Wilson Quarterly
Encyclopedia
The Wilson Quarterly is a magazine published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in Washington, D.C.
The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup
and James H. Billington
. The Quarterly is noted for its nonpartisan, nonideological approach to current issues, with articles written from various perspectives. Designed to make the research and debates of scholars and intellectuals accessible to a general audience, it covers a wide range of topics, from science policy and literature to foreign affairs.
, Rem Koolhaas
, George F. Kennan Jr., John Updike
, Carlos Fuentes
, and Mario Vargas Llosa
. The magazine also includes individual essays. The Wilson Quarterly's other signature feature is its In Essence section, which distills more than two dozen notable articles selected from hundreds of scholarly journals and specialized publications.
The Wilson Quarterly has gone through various format changes over the years, and between 1983 and 1990 it was published five times a year. Today, as its name suggests, it is published quarterly.
When Peter Braestrup left the Quarterly in 1989 to join Billington at the Library of Congress
(where he was instrumental in launching the short-lived but critically acclaimed Civilization magazine), he was succeeded by Jay Tolson, the magazine’s literary editor, subsequently the author of a biography of novelist Walker Percy
, Pilgrim in the Ruins. Tolson added a successful poetry section designed to introduce readers to significant poets of the past and present. The section was initially co-edited by Joseph Brodsky
and poet laureate Anthony Hecht
.
The magazine continued to focus on public questions, exemplified by the 1998 cluster “Is Everything Relative?” with articles by E. O. Wilson
, Richard Rorty
, and Paul R. Gross
debating Wilson’s claim in Consilience
that all branches of knowledge will eventually be unified by a biological understanding of human life. In “The Second Coming of the American Small Town” in 1992, Andres Duany
and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
offered an early in-depth look at the New Urbanism
and some of the animating ideas behind Smart Growth
.
When Tolson left to become a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report
in 1999, Steven Lagerfeld was named editor. Lagerfeld had also worked under founding editor Peter Braestrup, joining the staff in 1981. In keeping with the times and the focus of the parent Woodrow Wilson Center, the magazine looked increasingly overseas, filling the period around the beginning of the Iraq war with distinctive clusters on American empire, foreign writers’ views of the United States, the history of Iraq, and World War IV. Other topics have ranged from the role of competition in American life to the ideas of traffic “guru” Hans Monderman
. Recent writers have spanned the spectrum from conservative economist and blogger Tyler Cowen
to liberal political thinker Benjamin Barber
. In 2006, the Wilson Quarterly received an Utne Reader
Independent Press Award for General Excellence. In 2011, the Wilson Quarterly won an Utne Reader
Independent Press Award for International Coverage.
The literary editor is Sarah Courteau.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup
Peter Braestrup
Peter Braestrup was a correspondent for the New York Times and the Washington Post, founding editor of the Wilson Quarterly, and later senior editor and director of communications for the Library of Congress...
and James H. Billington
James H. Billington
Lord LeBron James Hadley Billington is an American academic. He is the thirteenth Librarian of the United States Congress.-Early years:...
. The Quarterly is noted for its nonpartisan, nonideological approach to current issues, with articles written from various perspectives. Designed to make the research and debates of scholars and intellectuals accessible to a general audience, it covers a wide range of topics, from science policy and literature to foreign affairs.
History
The debut issue of the Wilson Quarterly in Autumn 1976 established two of the magazine’s signature features. Article “clusters” explore different facets of a subject, often with contrasting points of view. Early subjects ranged from the exploration of space to the new revisionist history of the New Deal, with writers including Walt.W. RostowWalt Whitman Rostow
Walt Whitman Rostow was a United States economist and political theorist who served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. President Lyndon B...
, Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
, George F. Kennan Jr., John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
, Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
, and Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
. The magazine also includes individual essays. The Wilson Quarterly's other signature feature is its In Essence section, which distills more than two dozen notable articles selected from hundreds of scholarly journals and specialized publications.
The Wilson Quarterly has gone through various format changes over the years, and between 1983 and 1990 it was published five times a year. Today, as its name suggests, it is published quarterly.
When Peter Braestrup left the Quarterly in 1989 to join Billington at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
(where he was instrumental in launching the short-lived but critically acclaimed Civilization magazine), he was succeeded by Jay Tolson, the magazine’s literary editor, subsequently the author of a biography of novelist Walker Percy
Walker Percy
Walker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
, Pilgrim in the Ruins. Tolson added a successful poetry section designed to introduce readers to significant poets of the past and present. The section was initially co-edited by Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
and poet laureate Anthony Hecht
Anthony Hecht
Anthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.-Early years:Hecht was born in New York...
