According to its playful, Menckenesque masthead, "The [AS] was founded in 1924 by George Nathan and Truman Newberry over a cheap domestic ale in McSorley's Old Ale House." In reality, AS was founded as The Alternative by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and other conservative students at Indiana University in 1967 as a reaction to campus radicalism.  In 1977, it took the name of Nathan's long-defunct literary magazine. In the 1990s, AS became the voice of anti-Clintonism. Published monthly, AS is known for its wit. Pratt holds this title in paper back to 1977.  It is also available in Pratt electronic databases.

Commentary, first published in 1945 by the American Jewish Committee, has often been characterized as neo-conservative in its orientation.  It is published monthly, except for a combined July-August issue.  It is indexed in Reader's Guide and Book Review Digest. Pratt holds this title back to 1945 in paper.  It is also full-text searchable in  Pratt electronic databases .

Mary Harris or Mother Jones (1837?-1930) was a fiery American labor organizer. Like its namesake, MJ magazine agitates from the left side of the political spectrum. According to its Website, "[MJ] is an independent nonprofit whose roots lie in a commitment to social justice implemented through first rate investigative reporting."  MJ was founded in 1976 and is published bimonthly.

NR was founded in 1955 by William F. Buckley, Jr. and is the longest running opinion journal of movement conservatism.  NR is published biweekly.  In the issue pictured here (January 29, 2007), NR editorialized in favor of the troop surge in Iraq.

Founded by Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. in 1909 as La Follette's Weekly, the magazine changed its name to The Progressive in 1929. It became a monthly in 1948. According to its Website, "[it] has steadfastly stood against militarism, the concentration of power in corporate hands, and the disenfranchisement of the citizenry. It has continued to champion peace, social and economic justice, civil rights, civil liberties, human rights, a preserved environment, and a reinvigorated democracy. Its bedrock values remain nonviolence and freedom of speech."