Why Wall Street Always Blows It
And why we never learn from the last bubble
December 2008
In This Issue
Henry Blodget explains why Wall Street always blows it; Caitlin Flanagan on the appeal of Twilight for adolescent girls; James Fallows interviews America's Chinese banker; P.J. O'Rourke on Disney's house of the future; David Samuels profiles an ultimate fighting champion; James Parker on the strange genius of actor Jim Carrey; and much more.
Features
“Be Nice to the Countries That Lend You Money”
An interview with America's Chinese banker
Iceland’s Meltdown
Map: A visual guide to economic calamity
Getting Away With Murder?
Why Rafiq al-Hariri's assassins may never be caught [Web only: Slideshow: "Fear and Loathing in Beirut"]
Future Schlock
Disney's new, furiously unimaginative House of the Future
Rampage
In the ring with Quinton Jackson: a profile of an ultimate fighter
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R. Kikuo Johnson Spooked
The spies who loved me
Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images Caveat Donor
A street brawl in India brings down a global kidney-transplant ring.
A Cock Crows in Portland
The heartbreak of urban chicken husbandry
Utkin Igor/Itar-Tass Photo/Corbis Exile
After 17 years in the NHL, Czech hockey star Jaromir Jagr hits the ice—and the jackpot—in Siberia.
Stefano Scata/Grand Tour/Corbis Cheese Balls
Mozzarella’s American renaissance
Sedat Suna/Narphotos/Redux The Ottoman Mystique
In Turkey, there are dancers, and there are dancers. [Web only: Slideshow: "Turkish Surprise"]
Jason Schneider Rook Dreams
New chess software makes it easier for younger players to reach the top of their game—and harder to stay there
Books
Carmen Redondo/Corbis Geography Is Destiny
An epochal new book argues that the events of history we think consequential and monumental are, mostly, trivia
Books of the Year
The best of 2008
Adam S. Doyle What Girls Want
A series of vampire novels illuminates the complexities of female adolescent desire. [Web only: Video: "Twilight—a Review"]
Marc Yankus Suburbs of Our Discontent
Misery and banality in a 1950s Connecticut development—rendered with anatomical precision on the page, and now coming to the screen
Cover to Cover
A guide to additional releases
Columns
Christopher Stevenson/Getty Images Pop Psychology
Why asset bubbles are a part of the human condition that regulation can’t cure
Daniel Adel The Existential Clown
Why Jim Carrey makes us uncomfortable. [Web only: Video: "The Fears of a Clown"]
Also in this issue
What's Your Problem?
Tropical print is dead, and other advice
Other articles in this issue
Quick Study
Elitist endowments; borrowing blind
Peter Arkle Word Fugitives
Articles of agreement; dishwasher dictators
