Document Type
Article
Abstract
By studying the example of Commentary magazine today, we can learn much about how a magazine operates. It is instructive as a model for editorship, the relations between a sponsor and editor, and between the editor and his/her staff and contributors. It shows how a small but astutely run magazine can tap into the prevailing political, cultural and intellectual currents to become a major player in the international scene and speak to power. It demonstrates how large circulation figures are not necessary for a magazine's longevity or level of influence, as Commentary's figures have never been great (60,000 at their peak). It is a paradigm of good writing style and how editorship can produce it. At the same time, we can learn from Commentary, which celebrated its sixtieth birthday in November 2005, the pitfalls of becoming too closely aligned with a particular political movement – neoconservatism – and the consequences thereof in terms of loss of contributors, prestige, power, intellectual range and influence.
Repository Citation
Abrams, Nathan. "Consistently Controversial: Commentary Magazine, 1945 to the Present." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 8, no. 4, 2008, pp. 1–9. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol8/iss4/15