James Traub is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has worked since 1998. From 1994 to 1997, he was a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has also written for The New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and elsewhere. His articles have been widely reprinted and anthologized. He has written extensively about international affairs and especially the United Nations. In recent years, he has reported from the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo and Haiti. He has also written often about national politics and urban affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime. He is currently writing a book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations, scheduled to appear in late 2006. His previous books include, The Devil’s Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square, which was published earlier this year, and City On A Hill, a book on open admissions at City College which appeared in 1994 and won the Sidney Hillman Award for nonfiction.