''Monocle'' was an American satirical magazine, published irregularly from the late 1950s until the mid-1960s.

Victor Navasky Victor Saul Navasky (born July 5, 1932) is an American journalist, editor and academic. He is publisher emeritus of ''The Nation'' and George T. Delacorte Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University. H ...

co-founded the magazine while he was at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

and served as its first editor.Victor Navasky, introduction to the 1996 Free Press edition of '' The Report From Iron Mountain'
accessed online
18 December 2006. From 1961 to 1965, it was edited by C. D. B. Bryan.

Calvin Trillin Calvin Marshall Trillin (born 5 December 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts ...

Dan Wakefield Dan Wakefield (born May 21, 1932) is an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. His best-selling novels, ''Going All the Way'' (1970) and ''Starting Over'' (1973), were made into feature films. He wrote the screenplay for ''Going All th ...

Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical o ...

, Richard Lingeman,

Dan Greenburg Dan Greenburg (born June 19, 1936) is an American writer, humorist, and journalist. His 73 books have been published in 20 languages in 24 countries. His best-selling books for adults include the non-fiction books '' How to Be a Jewish Mother: ...

, and humorist

Marvin Kitman Marvin Kitman (born November 24, 1929) is an American television critic, humorist, and author. He was a columnist for ''Newsday'' for 35 years and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1982. He is the author of nine books, ...

also contributed.C. D. B. Bryan.

Contemporary Authors Online ''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work which has been published by Gale since 1962. It provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers. ''Contemporary Authors'' does not have selective inclusion cr ...

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Fee (via

Fairfax County Public Library The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is a public library system headquartered in Suite 324 of The Fairfax County Government Center in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Hennen's American Public Library Ratings ...

. Document Number: H1000013342. Gale, 2002. Entry Updated: May 4, 2001 ''Monocle'' was founded by a group of

students as a "leisurely quarterly" (issued, in fact, twice a year). After graduation they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where the magazine, in its editors' words, initially "operated more or less like the UN police force—we came out whenever there was an emergency." Later, it became a "leisurely monthly", with the intent of appearing about ten times a year.Introduction to ''The Monocle Peep Show'', signed by "The Editors". Navasky recounts in detail the history of his founding and direction of ''Monocle'' in his 2004 memoir, ''Matters of Opinion.''

''The Monocle Peep Show''

The chapter headings of the anthology ''The Monocle Peep Show'' (1965) give a sense of both the magazine's subject matter and its politically irreverent tone. The book is divided into "Black and White Journalism" (on

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

in America), "Yellow Journalism" (on

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

, including the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

), "Red Journalism" (on

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and the Cold War), "Off-color Journalism" (two pieces, one about a not-so-ex-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

rocket scientist and the other about someone campaigning for the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

), and Red, White & Blue Journalism, on American electoral politics. The "Black and White Journalism" chapter includes, among other things, a piece by

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

comedian

Godfrey Cambridge Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 – November 29, 1976) was an American stand-up comic and actor. Alongside Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, and Nipsey Russell, he was acclaimed by ''Time'' in 1965 as "one of the country's foremost celeb ...

called "My Taxi Problem and Ours"—the title alludes to

Norman Podhoretz Norman Podhoretz (; born January 16, 1930) is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as " paleo-neoconservative".

's then-recent essay " My Negro Problem—And Ours"—a superhero comic called "Captain

Melanin Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino ...

", and a piece called "We're Not Prejudiced But…" containing a series of one-liners such as "Do Negro

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

couples have an innate sense of

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

?" and "Did Gov. George Wallace come within a

backlash Backlash may refer to: Literature * '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi * ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston * Backlash (Marc Slayton), comic book character * ''Backla ...

of winning the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

primary?"

Notes and references

* ''The Monocle Peep Show'', Bantam Books (1965 paperback) Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Satirical magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1956 Magazines established in 1965 Magazines published in New York City Mass media in New Haven, Connecticut Magazines published in Connecticut {{US-poli-mag-stub