Blind Into Baghdad [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONMost of the material in this book first appeared as articles in The Atlantic Monthly between 2002 and 2005. When time they were written, the articles illustrated two of the ways a monthly magazine, with its very long lead time, can attempt to cover major news stories that are being reported nonstop and almost instantaneously over TV and radio, in blogs, and by leading newspapers.One approach is anticipation. This involves choosing an upcoming event when it is still too far away for other media to have turned to it and laying out a way of thinking about the event that might affect other coverage, and thereby help shape public attitudes, when the right time comes. The other is reconstructionpulling together details, comparing accounts, answering leftover questions, and ultimately retelling a story that was misexplained or only half explained before. Like all of journalism, which is defined as the best version of the truth that is available by deadline time, magazine articles are imperfect. Like most acts of prédiction, the anticipatory articles are even more obviously imperfect than the reconstructions, which were written with the advantage of know-ing how things turned out. Yet as the events described here move from the realm of current events into history, the reports in this book are meant to show the value of both anticipation and reconstruction in understanding major changes in national and international life.