Reason Magazine

Every intellectual movement has its preeminent journal of opinion, a forum for widely diversified views linked by a common set of basic attitudes or principles. For many years, liberals have had their New Republic, the new left its Ramparts and conservativism its National Review and Human Events. Libertarians have seen journals come and go with astonishing rapidity and have purchased three-year subscriptions to magazines which disappeared after two or three months. A few reached top quality, but now The Individualist, the New Individualist Review, Outlook, Left and Right, the Rampart Journal and Libertarian Analysis are all gone. Outside of personal journals like The Libertarian Forum and The Ayn Rand Letter, only Reason survives to provide libertarians with a diverse forum for all shades of libertarian opinion. Reason Magazine is the preeminent journal of the libertarian movement.

For where else has one had the opportunity to hear the views expressed of virtually all of the leaders of the movement: LeFevreans, Objectivists, Rothbardians, Friedmanites and Misesians have all shared Reason's pages. Where else do we find in one magazine interviews with and articles by such people as Nathaniel Branden, Murray Rothbard, Robert LeFevre, Tibor Machan, Milton Friedman, Thomas Szasz, Yale Brozen, Alan Reynolds, Walter Block, John Hospers, Israel Kirzner, John Holt, George Smith, Hans Sennholz, Gary North, David Brudnoy, Leonard Liggio, Ralph Raico, Anthony Sutton, Edith Efron.... Well, the point has been made.

Reason combines articles and viewpoints of advocates of limited government and anarchism, revisionism and traditional historiography, Chicagoites and Austrians. It carries regular editorials and articles on both current events and theoretical issues; columns on movies, book reviews, political columns by Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan and David Brudnoy, a series on science fiction, on money, on recent trends and international developments affecting libertarianism.

To date, I think that Reason is the best hope for libertarians as far as a professionally-produced magazine goes. Its circulation is already over 8,000, and its expansion continues steadily apace. Not that I don't think Reason has its flaws; it has them, but a survey of the last year's issues shows a decided uphill battle being won by its indefatigable editors, who operate on the traditionally libertarian shoestring budget. It has great promise and some great achievements already under its belt. All things considered, I think that Reason deserves our cheers and, naturally enough, our support. For keeping up with the growth and decay of liberty, with progress and setbacks, with theory and reality, Reason can't be beat.

Reviewed by R. A. CHILDS, Jr. / Periodical / BFL Price $9 per year (12 issues)