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''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...
, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction,
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues covering two-week spans. Although its reviews and events listings often focus on the cultural life of New York City, ''The New Yorker'' has a wide audience outside New York and is read internationally. It is well known for its illustrated and often topical covers, its commentaries on
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
and eccentric
American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
, its attention to modern
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...
by the inclusion of
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
and literary
review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...
s, its rigorous
fact checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting. Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...
and
copy editing Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...
, its
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...
on politics and
social issues A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...
, and its single-panel
cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...
s sprinkled throughout each issue.


Overview and history

''The New Yorker'' was founded by
Harold Ross Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 – December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death. Early life Born in a prospector' ...
and his wife
Jane Grant Jane Grant (May 29, 1892 – March 16, 1972) was a New York City journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' with her first husband, Harold Ross. Life and career Jane Grant was born Jeanette Cole Grant in Joplin, Missouri, and grew up and w ...
, a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reporter, and debuted on February 21, 1925. Ross wanted to create a sophisticated humor magazine that would be different from perceivably "corny" humor publications such as ''
Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
'', where he had worked, or the old ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
''. Ross partnered with entrepreneur Raoul H. Fleischmann (who founded the General Baking Company) to establish the F-R Publishing Company. The magazine's first offices were at 25 West 45th Street in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Ross edited the magazine until his death in 1951. During the early, occasionally precarious years of its existence, the magazine prided itself on its cosmopolitan sophistication. Ross declared in a 1925 prospectus for the magazine: "It has announced that it is not edited for the old lady in
Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a ...
." Although the magazine never lost its touches of humor, it soon established itself as a pre-eminent forum for serious
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...
,
essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
and journalism. Shortly after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
,
John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to n ...
's essay ''
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ...
'' filled an entire issue. The magazine has published short stories by many of the most respected writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Ann Beattie, Sally Benson, Maeve Brennan,
Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
,
Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book '' Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental ...
,
John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; ...
,
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
,
Mavis Gallant Mavis Leslie de Trafford Gallant, , née Young (11 August 1922 – 18 February 2014), was a Canadian writer who spent much of her life and career in France. Best known as a short story writer, she also published novels, plays and essays. Pe ...
, Geoffrey Hellman,
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
,
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
,
Ruth McKenney Ruth Marguerite McKenney (November 18, 1911 – July 25, 1972) was an American author and journalist, best remembered for '' My Sister Eileen'', a memoir of her experiences growing up in Ohio and moving to Greenwich Village with her sister Eilee ...
, John McNulty, Joseph Mitchell,
Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro (; ; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move f ...
,
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...
,
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...
,
John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'Hara: Stories, Charles McGrath, ed., The ...
,
Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...
,
S.J. Perelman Sidney Joseph Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for ''The New Yorker''. He also wrote for several other magazines ...
,
Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
, George Saunders, J. D. Salinger,
Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' ...
,
James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
,
John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...
,
Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...
, and E. B. White. Publication of
Shirley Jackson Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two m ...
's " The Lottery" drew more mail than any other story in the magazine's history. In its early decades, the magazine sometimes published two or even three short stories in an issue, but in later years the pace has remained steady at one story per issue. The non-fiction feature articles (which usually make up the bulk of the magazine's content) cover an eclectic array of topics. Subjects have included eccentric evangelist Creflo Dollar, the different ways in which humans perceive the passage of time, and
Münchausen syndrome by proxy Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), also known as fabricated or induced illness by carers (FII), and first named as Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP), is a condition in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in a ...
. The magazine is known for its editorial traditions. Under the rubric ''Profiles'', it has published articles about prominent people such as
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
, Henry R. Luce and
Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
, Hollywood restaurateur Michael Romanoff, magician Ricky Jay and mathematicians David and Gregory Chudnovsky. Other enduring features have been "Goings on About Town", a listing of cultural and entertainment events in New York, and "The Talk of the Town", a
feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art critici ...
or miscellany of brief pieces—frequently humorous, whimsical or eccentric vignettes of life in New York—written in a breezily light style, although latterly the section often begins with a serious commentary. For many years, newspaper snippets containing amusing errors, unintended meanings or badly mixed metaphors ("Block That Metaphor") have been used as filler items, accompanied by a witty retort. There is no masthead listing the editors and staff. Despite some changes, the magazine has kept much of its traditional appearance over the decades in typography, layout, covers and artwork. The magazine was acquired by
Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, a ...
, the media company owned by
Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...
, in 1985, for $200 million when it was earning less than $6 million a year. Ross was succeeded as editor by
William Shawn William Shawn (''né'' Chon; August 31, 1907 – December 8, 1992) was an American magazine editor who edited ''The New Yorker'' from 1952 until 1987. Early life and education Shawn was born William Chon on August 31, 1907, in Chicago, Illino ...
(1951–87), followed by
Robert Gottlieb Robert Adams Gottlieb (born April 29, 1931) is an American writer and editor. He has been editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and ''The New Yorker''. Early life and education Robert Gottlieb was born to a Jewish family in New Y ...
(1987–92) and
Tina Brown Christina Hambley Brown, Lady Evans (born 21 November 1953), is an English journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host, and author of ''The Diana Chronicles'' (2007) a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, '' The Vanity Fair Diarie ...
(1992–98). The current editor of ''The New Yorker'' is David Remnick, who succeeded Brown in July 1998. Among the important nonfiction authors who began writing for the magazine during Shawn's editorship were
Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist mag ...
, Kenneth Tynan, and
Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...
, whose ''Eichmann in Jerusalem'' reportage appeared in the magazine before it was published as a book. Brown's tenure attracted more controversy than Gottlieb's or even Shawn's, thanks to her high profile (Shawn, by contrast, had been an extremely shy, introverted figure), and to the changes she made to a magazine with a similar look for the previous half-century. She introduced color to the editorial pages (several years before ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'') and included photography, with less type on each page and a generally more modern layout. More substantively, she increased the coverage of current events and topics such as celebrities and business tycoons, and placed short pieces throughout "Goings on About Town", including a racy column about nightlife in Manhattan. A letters-to-the-editor page was introduced, and authors' personal bylines were added to their "Talk of the Town" pieces. Since the late 1990s, ''The New Yorker'' has used the Internet to publish current and archived material, and maintains a website with some content from the current issue (plus exclusive web-only content). Subscribers have access to the full current issue online, as well as a complete archive of back issues viewable as they were originally printed. In addition, ''The New Yorker''s cartoons are available for purchase online. A digital archive of back issues from 1925 to April 2008 (representing more than 4,000 issues and half a million pages) has also been issued on DVD-ROMs and on a small portable hard drive. More recently, an iPad version of the current issue of the magazine has been released. The magazine's editorial staff unionized in 2018 and The New Yorker Union signed their first
collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
in 2021.


