With this issue, we’re introducing a new series called “Health for Life,” building on two acclaimed special issues we’ve published in recent years. We’re proud to be working with Harvard Health Publications and its editor in chief, Dr. Anthony Komaroff, to bring you the best wisdom that our team of veteran health journalists and Harvard’s experts have to offer. And we think it’s appropriate that we’ve begun by tackling CAM, one of the hottest growth areas in health care but also the one most in need of cold scrutiny. Happily, Harvard’s doctors and our Geoffrey Cowley, Claudia Kalb, David Noonan and Anne Underwood find potential benefits in everything from herbal treatments for depression, to acupuncture and yoga for arthritis, to “natural” alternatives to hormone-replacement therapy. But you’ll also want to read what they say about risks and limits, and the need to blend traditional and alternative into a new model of “integrative medicine.”
On the terror front, Michael Isikoff has an alarming investigative scoop: according to a Hill probe, cashier’s checks purchased by Princess Haifa bint Faisal, wife of Prince Bandar, the Saudi envoy to Washington, were turned over to the families of Saudi nationals who assisted two hijackers before the September 11 attacks. Although there’s no evidence the Bandars had anything to do with the plot, the story raises new questions about what Saudi authorities knew about Al Qaeda, and how far the Bush administration may have gone to avoid embarrassing our gulf ally. It’s one more reason to worry–but also to be grateful we haven’t suffered another major attack. So with that in mind, here’s wishing you all a happy, healthy–and peaceful–Thanksgiving.
title: “From The Editor” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Walter Singletary”
Now that the Terminator is trying to follow the Gipper to the California governorship, voters in America’s largest state must decide whether Arnold Schwarzenegger has more to offer than just star power. That’s an open, important question, Jonathan Alter and San Francisco bureau chief Karen Breslau write in this week’s cover, and it would be a mistake to either automatically dismiss Schwarzenegger’s bid or to count out the less colorful but more conventional Democrats in the race. As we reported in our “California in Crisis” cover last month, the state is in terrible financial trouble, and glitz won’t solve its complex problems. Yet Schwarzenegger has been successful at just about everything he’s ever tried, rising from Austrian body-building to become a plausible candidate to run a state that would have the world’s sixth largest economy if it were a separate country (which, of course, many Americans who don’t live there think it is anyway). In a colorful profile, Jerry Adler, Breslau and Los Angeles correspondent Jennifer Ordonez explain the real Arnold–a self-made man with an intriguing past who now wants to shape the future of 35 million Americans.
Meanwhile, there is nothing at all entertaining about politics in Iraq. In an exclusive, Scott Johnson gives us the view of the war’s aftermath from a unique perspective: that of Iraq’s guerrillas, the fighters who remain a deadly threat to American lives and Iraqi stability. And Daniel Klaidman and Mark Hosenball report new details about a Pakistani living in New York who has been charged in connection with a Qaeda sleeper cell planning attacks inside America–another reminder that, summer vacation and California’s “Total Recall” aside, it remains a dangerous time.
title: “From The Editor” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Marci Larsen”
By Saturday morning, we were back in a recharged Manhattan, closing our 31-page package on the biggest power failure in North American history. In our lead story, Michael Hirsh and Daniel Klaidman examine exactly what happened, who was to blame and how our antiquated, overloaded electrical grid leaves us open to future crises or terror attacks. Daniel McGinn and Keith Naughton tote up the (thankfully limited) economic damage. Jerry Adler, the author of some of our most moving accounts of New York after 9/11, writes the mostly heartening story of how the city coped this time. Director of Photography Simon Barnett and his tireless staff assembled the powerful photos, including Ilkka Uimonen’s haunting black-and-white images of life in the dark.
But bylines and photo credits don’t begin to convey the teamwork that went into this issue. Scores of NEWSWEEKers pitched in to do whatever was needed–from Ignacio Kleva, who remade the book dozens of times, to Barbara DiVittorio, who slept in the office to handle logistics, to Peter Schleissner, who manned our only working phone for several hours on Friday. By the time I came in from vacation to help, Jon Meacham had led the march to Mountain Lakes and back and expertly marshaled all our forces for the Saturday close. Jon is fond of quoting Churchill, and is about to publish a book on his relationship with FDR. In the eye of the storm last week, he put on a performance worthy of his hero.
