September 10, 2012

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International

The remaking of a President

WHEN PRESIDENT BARACK Obama’s motorcade rolls through towns in the patchwork of battleground states where he spends most of his time these days, his supporters still line the streets waving signs and snapping pictures. His speeches are still met with exclamations of “Amen!” and are interrupted by women shouting “I love you.” By LUIZA CH. SAVAGE

Society

THE BROKEN GENERATION

IN LATE AUGUST, as the first leaves changed from green to red and gold, university ghost towns were coming back to life. Residences were dusted out. Classrooms were readied. Textbooks were purchased—and new outfits, new computers, new posters to decorate dorm room walls.

Business

The fear bubble

EARLIER THIS MONTH Louis Moore Bacon, the head of New York hedge fund Moore Capital Management, wrote to his investors offering them a $2-billion refund. Bacon had made investors a fortune exploiting macroeconomic trends such as interest-rate and currency movements. By TAMSIN McMAHON

National

THE BLAME GAME

PABLO AND ANDREA Morales consider themselves Quebecers. The pair arrived in the province from Mendoza, Argentina, in 2005 and settled in Pierrefonds, a suburb on the western tip of Montreal. The decision to come to Canada came in 1999, shortly after a man put a gun to Andrea’s side and demanded her wallet. By MARTIN PATRIQUIN

Society

How children succeed

IN THE LAST 25 years or so, the politically potent American education reform movement, a heterogeneous lot united by little else than a belief that the nation’s schools are in crisis, has moved from cause to cause, from standardized testing to charter schools, like a hyperactive child off his Ritalin. By Brian Bethune

Getting fresh with classical music

What we did to the birds and the buffalo

A prolific author, Savage, 62, is often described as a bird writer—and, to be fair, she is an exceptionally good one, as shown in Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World (2005)—but the breadth of her two dozen books shows she’s really a writer of place. By Brian Bethune, DAFNA IZENBERG, JEN CUTTS, Brian D. Johnson, JULIA DE LAURENTIIS JOHNSON

Letters

I do not see much wrong in Michael Bryant’s reaction to being accosted by a cyclist (“The 28 seconds that changed my life,” National, Sept. 3), and would have probably done the same when attacked by a man acting dangerously. How many Mother Teresas are behind steering wheels, really?

Interview

On leaving England, finding America and finally thinking about mortality

MARTIN AMIS MOVED from London to New York City last year, and his new novel, Lionel Asbo, has widely been viewed as a parting shot at his native U.K. But Amis himself sees it more as a goodbye hug, even though it’s a satire about a lout who wins a lottery and becomes a ridiculous public figure. By MIKE DOHERTY

Business

CANADA’S OTTOMAN EMPIRE

THE BRICK IS known across Canada for its overstuffed furniture, gleaming appliances and commissioned sales staff. The home furnishings retailer’s merchandise is neither high-end, nor particularly trendy—and it's often touted in television ads by a breathless announcer who gushes about limited time sales. By CHRIS SORENSEN

MACLEAN'S BACK PAGES

Grease lightning

THE END OF summer is marked by the snap and crackle of thousands of deep fryers being fired up as concessionaires rumble into town and set up shop at midways across North America. But as you sink your teeth into a hot dough ball that explodes with melted butter, you can be certain that ever-weirder deep-fried fare is coming your way from the United States, where the battle for the best and oddest fair food is waged every year by hard-working entrepreneurs up to their elbows in fat. By PAMELA CUTHBERT

August 272012