The Onion is a weekly newspaper offered on the Kindle and Kindle DX for $2.49.  The current editor of The Onion is Joe Randazzo, and their website is updated daily.  The Kindle edition is great for portability, and is delivered wirelessly every Thursday. The Onion is also released with its affiliate, The AV Club, a publication that explores the best and worst of books and entertainment.

According to Amazon’s little spiel about the beginnings of the newspaper, The Onion was “founded in 1756, when Friedrich Siegfried Zweibel, an immigrant tuber-farmer from Prussia, shrewdly bartered a sack of yams for a second-hand printing press and named his fledgling newspaper The Mercantile Onion after the only words of English that he knew. Since then, The Onion has expanded into an omnipotent news empire complete with a 24-hour broadcast news division (The Onion News Network) and wildly successful website, TheOnion.com.”

Well, some of that is accurate. There is a wildly popular website called TheOnion.com and a news division called The Onion News Network.  The Onion was founded by two University of Wisconsin – Madison students, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson in 1988.  The name, The Onion, came from Chris Johnson’s uncle who saw Keck and Johnson eating an onion sandwich on several occasions.  It was literally an onion on two pieces of bread.  That sounds pretty disgusting, huh?

Some regular columns featured in The Onion include: “STATshot”, a spoof on USAToday’s Snapshots, InfoGraphic, a set of bullet points and an image that provides a humorous “map description” of a person or object.  This week’s InfoGraphic is the “Ozzy Genome.” Others include: “Point, Counterpoint,” “The ONION in History,” which comprises of front page newspapers from earlier eras taken from the book Our Dumb Century and “American Voices.”

I regularly follow The Onion Blog’s daily updates, which does not have all of the articles as the newspaper.  A few articles featured on the website recently that appear both in the blog and in the newspaper are: “Wasting Tax Dollars on Something Awesome,” “Ritalin Gummies Unveiled” and “George Steinbrenner Dead after Firing Underperforming Heart.”  These are just a few tidbits of hilarious misinformation The Onion dishes out.

The reviews are very positive overall.  The Onion is such a great source of comic relief in the midst of all of the economic and political turmoil in the world.

You can get the Kindle and Kindle DX version of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine for $2.99, which is the same as the print edition.  There are 10 issues a year, with two issues coming out as double issues.  There has been some debate about the prices being higher on the Kindle version than on the print edition. Dell Magazines, the publisher, explained in a review that in terms of yearly subscriptions the prices come out to be the same.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine was founded in 1956, and is the second oldest mystery short story magazine in existence, according to the short history synopsis on the magazine’s website.  Some notable authors for AHMM include Martin Limon, Jane K. Cleland, Loren Estelman and other well known and emerging writers.

One particular author that you might recognize, Dorothy L. Sayers, has contributed to AHMM.  She recently published Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey), and it is available for just 99 cents on the Kindle.

Each issue contains original articles that range from short stories to novellas.  The mystery, crime  and suspense genres are all pretty well covered.  Each issue also features regularly occurring columns: “Books & Printed,” a book review column, “Reel Crime,” a movie and television column, puzzles, contests and  “Mystery Classic”, a story from the genre’s past.

This month’s issue covers several interesting topics.  One topic centers around the effects of crime on the victim’s family.  Within this topic, two of the stories deal with how crime has affected children left behind.  Another set of articles address the complexities of the criminal justice system in the United States and around the world.  The magazine’s website has excerpts on the latest issues and information about other fun awards and events going on.

Overall, the reviews of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine were really good with the exception of the price tag.  The magazine reads like a digest, and is similar in size to the Kindle 2, so the transition from the print to Kindle should be a smooth one.  The Kindle saves a lot of space and makes the magazine a lot more portable.

