Product Description

Already popular in England, the magazine did not appear in America until 1741, the last of the print media to be established in the New World. Pioneered by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Noah Webster, these first periodicals were written for an elite, and often slavishly followed the patterns established by their British predecessors. Today, American magazine publishing is the most innovative in the world and, far from elitist, reaches a mass market of millions.
In this new volume, John Tebbel and Mary Ellen Zuckerman do for magazines what Tebbel did for book publishing in Between Covers, providing the first comprehensive one-volume history of the medium. This carefully researched and sweeping work ranges from tales of the earliest magazines, The General Magazine of Benjamin Franklin and American Magazine by Andrew Bradford, to contemporary giants such as TV Guide and Sports Illustrated, and includes a history of the business press. There are sections devoted to women's magazines--surprisingly diverse and widespread, even in the 19th century--and to periodicals for black Americans--an area most often overlooked in media history. All of the big names of magazine publishing are here, too: Hearst, the Harper Brothers, and Henry Luce, whose Time revolutionized the way news was reported, and whose Life became known as "America's magazine." Tebbel and Zuckerman cover an impressive array of magazines, from the staid (like William F. Buckley's National Review) to the offbeat (like Semiotext, which is aimed at "unidentified flying leftists, neo-pagans...and poetic terrorists"); and from the million-selling (which Ladies' Home Journal was the first to become in 1903) to the marginal (like The Masses, whose publishers invited Socialist Max Eastman to be editor with the succinct invitation, "You are elected editor of The Masses. No pay."). Along the way we find dozens of surprising details, even about the most familiar magazines; how many readers know, for example, that in the early part of this century, the publishers of Cosmopolitan wanted to establish a "Cosmopolitan University," and that they also tried to purchase Cuban independence from the Spanish for $100 million?
The Magazine in America is packed with odd facts, candid portraits, and other insights into the world of magazine publishing. From accounts of business deals to anecdotes of the people involved, there is something for everyone interested in the medium and its history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #532731 in Books
• Published on: 1991-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Tebbel, author of a one-volume history of American book publishing ( Between Covers ) here teams with Zuckerman, State University of New York marketing professor, to perform the same service for magazine publishing. In this sweeping view, the 250-year-old industry is seen as a mirror of society, where, as in physics, every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. In covering the early years, 1741-1905, the authors rely on Frank Luther Mott's out-of-print, four-volume History of Magazines in America. In later years, wars and technological advances are seen to signal major shifts, but references to the Vanity Fair of Frank Crowninshield and that of current editor Tina Brown and to the Cosmopolitan of John Bisben Walker and that of Helen Gurley Brown demonstrate how personality shapes a magazine as much as content and historical context. Some observations of the recent magazine scene, however, have been already outdated by the velocity and volume of change within the field. Although somewhat congested by anecdotal density, the book is at once a paean to magazines and an examination of their idiosyncracies.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Mergers, takeovers, and turbulence are nothing new for the American magazine industry, as readers will discover in this engaging one-volume history celebrating its 250th anniversary. Tebbel, author of Between Covers: The Rise and Transformation of American Book Publishing (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1987), and Zuckerman, a marketing professor, balance portraits of the great pioneering editors and publishers like Harold Ross and Henry Luce with reports on the financial aspects of magazine publishing such as advertising and circulation. The authors also present a lucid examination of new technological innovations and dissect general and specialized genres in clear, often witty prose. Readers learn why some titles (e.g., Time / Newsweek , Playboy / Penthouse ) seem to travel in pairs. Tebbel and Zuckerman establish a sense of historical continuity throughout the book, supporting their image of magazines as mirrors reflecting American life. Recommended for public and business/media libraries.
- Bruce Rosenstein, "USA Today" Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

About the Authors:
John Tebbel is the leading historian of American publishing and author of such books as The Press and the Presidency and Between Covers. Mary Ellen Zuckerman is Professor of Marketing at SUNY Geneseo. She was recently a Gannett Fellow in Media Studies at Columbia University, and is presently at McGill University as a Visiting Professor.