Influence and significance

''The New Yorker'' influenced a number of similar magazines, including ''The Brooklynite'' (1926 to 1930), ''
The Chicagoan ''The Chicagoan'' was an American magazine modeled after '' The New Yorker'' published from June 1926 until April 1935. Focusing on the cultural life of the city of Chicago, each issue of ''The Chicagoan'' contained art, music, and drama reviews, ...
'' (1926 to 1935), and Paris's '' The Boulevardier'' (1927 to 1932).
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...
said that ''The New Yorker'' has been an effective instrument for getting a large audience to appreciate modern literature. Vonnegut's 1974 interview with Joe David Bellamy and John Casey contained a discussion of ''The New Yorker''s influence:
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
wrote about the magazine: "The ''New Yorker'' style was one of leisurely meandering understatement, droll when in the humorous mode, tautological and litotical when in the serious mode, constantly amplified, qualified, adumbrated upon, nuanced and renuanced, until the magazine's pale-gray pages became High Baroque triumphs of the relative clause and appository modifier". Joseph Rosenblum, reviewing Ben Yagoda's ''About Town'', a history of the magazine from 1925 to 1985, wrote, "''The New Yorker'' did create its own universe. As one longtime reader wrote to Yagoda, this was a place 'where Peter DeVries ... was forever lifting a glass of Piesporter, where Niccolò Tucci (in a plum velvet
dinner jacket Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...
) flirted in Italian with Muriel Spark, where Nabokov sipped tawny
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
from a prismatic goblet (while a Red Admirable perched on his pinky), and where John Updike tripped over the master's Swiss shoes, excusing himself charmingly.


