periodical

periodical, a publication that is issued regularly. It is distinguished from the newspaper in format in that its pages are smaller and are usually bound, and it is published at weekly, monthly, quarterly, or other intervals, rather than daily. Periodicals range from technical and scholarly journals to illustrated magazines for mass circulation.

Evolution of Periodicals

The French Journal des scavans (1665-1792), edited by "Sieur de Hedouville" (Denis de Sallo), is considered to have been the first periodical. A literary, scientific, and art weekly, it was widely imitated in Europe. German periodicals began late in the 18th cent. as information magazines in dialogue form, later evolving into literary and scientific journals. Under Hitler periodicals were primarily vehicles of Nazi propaganda, and the traditional magazines were suppressed or destroyed.

England

Toward the end of the 17th cent. periodicals patterned after the Journal des scavans began to appear in England. The success of Sir Richard Steele's Tatler (1709-11) and its successor, the Spectator (1711-12), written almost entirely by Steele and by Joseph Addison, ushered in the great 18th-century English periodical literature. The Rambler (1750-52) virtually made Samuel Johnson's reputation; he contributed to all but five of its 208 issues. Tobias Smollett and Dr. Johnson wrote for the Tory Critical Review (1756-1817). The monthly Gentleman's Magazine (1731-1868) was the first to use the word magazine in the sense of a periodical for entertainment.

Among the foremost English periodicals of the 19th cent. were the Edinburgh Review (1802-1929), which numbered among its contributors Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, and William Hazlitt; Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (renamed Blackwood's Magazine; 1817-1980), noted for satire; The Spectator (1828-); and the Westminster Review (1824-1914), an organ of Benthamite reform (see Bentham, Jeremy). Nineteenth-century English novels often appeared first as magazine serials. Charles Dickens edited Household Words (1850-59) and All the Year Round (1859-95), and many of his novels appeared in them. The Cornhill Magazine (1860-1975), first edited by W. M. Thackeray, published his last two novels and some by Mrs. Gaskell and by Anthony Trollope.

The Yellow Book (1894-97), edited by Aubrey Beardsley and Henry Harland, was notable for literature, humor, and illustrations. The humorous weekly Punch (1841-1992), remains the most famous of its kind. The Economist (1843-), despite its name, is an international newsweekly with a larger readership in the United States than in Britain. At first, publication of periodicals was hampered by difficulties of distribution. Postage was practically prohibitive; since postmasters could frank (mail without charge) what they sent out, they frequently became publishers.

The United States

Before the American Revolution only about 15 periodicals, with an average life of 10 months, were published. Andrew Bradford's American Magazine; or, A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies (Philadelphia, 1741), Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and Historical Chronicle (Philadelphia, 1741), and William Bradford's American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle (Philadelphia, 1757-58) were the most notable. During the Revolution outstanding periodicals included the Pennsylvania Magazine (Philadelphia, 1775-76), edited by Thomas Paine, and the United States Magazine (Philadelphia, 1779).

After the war periodicals appeared in large numbers. Of more than 70 established before 1800 the most notable were the Columbian Magazine (1786-92); the Massachusetts Magazine (1789-96); and the New York Magazine (1790-97). One of the best-known American magazines of the early 19th cent. was the Port Folio (Philadelphia, 1801-27). The most important review in America was the North American Review (1815-1940). Among its editors were Jared Sparks, Edward Everett, E. T. Channing, James Russell Lowell, and Henry Adams. The New-York Mirror (1823-57) attained eminence for literary reviews and superior typography and illustration. Edgar Allan Poe contributed critical essays.

The period from 1830 to 1850 saw the rise of nationally circulated monthlies. Advertising, a minor factor since its introduction in 1741 in the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, became a mainstay of publishing. Godey's Lady's Book (Philadelphia, 1830-92; New York, 1892-98), edited from 1837 to 1877 by Sarah Josepha Hale, was among the most famous periodicals for women; its colored fashion plates are valued today by collectors.

Among the notable American periodicals with long histories are the Atlantic Monthly (Boston, 1857-), edited for 10 years (1871-81) by William Dean Howells; Harper's Magazine (New York, 1850-), which, fully illustrated with woodcuts and carrying serial installments of English novels, achieved new heights of popularity; and the weekly Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia, 1821-1971). Scribner's Monthly was renamed the Century Illustrated Magazine (1881) and the Century Monthly (1925) and united (1929) with the Forum to form the Forum and Century (1930-40).

Noted American weeklies included Harper's Weekly (New York, 1857-1916), for which George W. Curtis wrote famous editorials and Thomas Nast drew cartoons; and the Independent (New York and Boston, 1848-1928), at first Congregationalist under Henry Ward Beecher (1861-63) and Theodore Tilton (1863-70) but later a nonsectarian, crusading publication. The Overland Monthly (San Francisco, 1868-1935) had many distinguished contributors and was edited (1868-70) by Bret Harte. The sensational exposés by the muckrakers of political, social, and economic injustices brought fame to McClure's (New York, 1893-1928); Hampton's Magazine (New York, 1898-1912); Cosmopolitan (New York, 1886-, greatly altered in 1965); Collier's (New York, 1880-1957); and others.

