When the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago this month, part of what made it such a hopeful moment was the fact that, in that pre-wired world, walls still seemed to be something that could actually separate people. Today such an idea seems laughable — we are all totally connected all the time. Yet the number of walls has not decreased. On the contrary, new ones have sprung up between Israelis and Palestinians, Americans and Mexicans, while the old ones such as the landmine-laden one between Morocco and the Polisario-controlled areas of the Western Sahara remain firmly in place. In this issue, we visit some of these existing walls and borders, both physical and cultural, to examine what makes us still cling to this clumsy and dehumanizing solution.

If the Berlin Wall’s fall was capitalism dancing to pop music on communism’s grave, the going-out-of-business sale that followed a few years later with the dissolution of the USSR was more of a mass headbang. Walmsley Apricot looks at how one savvy American marketer used the triumph of capitalism to sell more root beer.

Amidst all the celebrating of this anniversary, most Europeans forget that their continent still has a wall: between the Greek and Turkish-controlled areas of Cyprus. Photojournalist Carlo Bevilacqua shoots both sides of Cyprus’ checkpoint-clogged capital of Nicosia.

Another photojournalist, Nick Morris, traces both sides of another wall: between the Mexican and American sides of the wall built to keep immigrants coming north from Tijuana.

Mark Loiacono reflects on the controversy surrounding the removal of Richard Serra’s public sculpture, Tilted Arc, the so-called “Berlin Wall of Foley Square,” in light of Serra’s new exhibit in New York.

Last Exit flavor columnist Anne Daily examines the legal and regulatory restrictions that keep us from having full choice over what we eat.

And James Kaplan traces how Philip Payton went from being an unemployed janitor to the real estate agent who broke down New York City’s racial barriers and created black Harlem.

— The Editors