The Baffler
The Baffler, an American magazine of cultural, political, and business analysis, adopted a motto that poked fun at its own ambitions: "the journal that blunts the cutting edge." It was established in 1988 by two editors, Thomas Frank and Keith White. Over the decades that followed, it went quiet for long stretches, came back with a new look, and changed cities more than once. What was this small journal so determined to puncture? Who did its work help send into print careers of their own? And how did a publication that appeared only sporadically in its early years end up hosting public debates and podcasts?
"Business culture and the culture business" is the phrase most often used to describe what the magazine liked to critique. Its reputation rested partly on exposing the grunge speak hoax that was pulled on The New York Times.
Steve Albini's article "The Problem with Music" became one of its most famous pieces and has been republished many times. It laid out the inner workings of the music business during the heyday of indie rock.
The magazine is also credited with helping to launch the careers of several writers. They include its founding editor Thomas Frank, along with Ana Marie Cox and Rick Perlstein. Behind that reputation, though, the publishing schedule told a much more uneven story.
Greg Lane was the first publisher of The Baffler, which then operated from Chicago, Illinois. In that first incarnation, the magazine reached up to 12,000 subscribers.
It did not follow a steady calendar. Issues appeared once a year at first and then somewhat more often. That pace slowed further after the Chicago office was destroyed in a fire on the 25th of April 2001.
One quirk of its distribution survives in the catalog records. Besides the ISSN that identifies it as a periodical, every issue except the earliest carries its own ISBN, so each can be sold as a book as well as a magazine. The decision to bring the whole enterprise back to life eventually fell to its founding editor.
In 2009, Thomas Frank decided that The Baffler should be revived. It returned in 2010 as Volume 2, Issue 1, which was numbered issue 18, with a new publisher, new editors, and a new design.
By 2011 the headquarters had moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The magazine signed a publishing contract with the MIT Press and went through another redesign. It began appearing three times a year, a far steadier rhythm than before the fire.
In 2014 it ended that contract and brought its publishing operations in house. Two years later, it shifted to a quarterly schedule and moved its headquarters to New York City.
The magazine and its collections of essays were by then distributed through bookstores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The move to New York coincided with a change at the top of the masthead.
John Summers took over as editor in 2011, the year the magazine settled in Cambridge. He held the post through the MIT Press partnership and the return to in-house publishing.
Summers left in 2016, and Chris Lehmann took over the editorship of the journal. Lehmann stayed until 2019, when he departed for The New Republic.
Jonathon Sturgeon then became editor in chief. Each of these editors also shaped the books and events that the magazine produced beyond its regular issues.
In 2014, Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, faced David Graeber in a public debate over the future of technology. Graeber was an anarchistic anthropologist and a contributing editor to The Baffler. The magazine had been organizing literary events and debates with its contributing editors.
In 2017, it began a collaborative editorial agreement with CTXT, an independent online publication based in Spain.
The Baffler has also hosted podcasts. Whale Vomit was made by Amber A'Lee Frost and Sam Kriss, and News from Nowhere by Corey Pein. The Nostalgia Trap was hosted by David Parsons. Alongside these projects, the magazine kept publishing books of its own.
Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from The Baffler appeared from Norton in 1997. Thomas Frank and Matt Weiland edited it. Norton also published Boob Jubilee: The Cultural Politics of the New Economy in 2003, edited by Frank and David Mulcahey.
In 2012, Melville House released Cotton Tenants: Three Families, edited by John Summers. It presented excerpts from a lost manuscript by the writer James Agee about Alabama tenant farmers.
No Future For You: Salvos from The Baffler followed from the MIT Press in 2014. Summers, Chris Lehmann, and Thomas Frank edited it. That lost Agee manuscript shows the magazine's interests reaching well past the essays in its own pages.
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Common questions
What is The Baffler magazine?
The Baffler is an American magazine of cultural, political, and business analysis. It was established in 1988 by editors Thomas Frank and Keith White.
Where is The Baffler headquartered?
The Baffler was first based in Chicago, Illinois. It later moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in 2016 moved its headquarters to New York City.
What happened to The Baffler's Chicago office in 2001?
The Baffler's Chicago office was destroyed in a fire on the 25th of April 2001. Publishing slowed afterward and became more regular after the relaunch and move to Cambridge.
Who has edited The Baffler?
Thomas Frank was a founding editor, and John Summers became editor in 2011. Chris Lehmann took over in 2016, and Jonathon Sturgeon became editor in chief in 2019.
What is The Baffler known for?
The Baffler became known for critiquing "business culture and the culture business" and for exposing the grunge speak hoax on The New York Times. It also published Steve Albini's much-republished article "The Problem with Music."
Which books has The Baffler published?
The Baffler has published Commodify Your Dissent (1997), Boob Jubilee (2003), Cotton Tenants (2012), and No Future For You (2014).
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16 references cited across the entry
- 1We're going bi-monthly at...30 November 2017
- 2AboutThe Baffler — June 2016
- 4The Baffler Puts Its Archive OnlineJennifer Schuessler — July 21, 2014
- 5News'The Baffler' Will Reappear via MIT PressPeter Monaghan — October 26, 2011
- 6NewsMixing Business with CultureElizabeth Taylor — January 11, 1998
- 7NewsRemember the Grunge Hoax?Leon Nefaykh — August 14, 2009
- 8The Problem with MusicSteve Albini — Thomas Frank — 1993
- 9NewsThe Baffler Puts Its Archive OnlineJennifer Schuessler — July 21, 2014
- 10NewsA Quarter Century of The BafflerRon Charles — July 21, 2014
- 12NewsColor Me Baffled! Thomas Frank's Magazine Lives AgainLeon Nefaykh — June 24, 2009
- 14NewsMIT Press and a Rebellious Journal Will Part WaysPeter Monaghan — October 28, 2014
- 15NewsPredicting the Winner of the Fiction Pulitzer; The Baffler Names Its New EditorApril 15, 2019
- 16NewsStill No Flying Cars? Debating Technology's FutureJennifer Schuessler — 2014-09-21
- 18NewsBafflercasts