The New Yorker (1925-) is known for urbane humor and high literary standards. Reader's Digest (1922-), a small-format monthly, first offered condensations of books and magazine articles, and now prints original reports as well. It has built a vast circulation and issues many foreign-language editions. News is summarized, analyzed, and categorized according to topics each week in Time (New York, 1923-); Newsweek (New York, 1933-), which formerly competed more directly with Time, now emphasizes opinion and commentary. The great picture weeklies Life (1936) and Look (1937), despite their enormous circulations, succumbed in the late 1960s and early 70s to the pressure of rising production costs and television competition that profoundly injured all but special-interest magazine publishing. Life was revived from 1978 to 2000 as a monthly and has since been reissued in occasional special editions and as a newspaper insert (2004-7).

Special-Interest Magazines

During the 18th cent. periodicals intended for special-interest groups were developed, and magazines for lawyers, musicians, artisans, and for women appeared. By the late 19th cent. magazines were reaching an audience of mass consumers; they were produced by new and faster printing processes, and they were supported by advertising. The new social critics joined literary innovators to create a number of specialized periodicals. The minority appeal of these journals limited their circulation and dictated modest formats; hence they were dubbed the little magazines. Many were short-lived; others survived because contributions of readers or philanthropists met their deficits. Yet because their readership comprised intellectuals and public figures, their influence far exceeded their circulation.

The Nation (1865-), was a forerunner of this movement. Another liberal journal, the New Republic (1909-), has had among its editors Walter Lippmann (1914-17) and Henry A. Wallace (1946-48). The American Mercury (1924-50) was founded by H. L. Mencken, its editor until 1933; it opposed orthodoxy in general. The Saturday Review (1924-86), formerly the Saturday Review of Literature, was a significant journal of literary and art criticism. The Partisan Review (1933-83), a liberal quarterly, became celebrated for its literary and political articles, as did the New Leader (1924-). Conservative magazines, arising in response to the liberal ones, include Common Sense (1932-46) and the National Review (1955-), edited by William F. Buckley, Jr.

By 1900 the number of American monthlies had expanded to about 1,800, reaching nearly 1 million families. Magazines for women came to dominate magazine circulation. The most important of these were the Ladies' Home Journal (1883-), the Woman's Home Companion (1873-1955), McCall's Magazine (1870-2001) and Vogue (1892-). Vanity Fair (1913-36), devoted to literature and the arts, was superbly edited (by Frank Crowninshield) and designed. It was revived in 1981 as a glossy mixture of profiles of celebrities and more serious articles.

Specialized periodicals serve most professions, industries, and organizations. The oldest American scientific periodicals include the American Journal of Science (New Haven, 1818-), the Franklin Journal (Philadelphia, 1826-1828), and the Scientific American (1845-). National Geographic Magazine (1888-), devoted to natural history, travel, and anthropological subjects, was one of the first periodicals to use color photographs. The proliferation of special-interest magazines in the 1980s was aimed at audiences interested in certain subjects, such as parenting, travel, or music.

Other specialized magazines of interest include Ms. (1972-), a forum for the women's liberation movement; Publishers Weekly, a trade journal of book publishing; Sports Illustrated (1954-); Ebony (1946-), a picture weekly directed toward African-American readership; and the satirical National Lampoon (1970-92). In addition, a tremendous circulation exists for the cruder magazine forms: comic books; fan magazines of the entertainment media; true romance, confession, soap opera, and police magazines; and the various periodicals devoted to sex or sexuality, including Playboy (1953-) and Penthouse (first U.S. publication, 1969). Magazines of this last group constitute a publishing phenomenon and are widely imitated.

Toward the end of the 20th cent. advances in computer technology and its wider availability to the public have made possible the delivery of magazine articles through on-line services. In addition, in the 1990s the computer revolution began to spawn entirely electronic periodicals, such as The Online Journal of Current Critical Trials (1992-), a professional medical journal, and Launch (1995-), a youth-oriented entertainment magazine. For indexes to periodicals, see index.

or periodical

Printed collection of texts (essays, articles, stories, poems), often illustrated, that is produced at regular intervals. Modern magazines have roots in early printed pamphlets, broadsides, chapbooks, and almanacs. One of the first magazines was the German Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (“Edifying Monthly Discussions”), issued from 1663 to 1668. In the early 18th century Joseph Addison and Richard Steele brought out the influential periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator; other critical reviews began in the mid 1700s. By the 19th century, magazines catering to specialized audiences had developed, including the women's weekly, the religious and missionary review, and the illustrated magazine. One of the greatest benefits to magazine publishing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the addition of advertisements as a means of financial support. Subsequent developments included more illustrations and vastly greater specialization. With the computer age, magazines (“e-zines”) also became available over the Internet.

