NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/November 26, 2007 Issue (on newsstands Monday, November 19).

NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/November 26, 2007 Issue (on newsstands Monday, November 19).

COVER: "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" (p. 57). Senior Editor and Columnist Steven Levy explores how technology is poised to change the way people read, write and publish books. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos believes he can improve upon one of humankind's most incredible devices with the release of the Amazon Kindle, a handheld e-book device that can store hundreds of books in its memory. Bezos hopes the device will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. While literary critics are bemoaning a possible demise of print culture, book lovers on the Internet are waiting for a chance to refurbish the dusty halls of literacy. "If you're going to do something like this, you have to be as good as the book in a lot of respects," says Bezos. "But we also have to look for things that ordinary books can't do." Levy also reports on other initiatives underway to digitize libraries and how this connectivity will also affect the publishing business model. Also part of the cover package, as the first journalist to get his hands on the device, Levy reviews the Amazon Kindle, available Monday, November 19 at www.Newsweek.com.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983

(Photo:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071118/NYSU004 )

PERISCOPE: "Trouble on The Takeoff" (p. 8). National Security Correspondent John Barry reports that three years after Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to upgrade the 30-year-old Marine One fleet, industry sources say that major tinkering with the company's design has left the bird 2,000 pounds overweight. Efforts to fix the problem have required such rethinking of its structure that, in the words of one source, "we're essentially designing a new helicopter."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71006

IRAQ: "Baghdad Comes Alive" (p. 31). Chief Foreign Correspondent Rod Nordland reports that on returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months, the Iraqi capital is showing signs of life. Shops and street markets are open late again and the Baghdad Zoo is open once more. But the calm is all too fragile, and it's an opportunity the government cannot afford to miss. Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad. The civil war is in the midst of a huge, though nervous, pause. Yet, patching up Baghdad's social fabric may prove a lot harder than defeating Al Qaeda.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70990

ESPIONAGE: "Dangerous Liaisons" (p. 35). Investigative Correspondents Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff report on the speculation that former FBI and CIA employee Nada Nadim Prouty, who pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States in a federal courtroom, is a "Hizbollah mole" with terrorist ties.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71107

MIDDLE EAST: "Condi's Southern Strategy" (p. 36). Senior Editor Michael Hirsh reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice knows something about the corrosive power of hopelessness, and she worries it is happening in the Middle East, where violent radicalism is spreading in the absence of an alternative path. Palestinians and Israelis both know by now, she says, "that even ordinary people can be driven to violence if there's no hope." Rice is drawing a connection between the plight of the Palestinians and her experience as a black woman in white America, a clear sign of how personally she's taking the mission to create a Palestinian state-a task that has obsessed and defeated many a secretary of State before her.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70992

POLITICS: "The Wrath Of John" (p. 37). White House Correspondent Holly Bailey reports that heading into the primaries-and trailing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in national polls and the money chase-there is an edge, and urgency, to John Edwards that wasn't there in his 2004 campaign. The man who once refused to disparage fellow Democrats now excoriates Clinton at every opportunity. To stand out, he is returning to the skills that made him rich and celebrated, turning the country into a courtroom and putting the front runners on trial.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70997

MILITARY: "A Learning Disability" (p. 40). Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Dan Ephron reports that, unlike many American veterans who went to college on the generous GI Bill after World War II, today's scaled-down version of the GI Bill is falling short for veterans. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who fought in Vietnam and whose son recently returned from service in Iraq, wants to raise the annual allowance of the current GI Bill. "All I'm saying is, let's give them the same educational chance."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70996

JONATHAN ALTER: "Rudy's Loyalty Problem" (p. 49). Senior Editor and Columnist Jonathan Alter writes that Judith Regan's sensational lawsuit filed against Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation feels thin and offers little evidence. But Alter notes that she is not your basic disgruntled employee. She was an important player in the FoxRudy power axis, now aiming for the presidency. "Turncoats are dangerous, and Regan is a skillful and brazen enough media manipulator to keep this story humming for months," he writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70998

SCIENCE: "Are the Kids Alright?" (p. 52). Science Columnist Sharon Begley reports that new research questions whether early warning signs such as teen sex inevitably lead to problems. "There is one unquestionably real consequence of thinking of your child as troubled, or slow, or difficult, or uninterested in school: it can subtly shift how you treat him and what you expect of him, turning harbingers into self-fulfilling prophecies," she writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70988

WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP: "To Shoot for the Stars" (p. 54). Senior Editor Barbara Kantrowitz talks with Astronomer Heidi Hammel, who's helping to build the next big space telescope after Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2013. "A lot of people think science is a real solo thing ... But nowadays, for the most part, science is done in a collaborative environment," Hammel says.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70975

MOVIES: "Princess Power" (p. 66). Associate Editor Ramin Setoodeh and Assistant Editor Jennie Yabroff report that Disney has long made princesses a lucrative myth among kids and tweens, but now its targeting middle-class women as well. Women around the country now opt for "princess weddings." For Disney, Princess is a $4 billion business that's on its way to becoming the most successful marketing venture ever. http://www.newsweek.com/id/70985

"The Roles They Are A-Changin'" (p. 68). Senior Editor David Gates reviews "I'm Not There," Todd Haynes's oblique, fragmented fictional portrait of Bob Dylan. "Despite a couple of slow stretches-and Dylan has them, too-'I'm Not There' turns out to be worthy of its subject. This isn't faint praise. It's a full-on rave," he writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/70994

MUSIC: "Brown Is the New Gold" (p. 70). Senior Writer Lorraine Ali reports that with his fancy footwork and dazzling performances, 18-year old Chris Brown may be pop music's last great hope. King of Pop Michael Jackson's dusty throne now has a foreseeable heir, which is no small feat in an ailing music industry-it really does seem like Brown is only just getting started.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/38563

TIP SHEET: "Holiday Gift Guide" (p. 73). Associate Editor Raina Kelley looks at how not to panic about wedging another gift-giving season into your crammed schedule, with a list of fun and funky presents for all your nearest and dearest this holiday season-from the top chef, powerbroker or baby genius to the fashionista or gearhead.

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/archive/2007/11/17/tip-sheet holiday-gift-guide.aspx (Due to length of URL, please cut and paste into browser.)

PRNewswire -- Nov. 18

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Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: LaVenia LaVelle, +1-212-445-4859, LaVenia.LaVelle@Newsweek.com,
or Jan Angilella, +1-212-445-5638, Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com, both of
Newsweek

Web site:

http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: To book correspondents, contact LaVenia LaVelle at 212- 445-4859 -- LaVenia.LaVelle@Newsweek.com -- or Jan Angilella at 212-445-5638 - - Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

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