The New Leader: Life After Life

With the appearance of its expanded Final Issue dated January/April 2006, The New Leader ended 82 years of publication. The curtain-closer, Stefan Kanfer's retrospective "On Stage" column entitled "Hello, I Must Be Going," nevertheless concluded by predicting the NL "would have a life after life."

A remarkable number of readers and contributors took the trouble to express their dismay at the magazine's death. The tenor of their notes was summed up by historian William L. O'Neill, who wrote: "It does not say much for the state of our culture that it cannot support the only liberal magazine that is, or was, genuinely open-minded. Anyway, you have a record you can be proud of." Inquiries we began to receive made it clear we also possessed archives many prominent universities around the country were eager to acquire— which gave us an idea.

Over the last decade we failed to establish an Internet presence—not because we didn't want to, but because we couldn't afford to develop and support an appropriate site. Now, we decided, The New Leader would use its sole remaining asset to reincarnate itself.

In our conversations with those who contacted us, therefore, we put the following price tag on the archives: office space for the magazine, a Web team to create a stand-alone NL site, and assistance in securing the substantial funds needed to digitize everything we have published from 1924 through 2006. In addition, we explained, we hoped to produce a New Leader anthology and a fullscale authoritative history.

While others contemplated, Columbia University agreed to host us for at least the next five years. We were delighted, not only because it is an honor to be associated with this great institution, but because its permanent housing of our archives reflects a generations-long relationship with prominent members of Columbia's faculty who have been important voices in The New Leader's pages.

That left the question of exactly what form we would take in our new life. For a while we toyed with becoming a blog, but feared being consumed by cyberspace's fog. Ultimately, we opted to pretty much pick up where we left off, albeit as a bimonthly virtual magazine. The familiar pages of The New Leader that you will see are in PDF format. Download them and you will very nearly have the actual magazine. Comments and counterarguments to articles and criticism—limited to 300 words—are invited for a planned interactive "Dear Editor" department. At this point there will be no access (or subscription) fee. Tell your friends. —M.K.