Slate magazine is offered daily on the Kindle and Kindle DX for $2.49 a month.  Slate is a fully online magazine, and its revenues rely on advertising.  I was surprised at the price of the Kindle version of this magazine considering that the web version is free.  I’m assuming that the subscription fee is mostly in the Kindle formatting process.  The issue comes out daily, so the price comes out to only 8 cents an issue. That is not a bad deal.

Slate was created as an online magazine in 1996 by Michael Kinsley under Microsoft, who later sold the magazine to the Washington Post in 2004.  Slate covers the usual everyday news topics such as Technology, Politics, Life, Arts and Business.  I love the lighthearted, informal style of writing that this magazine uses.  This informal, first person style of writing was one of the pioneers of the writing style we associate with blogging today.

The writing style seen in Slate matches the nature of the Kindle.  The Kindle is designed to make reading appear fun, lighthearted and portable.

Slate includes a blog section that includes the well known blog: “Kausfiles,” by Mickey Kaus, who is currently running for Senate in California.  Other blogs include: “Brow Beat,” a culture blog, “The Wrong Stuff,” a blog about making mistakes, and others on various topics.  In addition to blogs, Slate also creates podcasts on current issues and hosts a readers forum called “The Fray.”

Overall, the reviews for Slate are really good.  The main complaints are that it comes out a little later in the day than the average newspaper at 9am, and the content includes articles from previous days.  By 9am, most people are at work, so there goes the reading on the subway theory.  Other than that, the reviewers said that it is really nice to have a summary of all of the major news papers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times and others all in one place.  Another positive note about this magazine is that many of the articles are original and well researched, which says a lot about the quality of the content.

US News & World Report is available for Kindle and Kindle DX for $1.99 a month.  In the last few years this magazine has transitioned from weekly to biweekly to monthly publication.

The US News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence, former student of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University.  Lawrence founded a separate magazine, World Report, in 1946, but later merged it with US News in 1948. The magazine covers topics such as: health, politics, technology, international affairs, education, business and more.  The latest articles focus on the BP oil spill and the issues surrounding it.  There are also articles about healthy behaviors and criticism of Obama’s policies.

The US News & World Report is considered more conservative than its counterparts, Time and Newsweek, and does not include entertainment, celebrity or sports news. This is a good cut and dry resource on current issues.

The magazine is well known for its rankings for colleges, hospitals, careers and most recently, high schools.  This is a great starting resource for checking the rankings when choosing graduate school programs as well.  However, students and parents shouldn’t rely solely on this list for a choosing a school if it isn’t right for the individual.  There is a lot of debate about the superficial nature of the data used to make the ranking decisions.

The US News & World Report also ranks the top hospitals in the nation.  In 2009, John Hopkins was at the top, followed by the Mayo Clinic and UCLA.  These choices shouldn’t be too surprising considering the top notch reputation of these hospitals.

One reviewer had an interesting comment about using backdoor conversions to include pictures on the Kindle edition of the magazine.  They currently subscribe to US News Online in PDF form.  They send it to Kindle’s PDF conversion tool that converts it with the pictures from the magazine included.  The question is, why can’t Amazon do this for the original Kindle version of the magazine?  Overall, the reviews were very mixed and I think if the graphics issue was corrected, a lot more people would subscribe to the Kindle edition of US News & World Report and other Kindle magazines.

One Story is available for Kindle and Kindle DX for $1.49 a month.  The schedule for this short story literary magazine is every three weeks, so in the long run, the price is pretty reasonable.

One Story began in 2002, and has won many literary awards such as the Best American Short Stories, Best American Non-Required Reading and The O. Henry Prize Stories.

We believe that short stories are best read alone. They should not be sandwiched in between a review and an exposé on liposuction, or placed after another work of fiction that is so sad or funny or long that the reader is worn out by the time they turn to it. – One Story

This is a great philosophy, especially regarding readers who hate flipping through ads in magazines or for ones who are intimidated by 500 page books.

