Commentary (magazine)

Commentary
Cover of November 2021 issue
EditorJohn Podhoretz
Frequency11 issues / year (monthly, but with a combined July–August issue)
Circulation26,000 (2017)[1]
First issue1945 (1945)
CompanyCommentary Inc.
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City, New York, U.S.
LanguageEnglish
Websitecommentary.org
ISSN0010-2601
OCLC488561243

Commentary is a monthly American magazine on religion, Judaism, and politics, as well as social and cultural issues. Founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945 under Elliot E. Cohen, editor from 1945 to 1959, Commentary magazine developed into the leading post-World War II journal of Jewish affairs. The periodical strove to construct a new American Jewish identity while processing the events of the Holocaust, the formation of the State of Israel, and the Cold War. Norman Podhoretz edited the magazine from 1960 to 1995.

Besides its coverage of cultural issues, Commentary provided a voice for the anti-Stalinist left. As Podhoretz shifted from his original ideological beliefs as a liberal Democrat to neoconservatism in the 1970s and 1980s, he moved the magazine with him to the right and toward the Republican Party.[2]

  1. ^ Frank, T.A. (January 25, 2018). "Why conservative magazines are more important than ever". Washington Post. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Abrams, Nathan (2009). "Introduction". Norman Podhoretz and Commentary magazine: the rise and fall of the neocons. Continuum.