Top 50 American Magazines
by Kevin
Speaking of lists . . . Via the newly designed LA Examiner, I cam across this Chicago Tribune listing of The 50 Best Magazines. It is an interesting list most of which I have never heard of before.
I would love to hear what you think was left off or what you think they were crazy to include. The magazine I have subscribed to the longest, National Review, was snubbed. I think First Things is an excellent and practically one of a kind magazine that was not included. Other than that I am not real sure. Click below for the full list and leave your choices in the comments.
1) Cook’s Illustrated.
2) The New Yorker.
3) Martha Stewart Living.
4) Sports Illustrated.
5) People.
6) Wooden Boat.
7) Q and Mojo (tie)..
9) Entertainment Weekly.
10) Esquire.
11) Vogue.
12) Atlantic Monthly.
13) Fine Homebuilding.
14) Texas Monthly.
15) New York.
16) Time.
17) Smithsonian.
18) FHM.
19) Washington Monthly.
20) Details.
21) Reason.
22) Consumer Reports.
23) Essence.
24) US Weekly.
25) Family Fun.
26) American History.
27) Saveur.
28) Granta.
29) Sound on Sound.
30) Dwell.
31) Harper’s.
32) Business Week.
33) Sport Compact Car.
34) Outside.
35) The New Republic.
36) The Christian Century and America (tie).
38) American Bungalow.
39) National Geographic.
40) Fortune.
41) Creativity.
42) Toy Fare.
43) Soccer America.
44) Field & Stream.
45) Metropolis.
46) Vegetarian Times.
47) The Week.
48) Trains.
49) Wizard.
50) Yoga Journal.
I read that article as well. What was interesting to me was that Vanity Fair got panned as a magazine gone bad. I subscribe to VF and find that it’s a particularly engaging magazine. Their articles on celebrities of all walks (political, sports, movies, etc.) are in-depth and engaging, and their current events exposes are always well-written. I think beyond Fortune (#40) VF is my favorite magazine that we get, even more than Time. So I was kind of surprised….
I think the New Yorker is vastly over-rated. Yes it offers several fine features or reviews each month, but the ratio is very low. Most weeks there are two or three pages worth reading and the rest is predictable fiction and non-fiction (and i don’t know where i would put Sy Hersh). The Atlantic delivers more issue to issue.
Field and Stream is about the worst hunting/fishing magazine. Poor writing and most the stories are just puff pieces on advertisers’s equipment. The new Sports Afield is spectacular. And there are at least six magazines that have more knowledgeable writers.