Cinema

''The New Yorker'' has been the source for motion pictures. Both fiction and non-fiction pieces have been adapted for the big screen, including the upcoming '' Coyote vs. Acme'', '' Spiderhead'' (2022), based on the ''New Yorker'' story ''Escape from Spiderhead'', '' Flash of Genius'' (2008), based on a true account of the invention of the intermittent windshield wiper by John Seabrook; ''
Away From Her ''Away from Her'' is a 2006 Canadian independent drama film written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson, Alberta Watson, and Kristen Thomson are featured ...
'', adapted from Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came over the Mountain", which debuted at the 2007
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
; '' The Namesake'' (2007), similarly based on
Jhumpa Lahiri Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" LahiriMinzesheimer, Bob ''USA Today'', August 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italia ...
's novel, which originated as a short story in the magazine; '' The Bridge'' (2006), based on
Tad Friend Theodore Porter "Tad" Friend (born September 25, 1962) is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' who writes the magazine's "Letter from California". Life Born in Buffalo, New York, Friend was raised there and in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where ...
's 2003 non-fiction piece "Jumpers"; ''
Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written ...
'' (2005), an adaptation of the short story by
Annie Proulx Edna Ann Proulx (; born August 22, 1935) is an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx. She won the PEN/Faulkner Award fo ...
that first appeared in the October 13, 1997, issue of ''The New Yorker'';
Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eati ...
's 2001 debut in ''The New Yorker'', which later came to theaters in Liev Schreiber's debut as both screenwriter and director, '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2005);
Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...
's'' The Hours'', which appeared in the pages of ''The New Yorker'' before becoming the film that garnered the 2002 Best Actress Academy Award for
Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
; ''
Adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
'' (2002), which
Charlie Kaufman Charles Stuart Kaufman (; born November 19, 1958) is an American filmmaker and novelist. He wrote the films '' Being John Malkovich'' (1999), '' Adaptation'' (2002), and '' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (2004). He made his directorial ...
based on Susan Orlean's ''The Orchid Thief'', written for ''The New Yorker''; Frank McCourt's ''
Angela's Ashes ''Angela's Ashes: A Memoir'' is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood. The book details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, US but focuses primarily on his lif ...
'' (1999), which also appeared, in part, in ''The New Yorker'' before its film adaptation was released in 1999; '' The Addams Family'' (1991) and its sequel, ''
Addams Family Values ''Addams Family Values'' is a 1993 American supernatural black comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Paul Rudnick, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. It is the sequel to '' The Addams Family'' (1991). The fil ...
'' (1993), both inspired by the work of ''New Yorker'' cartoonist
Charles Addams Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams ...
;
Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
's ''
Casualties of War ''Casualties of War'' is a 1989 American war drama film directed by Brian De Palma and written by David Rabe, based primarily on an article written by Daniel Lang for ''The New Yorker'' in 1969, which was later published as a book. The film star ...
'' (1989), which began as a ''New Yorker'' article by Daniel Lang; '' Boys Don't Cry'' (1999), starring Hilary Swank, began as an article in the magazine, and '' Iris'' (2001), about the life of Iris Murdoch and John Bayley, the article written by John Bayley for ''The New Yorker'', before he completed his full memoir, the film starring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent; '' The Swimmer'' (1968), starring
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
, based on a John Cheever short story from ''The New Yorker''; ''
In Cold Blood ''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote learned of the qu ...
'' (1967), the widely nominated adaptation of the 1965 non-fiction serial written for ''The New Yorker'' by
Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
; '' Pal Joey'' (1957), based on a series of stories by John O'Hara; '' Mister 880'' (1950), starring
Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won th ...
, based on a story by longtime editor St. Clair McKelway; '' The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'' (1947), which began as a story by longtime ''New Yorker'' contributor James Thurber; and '' Junior Miss'' (1941) and ''
Meet Me in St. Louis ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is a 1944 American Christmas film, Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith famil ...
'' (1944), both adapted from Sally Benson's short stories.


United States presidential election endorsements

In its issue dated November 1, 2004, the magazine endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time, choosing to endorse Democrat
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
over incumbent Republican George W. Bush.


