''American Heritage'' is a magazine dedicated to covering the

history of the United States The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

.Grosvenor, Edwin S.
"Editor's Letter," ''American Heritage'', Winter 2008. Since that time, Edwin S. Grosvenor has been its editor and publisher. Print publication was suspended early in 2013, but the magazine relaunched in digital format with the Summer 2017 issue after a Kickstarter campaign raised $31,203 from 587 backers. The 70th Anniversary issue of the magazine (Winter 2020) on the subject "What Makes America Great?" includes essays by such historians as Fergus Bordewich,

Douglas Brinkley Douglas Brinkley (born December 14, 1960) is an American author, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, and professor of history at Rice University. Brinkley is a history commentator for CNN, Presidential Historian for the New York Historica ...

, Joseph Ellis, and David S. Reynolds.

History

From 1947 to 1949 the American Association for State and Local History published a house organ, ''American Heritage: A Journal of Community History''. In September 1949, AASLH launched the magazine with broader scope for the general public, but keeping certain features geared to educators and historical societies. In 1954, AASLH sold the magazine to a quartet of writers and editors from Time, Inc. including James Parton, Oliver Jensen, Joseph J. Thorndike and founding editor

Bruce Catton Charles Bruce Catton (October 9, 1899 – August 28, 1978) was an American historian and journalist, known best for his books concerning the American Civil War. Known as a narrative historian, Catton specialized in popular history, featuring in ...

, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. They formed the American Heritage Publishing Company and introduced the hardcover, 120-page advertising-free "magazine" with Volume 6, Number 1 in December 1954. Though, in essence, an entirely new magazine, the publishers kept the volume numbering because the previous incarnation had been indexed in the '' Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature''. Each year begins in December and continues through the following October, published every other month. For example, Volume XXV issues are December 1973, February 1974, April 1974, June 1974, August 1974, and October 1974. December 1974 begins Volume XXVI.

remained with the magazine for 25 years until his death in 1979 and published over 100 essays. He warned historians against "regarding the past so fondly we are unable to get it in proper focus, and we see virtues that were not there.” In 1964,

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...

began his writing career as an editor and writer for ''American Heritage'', which he sometimes calls "my graduate school". McCullough wrote numerous articles for the magazine. He turned his article for the June 1966 issue on the Johnstown Flood, ''Run for Your Lives'', into a full-length book titled, '' The Johnstown Flood''. When it became an unexpected bestseller, McCullough left the magazine in 1968 to commit full-time to writing. Later ''American Heritage'' articles by McCullough on the transcontinental railroad and Harry Truman also became bestselling books.

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

purchased the American Heritage Publishing Company in 1969. Samuel P. Reed acquired the magazine in 1978. By 1980, costs made the hardcover version prohibitive for a regular subscription. Subscribers could choose the new regular newsstand high-quality softcover or the "Collector's Edition", even plusher and thicker than the previous hardcover. Each is usually about 80 pages and has more "relevant" features and shorter articles than in the early years, but the scope and direction and purpose had not changed.

bought the magazine in 1986. On May 17, 2007, the magazine, published on a bimonthly basis, announced that it had stopped publication, at least temporarily, with the April/May 2007 issue." On October 27, 2007, Edwin S. Grosvenor, purchased the magazine from Forbes for $500,000 in cash and $10 million in subscription liabilities. Grosvenor, who serves as president and editor-in-chief, is the former editor of the fine arts magazine, ''Portfolio''. Grosvenor was also the editor of the literary magazine, ''Current Books'', and magazines for Marriott and Hyatt Hotels. He was also the CEO of KnowledgeMax, Inc., an online bookseller. After suspending print publication in 2013, the magazine relaunched digitally in 2017 with a new website and subscriber management system.

For a magazine that has lasted seven decades, its way of covering history has changed much over the years. Each issue is still an eclectic collection of articles on the people, places, and events from the entire history of the United States. Today, there is mention of television shows and Web sites, and a greater diversity of articles such as Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates' recent article, "Growing Up Colored," about life as a young boy in segregated West Virginia. Recent content has included a special 70th Anniversary issue on "What Makes America Great" (Winter 2020) and an issue on the history of

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

with essays by historian Joseph J. Ellis, law professor

Adam Winkler Adam Winkler (born July 25, 1967) is the Connell Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. He is the author of ''We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights'' and ''Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in Ame ...

, and gun rights advocate Robert A. Levy. Some historians have criticized the magazine for what they say is a lack of seriousness. Reviewing David McCullough's book on John Adams in ''The New Republic'', Sean Wilentz stated that during the 1950s, " ernardDeVoto's style of seriousness aseclipsed by the more journalistic and sentimentally descriptive style of ''American Heritage'', whose influence is everywhere." Wilentz claimed that McCullough and film maker

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...

followed the ''American Heritage'' style: "popular history as passive nostalgic spectacle" marching "under the banner of 'narrative. The magazine's editor at the time, Richard Snow, replied that "this magazine has never taken an overly sentimentalized or simplistic view of the past" and that ''American Heritage'' is "a magazine addressed to a lay audience and thus it has the usual fixtures—columns, picture stories, and so forth—and a variety of topics, some of greater consequence than others... but that it publishes many historians "whose work nobody has ever called simplistic, or sentimental, or undemanding. Numerous articles in ''American Heritage'' have later been expanded into bestselling books, including: * Barbara W. Tuchman's three-part series on General Joseph Stilwell in 1970, beginning with "A Yankee Among The War Lords", that was later published as '' Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1972. * Walter Lord's 1955 article "Maiden Voyage: The first and last trip of the 'unsinkable' ''Titanic''", that became the bestselling '' A Night to Remember'', which was made into a

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

. * Laura Hillenbrand's 1998 article, "Four Good Legs Between Us", that became the 2001 book, '' Seabiscuit: An American Legend'' and the 2003 film, ''Seabiscuit'', which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In addition to running four to six articles, ''American Heritages regular features include * "History News" - news and happenings in museums, historic sites, movies * "Heritage Travel" - guides to what to see in historic American areas * "Now on the Web" - what's being written relating to history around the Web * "Letters to the Editor" - readers' letters * "My Brush With History" - readers' own stories about incidents in their lives that have some interesting historical significance

Other media

During the early 1960s, ''American Heritage'' sponsored a series of popular military

board games A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

produced by the

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley (1836-1911) in Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production o ...

