Help on The Atlantic Monthly

[clairenj]

Hi,

I'm looking to subscribe a moderate/conservative leaning magazine and The Atlantic Monthly looks pretty decent to me with some fair writing in their last couple of issues.

I did some research on the net and the opinions seem varied with some calling it liberal rag and others praising it for its conservative point of view.

What is your opinion on this magazine? Is it worth to subscribe for a moderate conservative like me? Thanks.

[bayourod]

Well, it kinda depends on whether you live on the Atlantic coast, Pacific coast, or in my case, the Third coast.

[Asclepius]

What is your opinion on this magazine? Is it worth to subscribe for a moderate conservative like me? Thanks.

Precisely what is a "moderate" conservative?

And what prompts you to ask a group of full-blooded conservatives about "moderate" conservative reading material?

[Renfield]

"...I'm looking to subscribe a moderate/conservative leaning magazine..."

Oh, Good Lord. What you want is The Weekly Standard. Forget the Atlantic Monthly.

[Socratic]

When William Dean Howells was editor and Emerson wrote for it, the magazine was a very fine publication.

[mrsmith]

Too liberal. Not moderate conservative" at all.

You can get the Puzzler, which is the only good thing they offer, for free off the net or copy it at the library.

[nothingnew]

Moderate conservative publication?....hmmmm....just by a blank notebook.

FMCDH(BITS)

[nothingnew]

BTW, welcome to FR. Not off to a good start by posting a vanity concerning moderate conservatism on your first day though.

FMCDH(BITS)

[Steve Eisenberg]

What is your opinion on this magazine? Is it worth to subscribe for a moderate conservative like me? Thanks.

I have subscribed for a few years. They try hard to have balance between liberal and conservative articles, and are light-years better than their clearest competion, Harper's. The Atlantic is a wonderful magazine and has a stronger committment to ranging across the political divide than any publication I know.

To judge from the letters to the editor, and I'm sure they are a fair sample, Atlantic readers are more liberal than are the editors.

At the time of his death last year in Iraq, Michael Kelly had stepped down as their top editor but still had his hand in. Although not a conservative on every issue, Kelly was THE American conservative with legitimacy among mainstream liberal journalists. From what I have read, writers, and other editors loved him even if they didn't share his politics. His loss was a blow to us, and I feel the Atantic has been surrendering a bit to its liberal readership over the past year.

[clairenj]

Wow, I didn't know I was going to get myself into hot seat by asking opinions on a magazine!

Still though, comments are welcome :-)

[I got the rope]

Liberal rag...nuff said.

[William McKinley]

It used to be moderate conservative. Now it is squarely moderate with occasional liberal flourishes. You could do worse.

I would recommend the National Review.

[I got the rope]

Here's my favorite magazine.

[nothingnew]

Tough crowd, but for the very most part fair.

FMCDH(BITS)

[clairenj]

National Review sounds like a good choice. I also checked out Weekly Standard, but I didn't want to send my dimes to William Kristol.

[Steve Eisenberg]

BTW, welcome to FR. Not off to a good start by posting a vanity concerning moderate conservatism on your first day though.

I disagree about the moderate conservatism part, at least. My impression is that Jim Robinson wants a big tent. One thing for sure; if a Republican here gets chided for being too moderate, it won't be through a complaint from a moderator. As for "vanity", most here think every original post should be an article from elsewhere on the net; I don't care myself but defer to this view.

[Rockingham]

The Atlantic is politically eclectic. Sadly, in the Iraq war, they lost their star, their conservative editor at large, Michael Kelly.

If the Atlantic has a house philosophy, it is to dig deep on the facts and write well. They seem to cater to people who are determined to think of and present themselves as intelligent and hence uncomfortable with being committed to a political philosophy. That fits well with most who think of themselves as moderate in any meaningful sense.

Nevertheless, my advice for a "moderate conservative" is to pick the Atlantic up at the news stand if there is an article that interests you that month, but subscribe and regularly read conservative and liberal publications. You seem to be still trying to work out your own politics and need clear points of view and thought-provoking articles.

In time, if you stay politically engaged, you are likely to go to Right or Left and become less and less moderate. Take a look at Thomas Sowell's "Conflict of Visions" for an understanding why that is so. The argument between Left and Right is woven deep into Western civilization. Moderates are the confused civilians wandering in no man's land between the battle lines.

Here are my conservative magazine recommendations, in a rough order of increasing sophistication: Human Events for politically topical, paleo Right views; National Review for main line conservatism; the Weekly Standard for neo-conservative views; the National Interest for high brow foreign policy analysis; and the American Enterprise, City Journal, and the Public Interest for conservative public policy, predominantly on domestic issues; First Things and Commentary for Christian and Jewish conservative views. There are more, some of them first rate, but these are the most widely read conservative magazines.

As for liberal magazines, there is: the hard-Left Nation -- some of them still pine for Joe Stalin; the traditional Left New Republic; Harper's for cultural liberalism; the American Prospect for caring and sharing, welfare state liberalism; and the Washington Monthly for muckraking liberalism.

[LadyDoc]

I always got the Atlantic, but since Michael Kelley died in Iraq, it is getting more PC liberal and anti Bush in a pc as opposed to Michael Moore type way. Now, I often throw it out only partly read...
I'd buy it from a news stand for a few months to see if it improves.

[gregde]

It's now moderately liberal, but very interesting and informative at times.