February 2000 \| Volume 285 No. 2
	The Holocaust on Trial (This article is no longer available online.) In Courtroom 37 of the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, a judge of the Queen's Bench is presiding over the matter of David Irving v. Penguin Books Ltd. and Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt has called Irving "one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial." Irving, who speaks of the Holocaust as an "ill-fitting legend," is suing Lipstadt on grounds of libel. "In effect," the author writes, "he is seeking to put not just Lipstadt but the Holocaust itself on trial -- an effort in which he will receive considerable help from British libel law." by D. D. Guttenplan
The Virus and the Vaccine No one disputes that during the 1950s and early 1960s nearly a hundred million Americans received polio vaccine contaminated with a monkey virus known as SV40. Recently the virus has been associated with some forms of human cancer. Is SV40 a causative factor in these cancers? Is there reason to suspect the vaccine? by Debbie Bookchin and Jim Schumacher

Reports

Notes & Comment:
Nominal Authority
The world is in the midst of the largest outbreak of new names in history.
by Cullen Murphy

Foreign Affairs:
China's Blue-Collar Blues
The mythology of the Tiananmen Square massacre pits Communist autocrats against democracy-minded students. In truth, those Communists were really capitalists -- and their main targets were ordinary workers.
by Trevor Corson

Technology:
Inside the Leviathan
Emerging from six months in its distinctive embrace, our correspondent reports on the corporate culture of Microsoft.
by James Fallows

Americana:
Desert Hideaway
Up a Death Valley canyon to the scene of a famous arrest.
by Ian Frazier

Fiction & Poetry

These Days
A poem
by Peter Davison

Walking With Walter
A poem
by Sebastian Matthews

The Generation Gap
A short story
by Nadine Gordimer
This story is not available online.

Snow Day
A poem
by Billy Collins

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

Music:
Jazz -- Religious and Circus
The 1970s get little respect. The bad reputation is undeserved in many of the popular arts -- especially jazz.
by Francis Davis

Food:
Slice of Life
A wonderland of Italian sweets in a most unlikely place.
by Corby Kummer

Books

Beauty Under the Knife
Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, by Sander L. Gilman
by Holly Brubach

A Just Cause
The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, by Randall Robinson
by Jack Beatty

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 Court
by Barbara Wallraff