I'm a big fan of the Economist magazine. That being said, for the past six months I have been dreading its arrival. You see, the amount of work and travel that I do, I just haven't had time to read it every week and so a big pile of economist magazine issues has been building up recently. So, to remedy this situation, I decided to try a few more magazines to see if there was a good monthly subscription which could possibly replace the Economist. My best luck so far has been with The Atlantic Monthly magazine.

I have found the Atlantic magazine to be an excellent mix of news, in-depth commentary and entertainment. I like my magazines to not be chalk-full of ads and to have at least some pictures and the Atlantic delivers are both accords. The commentary pieces and news articles are really what make the magazine. They have a great set of writers on their staff and their education and experience shine through in their pieces. Unlike a Newsweek or a Time, there is not just a simple reporting of the facts or an extremely US-centric style of reporting; rather articles exist on topics across the world. That is where the Economist really comes into its own and so thats where I needed a good substitute magazine to also shine and the Atlantic does a pretty decent job of it.

I don't think anyone will ever match the international breadth of the Economist but the Atlantic does good enough for me. I believe the commentary pieces are better than the Economist's (plus at least with the Atlantic you know who is writing the pieces i.e. the Economist articles have no authors tagged on them) so that provides an additional plus that I enjoy. So, all in all, I find the Atlantic to be a great magazine to add to my collection of informative, news & commentary-driven magazine subscriptions.

-Ed.

Buy the Atlantic Monthly for $19.95 per year