“At a time when literary writing seems like a dying art, when little magazines are folding left and right, when publishers bemoan the sinking bottom line, here lies a spot of hope…It is called One Story.” – The New York Times

The magazine features up and coming writers fiction writers.  The latest story in the June 20^th edition of magazine is called “The Puppet,” by Reif Larsen.  The story is set in Sarajevo.  The author offers a great discussion on his work and his experiences that inspired him to write it.  more

I think it is neat to see the background behind the characters and the setting of the short story through the eyes of the person who wrote it.  This is true especially since the “The Puppet” took place in a war torn area that touched the author personally.

One Story is a great addition to the Kindle collection because of its portable and lighthearted nature.  It does not include graphics, which seems to be a hang up with other magazines on the Kindle, and it is like getting a new book every three weeks. It is meant for the subways, the bathtub, the park, and anywhere else ideal for a quick read.

Technology Review is a bimonthly publication available on the Kindle and Kindle DX for $1.25 a month.

Technology Review is the oldest technology magazine in the world and was started by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Technology Review aims to promote the understanding of emerging technologies and to analyze their commercial, social, and political impacts.

Jason Pontin is the current Editor in Chief and Publisher of Technology Review and has held the post since 2005. A few article topics from the magazine include: using Flickr to create quicker travel itineraries, 3-D displays without glasses and One Tablet Per Child, a cheaper, modified version of the One Laptop Per Child Project.

Every year, Technology Review showcases the year’s “35 Innovators under 35”.  Topics within science and technology include: Biomedicine, Web, Communication, Computing, Energy and Business.  This is a great way to recognize the younger generation and their unique contributions to the science and technology arena.

The magazine also prints an annual “Top 10 Emerging Technologies” article.  These are really cool new technologies such as liquid batteries that could allow whole cities to run on solar power at night, cutting DNA system costs, software that serves as a personal aide, and much more.

Reviewers say this magazine is great for the non techie audience and doesn’t include too much of the geeky jargon that only technology junkies would know.  That theory is good and bad.  Some reviewers felt that the articles lacked depth, yet others found them refreshing.  However, after looking through the article titles, I did see a some scientific names that I was not familiar with.  So, it appears to be a mix of both techie and non techie language going on.  The Kindle version is good because this magazine doesn’t fully rely on graphics, but the readers would like to see more graphics, color and formatting included for easier reading.

Considering that this is the oldest technology magazine in the world, I was surprised to find that there was not much historical information available online.

Forbes Magazine is a bi-weekly publication that is available for $2.49 on the Kindle.  Overall, the reviews of the Kindle edition are good, but suggest that Amazon insert better tables and graphics.

Forbes was founded in 1917 by B.C. Forbes, a Scottish immigrant who lived and worked in South Africa and New York City prior to starting the magazine.  The original title was said to be Doers and Doings, but this phrase ended up as part of the official title: Forbes: Devoted to Doers and Doings.

Forbes was to be a magazine about doers and doings, “faithful to the facts and fair to the man whom it writes about” and written, as a blurb on the back cover promised, in a way “that does not necessitate the laymen engaging an interpreter.” more

Some of the topics covered every issue of Forbes include articles on the worlds of industry, finance, international business, marketing, law, taxes, science, technology, communications, investments, entrepreneurships, etc. This publication boasts more than 5 million readers in the business world on a global scale, including seven foreign language editions.

The Forbes Empire remains one of the largest and most successful family businesses of its kind in the world. Steve Forbes, once a political candidate for President of the United States of America, is the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief and has a column in every issue called “Fact and Comment” which is popular with Forbes readers.

Every year, Forbes publishes its very popular list of the richest people and the biggest companies on Earth. The magazine and the stories in each issue focus on the movers and shakers of the financial and business arena. Forbes is also the best of the business periodicals that are published today for discovering new investment ideas and is more investor focused than other business magazines. Today’s market is incredibly volatile and rapidly changing so Forbes is a great resource to keep abreast of the trends and issues concerning the market.

