Newsweek articles from July 2009

Newsweek archives from July 2009

A Winning Pitch: An Update to Our Nov. 10, 2008, My Turn.(Culture; Ripple Effect)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Mark Starr Michael Goldsmith advocated for MLB to play a bigger role in fighting ALS. Baseball listened. It's been three years since Michael Goldsmith received what he calls his "death sentence": a diagnosis of ALS, also known...

Letters: Theocracy and Its Discontents.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 13, 2009... Thirty years after the shah was deposed, Iranians are once again divided and polarized. Can their leadership handle the currents of democracy? Victor Lopez, Seville, Spain When religion has to be enforced, -policed, or dictated, it has...

Love Books? You're in the Right Place.(The Editor's Desk)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Jon Meacham A true story: in 1986, when I was a senior in high school, I read Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men and then read Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas's The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Both were...

What to Read Now. And Why.(Books)(Bibliography)
July 13, 2009... We know it's insane. We know people will ask why on earth we think that an 1875 British satirical novel is the book you need to read right now--or, for that matter, why it even made the cut. The fact is, no one needs another best-of list...

Now, Read it Again.(Books)(rereading books)
July 13, 2009... Byline: David Gates Like old friends and favorite haunts, some books reward revisiting. Above the table on which I'm now writing hangs an old framed print showing Mr. Pickwick's street-smart servant, Sam Weller, prophetically pointing...

Best. Books. Ever.(Books)(List)
July 13, 2009... ***** Correction: In "Best. Books. Ever." we referred to The Scarpetta Factor as Patricia Cornwell's most recent bestseller. In fact, it is scheduled for release in October. Newsweek regrets the error. ***** Melissa Gilbert ...

The Write Stuff.(Books)(Discussion)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Jon Meacham Holden Caulfield had it right. The test of a great book, he said in The Catcher in the Rye, was whether, once you finished it, you wished the author were a great friend you could call up at home. I remembered...

The Reluctant Poet Laureate.(Books)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Louisa Thomas Kay Ryan has lived in the same small house on a hill in Marin County, Calif., for 30 years. She shingled the exterior walls and covered the steps and walkways in bright tile scraps herself. The house suits her--filled...

'Homer & Langley'.(Books)(Excerpt)
July 13, 2009... Byline: E. L. Doctorow The Collyer Brothers were the world's most famous pack rats. In his forthcoming book, the novelist fashions a treasure from their trash. Pack rats on a grand scale, the Collyer brothers made news in 1947 when...

Finding Neverland.(; COVER STORY)(Michael Jackson's life)(Cover story)
July 13, 2009... Byline: David Gates; With Raina Kelley He was a music legend and a legendary oddball. Now that he's gone, perhaps we can finally answer the question: who was Michael Jackson? True, for a while he was the king of pop--a term apparently...

Remembering Michael.(Culture; COVER STORY)(Michael Jackson)(Cover story)(In memoriam)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Quincy Jones For some strange reason, I have a history of meeting young performers when they reach age 12. There was Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Tevin Campbell, and, of course, Michael Jackson. In 1978 Sidney Lumet pulled me...

Perspectives.(Perspectives)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... 'Why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business?' Barack Obama, responding to private insurers' criticism of a "public option." 'There are times when an abortion is...

Venezuela's Brain Drain.(Scope; InternationaList)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Mac Margolis When they first elected him in 1998, Venezuelans hoped that Hugo Chavez would be a healer. Instead what they got was a tyrant who seizes private companies and farms, crushes labor unions, and harasses political...

Iraq Charges Ahead.(Scope; InternationaList)(introductionof debit and credit cards to Iraqis)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Lennox Samuels For a long time, the only plastic common in Iraq was the explosive kind. Now, with security improving, a consortium of banks is trying to nurture in Iraqis the just-charge-it mentality native to the West. The...

Russia Keeps Its Fist Clenched.(Scope; InternationaList)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Owen Matthews Barack Obama heads to Moscow for his first visit on July 6. His challenge: to reassure the Russians, who saw Bush-era -democracy-spreading as a cover for Amer-ican meddling, that the U.S. support for freedom in the...