Cartoons

''The New Yorker'' has featured cartoons (usually gag cartoons) since it began publication in 1925. The cartoon editor of ''The New Yorker'' for years was Lee Lorenz, who first began cartooning in 1956 and became a ''New Yorker'' contract contributor in 1958. After serving as the magazine's art editor from 1973 to 1993 (when he was replaced by
Françoise Mouly Françoise Mouly (; born 24 October 1955) is a Paris-born New York-based designer, editor, and publisher. She is best known as co-founder, co-editor, and publisher of the comics and graphics magazine '' Raw'' (1980–1991), as the publisher of ...
), he continued in the position of cartoon editor until 1998. His book ''The Art of the New Yorker: 1925–1995'' (Knopf, 1995) was the first comprehensive survey of all aspects of the magazine's graphics. In 1998, Robert Mankoff took over as cartoon editor and edited at least 14 collections of ''New Yorker'' cartoons. In addition, Mankoff usually contributed a short article to each book, describing some aspect of the cartooning process or the methods used to select cartoons for the magazine. Mankoff left the magazine in 2017. ''The New Yorker''s stable of cartoonists has included many important talents in American humor, including
Charles Addams Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams ...
, Peter Arno, Charles Barsotti, George Booth, Roz Chast, Tom Cheney,
Sam Cobean Sam Cobean (December 28, 1913 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania – July 2, 1951 in Schuyler County, New York) was a cartoonist, especially known for his work in '' The New Yorker'' in the 1940s and 1950s. His book of cartoons, '' The Naked Eye'', has b ...
, Leo Cullum, Richard Decker, Pia Guerra, J. B. Handelsman, Helen E. Hokinson, Ed Koren, Burr Shafer, Reginald Marsh, Mary Petty, George Price, Charles Saxon, Otto Soglow,
Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for '' The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography S ...
,
William Steig William Steig (November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book '' Shrek!'', which inspired the film series of the same name, as well as others that i ...
, James Stevenson,
James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
,
Pete Holmes Peter Benedict Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works. Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, ...
, and
Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...
. Many early ''New Yorker'' cartoonists did not caption their own cartoons. In his book ''The Years with Ross'', Thurber describes the newspaper's weekly art meeting, where cartoons submitted over the previous week would be brought up from the mail room to be looked over by Ross, the editorial department, and a number of staff writers. Cartoons often would be rejected or sent back to artists with requested amendments, while others would be accepted and captions written for them. Some artists hired their own writers; Helen Hokinson hired James Reid Parker in 1931. ( Brendan Gill relates in his book ''Here at The New Yorker'' that at one point in the early 1940s, the quality of the artwork submitted to the magazine seemed to improve. It later was found out that the office boy (a teenaged
Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
) had been acting as a volunteer art editor, dropping pieces he didn't like down the far end of his desk.) Several of the magazine's cartoons have climbed to a higher plateau of fame. One 1928 cartoon drawn by Carl Rose and captioned by E. B. White shows a mother telling her daughter, "It's broccoli, dear." The daughter responds, "I say it's spinach and I say the hell with it." The phrase " I say it's spinach" entered the vernacular (and three years later, the Broadway musical ''Face the Music'' included
Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...
's musical number entitled " I Say It's Spinach (And the Hell with It)"). The
catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
"
back to the drawing board ''Back to the Drawing Board!'' is the Rubinoos' second album, released on Beserkley Records. ''Back to the Drawing Board!'' is a power pop album and fit well with the other power pop bands on Beserkley. This album is known for the single "I Wan ...
" originated with the 1941 Peter Arno cartoon showing an engineer walking away from a crashed plane, saying, "Well, back to the old drawing board." The most reprinted is Peter Steiner's 1993 drawing of two dogs at a computer, with one saying, " On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog". According to Mankoff, Steiner and the magazine have split more than $100,000 in fees paid for the licensing and reprinting of this single cartoon, with more than half going to Steiner. Over seven decades, many hardcover compilations of cartoons from ''The New Yorker'' have been published, and in 2004, Mankoff edited ''The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker'', a 656-page collection with 2004 of the magazine's best cartoons published during 80 years, plus a double CD set with all 68,647 cartoons ever published in the magazine. This features a search function allowing readers to search for cartoons by a cartoonist's name or by year of publication. The newer group of cartoonists in recent years includes Pat Byrnes, J. C. Duffy, Liana Finck, Robert Leighton, Michael Maslin, Julia Suits, and P. C. Vey. Will McPhail cited his beginnings are "just ripping off ''Calvin and Hobbes'', Bill Watterson, and doing little dot eyes." The notion that some ''New Yorker'' cartoons have punchlines so '' non sequitur'' that they are impossible to understand became a subplot in the ''
Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and ...
'' episode " The Cartoon", as well as a playful jab in an episode of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
'', " The Sweetest Apu". In April 2005, the magazine began using the last page of each issue for "The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest". Captionless cartoons by ''The New Yorker''s regular cartoonists are printed each week. Captions are submitted by readers, and three are chosen as finalists. Readers then vote on the winner. Anyone age thirteen or older can enter or vote. Each contest winner receives a print of the cartoon (with the winning caption), signed by the artist who drew the cartoon.


Comics journalism

Since 1993, the magazine has published occasional stories of comics journalism (alternately called "sketchbook reports")McGee, Kathleen
"SPIEGELMAN SPEAKS: Art Spiegelman is the author of Maus for which he won a special Pulitzer in 1992. Kathleen McGee interviewed him when he visited Minneapolis in 1998,"
''Conduit'' (1998).
by such cartoonists as Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Barry Blitt, Sue Coe,
Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...
and
Aline Kominsky-Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 201 ...
,
Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929)''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as North- ...
, Ben Katchor, Carol Lay, Gary Panter,
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...
, Mark Alan Stamaty, and Ronald Wimberly.


Crosswords and puzzles

''The New Yorker'' launched a crossword puzzle series in April 2018 with a weekday crossword published every Monday. Subsequently, it launched a second, weekend crossword that appears on Fridays and relaunched cryptic puzzles that were run in the magazine in the late 1990s, and in June 2021, it began publishing new cryptics weekly. In July 2021, ''The New Yorker'' introduced Name Drop, a trivia game, which is posted online weekdays. In March 2022, ''The New Yorker'' moved to publishing online crosswords every weekday, with decreasing difficulty Monday through Thursday and themed puzzles on Fridays. The puzzles are written by a rotating stable of thirteen constructors. The crosswords integrate cartoons into the puzzle playing experience. The Christmas 2019 issue featured a crossword puzzle by Patrick Berry that had cartoons as clues, and the answers were captions for the cartoons. In December 2019, Liz Maynes-Aminzade was named the first puzzles and games editor of ''The New Yorker''.


Eustace Tilley

The magazine's first cover illustration, a
dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle des ...
peering at a butterfly through a
monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...
, was drawn by
Rea Irvin Rea Irvin (August 26, 1881 – May 28, 1972) was an American graphic artist. Although never formally credited as such, he served de facto as the first art editor of '' The New Yorker''. He created the Eustace Tilley cover portrait and the ''New ...
, the magazine's first art editor, based on an 1834 caricature of the then Count d'Orsay which appeared as an illustration in the 11th edition of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''. The gentleman on the original cover, now referred to as "Eustace Tilley", is a character created by Corey Ford (1902–1969) for ''The New Yorker''. The hero of a series entitled "The Making of a Magazine", which began on the inside front cover of the August 8 issue that first summer, Tilley was a younger man than the figure on the original cover. His
top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...
was of a newer style, without the curved brim. He wore a
morning coat A tailcoat is a knee-length coat characterised by a rear section of the skirt, known as the ''tails'', with the front of the skirt cut away. The tailcoat shares its historical origins in clothes cut for convenient horse riding in the Early Mode ...
and striped formal trousers. Ford borrowed Eustace Tilley's last name from an aunt—he had always found it vaguely humorous. "Eustace" was selected by Ford for
euphony Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century and ...
. The character has become a kind of
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...
for ''The New Yorker'', frequently appearing in its pages and on promotional materials. Traditionally, Rea Irvin's original Tilley cover illustration is used every year on the issue closest to the anniversary date of February 21, though on several occasions a newly drawn variation has been substituted.


Covers

The magazine is known for its illustrated and often topical covers.


"View of the World" cover

Saul Steinberg created 85 covers and 642 internal drawings and illustrations for the magazine. His most famous work is probably its March 29, 1976, cover, an illustration most often referred to as "View of the World from 9th Avenue", sometimes referred to as "A
Parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to: * Parishes, in religion ** Parish churches, also called parochial churches * Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation * Parochialism Parochialism is the ...
New Yorker's View of the World" or "A New Yorker's View of the World", which depicts a map of the world as seen by self-absorbed New Yorkers. The illustration is split in two, with the bottom half of the image showing
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue, and the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...
(appropriately labeled), and the top half depicting the rest of the world. The rest of the United States is the size of the three New York City blocks and is drawn as a square, with a thin brown strip along the Hudson representing "Jersey", the names of five cities (
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
; Washington, D.C.;
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
;
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...
; and
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
) and three states (
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
, and
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
) scattered among a few rocks for the United States beyond New Jersey. The Pacific Ocean, perhaps half again as wide as the Hudson, separates the United States from three flattened land masses labeled China, Japan and Russia. The illustration—humorously depicting New Yorkers' self-image of their place in the world, or perhaps outsiders' view of New Yorkers' self-image—inspired many similar works, including the poster for the 1984 film ''
Moscow on the Hudson ''Moscow on the Hudson'' is a 1984 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Mazursky which stars Robin Williams as a Soviet circus musician who defects while on a visit to the United States. It co-stars María Conchita A ...
''; that movie poster led to a lawsuit, '' Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.'', 663 F. Supp. 706 ( S.D.N.Y. 1987), which held that
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
violated the
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
that Steinberg held on his work. The cover was later satirized by Barry Blitt for the cover of ''The New Yorker'' on October 6, 2008. The cover featured
Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
looking out of her window seeing only Alaska, with Russia in the far background. The March 21, 2009, cover of ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'', "How China sees the World", is also an homage to the original image, depicting the viewpoint from Beijing's
Chang'an Avenue 250px, Chang'an Avenue hosts military parades. Here are 1999 National Day parade.">50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China">1999 National Day parade. Chang'an Avenue (), literally "Eternal Peace Street", is a major thoroughfare in ...
instead of Manhattan.