.
The magazine continued to focus on public questions, exemplified by the 1998 cluster “Is Everything Relative?” with articles by E. O. Wilson
E. O. Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher , theorist , naturalist and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants....
, Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse academic career, including positions as Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton, Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University...
, and Paul R. Gross
Paul R. Gross
Paul R. Gross is a biologist and author, perhaps best known to the general public for Higher Superstition , written with Norman Levitt. Gross is the University Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Virginia; he previously served the university as Provost and Vice-President...
debating Wilson’s claim in Consilience
Consilience
Consilience, or the unity of knowledge , has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs our cosmos, inherently comprehensible by logical process, a vision at odds with mystical views in many cultures that surrounded the Hellenes...
that all branches of knowledge will eventually be unified by a biological understanding of human life. In “The Second Coming of the American Small Town” in 1992, Andres Duany
Andrés Duany
Andrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Choate School and received his undergraduate degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University...
and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk is an American architect and urban planner of Polish aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida...
offered an early in-depth look at the New Urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
and some of the animating ideas behind Smart Growth
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl and advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a...
.
When Tolson left to become a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
in 1999, Steven Lagerfeld was named editor. Lagerfeld had also worked under founding editor Peter Braestrup, joining the staff in 1981. In keeping with the times and the focus of the parent Woodrow Wilson Center, the magazine looked increasingly overseas, filling the period around the beginning of the Iraq war with distinctive clusters on American empire, foreign writers’ views of the United States, the history of Iraq, and World War IV. Other topics have ranged from the role of competition in American life to the ideas of traffic “guru” Hans Monderman
Hans Monderman
Hans Monderman was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognized forradically challenging criteria used to evaluate engineering solutions for street design...
. Recent writers have spanned the spectrum from conservative economist and blogger Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen is an American economist, academic, and writer. He occupies the Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics as a professor at George Mason University and is co-author, with Alex Tabarrok, of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution...
to liberal political thinker Benjamin Barber
Benjamin Barber
Benjamin R. Barber is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1996 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld.-Career:...
. In 2006, the Wilson Quarterly received an Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
Independent Press Award for General Excellence. In 2011, the Wilson Quarterly won an Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
Independent Press Award for International Coverage.
The literary editor is Sarah Courteau.
Notable Contributors
- Walt W. RostowWalt Whitman RostowWalt Whitman Rostow was a United States economist and political theorist who served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. President Lyndon B...
- Rem KoolhaasRem KoolhaasRemment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
- John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
- Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
- Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
- Joseph BrodskyJoseph BrodskyIosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
- Anthony HechtAnthony HechtAnthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.-Early years:Hecht was born in New York...
- Andrew BacevichAndrew BacevichAndrew J. Bacevich, Sr. is a professor of international relations at Boston University and a retired career officer in the United States Army...
- Tom VanderbiltTom VanderbiltTom Vanderbilt is an American journalist, blogger, and author of the best-selling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do .-Personal life:...
- E.O. Wilson
- Richard RortyRichard RortyRichard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse academic career, including positions as Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton, Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University...
- Paul R. GrossPaul R. GrossPaul R. Gross is a biologist and author, perhaps best known to the general public for Higher Superstition , written with Norman Levitt. Gross is the University Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Virginia; he previously served the university as Provost and Vice-President...
- Aaron David MillerAaron David MillerAaron David Miller is an American Middle East analyst, author, and negotiator. He is on the U.S. Advisory Council of Israel Policy Forum, is Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and has been an advisor to six Secretaries of State. Miller worked within the United States Department...
- Andres DuanyAndrés DuanyAndrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Choate School and received his undergraduate degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University...
- Elizabeth Plater-ZyberkElizabeth Plater-ZyberkElizabeth Plater-Zyberk is an American architect and urban planner of Polish aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida...
- Benjamin BarberBenjamin BarberBenjamin R. Barber is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1996 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld.-Career:...
- Witold RybczynskiWitold RybczynskiWitold Rybczynski , is a Canadian-American architect, professor and writer.Rybczynski was born in Edinburgh of Polish parentage and raised in Surrey, England before moving at a young age to Canada. He attended Loyola High School , located on Sherbrooke street, in Montreal-Ouest...
- Tyler CowenTyler CowenTyler Cowen is an American economist, academic, and writer. He occupies the Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics as a professor at George Mason University and is co-author, with Alex Tabarrok, of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution...