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A magazine with guts: true reporting, no corporate agenda
Mother Jones is what Journalism should be: gutsy, honest, no-holds barred investigative reporting.Regardless of your political party, this is one of the last vestages of honest reporting left available to us.
Everything from world news, the envirnment, American politics and current events is researched thoroughly and reported honestly.

A must read for people interested in more news than is available the newspaper, or in Newsweek and Time.If your tired of the pathetic blather that parades as news these days, it's time for Mother Jones.

Time magazine should be ashamed
Like one commentor said..."The Truth Hurts". It does...If you're happy with your Martha Stewart and Scott Peterson news, do not buy this magazine. If you want the real dirt, left or right wing...this is it. They shoot from the hip.

If you want the truth and not what you will see on the mainstream media, this is the magazine. They are well known to publish stories that the NY Times is afraid to publish. As a matter of fact, most of the writers on Mother Jones and The Nation used to write for the Times. And I just heard last week two stories written by NY Times writers that they're publishers wouldn't print. So guess who did? If you doubt me, look up the 25 Most Censored Stories of 2004 and 2005.

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Wide ranging and always intriguing
Z magazine brings together some of the best journalism and opinion writing on a diverse array of pertinent global and local political matters (certainly political in the broad sense)
Probably the best resource for perspectives from the so-called "left" and news of world events that can be very hard to find elsewhere.For a more editorial type magazine, see The Progressive, which is more a mainstream style of monthly magazine, but still offers a great degree of clarity on important issues.

The Real Liberal Media
Do you belive the mainstream media has a Liberal slant? Read Z and see what the media would look like if that were actually true.

Informative and cuts against the gain of the boot-licking corporate media.

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A Good Conservative Magazine with some humor
One of the funniest magazines around.In a recent article, the Weekly Standard proposed massively expanding the IRS to help pay for the massive debt and budget deficit.Which group did the "Weekly Standard" say should be targeted for this increased IRS presence (and massive increase in tax rate - for some 100%)? The Entertainment Industry.The reality tv show contestants, the teen-pop singers and the like.The article noted that normally massive taxation would hurt an industry, but with all the people that really want fame, that go all out to get their 15 minutes of fame, the industry would continue along (I'm curious if O'Rourke realizes that the tax would be applied to similar writers).Another O'Rourke article provided the readers with an alternate Inaugural Address by Bush (subtitle: "What if George W. Bush weren't a compassionate conservative . . ."; quote: "The media say that I won the election on the strength of moral values.If the other fellow had become president, would the media have said that he won the election on the strength of immoral values?").

In all seriousness, this magazine is a very clear detailed neo-conservative look at the issues (neo-con? - interestingly, it would appear that many of the writers used to be liberals).The magazine does not always present just the conservative perspective, and does not always agree with Bush. Another recent article was by a current liberal, ex-communist British writer and his reaction to George Galloway's testimony before the US Senate. An editorial in that recent issue was all about the dictator in Uzbekistan, an US ally in the war on terror.The editorial notes that toleration of this dictator and his brutality will undermine Bush's current foreign policy.

It should be noted that the magazine does not seem to have journalists, and few staff writers, most appear to be called "contributing editors."

It is jarring, though, when I read the magazine then read articles in some of my other subscriptions."Variety" and "Weekly Standard" rarely agree.For that matter, I'm somewhat surprised by how often the "Weekly Standard" and "Business Week" disagree.

- Michael S. Briggs -

Great Magazine
After reading a few of the other reviews, I am again baffled by the left/liberal take on things.This is a CONSERVATIVE magazine!!Liberals, open at your own risk!You just MIGHT encounter a differing view point than you own!Goodness.The articles are informative, indepth, humorous, and thoughtful.It's a good read.

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Pretty Good
For this registered Libertarian, this is a pretty good magazine. Decent articles that are written well and easy to read, as well as being informative. It has been around quite a while and the experience shows (in a positive way).

