Washington Monthly
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009) |
 |
|
| Editor | Paul Glastris |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly (1969-2008), Bimonthly (2008-present) |
| Circulation | 10,630 |
| First issue | 1969 |
| Based in | Washington, D.C. |
| Website | www.washingtonmonthly.com |
| ISSN | 0043-0633 |
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.
The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, has been the Monthly's editor-in-chief since 2001. In 2008, the magazine switched from a monthly to a bimontly publication schedule, citing high publication costs.
Diane Straus Tucker is the magazine's current publisher.[1] Past staff editors of the magazine include Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Suzannah Lessard, David Ignatius, Nicholas Lemann, Gregg Easterbrook, Joe Nocera, Mickey Kaus, Timothy Noah, Jonathan Alter, Steven Waldman, Joshua Green, and Jon Meacham.
The politics of the Monthly are left of center, though somewhat moderately so. Founder Charles Peters refers to himself as a New Deal Democrat and advocates the effective use of government to address social problems. His columns also frequently emphasize the importance of a vigilant "fourth estate" in keeping government honest.
The Monthly is one of a growing number of magazines to feature a continuing blog; the popular "Political Animal" was written principally by Kevin Drum for several years, with frequent guest contributions by the Monthly's current and alumni editors. In 2008, Steve Benen took over as lead blogger.
In addition to "Political Animal," the magazine's website also hosts "Ten Miles Square," a general blog featuring posts from staff and political scientists, which debuted in 2011,[2] and "College Guide," a blog about higher education, which the magazine began offering in 2009.[3]
[edit] Annual college rankings
The Washington Monthly's annual college and university rankings[4] (an alternative college guide to the U.S. News and World Report) began as a research report in 2005. It was introduced as an official set of rankings in the September 2006 issue. The rankings [5] are based upon the following criteria:
- "how well it performs as an engine of social mobility (ideally helping the poor to get rich rather than the very rich to get very, very rich)"
- "how well it does in fostering scientific and humanistic research"
- "how well it promotes an ethic of service to country".[6]
The Washington Monthly College Rankings focuses on key research outputs, the quality level and total dollar amount of scientific grants awarded, the number of graduates going on to earn Ph.D.s and the number of graduates that later participate in public service.
The top ranked National University for 2009 was the University of California, Berkeley and the top ranked Liberal Arts College for 2007 was Amherst College.[7]
The top ranked Liberal Arts College in the 2010 rankings is Morehouse College followed by Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, Berea College and Amherst College. The University of California, San Diego ranked number one among National Universities with the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin rounding out the top five in the 2010 rankings.
[edit] References
- ^ "Washington Monthly Masthead". Washington Monthly. 2010. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/staff.html. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ "Welcome to the New Washingtonmonthly.com". WashingtonMonthly.com. April 2011. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2011/04/welcome_to_ten_miles_square_the_new_washington_monthly_blog028267.php. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ "Welcome". WashingtonMonthly.com. September 2009. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/welcome.php. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ The Washington Monthly's Annual College Guide
- ^ The Washington Monthly College Rankings
- ^ The Washington Monthly's Annual College Guide, a note on methodology
- ^ The Washington Monthly's Annual College Guide
[edit] External links
- Washington Monthly website
- Peace Corps biography of Charlie Peters, Founder of Washington Monthly
- Washington Monthly National College Rankings
- Last Call for the Washington Monthly? New York Review of Magazines, May 2008.
