Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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166 of 177 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Magazine on the Newsstand, April 12, 2002
Under the supreme tutelage of Editor Lewis Lapham, Harper's Magazine consistently churns out intense, dramatic, sincere, frightening, uplifting, and challenging commentary. If others in the media censor their opinions in the face of big brother, Harper's makes up for it with brutally honest assessments of culture, politics, and world affairs.At first look, Harper's seems a leftist publication, but if you read it a little more carefully, it's a lot more Mark Twain than Karl Marx. I'd call it centrist, but even that implies straddling the center between two extremes. Like Twain, Harper's is more of a somewhat irascible, yet always caring voice on the outside, not on one end of the spectrum or another, but rather on a different spectrum altogether. The attitude is egalitarian, never pompous. The voices are reasonable, if sometimes angry or alarmed. Harper's is definitely not a liberal magazine in the sense of Marxist socialism. Harper's is liberal in the sense of Jeffersonian liberalism. It's opinions seem more focused on improving local cultures and economies and challenging the demagogues and central planners who seek to control the masses, be they Democrat or Republican. Perhaps Harper's is the Jim Jeffords of the magazine world. Harper's is an eloquent and impassioned magazine that delivers carefully constructed and inventive views of the world each month. There is an overriding sense of seriousness and genuine compassion found in every issue. In a world where so many media sources are merely parrots for a larger corporate or political agendas, Harper's stands out as an autonomous voice of indignant opposition to censorship and blind nationalism. If you care about the world we all inhabit and genuinely want to discover how we might all get to a better place, give Harper's a read. It may not provide the answers, but it certainly raises all the right questions.
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51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
what's not to like?!?, November 20, 2001
Here's a quick breakdown:1. Harpers will feed your need for the trivial. The Index is a fascinating collection of facts and figures, and the front-of-book section is probably one of the most quirky, laugh-out-loud funny and stimulating in the business. 2. Great fiction. Some up-and-comers submit, along with some old pros (a recent story by Joyce Carol Oates was outstanding) 3. Great features. Some great topics, albeit a lot of environmental stuff, it's still well-rounded and well-informed. Great ones I've read recently include a look at maids, SUVs, education reform and more. I can see why people might not like this magazine because it appears to be "uppity." In fact, the only thing that annoys me about this magazine is the letters to the editor, where all of the Ivy-league intellectuals write in and try to prove how smart they are. But I think the appeal is more widespread than that. And you'll be paying less than a dollar an issue -- you'll definitely get your money's worth.
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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Possibly the greatest literary periodical in existence, March 25, 2003
I finally received a subscription to this amazing magazine as a gift, and I've read my first issue cover-to-cover over the span of two days. This month's (February 2003) issue includes, among other things, an essay on the inevitable doom that humans will eventually face when our planet experiences its next major cosmic collision.. Unless, of course, we manage to annihilate ourselves via environmental, militaristic, pathological, or technological means, pre-empting the arbitrary extinction caused by an asteroid or comet.Every issue of Harper's contains excellent essays, fiction, political discussion, and of course the Harper's staples, such as the Index. Many of the stories and essays win major literary prizes such as the O'Henry award, and get included in high-profile anthologies such as the *Best American* series. Certainly, for a writer, if you are chosen to appear in Harper's, you are at the pinnacle of your craft. Although the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and many other smaller literary magazines consistantly offer excellent content and visually pleasing formats, Harper's seems to lead the pack -- maybe because of it's no-nonsense approach, limited advertising, regionally non-specific content, and diversity of topics. The fact that Harper's is aided by a non-profit organization must contribute to its quality; certainly any independence from advertisers can only improve the open-endedness and creativity that Harper's excels in.
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