9/11

Hired by Tina Brown in 1992,
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...
worked for ''The New Yorker'' for ten years but resigned a few months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The cover created by Françoise Mouly and Spiegelman for the September 24, 2001, issue of ''The New Yorker'' received wide acclaim and was voted as being among the top ten magazine covers of the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors, which commented: At first glance, the cover appears to be totally black, but upon close examination it reveals the silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers in a slightly darker shade of black. In some situations, the ghost images become visible only when the magazine is tilted toward a light source. In September 2004, Spiegelman reprised the image on the cover of his book '' In the Shadow of No Towers'', in which he relates his experience of the Twin Towers attack and the psychological after-effects.


"New Yorkistan"

In the December 2001 issue, the magazine printed a cover by
Maira Kalman Maira Kalman is an American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer known for her painting and writing about the human condition. She is the author and illustrator of over 30 books for adults and children and her work is exhibited in museums a ...
and Rick Meyerowitz showing a map of New York in which various neighborhoods were labeled with humorous names reminiscent of Middle Eastern and Central Asian place names and referencing the neighborhood's real name or characteristics (e.g., "Fuhgeddabouditstan", "Botoxia"). The cover had some cultural resonance in the wake of September 11, and became a popular print and poster.


Controversial covers


Crown Heights in 1993

For the 1993
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
issue, the magazine cover by
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...
depicted a black woman and a
Hasidic Jew Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of conte ...
ish man kissing, referencing the Crown Heights riot of 1991. The cover was criticized by both black and Jewish observers. Jack Salzman and Cornel West describe the reaction to the cover as the magazine's "first national controversy".


2008 Obama cover satire and controversy

"The Politics of Fear", a cartoon by Barry Blitt featured on the cover of the July 21, 2008, issue, depicts then presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
in the
turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promin ...
and
shalwar kameez Shalwar kameez (also salwar kameez and less commonly shalwar qameez) is a traditional combination dress worn by women, and in some regions by men, in South Asia, and Central Asia. ''Shalwars'' are trousers which are atypically wide at the w ...
typical of many
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s,
fist bump A fist bump (also known as a bro fist or power five) is a gesture similar in meaning to a handshake or high five. A fist bump can also be a symbol of giving respect or approval, as well as companionship between two people. It can be followed ...
ing with his wife, Michelle, portrayed with an Afro and wearing
camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
trousers with an assault rifle slung over her back. They are standing in the
Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped roo ...
, with a portrait of
Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
hanging on the wall and an
American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...
burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...
in the fireplace in the background. Many ''New Yorker'' readers saw the image as a lampoon of "The Politics of Fear", as was its title. Some of Obama's supporters as well as his presumptive Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, accused the magazine of publishing an incendiary cartoon whose irony could be lost on some readers. However, editor David Remnick felt the image's obvious excesses rebuffed the concern that it could be misunderstood, even by those unfamiliar with the magazine. "The intent of the cover", he said, "is to satirize the vicious and racist attacks and rumors and misconceptions about the Obamas that have been floating around in the
blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...
and are reflected in public opinion polls. What we set out to do was to throw all these images together, which are all over the top and to shine a kind of harsh light on them, to satirize them." In an interview on ''
Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles ...
'' shortly after the magazine issue began circulating, Obama said, "Well, I know it was ''The New Yorker''s attempt at satire... I don't think they were entirely successful with it". Obama also pointed to his own efforts to debunk the allegations portrayed in ''The New Yorker'' cover through a website his campaign set up, stating that the allegations were "actually an insult against Muslim-Americans". Later that week, ''
The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...
''s
Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...
continued ''The New Yorker'' cover's argument about Obama stereotypes with a piece showcasing a montage of clips containing such stereotypes culled from various legitimate news sources. ''The New Yorker'' Obama cover was later parodied by Stewart and
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...
on the October 3, 2008, cover of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' magazine, with Stewart as Obama and Colbert as Michelle, photographed for the magazine in New York City on September 18. ''New Yorker'' covers are not always related to the contents of the magazine or are only tangentially so. In this case, the article in the July 21, 2008, issue about Obama did not discuss the attacks and rumors but rather Obama's political career. The magazine later endorsed Obama for president. This parody was most likely inspired by
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...
host E. D. Hill's paraphrasing of an anonymous internet comment in asking whether a gesture made by Obama and his wife Michelle was a "terrorist fist jab". Later, Hill's contract was not renewed.


