Substance, Not Ephemera

This is one of the few magazines left on the newsstand that doesn't base its business model on celebrity gossip, celebrity interviews, celebrity news, something you can buy, self-help advice, body worship or political diatribes.

The Atlantic actually allows its contributors to write at length on a subject, a rarity in large circulation magazines. It's not a collection of excerpts, as Harper's is. It's not a blatant vehicle for attracting jewelry and luxury car advertisers, as Vanity Fair is. Its editors don't lecture its readers, as Content does. It hasn't compromised, as the New Yorker did a few years back when Tina Brown (was that her name? I can't remember) came on board. What it does do is provide a forum for good writing and ideas to a general audience, without taking itself too seriously at the same time.

So it doesn't pique the interest of the Game Boy/dot-com/multiple piercing crowd? I'm relieved to hear it. There may be some grown-ups left in publishing after all, even some who aren't yet out of their 20s.