The Foreign Affairs bimonthly magazine is available for Kindle for a monthly subscription of $1.99.  The reviews for the Kindle version of this journal are the best I’ve seen so far.  Foreign Affairs is a 200 page journal/magazine, and is text and content based, which makes it a good fit for the Kindle.

The Council on Foreign Relations set the idea in motion to start a quarterly magazine that would become what is now called Foreign Affairs. The first issue of Foreign Affairs was published in September, 1922.  Foreign Affairs includes expert analysis and serious discussion on international relations.  Some major international subjects throughout history include: World War II, U.S relations with China, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and more recently the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

In the beginning, there were two editors: Archibald Cary Coolidge of Harvard and Hamilton (Ham) Fish Armstrong.  Coolidge was near retirement age at 57, and Armstrong was just his late twenties.

Coolidge remained in Boston, loosely handling the magazine while still teaching at Harvard and managing his scholarly work. Armstrong ran the magazine’s New York office and handled all of the day to day issues and problems. He was also responsible for the magazine’s distinctive format, the choice of a very special light blue paper cover (from a remarkable Italian papermaker), the logo of a man on a horse. It was typical of the sense of style that Armstrong, son of a painter, Old New York and Hudson Valley to his fingertips, brought to this and all else throughout his life. More

The initial issue of Foreign Affairs included 12 point Caslon font, which was more legible than many other font types of the time.  The current editor, James Hoge, brought a more modern version of this font back in 1993.

Foreign Affairs has a reputation of recruiting authors who are not mainstream. One particular example involves W.E.B DuBois, a distinguished African American author who wrote five articles for the magazine.  His first article in 1925 helped define “the Color Line” as a major issue of the twentieth century.

Currently, Foreign Affairs is owned by the Council on Foreign Relations and their stock information is private.

The monthly price for the Kindle edition of Business Week is $2.49.  The magazine is delivered weekly and the plus side of the Kindle edition is that according to one Amazon reviewer, you get it every Friday.  The print edition hits newsstands on Monday.

The Kindle edition of Business Week does not have images and this is a drawback based on what is reflected in the reviews, however, the articles read much faster.

Business Week, now owned by Bloomberg, began publication on September 7, 1929.  Note that this date is less than two months before the stock market crash of 1929.  The stock market crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression that plagued most of the 1930’s.

Business Week is known for reporting the latest business and economic trends.  The magazine is also known for predicting the trends of the future.  Business Week reported on women in the war work force during World War II, which was a revolutionary concept because before the war, it was virtually unheard of for women to work outside of the home.  Business Week covered the successes of Katharine Graham, CEO of Washington Post Company.  She was the pioneer of female CEO’s.

Business Week also stays on top of the Information Technology arena, which is a vibrant, constantly changing one.  When the magazine was first published, typewriters began to come and become an integral part of businesses.  During the 1960’s, the first computers started to appear, but only in a few places.  As time progressed, Business Week followed Bill Gates and his PC software endeavors in the 1980s and the Internet boom of the 1990’s.  During the 2000’s, Business Week has covered Facebook, Google, smartphones and all of the other latest gadgets we use today.

In 2009, Bloomberg LP, a company owned by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, bought Newsweek from its parent company McGraw-Hill for $5 million.  The official name for Business Week is now Bloomberg Business Week. more

The Nation is available on the Kindle for a good deal at $1.49 a month.  It is a weekly, mostly text based magazine.  The reviews are favorable and say that the Kindle version is easy to navigate.

The Nation will not be the organ of any party, sect, or body. It will, on the contrary, make an earnest effort to bring to the discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration, and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred. more

– from The Nation‘s founding prospectus, 1865

The Nation is a self described left leaning publication that was founded on July 6, 1865 by abolitionists, and is the oldest running weekly magazine in the US.  It covers topics such as Art, Politics, Music, Legal Affairs, Environmental Issues, Peace, and many others.  The magazine is primarily funded by donors called The Nation Associates whose names are listed in the end of the year issue.

