{{Short description|American weekly political magazine}} {{other uses}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}} {{Infobox magazine | title = The Nation | logo = The Nation logo.svg | logo_size = 210px | image_file = The Nation January 2026 magazine cover.jpg | image_size = 230px | image_caption = ''The Nation'', cover dated January 2026 | editor = D. D. Guttenplan | editor_title = Editor | previous_editor = {{Plain list| *Edwin Lawrence Godkin * Victor Navasky * Norman Thomas (associate editor) * Carey McWilliams * Freda Kirchwey }} | staff_writer = | frequency = Monthly | total_circulation = 96,000<ref name="About us">{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The_Nation_Media_Kit-2022.pdf|title=The Nation Media Kit 2022|website=The Nation|date=January 2022|access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> | circulation_year = 2021 | category = Politics | company = The Nation Company, L.P. | publisher = Katrina vanden Heuvel | firstdate = {{Start date and age|1865|07|06}} | country = United States | based = New York City, U.S. | website = {{URL|thenation.com}} | issn = 0027-8378 | oclc = 1643268 }}

'''''The Nation''''' is a left-leaning<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cjr.org/the_delacorte_lectures/the_nation_jacobin.php|title='What's bad for the nation is good for The Nation'|website=Columbia Journalism Review|first=Carlett |last=Spike|language=en|date=December 9, 2016|access-date=}}</ref> and progressive American monthly magazine.<ref name=":1" /> It covers politics and culture. The magazine calls itself “the flagship of the left”.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Knick |first=Dawson |date=December 3, 2019 |title=Why Isn't This Landmarked?: 72 Fifth Avenue, Appleton & Co. Headquarters |url=https://www.villagepreservation.org/2019/12/03/why-isnt-this-landmarked-72-fifth-avenue-appleton-co-headquarters/,%20https://www.villagepreservation.org/2019/12/03/why-isnt-this-landmarked-72-fifth-avenue-appleton-co-headquarters/ |access-date= |website=Village Preservation |language=en-US}}</ref> ''The Nation'' is considered to be the oldest magazine in the US, publishing articles by various high-profile American academics and activists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Juan |date=April 1, 2015 |title=Started by Abolitionists in 1865, The Nation Magazine Marks 150 Years of Publishing Rebel Voices |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/1/started_by_abolitionists_in_1865_the |access-date= |website=Democracy Now! |language=en}}</ref> ''Jacobin'' founder Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the magazine.<ref name=":5" />

It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper that closed in 1865, after ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Thereafter, the magazine proceeded to a broader topic, ''The Nation''. An important collaborator of the new magazine was its Literary Editor Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of William. He had at his disposal his father's vast network of contacts.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

''The Nation'' is published by its namesake owner, The Nation Company, L.P., at 520 8th Ave New York, NY 10018. It has news bureaus in Washington, D.C., London, and South Africa, with departments covering architecture, art, corporations, defense, environment, films, legal affairs, music, peace and disarmament, poetry, and the United Nations. Circulation peaked at 187,000 in 2006 but dropped to 145,000 in print by 2010, although digital subscriptions had risen to over 15,000. By 2021, the total for both print and digital combined was 96,000.<ref name="Media Kit">{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The_Nation_Media_Kit-2022.pdf|title=The Nation Media Kit 2022|website=The Nation|date=January 2022|access-date=September 16, 2022}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Founding and journalistic roots === ''The Nation'' was established on July 6, 1865, at 130 Nassau Street ("Newspaper Row") in Manhattan. Its founding coincided with the closure of the abolitionist newspaper ''The Liberator'',<ref name=":7">''The Anti-Slavery Reporter'', August 1, 1865, p. 187.</ref> also in 1865, after slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; a group of abolitionists, led by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, desired to found a new weekly political magazine. Edwin Lawrence Godkin, who had been considering starting such a magazine for some time, agreed and so became the first editor of ''The Nation''.<ref name=":6">{{cite encyclopedia|first=Eric|last=Fettman|contribution=Godkin, E. L.|editor-first=Stephen L.|editor-last=Vaughn|title=Encyclopedia of American Journalism|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2009|isbn=9780415969505|page=200}}</ref>

