SPECIAL REPORT

The Great Energy Scam

How a plan to cut oil imports turned into a corporate giveaway. A TIME investigation

Asleep at the Switch (Business)

Why America (but not Canada) failed to set up a needed synfuels industry

NATION

SOCIETY

Pills, Race And Rush (News/Society)

Limbaugh's attack on a black quarterback cost him a job. A drug probe could exact an even heavier toll

THE ARTS

Building a Better Pop Star

The record industry needs a savior. American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken could be it. Now will he play along, or is his style too far off-key?

It's Lonely at the Top (Arts/Books)

In You Look Nice Today, Stanley Bing hunts that elusive beast, the soul of the corporate executive

Only the Big Questions (Arts/Appreciation)

A South African writer reflects on his country's new Nobel laureate

Words of Paradise (Arts/Books)

Is there life after Morrie? Mitch Albom finds out in a sad, sweet first novel set in the great hereafter

Return-Trip Ticket (Art)

Lee Bontecou set the art scene alight in the '60s, then disappeared. A new show brings her back alive

INSIDE BUSINESS

Profiting From Fun (Inside Business/Managing)

The work front has become a grind. Yet some firms still believe that serious business is done better with a laugh now and then

Lush Is In No Rush (Inside Business/Retail)

A hipper version of the Body Shop, the British beauty firm is easing into the U.S. so it can hang on to its cachet

Q&A Gregory Mankiw (Inside Business/Board of Economists)

Top economic adviser to George Bush

Relaunching Planet Earl (Inside Business/People)

After two bankruptcies, Robert Earl is heaving Planet Hollywood back into orbit

Is Our Deficit Too Big? (Inside Business/Board of Economists)

The Bush Administration says we shouldn't worry. We ask the experts

Furlongs Behind (Inside Business/Sports)

Horse racing hoped to ride Seabiscuit to revival. It's time for another plan

Fund Fad: Dividends (Inside Business/Investing)

A number of new stock funds seek high yields — and some even make sense

Bye-Bye, Paycheck (Inside Business/Technology)

Companies are steadily replacing paper checks with bank payroll cards

Inside Cover (TIME Bonus Section November 2003: Inside Business/Inside Cover Image)

WORLD

The Terrorist Talks

Al-Qaeda's top man in Asia sings to interrogators about the group's operations. A TIME exclusive

Into The Danger Zone

U.S. paratroopers stage a show of force in Fallujah, the heart of the Iraqi resistance. The rebels immediately pick a fight

No Way Out?

Moscow aims to pull back from Chechnya, but as Paul Quinn-Judge reports from Grozny, Chechens — and the Russian military — may have other ideas

BRIEFING

YOUR TIME

10,000 Steps (Your Time/Health)

How far do you really need to walk every day?

A 401(k) Just for You (Your Time/Money)

Self-employed? Here's how to park big savings in a personal retirement plan

Playing For Keeps (Your Time/Technology)

Can you really make a living on the video-game circuit?