The New Republic is one of the nation’s foremost magazines of liberal opinion. Published more-or-less weekly (44 issues a year at $40 an annual subscription), this 36-page publication contains a wide range of articles on politics, economics, current events, defense, and culture from a generally left-of-center perspective. The politics are Democratic (Yay Hillary! Boo Bush!), the economics leftish (they like socialized medicine, oppose tuition vouchers), the cultural issues pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage, and the like. Lefties will feel quite comfortable here. Yet, there are articles of interest to those of the centrist and even right-wing ilk and the magazine is of sufficient influence to be of interest to informed readers across the political spectrum, even if (like
The American Spectator) it isn’t really going to convince anyone..
You don’t to agree with the magazine’s viewpoints to concede that the writing is sharp, educated and informed. Authors include well-known figures such as Nicholas Lemann, Michael Oren, Michael Kinsley, Andrew Sullivan and the occasional member of Congress or ex-Clinton adminstration type. And it is consistently more fair and reasonable than the famously dishonest
Nation, a magazine that has yet to shake its Stalinist leanings.
Each begins with one page of correspondence, some of which is critical of earlier articles so kudos to the editors for their fair-mindedness. The long-running TRB column is next (currently written by Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations), a one-page article on a wide range of current events. Following TRB is a one-page editorial and then three or four pages of short articles that resemble that shorts in
National Review. Each issue also features one lengthy article on subjects such as John Edwards’s populist leanings, Iranian foreign policy, national defense, and Republican political scandals.
TNR’s arts and culture section are a mixed bag. On the downside, the magazine continues to employ as its movie critic Stanley Kaufmann, who is admittedly well-informed on film but whose criticism is not so much colored as drowned in his political biases. He makes the
New York Times film critics seem even-handed. Films with even mild conservative messages will get pilloried by this fellow, and it was his utterly scurrilous and bigoted review of
Hanoi Hilton some years ago that led me to cancel my subscription.
On the other hand, the book and culture reviews often hold interest for all readers. Recently, for example, there was a quite critical article on the modern art industry. The book reviews often discuss in an extended essay several books on similar subjects and can be quite informed. Unfortunately, these too can be quite unfair, as in a recent unpleasant article regarding
First Thing’s editor Fr. Richard John Neuhaus.
The magazine closes with a one-page guest article on a variety of subjects.
As a self-professed Bill Buckley conservative, I read TNR on occasion largely for its cultural criticism. The magazine’s leftist politics don’t agree with me: my view on socialized medicine is that, if you want your hospitals run like a West Side Chicago public high school, then you get the short, painful life that you deserve. Yet I am happy to admit that there is much to read and informed by in this magazine and I think it an important one in the political and cultural arena. My complaint (its appallingly misguided economics and social views aside) is that the lead articles and book reviews are too long and too self-indulgent. I simply don’t have time to wade through stuff that takes so long to get to a point.
That aside, TNR is well-worth the $40 a year for a subscription. It’s sharp, snappy, and occasionally trenchant opinion.
buffoonery’s magazine and newspaper reviews:
Wall Street Journal
Commentary
The Economist
National Review
The Nation
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
First Things
The American Spectator
The New Republic
Guitar World
Guitar World Acoustic
Guitar One
Guitar Player
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