Its founding publisher was Joseph H. Richards; the editor was Godkin, an immigrant from Ireland who had formerly worked as a correspondent of the London ''Daily News'' and ''The New York Times''.<ref name="nation1917">{{Cite magazine |date=1917-04-19 |title=Supplement: Proceedings at the Semi-Centennial Dinner |magazine=The Nation |last1=Fuller |first1=Harold de Wolf |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_nation_1917-04-26_104_2704 |access-date=2025-03-19 |volume=104 |issue=2704 |last2=Moore |first2=John Bassett |author-link2=John Bassett Moore |last3=Hamilton-Gordon |first3=John |author-link3=John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair |last4=Knecht |first4=M. Marcel |last5=Koo |first5=V. K. Wellington |author-link5=V. K. Wellington Koo |last6=Morgan |first6=Edwin Vernon |author-link6=Edwin Vernon Morgan |last7=Shatsky |first7=B. E. |last8=Thwing |first8=Charles F. |author-link8=Charles Franklin Thwing |at=Section II, pp. 502–503 |format=PDF |publication-date=1917-04-26}}</ref><ref name="ja">{{cite encyclopedia |first=James |last=Aucoin |title=The Nation |editor-first=Stephen L. |editor-last=Vaughn |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Journalism |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-415-96950-5 |pages=317–8 }}</ref> Godkin sought to establish what one sympathetic commentator later characterized as "an organ of opinion characterized in its utterance by breadth and deliberation, an organ which should identify itself with causes, and which should give its support to parties primarily as representative of these causes".{{r|n=nation1917|p=503|a=#^ This supplement comprises a transcript of speeches given at the event, and authors are listed in the order in which their speeches appear. The first speech (pp. 502–503) was attributed simply to "The Editor," but identified as Harold de Wolf Fuller in a photograph caption following this section.{{r|n=nation1917|at=[https://archive.org/details/sim_nation_1917-04-26_104_2704/page/n47/mode/2up Section III]}}|link-id=L1}}

In its "founding prospectus" the magazine wrote that the publication would have "seven main objects" with the first being "discussion of the topics of the day, and, above all, of legal, economical, and constitutional questions, with greater accuracy and moderation than are now to be found in the daily press". ''The Nation'' pledged to "not be the organ of any party, sect or body" but rather to "make an earnest effort to bring to discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred".<ref name="FoundingProspectus">{{cite news |author=Richards |first=Joseph H. |date=July 6, 1865 |title=Founding Prospectus |work=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/founding-prospectus/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709125914/http://www.thenation.com/article/founding-prospectus/ |archive-date=2015-07-09}}</ref>

In the first year of publication, one of the magazine's regular features was ''The South as It Is.''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dennett |first1=John R. |title=The South As It Is: 1865–1866 |date=2010 |publisher=University of Alabama Press}}</ref> The magazine published eyewitness accounts of the Reconstruction era of southern states.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Mehren |first=Elizabeth |date=March 20, 1986 |title=A Journalistic Love-In for The Nation Magazine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-03-20-vw-21791-story.html |access-date= |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

Among the causes supported by the publication in its earliest days was civil service reform—moving the basis of government employment from a political patronage system to a professional bureaucracy based upon meritocracy.{{r|n=nation1917|p=503}} ''The Nation'' also was preoccupied with the reestablishment of a sound national currency in the years after the American Civil War, arguing that a stable currency was necessary to restore the economic stability of the nation.{{r|n=nation1917|p=503–504|a=#^ Speech by John Bassett Moore, pp. 503–504 | link-id=L2}} Closely related to this was the publication's advocacy of the elimination of protective tariffs in favor of lower prices of consumer goods associated with a free trade system.{{r|n=nation1917|p=504}}

=== From 1880s literary supplement to 1930s New Deal booster === thumb|''The Evening Post'' and ''The Nation'', 210 Broadway, Manhattan, New York

In June 1881, ''The Nation'' was acquired by journalist Henry Villard.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Simkin |first=John |date=September 1997 |title=The Nation (US) |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/USAnation.htm |access-date= |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref> Afterwards, the magazine was printed in conjunction with ''New York Evening Post'' ''(''now ''New York Post''), which at the time held liberal views''.''<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Donald |first=Watt |date=2021 |title=Analysis: The Unity of America |url=https://www.ebsco.com/ |access-date= |website=EBSCO |language=en}}</ref>