The current editor of The Nation is Katrina vanden Heuvel.  She has been the editor, publisher and part owner since 1995. Notable contributors to The Nation include: Albert Einstein, John Steinbeck, who wrote the well known novels, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, Martin Luther King Jr., poet Langston Hughes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughter House Five, and many others.

The Nation runs a selection of regular columns with contributors who have been writing for over 20 years.  These columns include: Diary of a Mad Law Professor, Beneath the Radar, Deadline Poet, The Nation: a cryptic crossword and others.

Some of the major topics that are being covered in The Nation today are the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the plight of welfare mothers and the effects of the recent wars on the economy.  So, if you want a leftist view of current events, The Nation is the magazine to check out.

Science News is a  biweekly publication and it is available for Kindle for $2.25 a month.  Considering that cost includes two issues a month, that is a really good deal.  The reviews are excellent. The pictures are included and can even be enlarged to be viewed in full screen mode. The reviewers also pointed out that the Kindle edition was very easy to navigate.

Science News was first published since 1922 under the name The Science News Letter by the nonprofit group, Society for Science & the Public in Washington DC. In 1966, the SS&P decided to change The Science News Letter to The Science News.

This award-winning biweekly news magazine covers important and emerging research in all fields of science. It publishes concise, accurate, timely articles that appeal to both general readers and scientists, reaching nearly 130,000 subscribers and more than one million readers.

Audible.com distributes an audio edition of Science News.  Having an audio edition is a great idea for the blind and for anyone who prefers audio over reading text.  The Kindle has a text to speech feature as well.  It is in the experimental stages and is up to the publisher as to whether to enable it.  At least the idea is out there. The online component of the magazine was introduced in 1996. More news from the Science News reporting team also appears at the www.sciencenews.org. Updated daily, this site covers all areas of science. more

Science News includes topics that are up and coming in the science world.  Some of the topics include the status of planets and moons in our solar system and others around us, genes, science and society, science and kids, science and young professionals. One particular topic of interest is the controversy about cell phones causing cancer.  So, the magazine covers a great deal of interesting stuff.

The Society for Science & the Public is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the public engagement in scientific research and education.

The Atlantic magazine is delivered wirelessly to your Kindle each month for $1.25.  It publishes ten issues a year and has about 400,000 readers.

The first issue of The Atlantic Monthly, as it was known back then, appeared in November, 1857.  The magazine was a huge success and considered itself “a journal of literature, politics, science and the arts”.  The magazine was conceived by notable figures such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell.

Lowell was the first editor from 1857 to 1861.  He was an abolitionist who brought up controversial issues that included topics such as giving women the ability to get an education.

When it began, The Atlantic Monthly’s Declaration of Purpose went something like this:

“In politics, The Atlantic Monthly will be the organ of no party or clique, but will honestly endeavor to be the exponent of what its conductors believe to be the American idea. It will deal frankly with persons and with parties, endeavoring always to keep in view that moral element which transcends all persons and parties, and which alone makes the basis of a true and lasting prosperity. It will not rank itself with any sect of anties: but with that body of men which is in favor of Freedom, National Progress, and Honor, whether public or private.” more

The magazine has won many awards, including the coveted National Magazine Award.  The staff is young, averaging  age 35.  Other literary tidbits to note are: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a well known relic of America, and “Fifty Grand,” Ernest Hemingway’s first ever short story, both appeared in The Atlantic.  The magazine published early works of Mark Twain and important essays by Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.

The magazine has a rich and influential history that I can only touch on. The current editor is James Bennet.  The Atlantic recently moved their offices from Boston to Washington DC, thus breaking away from their New England roots.

Currently, The Atlantic is owned by The Atlantic Monthly Group.

PC Magazine is delivered wirelessly on the Kindle monthly for $1.49.  The Kindle edition is released the same day the magazine’s digital edition is released to subscribers.