Running to Mexico.(Scope; InternationaList)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Alexis Okeowo A growing number of international runners are leaving their homelands for an un--likely destination: Mexico. Though the U.S. still boasts more foreign transplants, Mexico's high altitude, lower tax rates, and cheaper...

Why Japan Doesn't Want The Bomb.(Scope; InternationaList)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Takashi Yokota North Korea's nuclear test this May has spawned many nightmare scenarios--including the possibility that pacifist Japan might finally go nuclear, triggering an Asian arms race. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,...

Biden's New Brief.(Scope)(Joe Biden)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Holly Bailey Vice President Joe Biden's official portfolio is expanding. NEWSWEEK has learned that President Obama has asked Biden to take the lead role on Iraq as the U.S. begins its scheduled drawdown of combat troops, a move...

Why Obama was Measured on Iran.(Scope)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Mark Hosenball President Obama's cautious response to election results in Iran may be partly explained by the fact that U.S. intelligence agencies were off the mark in assessments they gave the White House and lawmakers. Five...

Has Jim Jones Lost His Clout?(Scope)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Holly Bailey; With Mark Hosenball Where has Jim Jones been? As the White House navigated its response to the Iran crisis, President Obama's national-security adviser was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Jones was out of the country...

Ban Smoking in Public Housing.(Scope; My Turn)
July 13, 2009... Ten years ago, I was the doctor for an 18-year-old with cystic fibrosis whose mother was a heavy smoker. The patient told me how she coughed, wheezed, and choked when she was at home. I became close with her; it seemed she was always in the...

A Sickening Situation.(Scope)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Katie Connolly Josh Eller, a military contractor stationed in Iraq in 2006, was driving through Balad Air Base when he spotted the wild dog. He wasn't sure what was in its mouth--but when Eller saw two bones, he knew he was looking...

Indignity Index.(Scope)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... An Unscientific Appraisal of Dubious Public Behavior. 14: After promising to refund fans for a glitch-plagued concert, NOEL GALLAGHER of Oasis criticizes the 20,000 people who -- actually decide to take him up on his offer. 72: In a...

Watch Over Me.(Scope)(Buy American)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Melinda Liu When congress included a "Buy American" clause in the $787 billion stimulus package, mandating the use of U.S.-made iron and steel in stimulus-funded projects, critics decried it as dangerous protectionism. China in...

Conventional Wisdom.(Scope; Conventional Wisdom)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Obama SIDEWAYS Did he toughen line on Iran because of GOP attacks, or violence there? All of the above. Neda UP Via social networking, the bloody face of the Iranian crackdown. Can martyrdom move mullahs again? ...

The Wall Isn't Falling.(Fareed Zakaria)(leadership in Iran)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Fareed Zakaria; Zakaria is the host of CNN's GPS With Fareed Zakaria on Sundays at 1 p.m. ET. Historical parallels don't work in Iran. whenever we see the kinds of images that have been coming out of Iran over the past two...

More Than Just Hot Air.(Daniel Gross)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Daniel Gross; Gross is NEWSWEEK's business columnist. Green jobs are sprouting in Denver. It only seems as though every company in America is downsizing. "We're hiring three or four people every week," says Prem Nath, senior...

Will It Be 1972 Forever?
July 13, 2009... Byline: George F. Will The high court's misplaced modesty. The question to which the Supreme Court recently gave a mistaken answer was: Has the revolution in race relations since enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act rendered the...

The Roots Of Racism.(Raina Kelley)
July 13, 2009... Byline: Raina Kelley; Kelley writes about social and cultural issues for NEWSWEEK. What we don't know can hurt us. If my purse ever gets stolen, it's Dave Chappelle's fault. In the spring of 1997, I attended a barbecue at the home of a...

How Do Fireworks Make Those Crazy Shapes?(Back Story)(Brief article)
July 13, 2009... Used in 12th-century China to frighten off evil spirits, fireworks are met with almost universal delight today--particularly since the Grucci family perfected the art of creating intricate shapes in 1992 to celebrate the quincentennial of...

My Favorite Covers.(Design)
July 13, 2009... Although book publishing has endured the most challenging decade in its history, I would say that one component of the industry has been as healthy as ever: the ingenuity of its designers. Here's a small, inadequate (but, I hope, no less...