After Henry Villard died, the publications were inherited by his son; Oswald Garrison Villard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oswald Garrison Villard Letters |url=https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/v/villard_og.htm |access-date=May 8, 2026 |website=Syracuse University}}</ref> Villard's ideology and the editorial stance of ''The Nation'' shared many similarities; both were advocating for racial equality and isolationism.<ref name=":4" /> In July 1918, Villard announced that ''The Nation'' will be separate from the newspaper and stop reprinting articles of the ''New York Evening Post''. Villard made this decision because he believed that reprinting practice gave readers the impression that ''The Nation'' was a weekly publication of the ''New York Evening Post''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 31, 1918 |title=VILLARD IS READY TO SELL POST STOCK |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/07/31/archives/villard-is-ready-to-sell-post-stock-option-given-to-associates-has.html |access-date=2026-05-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

As the 1932 U.S. presidential election approached, ''The Nation'' saw no real choice between Hoover and Roosevelt, and it urged readers to vote for Socialist Party of America candidate Norman Thomas. Oswald Villard wrote: "So I insist, the man who votes for either Hoover or Roosevelt is the one who is throwing away his vote... He is again postponing the peaceful revolution which Woodrow Wilson said in 1912 was on the horizon." The magazine did, however, endorse Roosevelt in the next three elections.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heuvel |first1=Katrina Vanden |title=The Nation 1985 - 1990 |date=1991 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |location=New York |isbn=1-56025-001-1 |page=112,113}}</ref>

Oswald Villard welcomed the New Deal and supported the nationalization of industries—thus reversing the meaning of "liberalism" as the founders of ''The Nation'' would have understood the term, from a belief in a smaller and more restricted government to a belief in a larger and less restricted government.<ref>Carey McWilliams, "One Hundred Years of The Nation." ''Journalism Quarterly'' 42.2 (1965): 189–197.</ref><ref>Dollena Joy Humes, ''Oswald Garrison Villard: Liberal of the 1920s'' (Syracuse University Press, 1960).</ref> Villard sold the magazine in 1935 to "The Nation Fund, Inc", a nonprofit corporation established by banker Maurice Wertheim.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1935 |title=THE NATION TO BE SOLD.; Non-Profit Foundation to Be in Control, Villard Says. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/04/27/archives/the-nation-to-be-sold-nonprofit-foundation-to-be-in-control-villard.html |access-date= |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1937, Wertheim sold ''The Nation'' to editor Freda Kirchwey, who said she bought it because she intended to turn the magazine into a "voice of leftism".<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 1, 1943 |title=The Press: State of the Nation |url=https://time.com/archive/6866110/the-press-state-of-the-nation/ |website=Time Magazine}}</ref>

Almost every editor of ''The Nation'' from Villard's time to the 1970s was looked at for "subversive" activities and ties.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kimball |first=Penn |title=The History of ''The Nation'' According to the FBI |journal=The Nation |date=March 22, 1986 |pages=399–426 |issn=0027-8378}}</ref> When Albert Jay Nock published a column criticizing Samuel Gompers and trade unions for being complicit in the war machine of the First World War, ''The Nation'' was briefly suspended from the US mail.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wreszin, Michael |year=1969 |title=Albert Jay Nock and the Anarchist Elitist Tradition in America |journal=American Quarterly |volume=21 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/2711573|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|jstor=2711573 |page=173 |quote=It was probably the only time any publication was suppressed in America for attacking a labor leader, but the suspension seemed to document Nock's charges.}}</ref>

=== World War II and early Cold War === The magazine's financial problems in the early 1940s prompted Kirchwey to sell her individual ownership of the magazine in 1943, creating a nonprofit organization; Nation Associates, out of the money generated from a recruiting drive of sponsors. This organization was also responsible for academic affairs, including conducting research and organizing conferences, that had been a part of the early history of the magazine. Nation Associates became responsible for the operation and publication of the magazine on a nonprofit basis, with Kirchwey as both president of Nation Associates and editor of ''The Nation''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Freda Kirchwey: A Woman of the Nation|first=Sara|last=Alpern|publisher=President and Fellows of Harvard College|date=1987|isbn=0-674-31828-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fredakirchweywom0000alpe/page/156 156–161]|url=https://archive.org/details/fredakirchweywom0000alpe/page/156}}</ref>

