The Computer Delusion Schools around the country are dropping traditional subjects to lavish scarce time and money on computers and computer education -- with results that may be at best negligible and at worst harmful. by Todd Oppenheimer

The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society The U.S. military is emerging as an increasingly autonomous political force whose values diverge more and more widely from those of the society it is supposed to protect. by Thomas E. Ricks Zero The invention of a number denoting nothingness was a signal human achievement, but it also has accounted for much fussing over calendars. The issue of when the millennium should officially begin is only the latest episode. by Dick Teresi

 

Reports Notes & Comment: The Mall of Fame On a promontory above the Hudson a moldering monument enshrines the transience of immortality. by Richard Rubin Foreign Affairs: New-Alphabet Disease? In Azerbaijan, rich in oil and in nationalist and religious sentiment, orthography is destiny -- and spells trouble. by Toby Lester Personal File: Visitations The cemeteries of a lifetime. by Gerald Dumas Humor, Fiction, & Poetry Field Notes A poem by Kelly Cherry Finitude A drawing by Guy Billout The Poetry Baron A short story by Tess Gallagher Dragonfly A poem by Andrew Hudgins Browse previous issues of The Atlantic Monthly. The seahorse symbol indicates that an article is supplemented with additional Atlantic material, such as related articles, audio, or special online sidebars.		Arts & Leisure Travel: A Train in Spain The passage from Galicia to the Basque Country is called "the gastronomic route" for good reason. by Lucy McCauley Movies: Dostoyevsky Behind a Camera The director Oliver Stone has been criticized on many levels. What the critics miss is his high moral ambition. by Garry Wills Sport: Alleycat Couriers Intrepid and audacious, bicycle messengers now have a sporting event for themselves. by Marshall Jon Fisher Books Surveyors of the Enlightenment Mason & Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon by Rick Moody Chekhov in American The Plays of Anton Chekhov, translated by Paul Schmidt by Adam Kirsch Brief Reviews by Phoebe-Lou Adams Other Departments 77 North Washington Street Contributors Letters (Send a letter to the editor.) The July Almanac The Puzzler by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon Word Court by Barbara Wallraff
All material copyright © 1997 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.