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September 2009

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Features

Jan Morris

Where in the World?

Fez Morocco donkeys

Where Donkeys Deliver

The author returns to Morocco to explore the animal's central role in the life of this desert kingdom

Hagi Castle Shizuki Park

Serene Japan

On the western coast, far from bustling Tokyo, tradition can be found in contemplative gardens, quiet inns and old temples

Golden Temple

Saving Punjab

A Sikh architect is helping to preserve cultural sites in the northern Indian state still haunted by 1947's heart-wrenching Partition

Castleton Gardens Jaimaca

Captain Bligh's Cursed Breadfruit

The biographer of William Bligh—he of the infamous mutiny on the Bounty—tracks him to Jamaica, and the completion of his star-crossed mission

Vistula River and Wawel Castle in Krakow Poland

Under the Polish Sun

The memoirist trades Tuscany for northern light and the unexpected pleasures of Krakow and Gdansk

Los Angeles freeway

The Long Way Home

The noted world traveler fulfills a boyhood dream—to drive across America in the spirit of Kerouac, Steinbeck and other poets of the open road

Departments

Indelible Images

Off to the Races

Andrej Bozek and his son Alec fled Poland in 1974. Photographer Sean Kernan followed them from an Austrian refugee camp all the way to Texas

Letters

Letters

Readers Respond to the July Issue

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Hungry snakes, giant kangaroos, bat noses, and more

This Month in History

September Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

From the Castle

From the Castle

Smithsonian 2.0

Around the Mall

Back to Basics

Transforming everyday items into Native American artwork, Brian Jungen bridges the gap between indigenous and mass cultures

The Object at Hand

Attack At Sea

A WWII sailor's memento recalls a harrowing ordeal

What's Up

What's Up

The Last Page

Last Fan Standing

Why I'll always root for the home team