Newsweek Magazine-It Helps to Understand Today's World

In these confusing and troubled times, with so much going on in the world on both the domestic and worldwide scene, Newsweek magazine helps me to keep up with many of the stories that affect me and my world. It provides in-depth stories that help make sense out of all of the conflicting information that seems to bombard me on a daily basis.

I admit that my husband and I are news fanatics, especially in this current political season. The news shows are on in my house several hours a day. I often get frustrated with the news scrolls on the bottom of the screen, which often only mention a story that I find interesting, only to find that on the actual news show it is not mentioned again. I find my weekly Newsweek magazine fills in the missing information on many of these same stories.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE WRITERS

I am fascinated with the comprehensively written articles by some of the top journalists in the country. I feel as if I know many of them personally, as they are often the same people who are involved in panel discussions involving the politics of the day on some of my favorite news shows.

Howard Fineman is one of my favorite contributors to Newsweek. As chief political correspondent, columnist, and senior editor, I find his take on many of the issues of the day very insightful.

I also find articles by Jonathon Alter to be very perceptive. He helps make sense out of many stories in the weekly news cycle. His writing is sharp and easy to understand. Both he and Howard Fineman are regular contributors to Chris Mathews Hardball and Keith Olbermann’s Countdown, both on MSNBC.

One of my favorite contributors to Newsweek's fine writing team is Fareed Zakaria. Born in Mumbai, India, Mr Zakaria gives a more international look at what is happening in the world around us. His insights are often a bit controversial and fascinating. He now hosts a weekly political discussion show in CNN, which began this month.

Jon Meacham is the chief editor of Newsweek. Each issue begins with an article by Mr. Meacham , entitled The Editors Desk,. He briefly provides an introduction about the featured stories that will be included in that week's issue. In the June 23 issue, Mr. Meacham writes an inspiring and fitting tribute to Tim Russert.


FEATURE STORIES

Each week there are special stories that help to provide historical perspectives that can provide clues toward understanding events that are currently taking place in our world.

This week's issue (June 23,2008), features a story by Evan Thomas called the Mythology of Munich. It investigates the politics before the Second World War in Europe, with insights into both the policies of Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. Much has been discussed in this presidential debate about policies of diplomacy, which some call appeasement, toward Iran , with comparisons to Chamberlain's policies toward Germany in 1938. This article helps to put this discussion into an intelligent framework for discussion about events in 2008.

The article immediately following the above piece of writing, A War Worth Fighting ,by a very smart but controversial writer, Christopher Hitchens , takes another look at this same issue with a different slant. The two articles combined help to better understand the discussion of world peace, war and diplomacy that are being discussed in this presidential election.

One of my favorite weekly features is a small column called the Conventional Wisdom Watch. It takes various subjects, as varied as each of the presidential candidates, sports teams, or movies, and with an up or down arrow, rates whether it has done better, worse, or just even compared to what the conventional wisdom of the day would rate it. It is an interesting and often lighthearted look at events and our culture today.

There are always extensive feature stories covering health issues, books, movies, finance, even food and drink, to provide a comprehensive look at many angles of the week's news stories.


PRICE

The cover price of $4.95 per week is significantly more than a year's subscription rate. I have seen a yearly rate offered at between $12.00 (which is what I paid) to $21.33 (that is the price in the postcard that is inside of my magazine for a full year.)

A subscription is a wonderful value to anyone who would like to better understand the world and its politics. It would also make a thoughtful and much appreciated gift.