Comments on: Harper’s Magazine

By: dnn

dnn — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:44:15 +0000

I would like to classify myself as a moderate but I probably lean conservative. Because of that, I subscribed to Harpers so that I could read good writing that would challenge my beliefs and stretch my mind in new ways. I got that, more or less, at first, but over the course of a couple of years the magazine drifted further and further to a leftist propaganda screed, the worst of which was Louis Lapham’s bitter drivel editorials. It got to a point where the writing was incredibly predictable; I knew exactly what position (read: left of Pelosi) the writer–any writer in Harpers–would take on whatever the issue was, and I had a pretty good idea of what the line of whining would be.

If you attend dinner parties on the Upper East Side; if you drive a Prius to the Oscars; if you think commercial organic farming is an environmental travesty; if you’ve ever desecrated a Starbucks, then look no more–this magazine is for you.

However, if you’re dumbfounded at how the Republicans can keep winning elections–and then you realize they have the Democratic party as opponents; if you realize the genius of George Bush and Karl Rove is in getting liberals to underestimate George Bush and Karl Rove; if you want to read smart, insightful writing that will inform and entertain, then try The Atlantic Monthly (which, by the way, I am surprised to see reviewers describe as a liberal magazine; I think it is moderate, and if anything, a bit on the conservative side.) Needless to say, I let my Harpers subscription lapse.

Two stars, tho, for the Harper’s Index–however, that wasn’t worth the price of a subscription (it got to be the only thing worth anything for the price of the subscription).

Rating: 2 / 5

By: Maenad

Maenad — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:54:16 +0000

I dont enjoy this publication at all anymore, dont know if editorial leadership has changed
Rating: 1 / 5

By: hasan

hasan — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:40:49 +0000

I order this magazine,in B.C
long time ago…
why…?advice ,go to a book store and read , have some coffe with.
hasan
Rating: 5 / 5

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:24:02 +0000

… and that’s only if you hate the cat. The tired, saggy voice of tired, saggy northeastern liberalism that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY to anyone who’s not part of tired, saggy, New York literary-lit-crit circles (or people with pretensions or desire of belonging thereto). Whatever Harper’s once was, it isn’t any more — it’s just sad, sorry garbage, The New Yorker without the cartoons. Read The New Criterion instead.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Naomi Jakobs

Naomi Jakobs — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:30:10 +0000

There was a time when liberalism had a connotation of deep thinking, tolerance, and openness to healthy, civil debate.

No longer. And HARPER’S is a perfect symbol for all that ails the Left. To call this magazine “Left leaning” is a farce. It doesn’t lean…it completely, totally, enthusiastically, and blindly tumbles and falls into the “Far Left” swamp. The tone is often hysterically and shrilly partisan, reflecting the ongoing deafness and disconnection that the leftist media elites have towards the mainstream of America.

The quality of the writing and feature selection has declined precipitously through recent years. This rag is about as credible now as THE GUARDIAN, NATIONAL ENQUIRER, or, come to think of it, The New York TIMES! Save your money, LOL!

Rating: 1 / 5