Best Periodical Available
Mr. Hayek apparently despises free thought.Furthermore, his ignorance of libertarian philosophy is clear; discounting his opinion is appropriate.I'm guessing he is a Republicrat and finds the socialist ideas found in the corrupt two party system satisfying.Funny considering his namesake, Frederich Hayek, is one of the greatest libertarian thinkers of all time and one of my personal heros.

But, I digress:Reason magazine has been in my mailbox every month for well over 20 years and I would buy a lifetime subscription if I could.Not every issue is a five star issue, but on the whole Reason is the most interesting periodical on the market.That said, Reason has dropped a notch in quality ever since the brilliant Virginia Postrel left the editor's post several years ago.She is a true intellectual and kept Reason at a consistently high level.I still love to read my issue every month and while I don't always agree with the positions I am always stimulated.

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National Review is very revealing !read it !
National Review is very revealing and more educational than any government school.

People sometimes mistakenly say that the National Review is "conservative" but that is misleading.NR criticizes both big-spending democrat-socialists like Clinton, and also republican-socialists who are twice as socialistic as Clinton (in social spending alone). The only way that NR can be called biased is that they drone on about the socialists (Democrats and Republicans) and ignore everyone who wants to cut government (Libertarians).

National Review is stuck in silly left-right political analysis, as taught in government schools. It is unaware of the Nolan chart or Diamond chart. It also uses the word "liberal" unprofessionally to mean "left." Its habit forgets the etymology of "liberal" for "liberty" (against government and for laissez-faire capitalism). That bad habit explains why republicans and democrats are the same: socialists.National Review is an example of why government schools are unconstitutional and must end.

NR doesn't do well addressing the massive growth in government in the USA. It seems like NR doesn't think that government in the USA is big enough yet.

NR is not libertarian and it uses the misnomer "public schools" to mean "government schools."No one would trust the government to tell the truth if it published newspapers or magazines like National Review. Why would the government tell the truth in government schools?

The National Review doesn't have a problem with "patriotism" and the pledge of allegiance. Big problem: People at NR don't arise each morning to gather with neighbors and robotically chant, as they only "love" the pledge when government's schools lead children in robotic chanting every morning for twelve years of their lives upon the ring of a bell, like Pavlov's lapdogs of the state. Did I mention that NR is an example of why government schools are unconstitutional and have destroyed a "free press" and why government schools must end?

NR suggests that it doesn't know that the pledge was written by a socialist (Francis Bellamy) in the USA and that the original salute was a straight-arm salute (as shown in web image searches for "original socialist salute"). NR doesn't know of the news-breaking discovery by the historian Rex Curry that the straight-arm salute of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) came from the military salute and from the original pledge of allegiance in the USA, and not from ancient Rome.NR doesn't realize that Bellamy put flags in every school to promote a government takeover of education for nationalization and socialism.

NR is an example of why some educated socialists (socialists who know the origin of the pledge) laugh at the National Review, because socialists presume that NR has been duped into supporting socialism and are ignorant of the pledge's socialist past.

To measure its intellectual honesty, you should consider that NR has never displayed a historic photograph of the original pledge of allegiance ever to their audience nor discussed the ominous parallels.

Francis Bellamy and his cousin and cohort Edward Bellamy were national socialists who idolized the military and wanted to nationalize the entire US economy, including all schools. It was a philosophy that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part) where millions were murdered (62 million by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 35 million by the Peoples' Republic of China, 21 million by the National Socialist German Workers' Party) in the worst slaughter in history. That is why the Bellamys are known as America's Nazis.All Holocaust Museums could expanded three-fold with Wholecaust Museums.

Yes, the government was taking over schools in the USA and imposing segregation by law and teaching racism as official policy. As under Nazism, Jehovah's Witnesses and others in the USA were persecuted for refusing to perform the straight-arm salute and robotically chant. They were also expelled from government schools and had to use the many better alternatives. Thereafter, the Bellamy legacy caused more police-state racism of forced busing that destroyed communities and neighborhoods and deepened hostilities.

After WWII ended, the USA's government schools continued segregation and racism, stopping in the 1960's.The USA also continued its Nazi numbering (social security from 1935) and its robotic pledge, with no stopping.

