''Inquiry Magazine'', sometimes titled ''Inquiry: A Libertarian Review'', was a

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

magazine published from November 1977 to 1984. It was originally published by the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...

, then later transferred to the Libertarian Review Foundation.

History

''Inquiry Magazine'' was founded in 1977 as part of the Cato Institute, in an effort by libertarian donor

Charles Koch Charles de Ganahl Koch ( ; born November 1, 1935) is an American billionaire businessman. As of November 2022, he was ranked as the 13th richest person in the world on ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', with an estimated net worth of $66 billio ...

and Cato president Ed Crane to build

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

institutions for the

libertarian movement In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of Conservatism in the United States, conservatism and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberalism in the United St ...

Williamson Evers Williamson M. "Bill" Evers (born October 18, 1948) is an American libertarian activist and education researcher. In 1988, he became a resident scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution first as a national fellow, then as a visiting sch ...

was its first editor. After Evers was ousted as editor in a dispute with Crane, Glenn Garvin took over in 1980.

Doug Bandow Douglas Bandow (born April 15, 1957) is an American political writer working as a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. In 2005, Bandow was forced to resign from the Cato Institute after it was revealed that for over ten years, he accepted payment ...

served as editor from 1982 until the magazine's closure in 1984. At different points in its history, its editorial staffers included Frank Browning, Jonathan Marshall, Mark Paul,

Ralph Raico Ralph Raico (; October 23, 1936 – December 13, 2016) was an American libertarian historian of European liberalism and a professor of history at Buffalo State College.Jack Shafer Jack Shafer (born November 14, 1957) is an American journalist who writes about media for ''Politico''. Prior to joining ''Politico'', he worked for Reuters and also edited and wrote the column'' "''Press Box" for ''Slate'', an online magazine. B ...

. Its poetry editor was

Dana Gioia Michael Dana Gioia (; born December 24, 1950) is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. Since the early 1980s, Gioia has been considered part of the literary movements within American poetry known as New Formalis ...

. In the early 1980s, Koch and Crane grew dissatisfied with the publishing efforts they supported, which included ''Inquiry Magazine'' and the ''Libertarian Review''. They decided to stop publishing the ''Libertarian Review'' and move ''Inquiry Magazine'' from the Cato Institute to the control of the separately managed Libertarian Review Foundation at the beginning of 1982. With the June 1982 issue, ''Inquiry Magazine'' was retitled ''Inquiry: A Libertarian Review''. The magazine's circulation had always been low and had declined below 10,000. Citing financial concerns, Koch and Crane closed the magazine in 1984. The magazine originally was published biweekly from 1977 to 1978, then switched to semi-monthly, with about 20 issues per year in its first four and a half years of publication. In 1982 it switched to monthly publication, then went to 10 issues a year in 1984. The final issue was published in July 1984. During its run, it made available bound collections of issues from its first four volumes ('77–'78, '78–'79, '79–'80, '80–'81).

Audience and viewpoints

Established along with Cato, ''Inquiry'' was initially a journal of investigative reporting and libertarian-oriented opinion. The magazine was aimed at libertarians and at liberals and

leftists Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

critical of state power. It featured regular columns by

Nat Hentoff Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fol ...

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

and

Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz ( ; hu, Szász Tamás István ; 15 April 1920 – 8 September 2012) was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate M ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

, foreign reporting by

Penny Lernoux Penny Lernoux (January 6, 1940 – October 9, 1989) was an American educator, author, and journalist. She wrote critically of United States government and Papal policy toward Latin America. Life and works Lernoux was born into a comfortabl ...

, and CIA exposes by such writers as David Wise and Fred Landis. It included extensive cultural coverage as well, including reviews by

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, d ...

and film criticism by Stephen Harvey.

References

External links

* {{LCCN, 78640648 Libertarian magazines published in the United States Cato Institute Defunct political magazines published in the United States Libertarianism in the United States Magazines established in 1977 Magazines disestablished in 1984 Magazines published in Washington, D.C.