I recently finished the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Formerly The Atlantic Monthly, the magazine is now published 10 times a year, and (thanks, Peter) is moving from Boston to Washington, D.C. (old article from April, now behind the pay wall at NYTimes.com). History and geography aside, I enjoy reading the magazine… but most of the recent pieces are not something to make you smile about. The cover story, Countdown to a Meltdown, by Jim Fallows, is available only to subscribers. That’s too bad, but maybe America can continue its shiny, happy path to economic quagmire and political stagnation if no one feels compelled to change course by listening to Cassandra. Except I don’t think Jim Fallows deserves to be ignored like Cassandra here. And Scott Stossel’s North Korea: The War Game isn’t about to make you sleep well, either. I know both Jim and Scott, and respect their thinking enormously, so I want these wake-up calls to get more attention. Try and get your hands on the July/August issue, and do some thinking.
As a former employee (it’s been 9+ years), I’m curious to see which of the Boston staff I still know is making the move to D.C. If anyone from The Atlantic comes across this post, let me know… email is jbr at the domain name of this blog.