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April 27, 2001

+ THIS WEEK ...

"I joined the baboon troop during my twenty-first year. I had never planned
to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I
would become a mountain gorilla." So begins Robert Sapolsky's new book, *A
Primate's Memoir,* about the time he spent in Kenya's Serengeti over the
past twenty years, researching the stress levels of a troop of baboons.
This week, we're featuring an interview with Sapolsky, a professor of
biology and neurology at Stanford. Sapolsky's interests are wide-ranging,
and our conversation with him covers everything from the shadows
colonialism still casts on Africa, to the fallacy of free will, to why he
only rates as a "pathetically low-ranking baboon." We've also included two
excerpts from *A Primate's Memoir,* so you can get a sense of Sapolsky's
witty and lively prose.

Best,

Katie Bacon
Executive Editor
The Atlantic Online

+ In ATLANTIC UNBOUND, The Atlantic's online journal ...

Unbound Fiction
A SIGN OF THE TIMES
by Joan Wilking
Apr 25 | "He's wearing one of Mom's old bathrobes, a cotton kimono, one she
and Dad bought on a trip to Japan. He's barefoot. He's been barefoot and
wearing the same kimono since I moved back in eight days ago. You can
believe me. I'm keeping count."
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fiction/2001-04wilking.htm

Atlantic Abroad
LOOKING FOR LEB RED
by Velisarios Kattoulas
Apr 25 | "When I arrived at the University of London in the late 1980s, the
thing to take to parties was Leb Red--not a charming French table wine, but
a pungent, murky brown hashish from Lebanon's Beka'a Valley. Regrettably,
my fellow undergraduates majoring in Japanese were a bit square--several
have since entered finance--and by the time I fell in with the
anthropologists, Leb Red was nowhere to be found."
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/abroad/vk2001-04-25.htm

Interviews
ROBERT SAPOLSKY: OF MONKEYS AND MEN
by Katie Bacon
Apr 25 | "For these baboons, stress is entirely socially generated, so they
really are good models for us. Study some marginal baboon population in
some dying ecosystem and it would not be anywhere near relevant to making
sense of which middle-aged executive gets heart disease. Our stress is
created by our privileged cocooning from ecological stressors; likewise
these baboons." The author of *A Primate's Memoir* talks about his years as
a member of a troop of Serengeti baboons.
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2001-04-25.htm

Sage, Ink
Apr 25 | SMALL-TIME CROOKS
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/sage/ss2001-04-25.htm
A cartoon by Sage Stossel.

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+ In D.C. DISPATCH | from National Journal

Legal Affairs
ENACT A CIVILIZED CRIME BILL, FOR A CHANGE
By Stuart Taylor Jr.
Apr 26 | Letting defendants and convicts use DNA tests to prove their
innocence isn't being soft on crime.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/taylor2001-04-26.htm

Media
THE CUTTING EDGE
By William Powers
Apr 26 | Strikingly, when journalists' jobs are lopped, the story doesn't
get that extra touch of care and concern.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/powers2001-04-26.htm

Political Pulse
BUSH WINS 'LET'S MAKE A DEAL'
By William Schneider
Apr 26 | The American public put saving lives over saving face in Chinese
standoff.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/schneider2001-04-26.htm

Social Studies
NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT RWANDA
By Jonathan Rauch
Apr 26 | With Clinton out of office, an honest inquiry into America's role
during the genocide is at last possible.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/rauch2001-04-26.htm

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+ In POST & RIPOSTE | Forum Highlights

"Word Imperfect"
Is Roget's *Thesaurus* a tool for mediocrity and an agent for the
decline of the English language? Weigh in on Simon Winchester's Centerpiece
in the May issue.
http://forum.theatlantic.com/WebX?.ee6fcbf

"Exorcising Hollywood Demons"
Which Hollywood cliches and conventions do you find most annoying?
http://forum.theatlantic.com/WebX?.ee6fca2

"Russia Is Finished"
Are Russia's days as a relevant world power over? Join the discussion on
Jeffrey Tayler's May cover story.
http://forum.theatlantic.com/WebX?.ee6fcc8

"Bush's First 100 Days"
What do you make of Bush's performance so far? What effects do you predict
he will have had on this country by the end of his term?
http://forum.theatlantic.com/WebX?.ee6fdf3

... and much more.
http://www.theatlantic.com/pr/

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