Taking stock of people and ideas in the news.

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• Teresa Heinz Why John Kerry needs some of his wife's sauce.
  Julia Turner Dec. 11, 2003
  
• J.M. Coetzee South Africa's reclusive Nobel Laureate.
  Rob Nixon Nov. 5, 2003
  
• Scaliapalooza The Supreme Court's pocket Jeremiah.
  Dahlia Lithwick Oct. 30, 2003
  
• Susan Estrich A feminist gropes for consistency.
  Katie Roiphe Oct. 22, 2003
  
• R.E.M. Alt rock's lifelong nostalgia act.
  Chris Suellentrop Oct. 16, 2003
  
• Robert Novak The hollow center of the Plame Affair.
  Chris Suellentrop Oct. 2, 2003
  
• Quentin Tarantino He brought back Travolta. He revived Pam Grier. Can he resuscitate himself?
  Chris Suellentrop Sept. 16, 2003
  
• Joan Didion The journalist who invented impersonal personality.
  Katie Roiphe Sept. 4, 2003
  
• Cruz Bustamante The Democrats' backup plan.
  Chris Suellentrop Aug. 25, 2003
  
• Madden Sports' new arbiter of cool.
  Chris Suellentrop Aug. 14, 2003
  
• Nigeria It can handle Liberia, but can it peacekeep itself?
  Chris Suellentrop Aug. 8, 2003
  
• The Dictator's Son Odai, Qusai, and other progeny of evil.
  Franklin Foer July 25, 2003
  
• George Tenet How does he keep his job?
  Chris Suellentrop July 17, 2003
  
• Grover Norquist The Republican Party's prophet of permanence.
  Chris Suellentrop July 7, 2003
  
• John Steinbeck Should he be afraid of Oprah?
  Chris Suellentrop June 26, 2003
  
• Gray Davis Mr. None of the Above.
  Chris Suellentrop June 19, 2003
  
• Mahmoud Abbas The new Palestinian prime minister gave a great speech. Now the real work begins.
  Ed Finn June 11, 2003
  
• Pixar The geniuses behind Finding Nemo are the next Disney. Uh-oh.
  Chris Suellentrop June 5, 2003
  
• Paul Bremer Can he bring peace to Iraq—and the Bush administration?
  Chris Suellentrop May 22, 2003
  
• Bob Graham Who is he kidding?
  Chris Suellentrop May 8, 2003
  
• The Matrix It's Harry Potter with guns.
  Chris Suellentrop May 1, 2003
  
• Hu Jintao Does he really run China?
  Chris Suellentrop April 24, 2003
  
• Bashar Assad The evil moron who's running Syria.
  Chris Suellentrop April 16, 2003
  
• Ahmad Chalabi Why shouldn't a politician be president of Iraq?
  Chris Suellentrop April 9, 2003
  
• Al Jazeera It's just as fair as CNN.
  Chris Suellentrop April 3, 2003
  
• The TV Generals The military men who are embedded in the anchor's chair.
  Chris Suellentrop March 27, 2003
  
• Kenneth Pollack's The Threatening Storm Does the "invade Iraq" book say what you think it does?
  Chris Suellentrop March 5, 2003
  
• The Next MacArthur Who will run Iraq after the war?
  Chris Suellentrop Feb. 27, 2003
  
• Dead Man Writing How to keep writing your late father's books.
  Chris Suellentrop Feb. 21, 2003
  
• The Simpsons Who turned America's best TV show into a cartoon?
  Chris Suellentrop Feb. 13, 2003
  
• Astronauts Why they shouldn't be heroes.
  Chris Suellentrop Feb. 6, 2003
  
• The French Why do they hate us?
  Chris Suellentrop Jan. 30, 2003
  
• Glenn Hubbard First-rate economist. Tax-cut champion. Presidential yes man.
  Chris Suellentrop Jan. 22, 2003
  
• George Ryan How corruption, fraud, and cronyism taught him to hate the death penalty.
  Chris Suellentrop Jan. 16, 2003
  
• Wesley Clark Is there a general in the house?
  Chris Suellentrop Jan. 9, 2003