The New York Review of Books

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The New York Review of Books is a magazine founded in 1963,[1] which produces 20 issues per year.[2] It has been described' as "the premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language" by Esquire and "Hopelessly smart, unapologetically progressive" by The Washington Post.[2]

News and Controversies

Content of Reporting

As described by the magazine's website, "From the 1960s into the 21st Century, The New York Review of Books has posed the questions in the debate on American life, culture, and politics. It is the journal where... Susan Sontag challenged the claims of modern photography... Gore Vidal hilariously lampooned bestsellers, Howard Hughes, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Reagans; Felix Rohatyn made the case for a national industrial policy in an influential series of articles; Peter Peterson showed why the present Social Security program can’t last... McGeorge Bundy, George Kennan, and Lewis Thomas outlined the nuclear threat; Nadine Gordimer and Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote from South Africa on the conflict over apartheid; Vaclav Havel published his reflections from the Czech underground; Timothy Garton Ash reported on the new Eastern Europe... Ronald Dworkin wrote of how George W. Bush’s two Supreme Court appointees have created an unbreakable phalanx bent on remaking constitutional law... David Cole revealed how the Bush Justice Department allowed America to become a nation that disappeared and tortured suspects; articles by Paul Krugman, George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, and Jeff Madrick explained America’s failing economy; Tom Powers described the George W. Bush administration’s fundamental shift from diplomacy to military action... and where Bill Moyers described the threat to the environment presented by Evangelical Christians. It is the journal where the most important issues are discussed by writers who are themselves a major force in world literature and thought."[1]

Purchased by Members of the Mississippi Hederman Family

In 1984, Rea S. Hederman and three of his siblings purchased the Review.[3][4]

Beginning in the late 1800s, the Hederman family owned various media outlets in Jackson, Mississippi, including newspapers, a publishing company, and a television station.[4] During the mid-1900's, members of the family fought to deny African-Americans civil rights and owned a television station "known for upholding the goals of white supremacy."[4] Some Hedermans "worked with Gov. Ross Barnett in his unsuccessful effort to keep [African-American civil rights activist] James Meredith from enrolling at the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 1962" and used their newspaper to urge "white Mississippians to take their guns to campus to make sure James Meredith would not be enrolled."[3] Family members also supported the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.[4]

Rea Hederman joined the staff of his family's paper in 1973 and sought to change the racist tone of the publication. His family "was sharply divided over his coverage of issues such as police brutality toward blacks in Jackson and the plight of poverty-stricken black farmers in the Delta."[4]

Early Issues

As the magazine's website describes, "The New York Review’s early issues included articles by such writers as W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Hardwick, Hannah Arendt, Edmund Wilson, Susan Sontag, Robert Penn Warren, Lilian Hellman, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Saul Bellow, Robert Lowell, Truman Capote, William Styron, and Mary McCarthy. The public responded by buying up practically all the copies printed and writing thousands of letters to demand that The New York Review continue publication. And Robert Silvers and Barbara Epstein continued as co-editors of the Review until Barbara’s death in 2006 and Robert’s death in 2017."[1]

Estimated Reach

As of 2020, the magazine's website claimed it circulated over 135,000 copies worldwide.[1] In 2013, the magazine reportedly circulated about 150,000 copies.[2] As of March 2020, its Facebook page had over 710,000 followers[5] and its Twitter page had over 2.2 million followers.[6]

Personnel

Staff

As of March 2020:[7]

  • Founding Editors: Robert B. Silvers (1929–2017), Barbara Epstein (1928–2006)
  • Publisher: Rea S. Hederman
  • Advertising Director: Lara Frohlich Andersen
  • Editors: Emily Greenhouse, Gabriel Winslow-Yost
  • Deputy Editor: Michael Shae
  • Senior Editors: Eve Bowen, Prudence Crowther, Julie Just, Andrew Katzenstein
  • Senior Editor, Poetry: Jana Prikryl
  • Editor-at-Large: Daniel Mendelsohn
  • NYR Daily Editor: Matt Seaton
  • NYR Daily Associate Editor: Lucy McKeon
  • Editorial Director, Digital: Matthew Howard
  • Editorial Assistants: Maya Chung, Nawal Arjini
  • Editorial Intern: Willa Glickman
  • Researcher: Sylvia Lonergan
  • Type Production: Katie Jefferis, Daniel Drake, Will Simpson
  • Production: Kazue Soma Jensen
  • Web Production Coordinator: Maryanne Chaney
  • Technical Director: Michael King
  • Advertising Associate: Sharmaine Ong
  • Director of Marketing and Planning: Janice Fellegara
  • Fulfillment Director: Janis Harden
  • Assistant Circulation Manager: Andrea Moore
  • Audience Development Manager: Daisy Alioto
  • Publicity: Nicholas During
  • Design Director: Nancy Ng
  • Special Projects: Angela Hederman
  • Office Manager: Diane R. Seltzer
  • Rights: Patrick Hederman
  • Comptroller: Margarette Devlin
  • Assistant Comptroller: Pearl Williams
  • Receptionist: Teddy Wright

Contact and Social Media

The New York Review of Books
435 Hudson Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10014-3994

Phone: (212) 757-8070
Website: www.nybooks.com
Web contact: Contact
Facebook: @nybooks
Twitter: @nybooks

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New York Review of Books, About, magazine website, accessed March 9, 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Neely Tucker, "The New York Review of Books turns 50", Washington Post, November 6, 2013, accessed March 9, 2020.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jason McLure and Ilenia Caia, "Fired by family, Hederman made New York Review second act", Global Journalist, January 11, 2016, accessed March 9, 2020.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Kathleen Woodruff Wickham, "Hederman Family", Mississippi Encyclopedia, last updated April 14, 2018, accessed March 9, 2020.
  5. ↑ New York Review of Books, @nybooks, magazine Facebook page, accessed March 9, 2020.
  6. ↑ New York Review of Books, @nybooks, magazine Twitter page, accessed March 9, 2020.
  7. ↑ New York Review of Books, Masthead, magazine website, accessed March 9, 2020.
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