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''The Nation'' repeatedly called on the United States to enter World War II to resist fascism, and after the US entered the war, the publication supported the American war effort. Furthermore, unlike other leftist publications and organizations which followed a close Stalinist line in keeping with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, ''The Nation'' supported American intervention in the war before Operation Barbarossa.<ref name="pfb">{{cite book |first=Paul F. |last=Boller |chapter=Hiroshima and the American Left |title=Memoirs of An Obscure Professor and Other Essays |location=Fort Worth |publisher=Texas Christian University Press |year=c. 1992 |isbn=0-87565-097-X}}</ref> It also supported the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.<ref name="pfb" />

In January 1942, The Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany received almost no attention from the global media. ''The Nation'' was one of the few publications that reported on the crimes committed against Jews during this period; it published multiple articles by Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, who explained the events that took place in the concentration camps run by the Schutzstaffel. ''The Nation'' advocated for the United States to provide refuge to German Jewry.<ref name=":8" />

Freda Kirchwey openly supported the idea of ​​banning the fascist press, which earned her the enmity of liberals, including her long-time friend Norman Thomas who said: "In ten years or less it won't be the people you want to suppress now who will be suppressed and stay suppressed by your theory; it will be yourselves along with many others".<ref name=":8" />

In the 1950s, ''The Nation'' was attacked by critics as "pro-communist" because of its advocacy of détente with the expansionist Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin, and its criticism of McCarthyism.<ref name="ja" /> One of the magazine's writers, Louis Fischer, resigned from the magazine afterwards, claiming ''The Nation''{{'}}s foreign coverage was too pro-Soviet.<ref name="fk">{{cite book |last=Alpern |first=Sara |url=https://archive.org/details/fredakirchweywom0000alpe/page/162 |title=Freda Kirchwey, a Woman of the Nation |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-674-31828-5 |location=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fredakirchweywom0000alpe/page/162 162–5]}}</ref> Despite this, Diana Trilling pointed out that Kirchwey did allow anti-Soviet writers, such as herself, to contribute material critical of Russia to the magazine's arts section.<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Seaton |title=Cultural Conservatism, Political Liberalism: From Criticism to Cultural Studies |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-472-10645-7 |page=71 }}</ref>

During McCarthyism (the Second Red Scare), ''The Nation'' was banned from several school libraries in New York City and Newark,<ref name="dc">{{cite book |first=David |last=Caute |author-link=David Caute |title=The Great Fear: the Anti-Communist purge under Truman and Eisenhower |location=London |publisher=Secker and Warburg |year=1978 |isbn=0-436-09511-4 |page=454}}</ref> and a Bartlesville, Oklahoma, librarian, Ruth Brown, was fired from her job in 1950, after a citizens committee complained she had given shelf space to ''The Nation''.<ref name="dc" /> In 1957, Fidel Castro wrote an article for ''The Nation'', titled; “What Cuba’s Rebels Want”. A year later, the magazine published an article discussing the possibility of US invading Cuba; it predicted the Bay of Pigs invasion.<ref name=":3" />

In 1955, George Kirstein replaced Freda Kirchway as magazine owner.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| title = KIRCHWEY REGIME QUITS THE NATION; Weekly's Editor - Publisher Turns It Over to Carey McWilliams, G. C. Kirstein| work = The New York Times| access-date = December 2, 2018| date = September 15, 1955| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/15/archives/kirchwey-regime-quits-the-nation-weeklys-editor-publisher-turns-it.html |url-access=subscription }}</ref> James J. Storrow Jr. bought the magazine from Kirstein in 1965.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| last = Sibley| first = John| title = NATION MAGAZINE SOLD TO PRODUCER; Storrow Taking Over Liberal Weekly From Kirstein for an Undisclosed Price POLICY TO BE RETAINED Staff Also Will Be Kept, New Owner Says -- First Editor Began in 1856| work = The New York Times| access-date = December 2, 2018| date = December 27, 1965| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1965/12/27/archives/nation-magazine-sold-to-producer-storrow-taking-over-liberal-weekly.html |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== 1970s to 2023 === {{See also|Nation Magazine v. United States Department of Defense}} On the eve of the 1968 U.S. presidential election the magazine argued that the choice between Nixon and Humphrey was such a bad one that voters should stay home.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heuvel |first1=Katrina Vanden |title=The Nation 1865-1990 |date=1991 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |location=New York |isbn=1-56025-001-1 |page=274 |edition=First}}</ref> In June 1979, ''The Nation''{{'}}s publisher Hamilton Fish moved the magazine to 72 Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan.<ref name=":2" /> ''The Nation's'' current address is 33 Irving Place in New York.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 8, 2026 |title=Nation: Alternative Press Center |url=https://www.altpress.org/directory/nation |access-date= |website=Alternative Press Center}}</ref>

