A good thread is hard to find
Jeremy Beer heaps praise on to the latest issue of The American Conservative (and not just because he’s in it) writing:
I just received my copy of The American Conservative’s most recent issue. It’s a very porchy issue indeed. Includes my interview with Greg Wolfe, editor of IMAGE; an essay by Phillip Blond on Red Toryism, adapted from the speech he gave at Georgetown under the auspices of the Tocqueville Forum; Bill Kauffman on To Kill a Mockingbird; and much more. Really, please support the only magazine devoted to thoughtful, non-ideological conservatism by subscribing. And if you find a magazine devoted to thoughtful progressivism, subscribe to that, too (and let me know what it is). (emphasis added, EDK)
I’m interested also. What is the liberal counter-part to The American Conservative? Or is the ideological composition of the left simply too different than the right to compare the two?
Along these lines, what are people reading these days – on the left, right, and otherwise? Other than our humble blog, of course – when you can tear yourself away from it that is….
And if there’s anything else you’d like to talk about, consider this an open thread.
Maribou and I are subscribed to Lapham’s Quarterly.
I think it’s probably exceptionally conservative, though (in the way that Rufus is the most Conservative dude on the site).
Would The Atlantic count as thoughtful Progressivism? Harper’s?Report
The Washington Monthly or Mother Jones might be comparable to The Am Con.
random open thread topic: I have just got around to watching the new Dr. Who’s. Wow, they really are good. Christopher Eccelston (sp?) is a great doctor, shame he only did one season.Report
Really, is Mother Jones worth reading? I’m genuinely curious. I’ve seen Lapham’s Quarterly once — perhaps I’ll give it a shot. I would consider The Atlantic to be centrist. Harper’s I thought more interesting under Lapham.Report
@Jeremy Beer, Well i think MJ is good allthough i will admit to not having read the mag in a while. I don’t know about the Atlantic mag, but they have a variety of bloggers. Sullivan and mcmegan blog for them so i would be surprised if the mag was progressive. Allthough from what i have seen the print edition is good quality stuff.Report
I hear Dissent is pretty decent. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/Report
I would say The American Prospect would be the comparable publication from the Left.
Mother Jones is a Huffington’s retread; or maybe it’s the other way around.
I only read Douthat’s posts from The Atlantic’s website. It was the only thing there worth reading, as far as I could see; and so my view of them is somewhat skewed.Report
What’s the name of Derek Turner’s mag over in London? I read a couple of excellent pieces from an edition I recv’d. Anyone else read it and how do you like it?Report
It’s a tossup between Hustler and Political Affairs.Report
TAC began as a paleocon reaction to the Iraq War, mostly, with the sponsorship of Pat Buchanan. Thus it became a motley refuge for all sorts of not-liberals who disagreed with the Bush Administration. This gives it a unique voice, utterly lacking in ideological coherence (or conformity). Most other right-leaning organs tend to be more ideologically conformist.
Given that the other, ‘progressive’ viewpoint is all over the map, it’s hard to find a comparable analogy. And probably inappropriate to try: the situation in today’s “conservative” movement, and in today’s GOP, is pretty unique. (See: “closure, epistemic.”)Report
Great thread. Democracy usually has some good pieces. I especially liked one article on progressive bioethics.
http://www.democracyjournal.org/index.php
I also highly recommend this excerpt from Daniel Bell’s “The End of Ideology” to those interested in dissent and, well, Dissent.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/bell-chap13.htmlReport
I would agree with Matthew Schmitz on Democracy being a good read. I’ll probably take some flak here but I still enjoy Time and US News & World Report. While they may not be as highbrow as other publications they still offer some interesting reads and I think they are a bit more grounded in reality rather than fantasy.Report
I like TAC. I feel slightly guilty about it because they hold some positions (on immigration and trade) I think are … ethically challenged, but its invariably well-reasoned and well-written, and I’m vaguely surprised to agree with them about a lot of things.
I’ve read The Economist since I was about 12, which apparently is unusual. I nearly cancelled my subscription during the Iraq war but I’m now glad I didn’t.
I buy the Atlantic sometimes at airports. I usually like it, and I do enjoy their bloggers, although Megan McArdle drives me crazy. I’d place them on the sensible centre right somewhere, though its a bit ambiguous.
I enjoy The American Prospect (and Prospect come to that) but their web presence seems to have faded.
Most of my editorial comes from bloggers these days though.Report
TAC publishes the invaluable Larison, but also the execrable Pat Buchanan, and links to the despicable Steve Sailer. I’d call it a mixed bag.Report
The nearest liberal counterpoint would be TNR. The dissident rags on each side are written to be irresistible catnip to each base.Report
@Michael Drew, Of course, in the old days, TNR constituted the main-est of mainstream liberal publications, and in some ways still does, but its positions on foreign policy put it precisely where Larison et alia are relative to their side’s standard positions. On fiscal matters, Larison is a small-government conservative, as I believe everyone at TAC is, and in fact in his purely political blogging adopts a discouraged, disillusioned, but still partisan Republican viewpoint (at least to my reading).Report
@Michael Drew,Yeah, I remember people who were harder left calling it ‘The New Republican’.Report
Michael Drew beat me to it. The New Republic is what I often read (along with the Atlantic). I once used to think TNR was the NRO of the left but they’re too small and the left is too fragmented.Report
@North, I think TNR is way more centrist than NRO. NRO takes – always – the extreme party line, and while TNR certainly has a consistent worldview, it’s more akin to “third way,” DLC-style leftism, which really just boils down to vaguely leftist corporatism.
Dissent is great, so is AmCon; I also pop into Reason from time to time. Always read Slate, and I try to find Christopher Hitchens wherever his most recent article may have been written.Report
@Graham J., Graham, absolutely, but say what you will about NRO it is the center, the crossroads if you will, of the right wing online world. I once imagined that TNR was the same for the left, but alas (and horray), the left is too chaotic and decentralized to have just one center.Report
@North, I would say The Nation has become the left’s National Review. It’s circ is pretty competitive with NR and Katrina vanden Heuvel is a pretty regular commentator on most MSM networks.Report
@Bubbaquimby, Hmm thanks Bubba, maybe I’ll have to look at it. Crazy Uncle Marty picks on them sometimes when he escapes from the attic so that can only say good things about them.Report
I sort of got tired of the level of coverage in a number of the US outlets and subscribed to the Economist. So I read that during the week and am usually about a week behind on breaking news. I also get a lot of my news here, although I hope that doesn’t scare anyone!Report
@Rufus, I love the economist, but I’m too cheap to buy it except for when I’m flying. Damn thing is expensive.Report
@North, At one point they were putting pretty much all of it online for free. But I think they might’ve stopped that.Report