Magazine Review, In These Times, published 11/14/11 NewPages.com

In These TimesVolume 35 Number 5

May 2011

Monthly

Review by Joanne B. Conrad

According to In These Times, all of our economic and social problems are caused by unethical or greedy corporations, wealthy Americans, and right-wing conservatives or politicians. How strange, therefore, could the standard of living for the majority of Americans be so much better than elsewhere in the world? Nevertheless, constant vigilance is always needed and In These Times, an independent and nonprofit newsmagazine, is "committed to political and economic democracy and opposed to the dominance of transnational corporations and the tyranny of marketplace values over human values," according to their Mission Statement.

This issue may be substantively atypical compared to other issues. Its content includes nine articles in their “War at Home" section, five under "Frontline" section, two under "Views" section, and six under the "Culture" section, as well as "Letters," the "Editorial" and several sidebars. This month's cover, a pathetic photo intro to the "War at Home" theme shows a Kenosha, Wisconsin, guidance counselor demonstrating at the state capital. The photo is a demoralized, negative, and defeated woman carrying a small American flag. Perhaps the visage of a victimized woman was meant to reinforce the "War at Home," but the negativity is off-putting and particularly demagogic if she's earning $101,738 salary and fringe, according to www.wisconsinopengov.org. A recent expose' showed 324 Wisconsin guidance counselors earning more than $100K. Poor victims, indeed.

Be that as it may, the magazine covers a plethora of issues: corporate tax cheats, foreclosures, anti-coal energy, Latin American relations, nuclear energy, Sharia law, Social Security, healthcare, NPR, Ohio's anti-choice law, Michigan's emergency managers, immigration, Wisconsin's collective bargaining, unnecessary Cesareans, Chilean issues about Allende and Pinochet, internships, David Brooks’ book The Social Animal, an interview with YA author Walter Dean Myers, an SEIU manifesto for taking the fight to the streets, and a fluff piece about generational lack of technological savvy—just about something for everyone.

Creditable recognition is provided to all their writers, which is laudable and informative. A couple letter writers bemoan the magazine's inclusion of a sidebar "tea party provocateur" by Jennifer Stefano, but credibility usually increases when both sides of issues are included. It does not detract from their mission, especially because sidebars are given very minimal space compared to all their more progressive articles.

The review of David Brooks’ book The Social Animal is rather negative, but the author Chris Lehmann's verbiage is colorful: "In the depths of the present crisis, Brooks—the author of two earlier impressionistic and deeply insular Baedekers of American consumer culture Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive—has produced The Social Animal, a shambolic overview of research on the alleged neurobiological foundations of human success and failure, presented in the form of a didactic novel in the tradition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile and Samuel Fielding's (sic) Clarissa." Very erudite.

All the well-written articles and writers evidence thoughtful progressive views worth reading by liberals and conservatives alike.
[www.inthesetimes.com/]