PC Magazine is a great resource for expert reviews on electronics and computers.  PC Magazine was introduced in 1982, the year after IBM set the world into a tailspin with one of the first personal computers. PC Magazine chronicled through the evolution of computer technology.  In the 1980’s you could get a desktop for around $6000.  You can get one now with a lot more memory and capabilities for less than $1000.  The 1990’s were  a big decade for computers.  Microsoft took off several versions of its Windows operating system.  The internet went mainstream into businesses and homes.  Apple found it’s niche in graphic design software.  Amazon.com, Yahoo and eBay were introduced in the late 1990’s. more

The last decade has brought evolution of existing technologies by improving them and making them much faster.  The 2000’s have also seen the introduction of PDA’s and mobile devices such as cell phones, blackberrys, palm pilots and others.  The e-book reader market is taking off with the Kindle, Nook and the iPad coming along. The tablet computer market not is too far behind.

Over the years it has been PC Magazine’s job to cover the latest trends, analyze them and share the best results to the consumers so that they can make the most informed decisions in such a rapidly changing market.

PC Magazine stopped selling print editions of its magazine so it makes sense to get it for Kindle if you want a portable device to read it on.  However, based on the comments provided, it is highly recommended that the Kindle team add the images in for the articles.  Many of the articles are based on the reviews of an item and it is helpful to have a picture of that particular item to refer to.

Currently, PC Magazine is owned by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc and the stock information is private.

SHAPE is a monthly magazine available on Kindle for $1.25 a month.  Generally, the print versions of the magazines around $3-4 at the newsstands, so this a pretty good deal.

“SHAPE magazine is the leading healthy-living publication for women. Each month it delivers usable, practical information and how-to advice on everything from health and diet to fitness and active travel to beauty and style that’s flattering for every figure. It’s mission: to help women live better lives—and do it with confidence”. – Amazon

There is not a whole lot of information available online about the history of SHAPE magazine other than that it was started in 1981 by Weider Publications, who later sold it to The American Media Inc. in 2002.  The American Media is the publisher of 16 magazines including SHAPE, National Enquirer, Star and Natural Health.

The print version of SHAPE is very rich in graphics and photography, but is also very advertisement heavy.  One reviewer pointed out that it was nice to read the Kindle version without having to flip through endless ads.  Another reviewer said that they were excited about reading about weight loss, health, celebrities and recipes that are often available in the magazine.  It is always good when you can cut out the unnecessary junk and get to the meat of what the magazine is known for.

The only argument against the Kindle version is that you can get a two year subscription to the print version for $10.  But, a good opposing argument here is that, on Kindle, on you don’t have a stack of magazines lying around.  You can just carry your Kindle wherever you go and when the magazine becomes available, it will appear on the Kindle.  So it is a matter of personal choice between cost and convenience.

Currently, SHAPE is owned by The American Media Inc. and the stock information is private.

Newsweek is available for $2.99 a month on the Kindle, which is a pretty good deal considering that Newsweek is a weekly magazine.

“This weekly news magazine reports on each week’s developments on the national and global news front through news, commentary and analysis. Its features include national and international affairs, business, lifestyle, society, the arts, politics, the economy, personal business, the Washington scene, health, science and technology.” - Amazon

Newsweek was founded on February 17, 1933 by Thomas J.C. Martyn, a former foreign editor at TIME magazine.  It cost $10 cents a copy and had a circulation of 50,000 readers a year.  The Washington Post Company bought Newsweek in 1961 and today, the magazine has a circulation of about 4 million readers. more

Newsweek holds the most National Magazine Awards of any other newsweekly.  Newsweek’s Editor is John Meacham, Managing Editor is Daniel Klaidman and Newsweek International Editor is Fareed Zakaria.  Newsweek and Newsweek.com include commentaries by notable figures such as Anna Quindlen, George Will, Jonathan Alter and others.  The magazine is mostly current events and politics with a little bit of entertainment or humor mixed in.

