Summer 2011

Articles

Flacking for Big Pharma

Drugmakers don’t just compromise doctors; they also undermine top medical journals and skew medical research

by Harriet A. Washington

Making Sparks Fly

How occupational education can lead to a love of learning for its own sake

by Mike Rose

In the Orbit of Copernicus

A discovery of the great astronomer's bones, and their reburial in Poland

by Owen Gingerich

Plunging to Earth

Once the sport of daredevils, skydiving now offers it existential thrills to grandmothers, pudgy geeks, and even the occasional college professor

by Robert Zaretsky

The Forgotten Churchill

The man who stared down Hitler also helped create the modern welfare state

by George Watson

Plucked from the Grave

The first female missionary to cross the Continental Divide came to a gruesome end partly caused by her own zeal. What can we learn from her?

by Debra Gwartney

Departments

Book Essay

Ardent Spirit, Generous Friend

Remembering the novelist Reynolds Price

David Guy

Book Reviews

The Inside Track

How those dim-witted robber barons built the railroads

Mark Hertsgaard

Full Bloom

A critic offers his final thoughts

Michael Dirda

Frozen Assets

A gritty tale of a grim landscape

Hampton Sides
Deep Trouble

Deep Trouble

How a natural disaster barreled into a historical one

Emily Bernard

Deep Trouble

We should be more afraid for sharks than of them

Richard Ellis

Scholar-Activist

Is the search for truth compatible with the fight for justice?

James Gibney

A Survey and an Assertion

Twelve potted philosophers and a theory of human values

Carlin Romano

Beyond Nerves

Three women who helped engender modern psychiatry

Laure Murat