The New Yorker (1-year)

The fiction and poetry sections are almost always to my literary taste. Since I live in Manhattan, I do appreciate the local listings, and information. But I would still subscribe if I lived in Kansas, just because this is a provocative magazine for intelligent, thinking people - and fun to read too!
JANA


A Magaizine for Everyone   December 19, 2006
Yosemite Sam (Reno-Tahoe)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

One of the spotlight reviews referred to NY readers as a secret society or an elite. I'm sure this is tongue in cheek because the New Yorker really is a magazine for everyone to enjoy if they can get past its intimidating rep.

I got sucked into the New Yorker because I picked up a roommate's copy and to my surprise became absorbed by, of all things, a story about problems with mail delivery. i thought it would be boring (which was my perception about the magazine) but couldn't get over how interesting it was. I became a subscriber and have been (with a few interruptions) a faithful reader ever since. I always find interesting things to read and I've found the magazine to be a great guide to topics that I normally would not have been interested in and I am better informed because of it. The magazine is fearless in its reporting even if its stories challenge society's sacred cows. Elizabeth Kolbert's recent series on climate change is one example of the New Yorker's outstanding reporting.....it was the clincher for me in terms of understanding how overwhelming the evidence is for global warming and how imminent the threat is.

Since I cut my teeth on the New Yorker during the Tina Brown years I've always had a soft spot for that time in the magazine's history. I lived in a very small town at the time and I always found the magazine to be a great guide to a different world that was/is very hip, funny and smart. The actual pieces are still that way but I find some of the editorials somewhat knee-jerk albeit written in a very articulate way. I guess I'm the type of reader who likes to absorb information and come to my own conclusions about things and there is something a little musty about the mindset of the editorial writers....it just feels a bit ivory tower. However that is a very small complaint: for political reporting, sports, culture, world affairs, and the occasional slice of life quirky tale the New Yorker is a great passport to a fascinating world.


Worth the Money   August 14, 2002
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

I have subscribed to several magazines over the years and "The New Yorker" continues to be the most consistently satisfying one I receive. I thoroughly enjoy the excellent articles, and always read each issue from cover to cover. The depth and breadth of the reportage is essentially unequaled in magazine journalism. A liberal slant generally exists in the political writing, and while I certainly weary of that and don't find it justifiable, it's not, by any means, a characteristic unique to "The New Yorker".

Someone once made the comment that reading "The New Yorker" can make you feel smart without doing anything. There is so much to learn; I find it a great companion to my college history, English, and art courses.

I hope the quality of this magazine continues. If so, I will be a subscriber for a long time.


Not Just for New Yorkers   July 31, 2003
Mollie Taylor (Atlanta, GA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

When I started taking this magazine, my roommate asked me, "But isn't that for New Yorkers?" I answered her saying that, yes, there was some information for New Yorkers but that the majority of the magazine could be read by anybody. My high school English teacher, the best teacher I have had, recommended this magazine to our class even against the wishes of most of our parents, who were largely very conservative. I took The New Yorker my junior year of high school but then stopped taking it because I rarely had enough time to read it. Now I am taking it again, vowing to *make* time to read it. The content is exceptional. The writing is better even than most books. And of course the cartoons are quite witty. Everyone should take this magazine, especially anyone working to improve their education and reading and writing skills.


Bountiful...but Biased.   February 4, 2007
Bernard Chapin (CHICAGO! USA)
7 out of 13 found this review helpful

I have to admit that I'm a big fan of the New Yorker. To me it embodies the phase je ne sais quoi. There are not too many magazines out there offering up the type of information and entertainment which it does. Its reporting is exceptional and I greatly enjoy the extended pieces on topics which other journals don't explore in the same detail. To the denizen of New York, its early page descriptions of city life are intriguing and undoubtedly invaluable even if they are bewildering to the non-resident (like this reviewer). I also enjoy its art and its cartoons. The one reason that I cannot give it more than a three star rating is due to the rampant leftist bias of its political coverage. This is something which it needs to be more honest about. In the most recent issue, I read a The Talk of the Town concerning the State of the Union Address and was appalled by the partisan slant of its writer who happens to be the senior editor, Hendrik Hertzberg. The skewed prism in which he views the world was so obvious that I began laughing. He mentions the Republican minority's vain efforts to respond after Johnson's speech in 1966 along with the weakness of Dole's minority rebuttal in 1996, but then raves about the great work done by James Webb the other night. What a surprise! Then he plays the shill for the Democratic Party by pretending that they have presented a policy for Iraq when they clearly have not. A truly honest and reputable publication should inform readers of the angle from which they process political events, but the New Yorker fails to do so. This a black mark against an otherwise outstanding magazine.