According to the reviews, Amazon needs to bring back the character of the magazine by adding columns such as “Conventional Wisdom”, “Perspectives” and “Then and Now” to the Kindle version.  That tends to be a trend across all magazines that are offered on the Kindle.  If you take out certain columns that define the magazine, it no longer has those unique attributes that only that particular magazine has.  The positive feedback pointed out that it was great to go straight to the articles and not worry about the graphics or pictures.  Newsweek is a great magazine that can be adapted for Kindle because the quality of writing portrayed in its articles.  The Kindle version gives the writing a chance to shine.

Currently, Newsweek is owned by the Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO)

The Economist is available for $10.49 for a monthly subscription on the Kindle.  This is a weekly magazine that is released every Friday on newsstands and wirelessly through the Kindle.  The reviews are quite critical of the price, so hopefully there will be some price cuts in the near future.

According to Amazon:

The Economist is the “premier source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular Special reports on industries and countries.”

James Wilson, a Scottish hat manufacturer, founded The Economist in 1843 to campaign against the British protectionist corn laws. The official name of the publication was: The Economist: A Political, Commercial, Agricultural, & Free-Trade Journal.

In 1845, The Economist went international with part of the sales reaching both Europe and the United States.  WT Layton was appointed editor in 1922 and was the considered the main reason why the newspaper remained a success.

In 1935, the publication changed ownership from Wilson Trust to Financial Newspaper Proprietors Limited and a group of individual shareholders who were influential in maintaining the newspaper’s editorial independence.

In 1967, The Economist published a bi-weekly Spanish version of its newspaper in hopes of reaching out to the Latin American population, but did not have much success.  This attempt was put to rest in 1970.  This project was a good idea, but it could have been targeted for a different geographical location.  If this project had reached out to the Latino population in the United States, particularly, the Southwest, it might have been a greater success.

The Economist began in 1843 with a circulation of 1,969.  In 1970, the circulation reached 100,000.  In 1984, it reached 250,000, and in 2007, 1.3 million.  Economist.com was launched in 1996 and the magazine received a full color makeover in 2001.

2.6 million people visit Economist.com each month and the website is subscriber only and fee based.  Also, visit their website for more information on the history of the publication.

Currently, The Economist is owned by The Economist Group Limited and has a private stock exchange symbol.

Reader’s Digest is available on the Kindle for $1.25 a month, which is pretty darn cheap compared to the cost of some of the other magazines available for the Kindle.  It is a monthly magazine and is delivered to the Kindle when the print issue hits the newsstand.

Reader’s Digest is a well rounded magazine that includes a bit of finance, health, humor, stories about every day heroes and even word games.  A few familiar columns that are included each month are “Life in those United States,” “Ask Laskas,” “Humor in Uniform” and others.  Recently the names have been updated.  For example: “Life in those United States” is now just “Life”, but the column content still remains the same.

Reader’s Digest is great for some lighthearted and companionable reading.  The magazine touches on current events such as the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, the economy, the recent elections, etc.  The great part about these articles is that they tend to portray the lives and perspectives of ordinary people.  Often, the most inspiring are the ones who struggle financially or otherwise themselves, but continue to give back to their community.  The reading material should fare pretty well on the Kindle.  It’s not always the most exciting material if you’re looking for a thrill.  However, there are many helpful tips or interesting stories to choose from.

According to the brief article from WordFocus.com, Reader’s Digest was founded in 1922 as a monthly magazine by William Roy DeWitt Wallace and his wife, Lila Acheson.  The number of subscriptions peaked in 1984 at seventeen million readers in the United States.  Due to its nineteen foreign language editions, an additional eleven million readers were reached by the magazine.  The number of readers dropped in the 1990’s, forcing layoffs and cut backs.

