In this issue
Edition: Europe
Edition: Europe
Vol. 170, No. 22
COVER
The Death of French Culture
(Europe | France)
The land of Proust, Monet, Piaf and Truffaut has lost its status as a cultural superpower. Can it regain its glory?
POSTCARD FROM
Postcard: Panama
A bitter dispute over a wealthy American's will has become a metaphor for this nation's big divide. Inside the fight for $50 million
LETTERS
Sibling Science
(Inbox)
Marital Misery; An Expat's Lament; Green Crusaders
GLOBAL ADVISER
Stairway to Heaven
(Diversions)
A tercentennial face-lift for London's fanciest retailer
The Spice of Hanoi (TIME Traveler)
Visit Vietnam's capital for a cosmopolitan mélange of Chinese temples, French colonial architecture and American consumerism
Family Fight Club
Next time you're in Rome, take a course in gladiatorial combat
Tubular Belles (Tech Watch)
Reinvented tube amps give your audio equipment the fuller, smoother sounds of the past

A Brief History of White House State Dinners
Airline Bag Fees: As High as the Cost of a Seat?
Prehistoric Super-Crocodiles May Have Dined on Dinosaurs
Junior Eurovision: Schoolyard Crushes with Glitter
Can the A380 Bring the Party Back to the Skies?
Who Will Inherit Joel Stein's Kid?
Cartoons of the Week
The Weekly Acoustic News
Climate Central: Training Pilots to Land on Skis
Asterix at 50: The Comic Hero Conquers the World