October 2011

Departments: Opening Announcements, Cover, Contents

Departments: From the Editor Great Cats, Letters “Leaks and the Law”, Idelible Images Innocence Abroad, This Month in History Mount Rushmore, Wild Things Plesiosaur Moms

Departments: Now on Our Website, Phenomenon Lucky Bird, The Civil War  Scattered Actions, Around the Mall Massmovent: From the Castle, The Object at Hand, Q&A, What’s Up

The Jaguar Freeway

Conservationists have teamed up with an entrepreneur to connect populations of the big cat from Mexico to Argentina. The bold plan could mean the animal's salvation

By Sharon Guynup

What Became of the Taíno?

The people who greeted Columbus are long believed to have died out. But a journalist's search for their descendants turns up surprising results

By Robert M. Poole

Change Agent

Willem de Kooning redefined modern painting. Then he did it again. And again. A major new retrospective charts his seven-decade career

By Mark Stevens

The Passion of Madame Curie

Her profound dedication to science led to a new view of matter itself—and often made it difficult for outsiders to understand her

By Julie Des Jardins

Cocktails in Greenland

The ice that covers 80 percent of the island is melting. Which makes the place a hot destination for the latest travel trend: climate-change tourism

By Joseph Stromberg

The Great Pumpkin

No one takes backyard produce more seriously than competitive vegetable growers, who are closing in on the Holy Grail of extreme gardening—the one-ton squash

By Brendan Borrell

Presence of Mind: Crossing the Color Line

Fifty years ago, Black Like Me gave readers an unflinching view of the Jim Crow South. How has the book held up?

By Bruce Watson

The Last Page: Identity Crisis

What's my favorite dessert? Only my bank knows for sure.

By Julia Anne Miller