Reader’s Digest began accepting advertising revenue in the 1970’s according to one of the reviews of the Kindle version of the magazine on Amazon.  The good part about the Kindle edition is that it does not include advertising.  The reviewer pointed out they quit purchasing the print version because had become so advertisement heavy.  So, Amazon is heading in the right direction with the Reader’s Digest for Kindle.

Currently, Reader’s Digest is owned by Reader’s Digest Association. (NYSE: RDA)

The New Yorker is available on Kindle for 2.99, and includes the standard 14 day trial Amazon provides for all magazines.

The New Yorker has a very dynamic history full of important figures in the writing and art arena who helped shape the magazine to be what it is today. Based on the Timeline from The New Yorker’s official website, the magazine was founded on February 21, 1925.  It was financially supported by General Baking Company’s Raoul Fleischmann, Dorothy Parker and others.  Rea Irvin drew the cover, a mythical, regency dandy named Eustace Tilley that became the face of the magazine.

In 1926, E.B. White was hired to work at The New Yorker.  He is the author of the beloved children’s book and movie, Charlotte’s Web. Peter Arno began to draw his covers for the magazine that generally consisted of “full page darkwash drawings of wealthy New York men and ample showgirls.”

In addition to E.B. White, other well known writers and poets that contributed to The New Yorker were: F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote The Great Gatsby, W.B. Yeats, who submitted his poem “Death”, William Carlos Williams and Ogden Nash.  It is fascinating to see the how long many of the contributors stuck with the magazine. We’re talking 40, 50, even 60 plus years.

Saul Steinburg was responsible for the drawing of a New York centered view of the world, which was published in 1976, and defined the magazine following its debut. More recently, The New Yorker has won many awards including National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, Special Interests, Profiles, Essays, and Reviews & Criticism.

The Kindle version of The New Yorker includes all poetry, articles and fiction included in the print version of the magazine.  The Kindle version only includes a selection of cartoons.  The reviews are mixed.  The pros to the Kindle version include the ability to carry around a stack of magazines in just one device.  The cons include navigation issues.  So take your pick.  Are you a traveler and enjoy having a lot of material in one little easy to carry device, or do you value the quality and design of the print edition?

The New Yorker is currently owned by Condé Nast Publications and their stock information is private.

TIME Magazine is available on the Kindle for $2.99.  All magazine subscriptions include a 14 day trial so basically it gives you the option to try before you buy.  TIME is delivered wirelessly to your Kindle the same day the print version hits the newsstands.

TIME was founded on March 3, 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, and is considered America’s first weekly news periodical. It was founded as a news magazine that formatted and summarized informative articles so that they can be read quickly by busy men.

“TIME was founded on the notion that a surplus of news existed which had to be licked into usable shape, felt no need to gather its own news until the 1930’s.” – The Story of an Experiment

“The double-jointed adjectives and inverted sentences of the early days of TIME were tricks that Hadden and Luce, both Greek scholars, learned from Homer, who was the author of The Illiad and The Odyssey.  The double-distilled result was hailed as a “new” style, and became TIME’S prose pattern.” – Posthumous Portrait

Also known as the International Magazine of Events, TIME covers a wide variety of subjects in each issue.  A couple of these subjects include politics and entertainment.  Each year, TIME prints a “Person of the Year” issue that has included controversial figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.  The “Person of the Year” issue debuted in 1927 and was responsible for showcasing personalities that had momentous effects on major events in history.

The Kindle version includes most of the articles available in the print version of TIME, but does not include all of the images.  After reading the reviews, I concluded that the images were a drawback for the Kindle version.  As one of the reviewers mentioned, there are cases where the article text might refer to an image.  However, another reviewer liked not having the graphics distracting them away from what TIME is known for, their articles. So its all a matter of preference. As Kindle technology progresses, assuming the device will continue to thrive in sales, there will most likely be more image friendly versions of the magazine available.

Currently the TIME Magazine is owned by Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX)