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More on Books & Critics from The Atlantic Monthly.

More on Pursuits & Retreats from The Atlantic Monthly.



Previously in Interviews:

"Ranting Against Cant" (July 16, 2003)
Harold Bloom, a staunch defender of the Western literary tradition, returns to Shakespeare, "the true multicultural author." By Jennie Rothenberg.

"When the Earth Flexes Its Muscles" (July 10, 2003)
Simon Winchester, the author of Krakatoa, talks about the natural and cultural reverberations of a famous volcanic eruption.

"Learning in Public" (June 12, 2003)
Zoë Heller, the author of What Was She Thinking?, talks about trying a new point of view, and how journalism prepared her for fiction.

"Addicted to Oil" (May 29, 2003)
Robert Baer, a former CIA agent and the author of "The Fall of the House of Saud" (May Atlantic), discusses the perils of our dependence on Saudi Arabia and its precious supply of fuel.

"The Disease of the Modern Era" (May 20, 2003)
Alston Chase, the author of Harvard and the Unabomber, argues that we have much to fear from the forces that made Ted Kaczynski what he is. By Sage Stossel.

"The Calculus of Terror" (May 15, 2003)
Bruce Hoffman, a world-renowned expert on terrorism, talks about the strategy behind the suicide bombings in Israel—and what we must learn from Israel's response.

  

Atlantic Unbound | August 5, 2003
 
Interviews
 

The Pursuit of Happiness



Carl Elliott, the author of Better Than Well, talks about amputee wannabes, Extreme Makeover, and the meta-ethics of bioethics

.....

Better Than Well

Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream
[Click the title
to buy this book] by Carl Elliott
Norton
357 pages, $26.95

E arlier this year, the pharmaceutical manufacturer Allergan announced the "Be The True You 2003 Mall Tour," a traveling roadshow of sorts making the rounds of the nation's shopping centers, offering customer testimonials and consultations with doctors about Botox, a wrinkle-smoothing compound derived from botulinum toxin that won FDA approval for use as a cosmetic last year. When it hit the market, Botox was hailed in the media as the newest, strangest thing under the sun, and to the extent that it's not every day that a close cousin of botulism is touted as the latest route to youth and beauty, such fanfare was understandable. But for all its apparent novelty, Botox was only the most recent of a host of innovations promising renewal and redemption via scalpel, needle, or pill.

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