Today, the USA numbers babies, and government schools demand the numbers for enrollment, and the numbers track homes, workplaces, incomes, finances, and more, for life.School laws still tout the daily pledge, a bizarre ritual shunned by every other country.

NR has discussed plans for "reform" of social security.At the height of Nazi power, the USA's government deliberately stepped onto the same path with national numbering imposed in 1935 with the social security system.The federal government was growing massively and attempting to nationalize the economy in many ways.The US Supreme Court struck down much of the new legislation as unconstitutional until justices until the craven FDR pressured them into the "switch in time that socialized nine."

National Review has reported on social security reforms that would invest social security taxes in private businesses and provide an avenue for the government to nationalize all private businesses in addition to schools. It is a scheme that would impress the Bellamys.NR does not have the ethics to report the other side of the story (the proper side): ending government involvement in education, and ending the social security scam, its taxes and its Nazi numbering.If the antidisestablishmentarianism does not end, then the USA's police state will grow.

NR has another bad habit: overuse of the hackneyed word "Nazi" so much that it might cause one to wonder if they know what the abbreviation abbreviates. Many people forget that "Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers' Party," and one reason people forget is because the word "Nazi" is overused by media mouthpieces (e.g. National Review) who never say the actual name of the horrid party.A good mnemonic device is that the sick socialist swastika represented two overlapping "S" letters for "socialism" under the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

It is a reminder that in many ways National Review and the media are still government mouthpieces.

Overall, the magazine is very revealing and educational and worth the time to review.Let's hope for improvements in the future.

One of the Worst Magazines Around
If you want to keep yourself in delusions and in the dark about what's really going on in the world, read this magazine. National Review is for people who sympathize with Christian jihadists and white supremacists. Wouldn't want to be in that camp if I were you.Read Time, Mother Jones, The Nation, or the American Prospect instead.

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Thank You, Matthew Rothschild
Taking the reins from Erwin Knoll (R.I.P.), Mr. Rothschild has very ably continued the great work of progressive / left commentary and articles. A terrific publication. Check out www.progressive.org for timely updates on national goings-on.

Informative
I subscribe to a few magazines, most of which are somewhat longwinded and tedious.The progressive does not follow that path.It's also a very informative magazine.For example, in one article I learned the following items about Democrat John Kerry:

(1) He gets a good bit of money from a telecommunications industry's lobbyist "Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo".

(2) "He has sponsored legislation to help telecommunications companies buy up the public airwaves."

(3) He thinks "we should all have `smart cards' - electronic IDs with our health history encoded on them."

(4) He "has voted for every free trade pact to come his way in the Senate since the Cold War."

(5) AFL-CIO is backing Kerry even though he declined to answer there questionnaire on trade.

All of these came from one article:"Triumph of the Bland" by Ruth Conniff (page 12-13 in issue April 2004).If your like informative information, check out this magazine.

One of the best magazines on the shelf
Always feisty and dedicated to true peace and the Bill of Rights like few other periodicals, The Progressive is a consistent, independent source for information, analysis and lively, intelligent commentary.Standing outside the mainstream business owned press The Progressive routinely runs stories that are either ignored or buried by the establishment media.Labor, environmental, racial, gender, and military and corporate power issues are dealt with from the perspective of the masses of working people and societal underdogs rather than CEOs, major stockholders, Pentagon flacks and covert bigots.A relatively recent column unearthed the truth behind the sanctions and bombings of Iraq that went on throughout the 90s.Deliberately tainting the Iraqi civilian water supply was well known to Washington policymakers as The Progressive's brilliant article proved.Also it's one of the few publications in the United States to constantly berate Israel for the lawlessness and brutality it perpetrates against the Palestinians.These days that's gutsy journalism indeed.

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5 PLUS 5**********
It always seems like a holiday when my UTNE arrives.It has never failed to delight me in the 15 years or so that I have been a subscriber and fan.With so much of our "news" actually being political spin and hype, with that forced-fed feeling, it is so refreshing to be able to read interesting, tasty, thoroughly satisfying stuff that is not the run-of-the mill, banal, overly celebrity-focused junk.The focus here is on improving one's life and, perhaps, one's corner of the world (or just a corner of a room).Sure, there is a progressive bent to the content (after all, it's dubbed "the best of the alternative media"); have they made "progressive" a dirty word, too??? GO FOR IT.YOU WILL BE AMPLY REWARDED.Like entering a fresh, new world.

Addendum to the other reviews on the first page
Hello, this will be the third time in the last many years that I've received, and read, UR on a regular basis.I agree with most of the other reviews.However, what I find most outstanding about the magazine is how uplifting, and ultimately positive, it is.I subcribe to several dozen web sites, from the media from around the world, most of which are far left of "liberal."While I take everything that I receive, through all forms of media, with a very large "grain of salt," I do tend to put much more stock in what I read on the web than I do in what the mainstream media feeds us, especially that from the U.S.Therefore, as a result of that reading, I often feel sorrow, rage, cynicism, and/or depression.Utne's positive spin on issues, even when the subject is inherently distressful, inspires me, as almost no other form of media does (except, sometimes, music), to rise up out of any negativity that I may be indulging in, and take positive steps toward helping to make our world a better place for us all.For that, I am very grateful to everyone who is responsible for such a fine magazine.Thank you, Utne.

Like Reader's Digest, except for Liberals
I love Utne Reader. A friend gave me an issue several years ago and I've subscribed ever since.

When people ask me about it, I say "it's sort of like Reader's Digest" with lots of articles that have already been published in other publications. The difference is, the Utne staffers search through little known and not so common magazines for their stories. It should also be mentioned that Utne picks a topic for each issue. Here are some past topics:

Imagine the America You WantMarch/April 2003 (Issue 116)
The Future of HealingMay/June 2001 (Issue 105)
Great American SelloutNovember/December 1999 (Issue 96)
Gender blurSeptember/October 1998 (Issue 89)
The future of loveNovember/December 1996 (Issue 78)

You can buy past issues as well.

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Poor Content and Poor Customer Service
I was disappointed with this magazine.The trivia it contains
is often either not interesting or is common knowledge.

More importantly, I tried to cancel my subscription and get a
refund for the remaining issues but have yet to receive a refund
after several months of correspondence.

The Best Magazine I've Ever Read
This is the best magazine ive ever read. I read it almost every night before I go to sleep and I have really enjoyed it since the very first issue! I find the (sometimes) hidden Albert Einstein picture on the front very humorous (especially the Swimsuit Issue). I give this magazine a 5 out of 5 stars because this is the greatest and most interesting magazine of them all. Even kids who don't think they like to read would like to read this. Bravo Mental Floss, bravo.

Sincerely,
Al

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No other weekly like it
This is, plainly put, the best news periodical out there.Sure, others can "report" what's happening in the world, but The Economist includes analysis and puts events in proper perspective to provide the much sought after "why?".Upon hearing of the magazine, the title seemed to suggest a dry, tough read about finance and economics.Not so at all.It's sort of like an international, intelligent version of Time or Newsweek, with a more objective and rational feel.It's a surprisingly easy read as well, with a great informal British style, infused with wit throughout yet always smart and informative.Well worth the price.

If you're going to read only one news periodical . . .
The Economist should be it.It is the most thorough single news periodical out there, period.Enjoy.

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The best weekly newsmagazine in the country
I'm a liberal, and I've been a devoted reader of TNR since the 1950s.And yes it is a liberal magazine.It does excellent investigative work.And I have not noticed much of a change in its politics in the past 50 years.

Some of the other readers have mentioned TNR's stand on Israel.This stand has been there since Martin Peretz took over the magazine in 1974.Peretz never supported the right wing in Israel, but he certainly supported Israel's right to exist.And I remember one of his early exposes of Time Magazine for its very one-sided reporting about Israel.In this respect, TNR is very different from The Nation.

But does TNR support Democratic candidates?Usually, but not exclusively.TNR did not like Dick Nixon, of course.After Peretz took over, TNR supported Carter for President in 1976.Next, I think it backed John Anderson.Carter's foreign policy obviously started to annoy TNR.

TNR always backed Clinton, Gore, and Kerry.And it backed Kerry even though it was a little suspicious of his attitudes about Israel.As for the war in Iraq, TNR initially took Colin Powell at his word about weapons of mass destruction and reluctantly backed the war for this reason, after which it felt cheated.

If you want a left wing antizionist magazine, you won't want to even read this.You'll want The Nation.If you want a neoconservative magazine, you'll want to read this, but the magazine you'll really want is the Weekly Standard, or maybe Commentary.

Anyway, I always read TNR, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Over-rated, Shadow of Former Self
I was a subscriber to the New Republic for several years, but in the waning years of the Clinton administration and the beginnings of the Bush II administration, the paper seemed to take a real rightward turn.Now, I have no problem with so-called liberal hawks, but the magazine's slavish support for the war in Iraq in the face of questionable evidence did it for me.In addition, the magazine spends more time bashing Democrats for not aligning themselves with the magazine's professed centrist/liberal slant than it does with presenting true progressives ideals that create thoughtful discourse among its readers.The magazine has forgotten its roots of progressive intellectualism and dissent in favor of safe, "New Democrat" rhetoric.There are better magazines our there.

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Become much more Conservative lately
We had a subscription from 2001-2004.In the last year of that subscription, the magazine came to focus more and more on politics, and most of the political articles were written from a conservative perspective or assuming a neoconservative world view as background.Letters disagreeing with anything Robert Kaplan wrote were rarely, if ever, printed.(Though I know for a fact they received them!)We dropped our subscription and picked up the New Yorker instead.Conservatives however may want to take a new look at this magazine.The reviews suggesting it is liberal must be based on pre-2003 reading.Occasional issues we have bought since dropping our subscription confirm that the conservative slant is persisting.The quality of the writing is still reasonable however, and it explores issues in depth (albeit from one side).

WISHY-WASHY, WISHFUL & ASHAMED: AMERICAN LIBERALISM...
From reading some of my recent reviews, you would think I am becoming a political guy. I'm not. At least, I am only as far as I feel my relationship with Jesus Christ dictates.

A case in point: The Atlantic Monthly. I used to subscribe to this magazine when I was in late High School-early College. I think my brother got me a gift subscription.

I am a follower of some more "high brow" cultural things (keep in mind that the threshold for for being "high brow" in America is always being lowered, and in fact can be lowered physically by simply driving south), and my brother thought I would enjoy the magazine. I was usually underwhelmed by the depth of articles (or snippets) relating to the arts, music, and theater in The Atlantic. I was also disappointed by the magazine's political slant.

The Atlantic is kind of like the New York Times and CBS in that it tries (tries) to play the "wink-wink, no, of course we're not liberal" game.

A related aside before I move on: As you will see if you read the rest of this review, I line up with neither "the left" or "the right" (the Blue or the Red) in American politics, but when it comes to the press--if you're not going to try to be balanced, I would much prefer you to be blatant about your bias. To use a non-sequitur paraphrase of Lincoln in his abolitionist days: "I would rather move to Russia and take my despotism pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." At least the misguided right has that going for its press apparatus.

Anyway, The Atlantic is probably the paragon of the inefficient, unfocused, in some senses, self-loathing liberal movement in America. So many of its articles take a half-ass, speculative look at issues NO ONE in main street America cares about.

I am not a great fan of George W. Bush's Right, but the alternative is almost just as sad.

The only redeeming aspect of what this magazine has become (I read a few issues this past election year) is the writing of Robert Kaplan. I don't buy his take on geo-politics, but he is one of the few people on the left who is doing any original thinking in this area at all.

As for my own politics (if you or anyone else cares), I feel both sides have woefully fallen short of the demands of The Kingdom. In some ways I am more Liberal than the Democrats and more Conservative than the Republicans. People come first in God's economy. Only by changing the hearts of individuals can we ever change the world.

It saddens me deeply that here, in the richest, most powerful nation in the history of the world, people on both sides (if a person even cares enough to be on a side) allow themselves to be duped into hating each other rather than living up to our great potential.

This magazine is just one example of where we as a country are going so very, very wrong.