In 1977, a group organized by Hamilton Fish V bought the magazine from the Storrow family.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| last = Carmody| first = Deirdre| title = Nation Magazine Sold to Group Led by Hamilton Fish| work = The New York Times| access-date = December 2, 2018| date = December 23, 1977| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/23/archives/nation-magazine-sold-to-group-led-by-hamilton-fish.html}}</ref> In 1985, the magazine was sold to for undiscosed amount to "The Nation Co", headed by millionaire Arthur Carter and two former owners of ''The Nation''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=December 25, 1995 |title=The Nation magazine was sold to The Nation Co. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-25-fi-21233-story.html |access-date= |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

In March 1991, ''The Nation'' together with Center for Constitutional Rights sued Department of Defense for allegedly violating First Amendment and Fifth Amendment for creating press pools during Gulf War. Judge Leonard B. Sand ruled the case moot.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Case: The Nation Magazine v. Department of Defense |url=https://ccrjustice.org/node/1636 |access-date=May 8, 2026 |website=Center for Constitutional Rights |language=en}}</ref> In 1995, veteran editor Victor Navasky and a group of investors that included Paul Newman acquired the magazine. Navasky became the magazine's publisher and editorial director.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 14, 1995 |title=Paul Newman Part Of Group Buying Nation |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jan/14/paul-newman-part-of-group-buying-nation/ |access-date= |website=The Spokesman-Review |language=en}}</ref> In 1995, Katrina vanden Heuvel succeeded Navasky as editor of ''The Nation.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Forgash |first=Emily |date=January 31, 2023 |title='Titan of progressive media': Former Journalism School professor Victor Navasky has died at 90 |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/01/30/titan-of-progressive-media-former-journalism-school-professor-victor-navasky-has-died-at-90/ |access-date= |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}</ref> In 2005, she became the magazine's editor and publisher.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamm |first=Theodore |date=January 8, 2005 |title=Katrina vanden Heuvel with Theodore Hamm |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2005/12/express/katrina-vanden-heuvel-with-theodore-hamm/ |access-date= |website=Brooklyn Rail |language=en}}</ref>

{{Quote box | quote = "In an era of instant, 140-character news cycles and reflexive toeing of the party line, it’s incredible to think of the 150-year history of The Nation. It’s more than a magazine - it’s a crucible of ideas forged in the time of Emancipation, tempered through depression and war and the civil-rights movement, and honed as sharp and relevant as ever in an age of breathtaking technological and economic change." | author = Barack Obama | source = per ''Politico''<ref name=":obama" /> | align = right | width = 30% }}