. Beginning in 1973, and presumably as part of the then-current national lead-up to the

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

, ''American Heritage'' teamed up with producer David L. Wolper for a series of four hour-long television specials (broadcast every few months between late 1973 and early 1975) based on events and people in American history, in documentary-like filmed dramatizations with actors taking the roles of historic figures, and key events re-enacted. The specials, sponsored by

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

, were narrated by actor

Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film ''PT 109 (film), PT 109'', a ...

and broadcast on ABC.

''The American Heritage Specials''

* ''The World Turned Upside Down'' (

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and the Battle of Yorktown); originally broadcast November 27, 1973 * ''Lincoln: Trial by Fire'' (

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

George McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...

and the

); originally broadcast January 20, 1974 * ''The Yanks are Coming'' (General John J. Pershing and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

); originally broadcast April 22, 1974 * ''The Honorable Sam Houston'' (

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...

and his failed efforts to keep

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

out of the Confederacy); originally broadcast January 22, 1975 THE KING OF SPAIN AND NAPLES

Editors

(1954–1959) * Oliver Jensen (1959–1976) * Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (1976–1978) * Geoffrey Ward (1978–1982) * Byron Dobell (1982–1989) * Richard Snow (1989–2007) * Edwin S. Grosvenor (2007–present)

Notable staff and contributors

* Daniel Aaron * Elie Abel *

Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...

* Stephen Ambrose * Cleveland Amory * Kevin Baker * Bernard Bailyn * Carlos Baker * Russell Baker * Michael Beschloss * David W. Blight * Fergus Bordewich * Alan Brinkley *

* Sir Arthur C. Clarke *

Henry Steele Commager Henry Steele Commager (October 25, 1902 – March 2, 1998) was an American historian. As one of the most active and prolific liberal intellectuals of his time, with 40 books and 700 essays and reviews, he helped define modern liberalism in the Un ...

Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...

* Tom D. Crouch * Paul Dickson *

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

* John Eisenhower * Joseph Ellis * Thomas Fleming * James Thomas Flexner *

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstr ...

* John A. Garraty * Henry Louis Gates Jr. * John Steele Gordon * Annette Gordon-Reed * T. A. Heppenheimer * Harold Holzer *

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

* A.E. Dick Howard * James Horn * Jane Kamensky * John F. Kennedy * Edward G. Lengel *

John Lukacs John Adalbert Lukacs (; Hungarian: ''Lukács János Albert''; January 31, 1924 – May 6, 2019) was a Hungarian-born American historian and author of more than thirty books. Lukacs described himself as a reactionary In politics, a reactionar ...

* Gerard Magliocca * Pauline Maier *

* James M. McPherson * Peter S. Onuf * Nathaniel Philbrick * David S. Reynolds * Jeffrey Rosen * Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. *

Peter Schweizer Peter Franz Schweizer (born November 24, 1964) is an American political consultant and writer. He is the president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), senior editor-at-large of far-right media organization '' Breitbart News'', and ...

* Robert A. M. Stern * Jean Strouse * Alan Taylor * Barbara Tuchman * Steven Waldman * Geoffrey Ward * Bernard Weisberger * Gordon S. Wood * Joshua M. Zeitz

Awards

''American Heritage'' has been the finalist or winner of several

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

, especially between 1985 and 1993: *1975, Finalist, National Magazine Award (Visual Excellence), Frank H. Johnson, editor *1985, Winner, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor Id., For the April/May, June/July, and December issues. *1985, Winner, National Magazine Award (Single-Topic Issue), Byron Dobell, editor *1986, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1986, Finalist, National Magazine Award (Design), Byron Dobell, editor, Beth Whitaker, art director *1987, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1988, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1989, Winner, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1990, Finalist, National Magazine Award (Design), Byron Dobell, editor, Theodore Kalomirakis, art director *1990, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1991, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Byron Dobell, editor *1993, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Richard F. Snow, editor *1999, Finalist, National Magazine Award (General Excellence), Richard F. Snow, editor Id., For the May/June, November, and December issues.

Samuel Eliot Morison Award

In 1976, the American Heritage Publishing Company founded and sponsored an award called the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, named for the historian

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

. It had the goal of annually honoring an American author whose work shows "that good history is literature as well as high scholarship." The first award was presented on September 28, 1977, by Henry A. Kissinger at the Pierpont Morgan Library, valued at $5,000. It ran for two years. * 1976 Joseph P. Lash, ''Roosevelt and Churchill, 1939–1941: The Partnership That Saved the West'' * 1977

, '' The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:American Heritage (Magazine) 1947 establishments in the United States 2013 disestablishments in the United States Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States History magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1947 Magazines disestablished in 2013 Magazines published in Baltimore Quarterly magazines published in the United States Rockville, Maryland