*The Nation was published on this date in 1865. It is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, covering progressive political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis.
It was founded as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper that closed in 1865 after the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
A collaborator of the new magazine was its Literary Editor Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of William Garrison; the intent after American emancipation was clear. Now that the specific, urgent problem of slavery had been ended (The Liberator), one could proceed to a broader topic: The Nation.
He had his father's vast network of contacts at his disposal. The Nation is published by its namesake owner, The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York, New York 10003, and is associated with The Nation Institute. The Nation has news bureaus in Washington, D.C., London, and South Africa, with departments covering architecture, art, corporations, defense, environment, films, legal affairs, music, peace and disarmament, poetry, and the United Nations.
The Nation exemplifies the intersectionality between progressive abolitionist and activist views over time. Circulation peaked at 187,000 in 2006 but by 2010 had dropped to 145,000 in print, although digital subscriptions had risen to over 15,000.
