakening its grip on society

Bob Hazen

Before There Was Life

Where did life's building blocks come from? And how did they connect four billion years ago? Mineralogist Bob Hazen thinks he has the answers

Dyaks Ernesto Kalum

Body of Work

Photographer Chris Rainier, a protege of Ansel Adams, has traveled the world documenting the impulse to embellish the human form

Mass grave

A Viking Mystery

Beneath Oxford University archaeologists have uncovered a medieval atrocity that colored the course of English history

Colorado River reservoirs

Running Dry

The once mighty Colorado River—diverted and drained—no longer surges to the sea. Is it a sign of things to come?

Kiso-Road-Nakasendo-road-stone-631.jpg

A Walk Through Old Japan

A trek down the Kiso Road evokes the pleasures, and rigors, of a traditional way of life

Departments

Letters to the Editor

Letters

From the Editor

Walks of Life

Brass bands and slow travel

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Caterpillars, Frogs, Big Birds and More...

Indelible Images

Sure Shot

Bill Owens was seeking a fresh take on suburban life when he spied young Richie Ferguson

My Kind of Town

Winner Take All

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist rolls the dice on life in Sin City

This Month in History

October Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

From the Castle

Show and Tell

Around the Mall

Up Where They Belong

From country music ballads to hard-hitting rock power chords, Native Americans left a lasting impression on the soundtrack of the 20th century

The Object at Hand

Cloaked in Defiance

Even in captivity, the Seminole warrior Osceola wore his unbroken spirit on his sleeve

What's Up

What's Up

Presence of Mind

God and Country

The image of the United States as a bastion of religious tolerance is reassuring—and utterly at odds with the historical record

The Last Page

My Big Hang-Up

One man's rage against the dying of civility