FEBRUARY 1999 | Volume 283 No. 2   A New Germ Theory A prominent evolutionary biologist, whose views on how pathogens become virulent have won wide attention, now argues that many of the chronic "noninfectious" diseases of our time -- including common forms of heart disease, cancer, and mental illness -- will turn out to be caused by infection. Behind his radical thinking lie the dictates of evolution. by Judith Hooper Tibet Through Chinese Eyes The truth about Tibet is not simple. Chinese repression is real -- but even if repression did not exist, Tibet's culture would be threatened by economic forces that neither the Tibetans nor the Chinese can fully control. by Peter Hessler Who Owns Intelligence? The researcher who pioneered the concept of "multiple intelligences" considers the issues that lie ahead: how those intelligences will be tested, and what -- if anything -- they have to do with creativity or values. by Howard Gardner   Reports Notes & Comment: The Penumbra of Pedigree After a half century's absence, the fabled Almanach de Gotha -- Europe's official record of noble bloodlines -- is again being published. by Geoffrey Wheatcroft Foreign Affairs: Exiled Beyond Kilometer 101 A taste of life in rural Ozyory makes Moscow seem like Oz. by Jeffrey Tayler Fiction, & Poetry Raccoon Time A poem by Rodney Jones The Man With the Lapdog A short story by Beth Lordan Web-Only: An Odd Thing About Small Towns An Atlantic Unbound interview with Beth Lordan. Any Time A poem by W. S. Merwin The seahorse symbol indicates that an article is supplemented with audio, an author interview, or other Web-only sidebar. Browse and search The Atlantic's online archive. Arts & Leisure Travel: A Mecca for Modernists Its reputation for quaintness notwithstanding, the Netherlands has been a showcase for architecture's avant-garde throughout the twentieth century. by Francine Russo Music: Black and White Intertwined A new book dispels the widely held notion that white musicians made no significant contribution to the development of jazz. by William H. Youngren Books This Hawaii Is Not for Tourists Heads by Harry, by Lois-Ann Yamanaka by Jamie James America's Heart Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace by Timothy J. Gilfoyle Satan's Biographers Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, by Ron Rosenbaum; Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet, by Fritz Redlich, M.D. by Lawrence L. Langer Brief Reviews by Phoebe-Lou Adams Other Departments 77 North Washington Street Contributors Letters (Send a letter to the editor.) The February Almanac The Puzzler by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon Word Improvisation by J. E. Lighter All material copyright © 1999 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.