Word: kinsleys
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...impending change was almost universally bemoaned in the New Journalistic community, which had been well-represented in Harper's during the two year reign of former editor Michael Kinsley. During Kinsley's tenure the magazine had been witty, controversial, and occasionally profound as it attempted to revive the essay from and apply it to intriguing, off-beat subjects such as the ethos of Thanksgiving or the politics of funeral homes. Kinsley delighted in using his "The Easy Chair" column to lambaste sacred cows, including Jonathan Schell just after Schell had written The Fate of the Earth and was considered...
...Kinsley's irreverent editorial policy and his publicly stated wish to be intellectually independent of the magazine's backers, the Mac Arthur Foundation, lead to a series of publicized run-ins with John MacArthur. Harper's President and Publisher Mac Arthur was looking "for a more Saturday Review-type audience, small-town school teachers who bemoan the fact that nobody writes letters anymore, says a former Harper's writer, Timothy Noah '80. Kinsley left last summer and moved to Washington to become a senior editor at The New Republic...
Although the three long essays were stuffier than the Kinsley days, they were very well-written and boasted the by-lines of such prominent literary figtures as V.S. Naipaul, John Updike '54, and Joseph Epstein. Epstein's article on the status of intellectuals in America. "The Rise of the Verbal Class," was a perfect example of the sharp-eyed, reflective, faintly self-indulgent prose which is the pride of the American middle-brow magazine...
...Kinsley's resignation, although voluntary, ends an uneasy and at times even stormy relationship with the board of Harper's, which is financed by a foundation. Last year former Board Chairman Donald Petrie denounced Kinsley's acceptance of an Israeli government-financed trip to inspect conditions in Beirut. This spring Kinsley irritated board members when he suggested that the magazine's editorial offices be moved from Manhattan to Washington or California, in part because he found New York City "a difficult place to live." He also sought a raise, after initially cutting his own pay from...
Harper's Foundation President Rick MacArthur nonetheless praised Kinsley and said the board was paying his tenure the utmost compliment. "As his successor," said MacArthur, "we want another independent, unconventional thinker...