2013 Bert and Ernie cover

''The New Yorker'' chose an image of Bert and Ernie by artist Jack Hunter, entitled "Moment of Joy", as the cover of their July 8, 2013, publication, which covers the Supreme Court decisions on the
Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marr ...
and California Proposition 8. The ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...
'' characters have long been rumored in urban legend to be
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
partners, though
Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...
has repeatedly denied this, saying they are merely "puppets" and have no sexual orientation. Reaction was mixed. Online magazine ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' criticized the cover, which shows Ernie leaning on Bert's shoulder as they watch a television with the Supreme Court justices on the screen, saying "it's a terrible way to commemorate a major civil-rights victory for gay and lesbian couples." ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', meanwhile, said it was "one of he magazine'smost awesome covers of all time".


Style

''The New Yorker''s signature display typeface, used for its nameplate and headlines and the masthead above ''The Talk of the Town'' section, is Irvin, named after its creator, the designer-illustrator
Rea Irvin Rea Irvin (August 26, 1881 – May 28, 1972) was an American graphic artist. Although never formally credited as such, he served de facto as the first art editor of '' The New Yorker''. He created the Eustace Tilley cover portrait and the ''New ...
. The body text of all articles in ''The New Yorker'' is set in Adobe Caslon. One uncommonly formal feature of the magazine's in-house
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
is the placement of diaeresis marks in words with repeating
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
s—such as ''reëlected'', ''preëminent'', and ''coöperate''—in which the two vowel letters indicate separate vowel sounds. The magazine also continues to use a few spellings that are otherwise little used in American English, such as ''fuelled'', ''focussed'', ''venders'', ''teen-ager'', ''traveller'', ''marvellous'', ''carrousel'', and ''cannister''. The magazine also spells out the names of numerical amounts, such as "two million three hundred thousand dollars" instead of "$2.3 million", even for very large figures.


Fact-checking

As far back as the 1940s, the magazine's reputation for
fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting. Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...
was already established. However, the magazine played a role in a literary scandal and defamation lawsuit over two articles written by Janet Malcolm in the 1990s, who wrote about
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
's legacy. Questions were raised about the magazine's fact-checking process. As of 2010, ''The New Yorker'' employs sixteen fact checkers. In July 2011, the magazine was sued for defamation in
United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
for an article written by David Grann on July 12, 2010,Dylan Byers
"Forensic Art Expert Sues ''New Yorker'' – Author Wants $2 million for defamation over David Grann piece"
, ''
Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...
'', June 30, 2011.
but the case was summarily dismissed. Today, the magazine is often identified as the leading publication for rigorous fact checking.


Readership

Despite its title, ''The New Yorker'' is read nationwide, with 53 percent of its circulation in the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas. According to Mediamark Research Inc., the average age of ''The New Yorker'' reader in 2009 was 47 (compared to 43 in 1980 and 46 in 1990). The average household income of ''The New Yorker'' readers in 2009 was $109,877 (the average income in 1980 was $62,788 and the average income in 1990 was $70,233). According to Pew Research, 77 percent of ''The New Yorker's'' audience hold left-of-center political values, while 52 percent of those readers hold "consistently liberal" political values.


List of books about ''The New Yorker''

