The American (magazine)

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For the print magazine published 1906–1956, see The American Magazine.
The American
EditorNick Schulz
First issueNovember 2006 (2006-November)
Final issueDecember 2008 (print)
CompanyAmerican Enterprise Institute
CountryUnited States
Based inWashington, D. C.
LanguageEnglish

The American was an online magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. The magazine's primary focus was the intersection of economics and politics. Previously known as The American: A Magazine of Ideas, it was published six times annually from November 2006 to December 2008.

Origins and editorship[edit]

The American was founded in November 2006[1] by James K. Glassman, the former president of The Atlantic Monthly and former publisher of The New Republic, as an AEI project. It replaced the previous public-affairs magazine published by AEI, The American Enterprise.[2][3][4] Publication of the first issue was delayed until after the November 2006 election to include election results.[5]

In late 2007, Glassman left The American to serve as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy in the George W. Bush administration; he was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Nick Schulz, who had served as a senior editor of the young magazine since its founding; the first issue edited by Schulz was labeled March/April 2008.[6] (Glassman and Schulz had previously collaborated on TCS Daily.[7][8]) Schulz is also the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at AEI.[9]

In November 2008, AEI ended the print version of the glossy magazine due to its "'hemorrhaging' cash."[10]

Content[edit]

The magazine published articles and book reviews—some topical, some reported, some analytical—on subjects at the intersection of economics, business, politics, and American public policy.[11] Current online content includes articles similar to those in the print version, traditional op-eds, "DataPoints" on public opinion (compiled by Karlyn Bowman), and, since May 2009, the Enterprise Blog, which features contributions from AEI scholars and staff members.

Editorial stance[edit]

"Our perspective," Glassman said at the magazine's launch, "is not partisan, but it is rooted in liberal, free-market economics."[4] Glassman said in 2006 that he believed "the three major business magazines"—that is, Forbes, Fortune, and BusinessWeek—"have, in an attempt to get a broader audience, gone downscale," creating a "big opening" for an intellectual magazine about business that is "absolutely not partisan or ideological—mainly a reported magazine rather than a magazine of opinion."[3]

Liberal writer Jonathan Chait remarked in The New Republic (which Glassman had published from 1981 to 1984) that The American, in replacing The American Enterprise, "seems less dewy-eyed about the virtues of democracy and far more dewy-eyed about the virtues of the bottom line. Out is the conservatism of Paul Wolfowitz. In is the conservatism of Montgomery Burns."[12]

Contributors[edit]

Among the noteworthy contributors to The American have been:[11]

Notable stories[edit]

Luke Mullins's interview of a white-collar criminal who spent time in a minimum-security prison, which stated that minimum-security prisons were no longer "country-club prisons,"[13] prompted criticism by Peter Carlson in a column in The Washington Post.[14]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "The 30 Most Notable Launches of 2006". Mr. Magazine. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  2. ^ James Warren (November 27, 2006). "Dobbs' secret life, and more, in The American's debut issue". Chicago Tribune. [T]he November–December inaugural issue of the renamed and re-engineered publication of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute is rife with promise.
  3. ^ a b Irin Carmon; et al. (November 27, 2006). "Memo Pad". Women's Wear Daily.
  4. ^ a b Ron Bedard (November 27, 2006). "Washington Whispers". U.S. News & World Report.
  5. ^ "Election results". Media Industry Newsletter. November 6, 2006.
  6. ^ Press release titled "Nick Schulz Named Editor-in-Chief of The American Magazine" American Enterprise Institute, April 28, 2008.
  7. ^ Brendan Conway, "What's Your Story?," Doublethink magazine, Winter 2007.
  8. ^ Nick Schulz, "Something Old, Something New," TCS Daily, September 19, 2006.
  9. ^ Bio page for Nick Schulz on the AEI Web site, Retrieved January 20, 2009.
  10. ^ David Weigel, "Conservative Think Tank Adjusts to Tough Times Archived 2009-06-19 at the Wayback Machine," The Washington Independent, March 13, 2009
  11. ^ a b "Archives" at American.com, accessed January 19, 2009.
  12. ^ American Pie, Jonathan Chait, The New Republic, May 31, 2007.
  13. ^ Luke Mullins (May–June 2007). "Enter a 'Hellish Place'". The American. Retrieved 2007-08-08. The Bureau of Prisons is incredibly sensitive to accusations that they are coddling white-collar offenders," Novak said. "They are very sensitive to the 'Club Fed' mythology.
  14. ^ Peter Carlson (2007-05-15). "Bemoaning the Commoners at Club Fed". The Washington Post. Country club prisons just aren't the same since they started letting the riffraff in.

External links[edit]

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