In 2015, ''The Nation'' celebrated its 150th anniversary with a documentary film by Academy Award–winning director Barbara Kopple, which analyzed the magazine's history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2015 |title='Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/hot-type-150-years-nation-779148/ |access-date= |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref> ''The Nation'' also held a celebration in St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, which was attended by Tony Kushner, Bill de Blasio, Walter Mosley and Michael Moore.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schuessler |first=Jennifer |date=July 15, 2015 |title=The Mayor, a Filmmaker and More as The Nation Wraps Up 150th Anniversary Celebration |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/15/the-mayor-a-filmmaker-and-more-as-the-nation-wraps-up-150th-anniversary-celebration/ |access-date= |website=New York Times |language=en}}</ref> To mark the anniversary, former US President Barack Obama wrote a letter praising ''The Nation'' but noting that he disagreed with some of the magazine's views.<ref name=":obama">{{Cite web |last=Gold |first=Hadas |date=March 23, 2015 |title=Barack Obama praises The Nation |url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/barack-obama-praises-the-nation-204386 |access-date= |website=Politico |language=en}}</ref> Editor of ''The Nation'', D. D. Guttenplan wrote a biography of the magazine entitled ''The Nation: A Biography (The First 150 Years)''. History News Network said that the biography "has played, and continues to play, an important role in U.S. history, society, and politics".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shaffer |first=Robert |date=September 18, 2015 |title=Review of D.D. Guttenplan's “The Nation: A Biography (The First 150 Years)” |url=https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/review-of-dd-guttenplans-the-nation-a-biography-th |access-date= |website=History News Network |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2016, ''The Nation'' endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for President for the third time in its history. The editorial board professed; "Voters can trust Sanders because he doesn’t owe his political career to the financial overlords of the status quo. Freed from these chains of special interest, he can take the bold measures that the country needs".<ref>{{Cite news|title = The Nation endorses Bernie Sanders|url = https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/01/bernie-sanders-nation-endorsement-217745|newspaper = Politico|access-date = |issn = 0027-8378|last=Gold|first=Hadas|date=January 14, 2016}}</ref> On June 15, 2019, Heuvel stepped down as editor; D. D. Guttenplan, the editor-at-large, took her place.<ref name="june2019">{{cite web |last1=Hsu |first1=Tiffany |title=Katrina vanden Heuvel to Step Down as Editor of The Nation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/business/media/katrina-vanden-heuvel-the-nation.html |website=The New York Times |access-date= |date=April 8, 2019}}</ref>

On February 23, 2022, ''The Nation'' named ''Jacobin'' founder Bhaskar Sunkara its new president. In an interview, Sunkara said that he believes liberalism and socialism need to form a coalition to ensure progress and him becoming a president of ''The Nation'' was one way towards this goal.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Fedorov |first=Andrew |date=March 7, 2022 |title=A Radical Takes Over as President of The Nation |url=https://thefineprintnyc.com/article/bhaskar-sunkara-nation-president-jacobin-founder/ |access-date= |website=The Fine Print |language=en-US}}</ref> In December 2023, Sunkara announced the magazine would be switching from a biweekly format to a larger monthly publication.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Kate |date=11 December 2023 |title=The Nation Magazine to Become Monthly |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/business/the-nation-magazine.html |access-date=11 December 2023}}</ref>

==Finances== Print ad pages declined by 5% from 2009 to 2010, while digital advertising rose 32.8% from 2009 to 2010.<ref>{{cite web |author=Steve Cohn |url=http://www.minonline.com/news/min-Correction-The-Nation-Only-Down-Slightly-in-Print-Ad-Sales-Up-in-Web_15730.html |title=min Correction: The Nation Only Down Slightly in Print Ad Sales, Up in Web |publisher=MinOnline |access-date=December 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306103553/http://www.minonline.com/news/min-Correction-The-Nation-Only-Down-Slightly-in-Print-Ad-Sales-Up-in-Web_15730.html |archive-date=March 6, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Advertising accounts for 10% of total revenue for the magazine, while circulation totals 60%.<ref name="NYT1">{{cite news |author=Peters, Jeremy W. Peters |date=November 8, 2010 |title=Bad News for Liberals May be Good News for a Liberal Magazine |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/business/media/08nation.html}}</ref> ''The Nation'' has lost money in all but three or four years of operation and is sustained in part by a group of more than 30,000 donors called Nation Associates, who donate funds to the periodical above and beyond their annual subscription fees. This program accounts for 30% of the total revenue for the magazine. An annual cruise also generates $200,000 for the magazine.<ref name="NYT1" /> Since late 2012, the Nation Associates program has been called Nation Builders.<ref>{{cite news |author=Katrina vanden Heuvel |newspaper=The Nation |date=December 28, 2012 |title= Introducing The Nation Builders |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/171928/introducing-nation-builders# }}</ref>

In 2023, the magazine had approximately 91,000 subscribers, roughly 80% of whom pay for the print magazine. Adding sales from newsstands, ''The Nation'' had a total circulation of 96,000 copies per issue in 2021, earning the majority of its revenue from subscriptions and donations, rather than print advertising.<ref name=":1" />

