The Magazine Century: American Magazines Since 1900. David E. Sumner. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2010. 242 pp.
Magazines today are in trouble—some venerable titles have changed hands, others have disappeared entirely. For most, ad pages are down (often sharply) as are circulations. The periodical publishing industry is clearly seeking a new viable business model for the increasingly competitive digital world of the twenty-first century. Fewer than 20% of new titles survive for as long as three years.
That dour outlook recedes a bit as one reads this retrospective survey of a century when magazines ruled, or so it seemed. As the author, David E. Sumner of Ball State University, makes clear in his opening remarks, however, the very number of magazines that have been launched over the past century is daunting—as Sumner notes, the number of magazines grew by nearly 600% between 1900 and 2000.
Thus, he rightly focuses his survey to include only examples of the more important and varied general consumer magazines (some 9,500 titles by early in the twenty-first century), bypassing discussion of the huge professional and trade (let alone research) sectors. Further, Sumner seeks out the editors and publishers who sought to be innovative rather than merely imitative. His use of decades as a mode of organization (as opposed to magazine type, the more usual approach), helps to emphasize the historical context for the magazines he includes.
So, who’s here? After a brief discussion of the late nineteenth century as the birthing era of modern magazines, we read about Bernarr Macfadden fitness and romance magazines, Hearst’s Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, and Condé Nast and his fashion titles. The pioneers of the 1920s include the Wallaces and Reader’s Digest, Henry Luce and Briton Hadden’s Time, and Harold Ross at The New Yorker. The 1930s are epitomized by Fortune and then Life, but also the supermarket monthlies. The 1940s see the emergence of black magazines, the Rodale empire, and Peterson’s Hot Rod, progenitor of a host of auto titles. Mid-century brings TV Guide, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated, among others. And so on—you get the idea. Often in just a page or two, Sumner uses examples to illustrate larger themes.
Sumner is well grounded in his topic, having published a “complete guide” to the magazine industry in 2006, and coauthored a volume on feature and magazine writing in 2009. This effort, however, is much more exhaustive, seeing a nation and an entire “magazine century” through the pages of its monthly and weekly publications, some enduring, some transitory, all clamoring from overcrowded newsstands for the attention of an often fickle audience.
Boxed features throughout The Magazine Century help the reader keep track of the numbers—who was big, when titles began, typical circulations, and the like. And a brief topically arranged bibliography opens the doors to a literature larger than many may suspect. Overall, this is a satisfying survey of a medium once dominant and now seeking its way.
CHRISTOPHER H. STERLING
George Washington University