Cover story
68 A WOMAN IN FULL
With Angelina Jolie, it’s sometimes hard to tell where the role ends and reality begins. As her latest movie, Wanted, hits theaters, a spectacularly pregnant Jolie lets Rich Cohen inside her celebrity bubble, revealing why she needed to do a violent action film, how she’s kept her unconventional family grounded, and what’s got Brad Pitt hot these days. Photographs by Patrick Demarchelier. Web special: more Angelina, from the pages of Vanity Fair.
Features76 THE COMEBACK ID
After leaving the White House, Bill Clinton set up
his philanthropic foundation to serve as a force for
good. Things have gotten ugly, though, thanks to his
campaign meltdowns, dubious business ties, and skirt-
chasing posse. Wondering how Hillary Clinton’s biggest
booster became such a liability, Todd S. Purdum gets
several diagnoses from an increasingly alienated inner
circle.
82 LITTLE MISS AMERICA
Mark Seliger and Krista Smith spotlight 12-year-old
star Abigail Breslin, who is bringing one of her own dolls
to life in this month’s Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.
84 COMMIE BALL: A JOURNEY TO THE
END OF A REVOLUTION
Cuba is sitting on some of the world’s greatest baseball
talents,who play in obscurity under ridiculous restrictions,
while the sports agent who has done the most to help
defectors sign with major-league U.S. teams is in a
California jail, convicted of smuggling players. Scouting
the Communist regime’s all-stars, Michael Lewis reports
on another kind of moneyball.
92 MAD ABOUT THE GUY
The Man Crush can be harmless—the sports fan’s hero
worship of Tom Brady, say, or a writer’s obsession with
John Updike. But when half the male press corps carries
a torch for John McCain, it’s time to examine the potential
downside of such infatuations. James Wolcott recalls
a few recent cases that spelled heartbreak for millions.
96 HOW THE WEB WAS WON: AN ORAL
HISTORY OF THE INTERNET
Fifty years ago, spooked by the launch of Sputnik, the
Pentagon hired some of the top minds in science and
technology to counter the Soviet threat. Free of red tape,
the inventors thought big, the breakthroughs began,
and the foundations of the Internet were laid. Keenan
Mayo and Peter Newcomb capture the stories of
engineers and hackers, visionaries and entrepreneurs,
who shaped the age of YouTube, Google, and 113
million blogs. Photographs by Christian Witkin.
Web special: A portfolio of the people who started it all.
FANFAIR
27 31 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE
White-hot—Anna Faris poses for Michael Roberts
28 The Cultural Divide
30 Patricia Bosworth goes gonzo for Hunter S. Thompson;
Ned Zeman will always have Faris; Bruce Handy gives
American Teen an A plus
32 Matt Tyrnauer welcomes pre-fab home; Meenal Mistry
catches up with the Coppolas
34 My Stuff—Jules Asner; Krista Smith is in stitches over
Fashionology LA
Columns
50 LAST CALL, BOHEMIA
Crowded cafés, tiny bookstores, and peculiar bars—such
are the breeding grounds of the endangered species known
as bohemians, who once flourished in London’s Soho and
on Paris’s Left Bank. As a developer sets his sights on
New York’s Greenwich Village, Christopher Hitchens
warns against the philistine school of urban planning.
54 ADVANTAGE MR. BOND
Before James Bond dashes the global aspirations of his
nemeses, he likes to take them on at their own game.
With Hugo Drax, it was bridge; with Auric Goldfinger, golf.
With Dr. Julius Gorner, villain of the much-anticipated new
007 novel, it’s a savage tennis match. V.F. has the exclusive
excerpt from Devil May Care, while Cullen Murphy talks
with its author, celebrated British novelist Sebastian Faulks,
about writing as Ian Fleming.
Vanities
65 MANDY MIA!
66 Richard Rushfield and Adam Leff handicap festival season
Et Cetera
16 EDITOR’S LETTER
What Ever Happened to the Future?
18 CONTRIBUTORS
22 LETTERS
A Shadow on the Heartland; Web special: more letters,
plus the V.F. Mailbag
39 FAIRGROUND
Tribeca’s Shining Night
135 CREDITS
136 PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
Emma Thompson