We have just witnessed, in the spectacular growth of U.S. fortunes over the past two decades, a once-in-a-century phenomenon. Puffed up by the boom in high-technology and finance, a select group of Americans has accumulated an even larger boodle in an even shorter period of time than the titans of the Gilded Age amassed 100 years ago. The numbers almost defy belief.

... If the recent accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few resembles the Gilded Age, what about the politics?

... While history often repeats, it usually does so only in outline; ... politics today has a somewhat different cast.

President Bush's top drug policy adviser says the government's anti-drug ads largely are being ignored by teens, and a survey finds no evidence the multimillion-dollar campaign is discouraging drug use.

"Engineers and entrepreneurs from India and China who work in Silicon Valley are quietly fueling a high-tech revolution in their native countries in ways that challenge traditional notions of a "brain drain." ... [They are] "agents of global economic change."

"The 'brain drain' from developing countries such as India and China has been transformed into a more complex, two-way process of 'brain circulation' linking Silicon Valley to select urban centers in India and China."

The precocious New America Foundation has just agreed to a deal with Basic Books to publish jointly up to 10 books a year covering public policy and current affairs. Until now, fellows at the three-year-old think tank primarily have relied on op-eds and magazine articles to express their deep thoughts.

Foreign Affairs is making available the full text of a selection of new and previously published articles on the interests, goals, and political dynamics on all sides, as well as the history of the two parties' recent interactions and American involvement in the region.

The Last Negotiation, Hussein Agha and Robert Malley (May/June 2002)

Conventional wisdom says the best approach to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict is to strive for a ceasefire followed by a return to painstaking step-by-step negotiations. In fact, the incremental approach is doomed to failure, and peace will only come through outside intervention based on a clear plan to end the conflict once and for all.

The Last of the Patriarchs, Aluf Benn (May/June 2002)

What does Ariel Sharon want? Not to make peace or push the Palestinians out of the territories, but rather to freeze the status quo and put off final-status negotiations for years.

Palestinians Divided, Khalil Shikaki (January/February 2002)

Yasir Arafat will be able to fend off internal leadership challenges only if he can deliver a substantial settlement with the Israelis or give his own people better and more open government. Neither is likely, and what follows Arafat may be even worse.

Back to the Bazaar, Martin Indyk (January/February 2002)

After its victory in Afghanistan, the United States has an opportunity to strike a new bargain with its major Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It should indeed press for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also challenge authoritarianism, anti-Americanism, and the lack of Arab support for Middle East peace.

The Sentry's Solitude, Fouad Ajami (November/December 2001)

Arafat wants the "Arab street" to rise up in rebellion and force the United States to accept his claims. Better the fire of an insurrection, he reasons, than the risks of reconciling his people to a peace he has not prepared them for.

Middle East Peace Through Partition, David Makovsky, (March/April 2001)

Why did the peace process begun at Oslo fall apart? Because of what the Palestinians and Israelis failed to do, because of what the Palestinian Authority became, and because there was no clear strategy for an endgame. Now disengagement is the only route to stability.

Israel After Heroism, Eliot A. Cohen, (November/December 1998)