==Poetry== Since its creation, ''The Nation'' has published significant works of American poetry,<ref name="Schuessler">Jennifer Schuessler, [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/01/arts/poem-nation-apology.html A Poem in The Nation Spurs a Backlash and an Apology], ''New York Times'' (August 1, 2018).</ref><ref name="Schulman">Grace Schulman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/opinion/nation-poem-anders-carlson-wee.html "''The Nation'' Magazine Betrays a Poet—and Itself"] (Opinion), ''The New York Times'' (August 6, 2018).</ref> including works by Hart Crane, Eli Siegel, Elizabeth Bishop, and Adrienne Rich,<ref name="Schuessler"/> as well as W. S. Merwin, Pablo Neruda, Denise Levertov, and Derek Walcott.<ref name="Schulman"/>

In 2018, the magazine published a poem entitled "How-To" by Anders Carlson-Wee which was written in the voice of a homeless man and used black vernacular. This led to criticism from writers such as Roxane Gay because Carlson-Wee is white. ''The Nation''{{'}}s two poetry editors, Stephanie Burt and Carmen Giménez Smith, issued an apology for publishing the poem, the first such action ever taken by the magazine.<ref name="Schuessler"/> The apology itself became an object of criticism also. Poet and ''Nation'' columnist Katha Pollitt called the apology "craven" and likened it to a letter written from "a reeducation camp".<ref name="Schuessler"/> Grace Schulman, ''The Nation''{{'}}s poetry editor from 1971 to 2006, wrote that the apology represented a disturbing departure from the magazine's traditionally broad conception of artistic freedom.<ref name="Schulman"/>

==Regular columns== The magazine runs a number of regular columns:

* "Beneath the Radar" by Gary Younge * "Deadline Poet" by Calvin Trillin * "Diary of a Mad Law Professor" by Patricia J. Williams * "The Liberal Media" by Eric Alterman * "Subject to Debate" by Katha Pollitt * "Between the Lines" by Laila Lalami Regular columns in the past have included: * "Look Out" by Naomi Klein * "Sister Citizen" by Melissa Harris-Perry<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thenation.com/columns/sister-citizen |author=Melissa Harris-Perry|title=Sister Citizen |magazine=The Nation |access-date=December 3, 2011}}</ref> * "Beat the Devil" (1984–2012) by Alexander Cockburn<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2012-07-25 |title=Alexander Cockburn: He Beat the Devil |magazine=The Nation |last=Navasky |first=Victor |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/alexander-cockburn-he-beat-devil/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |author-link=Victor Navasky |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913105854/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/alexander-cockburn-he-beat-devil/ |archive-date=2024-09-13}}</ref> * "Dispatches" (1984–87) by Max Holland and Kai Bird<ref name="Hiar">{{cite web|url=http://corbinhiar.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/kai-bird-the-nations-foreign-editor/|title=Kai Bird: The Nation's Foreign Editor|last=Hiar|first=Corbin|date=April 24, 2009|work=Hiar learning|publisher=Wordpress|access-date=April 24, 2010}}</ref> * "Minority Report" (1982–2002) by Christopher Hitchens * "The Nation cryptic crossword" by Frank W. Lewis from 1947 to 2009, and Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto from 2011 to 2020, that is now available by subscription<ref>{{Cite web|title=Out of Left Field Cryptics|url=https://www.leftfieldcryptics.com/|access-date=2021-10-18|website=leftfieldcryptics.com}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|New York City|Journalism|Politics}} * ''Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises'' * ''Jacobin'' * Modern liberalism in the United States * ''Mother Jones'' * ''Nation Magazine v. United States Department of Defense''

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Pollak |first= Gustav |date=1915 |title=Fifty Years of American Idealism: The New York Nation, 1865–1915 |url=https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsofamer00poll |location=Boston and New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |lccn=16000695 |oclc=1045383647}} Brief history plus numerous essays.

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Official website|https://www.thenation.com}} * [http://www.thenation.com/archive/ ''The Nation Archive''] {{subscription required}} * [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1643268.html ''The Nation'' (archive 1865–1925)] at HathiTrust Digital Library (free) * [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Nation-p25157 ''The Nation'' (archive 1984–2005)] at The Free Library (free)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nation}} Category:The Nation Category:1865 establishments in New York (state) Category:Magazines established in 1865 Category:Magazines published in New York City Category:Political magazines published in the United States Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States Category:Shorty Award winners