Pope on a rope tow / Lisa Anne Auerbach -- The happiest man in Cuba / Rebecca Barry -- A cup of Cuban coffee / Stephen Benz -- Eternal Winter / Tom Bissell -- Stranger in the Dunes / Graham Brink -- The forest primeval / Peter Canby -- Over there / Scott Carrier -- The road from Abalak / Peter Chilson -- They shoot poachers, don't they? / Tom Clynes -- The despair of Art Deco / Geoff Dyer -- The respect of the men / Jack Handy -- The ballad of Route 66 / Christopher Hitchens -- Power trip / Emily Maloney -- Winter cruises under ten dollars / Bruce McCall -- What happened to Uncle Shmiel? / Daniel Mendelsohn -- Lost in the Arctic / Lawrence Milman -- Gettin' Jiggy / Steven Rinella -- Mungo made me do it / Kira Salak -- The devil and Ambrose Bierce / Jacob Silverstein -- My dinner in Kabul / Andrew Solomon -- I am fashion / Michael Specter -- Just one word: plastic / Hank Stuever -- Blood wood / Patrick Symmes -- Where the ghost bird sings / William T. Vollmann.