The Atlantic Ideas Tour

January 19, 2006 11:26 AM

The Atlantic Ideas TourIt's been almost 150 years since a group of writers that included a group of writers that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and James Russell Lowell founded The Atlantic Monthly. The magazine is klcking off a year–long celebration of its upcoming 150th anniversary by having each issue this year based around articles from their archives. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha (15 comments total)

This issue's theme is Politics and Presidents; it includes their endorsement of Abraham Lincoln for the 1860 election, Woodrow Wilson's 1891 essay on How Books Become Immortal, Teddy Roosevelt's 1894 essay on What College Graduates Owe America, and John F. Kennedy's essay on The Purpose of Poetry. (The excerpts have links to the full articles.)

Related: Cornell University's online archive of page images of the complete contents of every issue of The Atlantic from November 1857 to December 1901 (also available as text-only), and The Atlantic's archive of back issues (which is mostly useful to subscribers) from November 1995 to the present, with selected articles from earlier issues.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:28 AM on January 19, 2006

For the first time in 149 years, a new year begins without The Atlantic publishing in Boston.
posted by ericb at 11:40 AM on January 19, 2006

ericb beat me to it. But then again there is a long list of things and people that have left Boston for (apparently) greener pastures. Starting with Ben Franklin on through Johhny Damon. But we manage to move on. Somehow.
posted by Gungho at 12:15 PM on January 19, 2006

Presidents write intelligent, articulate pieces?
posted by bardic at 1:16 PM on January 19, 2006

That would explain why I recently started seeing The Atlantic on magazine racks at the local posh grocery store in the MD suburbs where DC commuters live. BTW I just bought the last two issues and find it pretty good, but lots of politics of a very liberal bent, preaching to the choir. Would rather see a more literary focus and leave politics to things like Foriegn Affairs.
posted by stbalbach at 1:20 PM on January 19, 2006

long list of things and people that have left Boston

At least Bronson Arroyo will stay here in Boston for three more years.
posted by ericb at 2:08 PM on January 19, 2006

Stbalbach: Look at the masthead from the Feb 1962 issue on the Wikipedia page. It says, "A magazine of literature, art and politics." They've been doing politics for more than 140 years, I don't think that they'll stop now.
posted by octothorpe at 2:10 PM on January 19, 2006

I just bought the last two issues and find it pretty good, but lots of politics of a very liberal bent, preaching to the choir.

I was going to say something like "God forbid you should have to read political coverage you disagree with," but then it hit me: preaching to the choir? You're saying... Washington DC is liberal?? Wake up, it's 2006!

Thanks for the post, kirkaracha -- I haven't been reading The Atlantic for a while, and this might be a good time to catch up.
posted by languagehat at 2:15 PM on January 19, 2006

Oops, 1862 not 1962
posted by octothorpe at 2:42 PM on January 19, 2006

Wilson Pickett is dead, so forget about having a really good Atlantic tour.
posted by raysmj at 3:19 PM on January 19, 2006

Amzing run when you think about it. Harpers is another similiar publication that has endured. I've been a subscriber to both, off and on. Wonder how long it will take the Internet to kill the format?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:43 PM on January 19, 2006

Totally off-topic -- Theo returns!
posted by ericb at 6:48 PM on January 19, 2006

(Project Gutenberg also has proofread plaintext versions of volumes 1-14 currently available, as opposed to the raw OCR output available from Cornell. PG Distributed Proofreading is working on the next issues, if anyone's interested!)
posted by Lebannen at 4:39 AM on January 20, 2006

I have no idea how to get to the magazine from the Gutenberg page you linked to. Have you got a more precise link?
posted by languagehat at 5:12 AM on January 20, 2006

Languagehat, just do a title search for "Atlantic Monthly". Thanks for the links Kirkiracha. I just resubscribed to The Atlantic Monthly. I'll do my part to see that they survive for another 150 years. I don't think that the internet will kill the format. There will always be a need for intelligent editing.
posted by notmtwain at 10:10 AM on January 20, 2006