From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

I hope you have already read the letter from managing editor Henry Muller on the opening page of this issue. In it, he discusses the ideas behind the innovations you will notice as you read the magazine. Let me go one step further and describe some of the specific stories that illustrate these changes.

American Ideas introduces you to Sister Pearl Ceasar, a Roman Catholic nun in El Paso's Rio Grande Valley. Using the precepts developed by the late Saul Alinsky, a Chicago social activist, she is leading a campaign to bring drinking water to impoverished families along the Mexican border.

Our Interview is with Allan Bloom, the University of Chicago political philosopher whose best-selling book The Closing of the American Mind has prompted a sobering reappraisal of U.S. higher education. The exchange, which lasted four hours, was conducted by senior correspondent William McWhirter.

In the Travel section, contributor Pico Iyer takes you to Thailand, the "Land of Smiles" as well as this year's hottest new tourist destination. Iyer spent several weeks exploring the Asian jewel, from the cool allure of the hill town of Chiangmai to the seaside resort of Pattaya to the thriving capital of Bangkok.

To help you find these and other stories, the index has been expanded to two pages. If an index can be likened to a restaurant menu, the People section can be compared to dessert. Starting this week, dessert is regularly two pages instead of one.

This issue also marks the introduction of a subtle but distinct change in look, including a bolder use of photography and more graphics. These and other design alterations are the work of Rudolph Hoglund, TIME's art director for eight years, who was assisted by designers Angel Ackemyer and Colleen McCudden. The team set out not to remake the magazine but to fine-tune it visually. "One of the oldest rules in design is that form follows function," says Hoglund. "All our changes are intended to function as tools to provide more information and organize it in a way that makes it easily accessible to the reader." The rest is up to you.