June 4, 2010
BOOK REVIEW: 'Running Commentary': Lively History of a Magazine Punching Above Its Circulation Numbers
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Size -- at least in terms of circulation -- isn't everything when it comes to the cultural influence of magazines. Take National Review, for a good example. The conservative publication, founded by the late William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955, never had the circulation numbers of Time, Newsweek or even Harper's or the Atlantic.
But National Review "punched above its weight," as boxing writers put it, dragging much of the paleoconservative movement away from its often racist, anti-Semitic roots and giving it a measure of mainstream respectability, thanks to Buckley's idea of a "Big Tent" conservatism that attracted many libertarians and even former liberals.
Also punching above its weight was Commentary, founded in 1945, a decade before Buckley's magazine, by the American Jewish Committee. It was the forum for a new generation of Jewish-American writers and thinkers -- and Gentiles sympathetic to their liberal, anti-Stalinist cause -- and quickly became a major fixture in American culture, despite meager circulation figures.
Benjamin Balint, who served as a Commentary editor from 2001 to 2004, has written a lively, accessible history of the magazine, in "Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine that Transformed the Jewish Left into the Neoconservative Right" (PublicAffairs, 304 pages, index, very extensive notes, $26.95).
Based on unprecedented access to the magazine's archives and dozens of original interviews, Balint describes that shift while recreating the atmosphere of some of the most exciting decades in American intellectual life. Commentary was the magazine of the self-described democratic left, the place where Norman Podhoretz, Hannah Arendt, Saul Bellow, Lionel Trilling, Alfred Kazin, Irving Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb, James Baldwin, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick and many others shared new work, explored ideas, and argued with each other. They also had sexual hookup and affairs and there was a larger-than-life "Family" element surrounding the magazine that Seattle native Balint vividly describes.
Founded by the offspring of immigrants, Commentary began life as a voice for the marginalized and a feisty advocate for civil rights and economic justice. But just as American culture moved in its direction, it began--inexplicably to some--to veer right, becoming the voice of neoconservativism and defender of the powerful.
Commentary contributing editor Milton Himmelfarb, the brother-in-law of Irving Kristol (father of conservative commentary Bill Kristol) described American Jews in the March 1969 issue of the magazine as people who earned like Episcopalians and voted like Puerto Ricans. Judging by the Jewish vote for Barack Obama, Himmelfarb's remark still holds true.
Balint, now living in Jerusalem and a fellow of the Hudson Institute, says that the shift toward neoconservative began in the 1960s, when members of the New Left began displaying anti-Semitism, despite the large numbers of Jews in the movement. The perceived anti-Jewish attitude was exacerbated by the Israeli victory in the June 1967 "Six-Day War." Liberals love Jews when they're victims, but not when they're victors.
Black anti-Semitism, always near the surface, became widespread about this time, with virtually all the black leftists siding with the Arab cause. Black civil rights groups, which once welcomed Jewish supporters, turned away from them, further alienating many American Jews. New Left organizations like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), headed by Mark Rudd, a Jew, born in 1947 in Irvington, NJ, issued the statement to Columbia University's president during the student takeover of Columbia in 1968: "We will destroy your world, your corporation, your University." Rudd's statement, Balint writes, further alienated the Family, who loved America and the opportunities it had afforded them, in contrast to the Hate America attitude their saw in the New Left.
Balint's insights help explain many of the divisions in the American Jewish community, small in numbers but influential -- as many anti-Semites like to point out -- in the corridors of power. Barack Obama can count among his powerful advisers Jews like David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, among others.
"Running Commentary" was eye-opening to me and I recommend it as not only the story of Commentary, but as a brief history of the post-World War II leftist movement and the rise of neoconservatism.
Publisher's website: www.publicaffairsbooks.com
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Running Commentary': Lively History of a Magazine Punching Above Its Circulation Numbers
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Size -- at least in terms of circulation -- isn't everything when it comes to the cultural influence of magazines. Take National Review, for a good example. The conservative publication, founded by the late William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955, never had the circulation numbers of Time, Newsweek or even Harper's or the Atlantic.
But National Review "punched above its weight," as boxing writers put it, dragging much of the paleoconservative movement away from its often racist, anti-Semitic roots and giving it a measure of mainstream respectability, thanks to Buckley's idea of a "Big Tent" conservatism that attracted many libertarians and even former liberals.
Also punching above its weight was Commentary, founded in 1945, a decade before Buckley's magazine, by the American Jewish Committee. It was the forum for a new generation of Jewish-American writers and thinkers -- and Gentiles sympathetic to their liberal, anti-Stalinist cause -- and quickly became a major fixture in American culture, despite meager circulation figures.
Benjamin Balint, who served as a Commentary editor from 2001 to 2004, has written a lively, accessible history of the magazine, in "Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine that Transformed the Jewish Left into the Neoconservative Right" (PublicAffairs, 304 pages, index, very extensive notes, $26.95).
Based on unprecedented access to the magazine's archives and dozens of original interviews, Balint describes that shift while recreating the atmosphere of some of the most exciting decades in American intellectual life. Commentary was the magazine of the self-described democratic left, the place where Norman Podhoretz, Hannah Arendt, Saul Bellow, Lionel Trilling, Alfred Kazin, Irving Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb, James Baldwin, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick and many others shared new work, explored ideas, and argued with each other. They also had sexual hookup and affairs and there was a larger-than-life "Family" element surrounding the magazine that Seattle native Balint vividly describes.
Founded by the offspring of immigrants, Commentary began life as a voice for the marginalized and a feisty advocate for civil rights and economic justice. But just as American culture moved in its direction, it began--inexplicably to some--to veer right, becoming the voice of neoconservativism and defender of the powerful.
Commentary contributing editor Milton Himmelfarb, the brother-in-law of Irving Kristol (father of conservative commentary Bill Kristol) described American Jews in the March 1969 issue of the magazine as people who earned like Episcopalians and voted like Puerto Ricans. Judging by the Jewish vote for Barack Obama, Himmelfarb's remark still holds true.
Balint, now living in Jerusalem and a fellow of the Hudson Institute, says that the shift toward neoconservative began in the 1960s, when members of the New Left began displaying anti-Semitism, despite the large numbers of Jews in the movement. The perceived anti-Jewish attitude was exacerbated by the Israeli victory in the June 1967 "Six-Day War." Liberals love Jews when they're victims, but not when they're victors.
Black anti-Semitism, always near the surface, became widespread about this time, with virtually all the black leftists siding with the Arab cause. Black civil rights groups, which once welcomed Jewish supporters, turned away from them, further alienating many American Jews. New Left organizations like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), headed by Mark Rudd, a Jew, born in 1947 in Irvington, NJ, issued the statement to Columbia University's president during the student takeover of Columbia in 1968: "We will destroy your world, your corporation, your University." Rudd's statement, Balint writes, further alienated the Family, who loved America and the opportunities it had afforded them, in contrast to the Hate America attitude their saw in the New Left.
Balint's insights help explain many of the divisions in the American Jewish community, small in numbers but influential -- as many anti-Semites like to point out -- in the corridors of power. Barack Obama can count among his powerful advisers Jews like David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, among others.
"Running Commentary" was eye-opening to me and I recommend it as not only the story of Commentary, but as a brief history of the post-World War II leftist movement and the rise of neoconservatism.
Publisher's website: www.publicaffairsbooks.com
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
