Cover Story 

74    WHAT TINA WANTS  
            Her Saturday Night Live Sarah Palin impression made Tina
            Fey a household name, snared her a $5 million book deal,
            and juiced the ratings for her funny, clever sitcom, 30 Rock.
            Backstage for the Palin face-off, and at home with Fey and 
            family, Maureen Dowd profiles the queen of comedy. 
            Photographs by Annie Leibovitz.

Features
82   PROFILES IN PANIC 
            How are all those high-rolling Wall Streeters and their 
            pampered wives holding up as the pink slips multiply and
            portfolios evaporate? From the returns counters at high-end 
            stores to the reservation desks on St. Barth’s, Michael
            Shnayerson surveys the financial and social wreckage of a
            gilded age.

88   ELOISE SHEDS A TEAR 
            Buyers of the Plaza Hotel’s new condominiums paid top 
            dollar for a piece of its Old New York magic—but some 
            got a rude surprise once they moved in. With several 
            lawsuits targeting the developer, Evgenia Peretz investigates
            the gap between Plaza history and Plaza hype. 
            Photographs by Todd Eberle. 

94   THE DEVIL AT 37,000 FEET 
            In 2006, a business jet and a Boeing 737 collided high
            above the Amazon—killing 154 people—in one of the most
            improbable aviation disasters in history. Delving into the
            cockpit recordings, William Langewiesche finds the blame
            lies as much in state-of-the-art technology as in human 
            error. 

100  THE THINGS YVES LOVED 
            Yves Saint Laurent’s Paris duplex was overflowing with 
            the trophies of a four-decade hunt for inspiration. 
            In February, those treasures will be auctioned off by the
            late designer’s partner, Pierre Bergé. Previewing an 
            art-world event, Amy Fine Collins hears from Bergé and
            other experts about the passion behind this private 
            collection. Photographs by Pascal Chevallier.

108   THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER 
         SUIT 
               “Clark Rockefeller” posed first as an English aristocrat and
               then as a Hollywood producer before his decade-plus 
               performance as a scion of the illustrious dynasty. While the
               master con artist awaits trial for custodial kidnapping, and 
               has so far refused to be questioned in a missing-persons 
               case, Mark Seal discovers how one role—loving dad—
               brought him down.

114   PLATINUM BLONDE 
               Frederike Helwig and Ned Zeman spotlight Taylor Swift,
               the Tennessee teenager who is putting pop-country first.
 
116   MR. AND MRS. RIGHT 
               With the recent deaths of National Review founder William
               F. Buckley Jr. and his wife, Patricia, conservatism lost a lot
               of its brainpower, and much of its glamour. Interviewing the
               Buckleys’ inner circle—including their apostate son, 
               Christopher—Bob Colacello recaps a grand old romance.
 
FANFAIR
41    31 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE 
         Miami’s iconic Fontainebleau Hotel gets a makeover
42    The Cultural Divide
44    Night-Table Reading; Lisa Robinson’s Hot Tracks
46    My Stuff: J. Robshaw; Leslie Bennetts on Frank Langella

Columns
52      CAPITALIST FOOLS 
            The financial system spiraled out of control because a
            succession of administrations refused to control it, writes 
            Nobel-laureate economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who identifies
            the five most important mistakes Washington made.
58      THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS 
             A. A. Gill takes the Sex and the City bus tour, a soul-
             destroying slog through bakeries, sex shops, and 
             boutiques that proves one thing: Carrie doesn’t live here 
             anymore. 
62      MOTHER JUSTICE 
            After her son was convicted of a made-for-the-tabloids
            murder, Brooklyn housewife Doreen Giuliano went 
            undercover, stopping at nothing to prove his innocence. 
            Christopher Ketcham reveals how her sting may have
            succeeded. Photographs by Harry Benson.

VANITIES
49      GREAT HALL 
50      Dick Cheney pitches a memoir; Bruce Feirstein eavesdrops on
          the Twitter conversations of the rich and powerful
Et Cetera
22      EDITOR’S LETTER 
26      CONTRIBUTORS 
28      LETTERS 
          Mrs. Kennedy and the Mona Lisa 
34      FAIRGROUND
154    CREDITS
156    PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE 
           Roger Moore