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Any of various small, usually avant-garde periodicals devoted to serious literary writings. The name signifies most of all a usually noncommercial manner of editing, managing, and financing. They were published from circa 1880 through much of the 20th century and flourished in the U.S. and England, though French and German writers also benefited from them. Foremost among them were two U.S. periodicals, Poetry and the more erratic and often more sensational Little Review (1914–29); the English Egoist (1914–19) and Blast (1914–15); and the French transition (1927–38).

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Fifth Estate (FE) is a periodical published in Liberty, Tennessee and in Detroit, Michigan. Its editorial collective shares divergent views on the topics the magazine addresses but generally shares an anti-authoritarian outlook and a non-dogmatic, action-oriented approach to change. The title presumably suggests that the periodical is an alternative to the fourth estate (traditional print journalism).

Fifth Estate is frequently cited as the longest running English language anarchist publication in North America.

History

Origin

Fifth Estate was started by Harvey Ovshinsky, a seventeen year old youth from Detroit. He was inspired by a summer trip to California where he worked on The Los Angeles Free Press, the first underground paper in the US. The name came from a coffee house he liked to visit on the Sunset Strip.

The first issue was published on November 19, 1965 - "That's what we really are - the voice of the liberal element in Detroit," it said. It was produced on a typewriter and then reproduced by offset lithograph. It featured a critical review of a Bob Dylan concert, a borrowed Jules Feiffer cartoon, alternative events listing and an announcement of a forthcoming anti-Vietnam War march. None of these things would have been included in contemporary newspapers.

In 1966 Ovshinsky moved the office from his parents' basement to a mid-town storefront near Wayne State University. Here the paper was saved from extinction by the Detroit Committee to End the War in Vietnam, John Sinclair's Artist Workshop, and other radicals. Later in 1966 the paper moved to Plum Street where they also established a bookshop. Fifth Estate thrived in the late sixties, a period when over 500 underground papers emerged in the US. Thousands of copies were distributed locally with hundreds more being sent to GIs in Vietnam. Fifth Estate openly called on soldiers to mutiny. In 1967 the Fifth Estate offices were tear-gassed by the National Guard during the 12th Street riot. In this period the print run reached 15,000 - 20,000 copies.

1970s

By 1972 the optimism of the sixties had worn off and the tone of the paper became more concerned with struggle than fun. Ovshinsky left, leaving a group of young people (teenagers or in their early twenties) to run the paper. Some of their naïveté wore off as they sent delegations to Vietnam, Cambodia and Cuba. With the massive defeat of George McGovern and the election of Richard Nixon for a second term with an increased vote damaged the movement - many underground papers stopped coming out and the alternative news services such as the Liberation News Service, and the Underground Press Syndicate had collapsed. By 1975, Fifth Estate was lingering on - many staff had burnt out through too much activism and they had their share of internal disputes. The debts were mounting up.

In August, 1975 Vol. 11, No.1 declared "The issue you are now holding is the last issue of the Fifth Estate - the last issue of a failing capitalist enterprise…This is also the first issue of a new Fifth Estate." This was the first explicitly anarchist issue of Fifth Estate. The paper had been taken over by the Eat the Rich Gang., a group that had successfully published several pamphlets and were particularly influenced by Fredy Perlman, Jacques Camatte, Jean Baudrillard, Council communism, and Left Communism, as well as the Situationists. They did not originally identify themselves as explicitly anarchist and had no contacts with the anarchist currents of the 1930s. However, they were contacted by veterans of that period who they saw as powerful role models. They developed a close relationship with Black and Red, a radical Marxist printers/publishers group with which Fredy and Lorraine Perlman were involved.

1980s to present day

From 1980 when they came up with the dictum "All isms are was-isms," the paper became more anti-technological and anti-civilisation, something for which it was well known throughout the '80's. Fifth Estate now has a decentralized editorial group, and in 2007 and 2008 issues have been published that were primarily produced in Michigan, Tennessee, New York and Wisconsin. The current editorial collective has taken the magazine in a direction that refuses sectarianism and welcomes voices from disparate strains of anti-authoritarian thought. The group also distances itself from anarchism as ideology, embracing a more inclusive, yet still radical, anti-capitalist perspective.

Contributors

• Richard Mock, designer of many of the linocuts used on Fifth Estate's covers.
• David Watson, longtime Fifth Estate writer and editorial collective member
• Fredy Perlman, Fifth Estate writer
• Peter Werbe, longtime Fifth Estate writer and editorial collective member
• John Zerzan, Fifth Estate contributor from 1974 to 1988

References

External links

• Official website
• Fifth Estate on the website of Peter Werbe.
• Metro Times story on Fifth Estate's 40th anniversary