* ''Ross and The New Yorker'' by Dale Kramer (1951) * ''The Years with Ross'' by
James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
(1959) * ''Ross, The New Yorker and Me'' by
Jane Grant Jane Grant (May 29, 1892 – March 16, 1972) was a New York City journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' with her first husband, Harold Ross. Life and career Jane Grant was born Jeanette Cole Grant in Joplin, Missouri, and grew up and w ...
(1968) * '' Here at The New Yorker'' by Brendan Gill (1975) * ''About the New Yorker and Me'' by E.J. Kahn (1979) * ''Onward and Upward: A Biography of Katharine S. White'' by Linda H. Davis (1987) * ''At Seventy: More about The New Yorker and Me'' by E. J. Kahn (1988) * ''Katharine and E. B. White: An Affectionate Memoir'' by Isabel Russell (1988) * ''The Last Days of The New Yorker'' by Gigi Mahon (1989) * ''The Smart Magazines: Fifty Years of Literary Revelry and High Jinks at Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, Life, Esquire, and the Smart Set by George H. Douglas'' (1991) * ''Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker'' by Thomas Kunkel (1997) * ''Here But Not Here: My Life with William Shawn and The New Yorker'' by Lillian Ross (1998) * ''Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker: The Invisible Art of Editing'' by
Ved Mehta Ved Parkash Mehta (21 March 19349 January 2021) was an Indian-born writer who lived and worked mainly in the United States. Blind from an early age, Mehta is best known for an autobiography published in instalments from 1972 to 2004. He wrote fo ...
(1998) * ''Some Times in America: And a Life in a Year at The New Yorker'' by Alexander Chancellor (1999) * ''The World Through a Monocle: The New Yorker at Midcentury'' by Mary F. Corey (1999) * ''About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made'' by Ben Yagoda (2000) * ''Covering the New Yorker: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution'' by
Françoise Mouly Françoise Mouly (; born 24 October 1955) is a Paris-born New York-based designer, editor, and publisher. She is best known as co-founder, co-editor, and publisher of the comics and graphics magazine '' Raw'' (1980–1991), as the publisher of ...
(2000) * ''Defining New Yorker Humor'' by Judith Yaross Lee (2000) * ''Gone: The Last Days of The New Yorker'', by Renata Adler (2000) * ''Letters from the Editor: The New Yorker's Harold Ross'' edited by Thomas Kunkel (2000; letters covering the years 1917 to 1951) * ''New Yorker Profiles 1925–1992: A Bibliography'' compiled by Gail Shivel (2000) * ''NoBrow: The Culture of Marketing – the Marketing of Culture'' by John Seabrook (2000) * ''Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker'' by David Remnick and Henry Finder (2002) * ''Christmas at The New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art'' (2003) * ''A Life of Privilege, Mostly'' by Gardner Botsford (2003) * ''Maeve Brennan: Homesick at The New Yorker'' by Angela Bourke (2004) * ''Better than Sane'' by Alison Rose (2004) * ''Let Me Finish'' by
Roger Angell Roger Angell (September 19, 1920 – May 20, 2022) was an American essayist known for his writing on sports, especially baseball. The only writer ever elected into both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Baseball Writers' Associa ...
(Harcourt, 2006) * ''The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker'' by Janet Groth (2012) * ''My Mistake: A Memoir'' by Daniel Menaker (2013) * ''Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen'' by Mary Norris (2015) * ''Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber and the Golden Age of The New Yorker'' by Thomas Vinciguerra (2015) * ''Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist'' by Michael Maslin (2016)


Films about ''The New Yorker''

In ''
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle ''Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'' is a 1994 American biographical drama film directed by Alan Rudolph from a screenplay written by Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn. The film stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as writer Dorothy Parker and depicts the mem ...
'', a film about the
Algonquin Round Table The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel ...
starring
Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...
as
Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...
,
Sam Robards Samuel Prideaux Robards (born December 16, 1961) is an American actor, best known for his role as Henry Swinton in the film ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence''. Early life and education Robards was born in New York City, the son of actor Jason Roba ...
portrays founding editor Harold Ross trying to drum up support for his fledgling publication. The magazine's former editor,
William Shawn William Shawn (''né'' Chon; August 31, 1907 – December 8, 1992) was an American magazine editor who edited ''The New Yorker'' from 1952 until 1987. Early life and education Shawn was born William Chon on August 31, 1907, in Chicago, Illino ...
, is portrayed in '' Capote'' (2005), '' Infamous'' (2006) and ''
Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...
'' (2012). The 2015 documentary ''Very Semi-Serious'', produced by Redora Films, presents a behind-the-scenes look at the cartoons of ''The New Yorker''.


List of films about ''The New Yorker''

* ''
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle ''Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'' is a 1994 American biographical drama film directed by Alan Rudolph from a screenplay written by Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn. The film stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as writer Dorothy Parker and depicts the mem ...
'' (Fine Line Features, 1994, 126 minutes) * ''Joe Gould's Secret'' (USA Films, 2000, 104 minutes) * ''James Thurber: The Life and Hard Times'' (First Run Features, 2000, 57 minutes) * ''Top Hat and Tales: Harold Ross and the Making of the New Yorker'' (Carousel Film and Video, 2001, 47 minutes)Quick Vids by Gary Handman, American Libraries, May 2006. * ''Very Semi-Serious'' (Redora Films, 2015, 83 minutes) * ''
The French Dispatch ''The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun'', or simply ''The French Dispatch'', is a 2021 American anthology comedy drama film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola, Hugo Gui ...
'' (Searchlight Pictures, 2021, 103 minutes) * '' Spiderhead'' (Grand Electric, 2022, 107 minutes)


See also

* List of ''The New Yorker'' contributors * The New Yorker Festival * '' The New Yorker Radio Hour'', a radio program carried by public radio stations


Explanatory notes


References


External links


''The New Yorker'' official website

A Guided Tour Through ''The New Yorker''
* Boxer, Sarah

''The New York Times'', February 14, 2000.
"How to Submit Cartoons to ''The New Yorker''

''New Yorker'' 1950–1955 album

''New Yorker'' Fiction Database 1925–2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Yorker, The 1925 comics debuts 1925 establishments in New York City Comics magazines published in the United States Condé Nast magazines Culture of New York City Investigative journalism Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1925 Magazines published in New York City News magazines published in the United States Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Weekly magazines published in the United States