The Atlantic
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Price : $59.90
Offer Price : $24.50
2009-06-10
By Kay's Husband (Virginia, U.S.A.)
The Atlantic Monthly was founded primarily as a "literary and culture commentary magazine" for and by local authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., John Greenleaf Whitter, and James Russell Lowell back in 1857. On February 1, 1862, The Atlantic Monthly was the first to publish Julia Ward Howe's BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. Until recently the magazine was known mainly as a "New England literary magazine". The Atlantic too has shrugged off its roots, no longer publishing much fiction beyond a summer special. Things have greatly changed between 1857 and 2009.
I started reading The Atlantic Monthly, or The Atlantic, as they now call it, back in 1963 while serving in the military. Read it all the way through college into the 70s and 80s, etc. While I go back to Elizabeth Drew, Ward Just, James Fallows, Edward Weeks, and who can forget Phoebe Lou Adams, among others, I find today's magazine worthwhile if for no other reason than the book reviews and writer profiles that frequently occur.
As with most magazines of today, The Atlantic Monthly is no better, no worse than most, though much less than it was once. Though it is more colorful than in prior years, it still has a lack luster to it. And the logo, The Atlantic, now in use while new to many readers, is the way the logo appeared back in the 1940s and 1950s. Sometimes I think the high money-bright idea people at the magazine are too clever for their shirts, I mean positions. I really mark The Atlantic's decline from the mid-1970s, various and sundry ailments from which it has never bounced back.
I assume the magazine has changed hands at least once, no longer coming from Boston but from Washington, D.C. I think The Atlantic's guidelines and direction have changed too through the years and doesn't always succeed. Undecided whether to be a literary magazine, a political magazine, a "People" knockoff, or a combination of all. However, as many reviews listed here indicate, The Atlantic doesn't always succeed nor please its subscribers.
But for the occasional 'good' feature and the book/author information offered I will stick with them. And as with many monthlies, they are now reduced down to 10 issues a year rather than 12. You receive 2 combined issues plus 8 others, that too seems the contemporary trend (helps with summer vacations and winter holidays). I prefer The Economist to most other magazines but the cost is far too prohibitive at $127.00 per year. So The Atlantic is my next choice, good or not so good.
Semper Fi.
