The Believer Magazine

The Believer is published by McSweeney's and is particularly attractive because of its annual music issue, which comes complete with CD. If you like alternative music, The Believer combined with The World Café radio program (from Philadelphia) and Iowa's own KUNI evening music program is a great way to find out about artists and their music. The most recent issue of The Believer has a variety of interesting articles including an article on how a lack of understanding of crime statistics causes people to misperceive a lack of safety. This article is by Eula Bliss and called "No-Man's -Land: Fear, Racism, and the Historically Troubling Attitude of American Pioneers." I was reading the magazine when visiting home and both my father and my sister read the article too. There is an article on Karl Marx's kindler-gentler younger days when he practiced his writing in what he called "the violet notebook." The article is by Sam Stark. If you are a Nick Hornby fan, he contributes a regular column in which he discusses the books he is reading. Charles Baxter has contributed an article on fatherhood footnoted by his son. An article on Vladimir Mayakovsky by Michael Amereyda explores Mayakovsky's revolutionary jingles and fiery prose. Other articles review books, interview photographers, animators, and a philosopher, and Tayari Jones writes about being a black writer during Black History Month.
Although Grinnell College Libraries do not subscribe to this magazine, if you can find it in a book store or borrow it from a friend, it is well worth reading.

For more on McSweeney's and The Believer read this article from SF Weekly.com by Francis Reade.