The New Yorker - Issue: 40; December 17 - 2007

TALK OF THE TOWN Steve Coll on foreign policy after Iran; Rufus Sewell's rock and roll; James Surowiecki on a subprime bailout.. THE POLITICAL SCENE Return of the Nativist Ryan Lizza The Republican Party goes hard-line on the immigration issue. SHOUTS & MURMURS Giuliani Time! Paul Slansky The Rudy quiz. REFLECTIONS Journey Into Night David Sedaris Flying to Paris is so much better in business class-you can do almost anything you like... A REPORTER AT LARGE Treasure Hunt Hugh Eakin How a rare statue of Aphrodite became the focus of the fight over antiquities, and led to the fall of a Getty Museum curator. LIFE AND LETTERS Day of the Dead D. T. Max After Malcolm Lowry wrote "Under the Volcano," he grew increasingly troubled. But was his death suicide or murder?. FICTION "The King of Sentences" Jonathan Lethem THE CRITICS: BOOKS James Flynn's "What Is Intelligence?" and the debate over race and I.Q. Malcolm Gladwell CURRENT CINEMA "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "The Kite Runner." David Denby THE THEATRE Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer," Mark Twain's "Is He Dead?" John Lahr ON TEKEVISION What the CNN/YouTube debates taught us about the candidates. Nancy Franklin THE ART WORLD Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Protestant Reformation. Peter Schjeldahl POEMS "An American in Hollywood" Frank Bidart "Shrike" Henri Cole COVER "Santa's Little Schleppers" Bob Staake DRAWINGS Frank Cotham, P. S. Mueller, Danny Shanahan, Michael Maslin, Michael Crawford, Jack Ziegler, Mick Stevens, Paul Noth, Edward Koren, Matthew Diffee, Bruce Eric Kaplan, P. C. Vey, Tom Cheney, Leo Cullum, Ward Sutton, Zachary Kanin SPOTS Joost Swarte