Holiday Gift Guide: Subscription to the Atlantic

Back when I was contemplating the decision to become a journalist, I explained to my somewhat worried parents that while it might be risky, there was always that slim chance that if I worked really hard, "someday, I could work for The Economist, or the Atlantic."

Obviously, I have had a somewhat charmed career; those are the only two places I've worked.

I say this not merely to celebrate my extraordinary, unbelievable luck--always an excellent exercise as the New Year approaches--but to point out that I work for one of the best magazines in the world.  Something that I deeply believed long before they started paying me twice a month.

If you enjoy this site all year long, I'd encourage you to subscribe to the magazine, or give a subscription to someone you love.  Subscribing to the print magazine helps us keep going in two ways:  it provides us revenue from the subscription, but it also increases our advertising base, which allows us to charge advertisers more for access to your eyeballs.

But of course, I also think it's a pretty good deal for you.  Having paper magazines come into the house reminds you to actually read some great journalism that you'd otherwise miss--which is why our very webby household subscribes to magazines like The New Republic and the New Yorker in their physical form.  Did you see our outstanding piece on why most medical research is wrong?  How about Mitch Moxley on being a rental caucasian frontman for businesses in China?  Our own Ben Schwarz on gentrification?  Graeme Wood on African witchcraft trials?  The ten columns I've written on business this year?

Subscribing helps us put out that kind of journalism; it also makes sure you don't miss it.  And since we're having a buy-one-get-one-free special right now . . . well, I'm just saying, a couple of lattes, or a full year of The Atlantic?